Hello Everyone,
I posted earlier on another thread. Just wondering for those of you living in the Sea-Tac area if you could answer a few questions:
1. If you've held your car for over a year, was there any under side damage?
2. Where is the best place to get a good ceramic tint (around 25-35) with clear front? I need someone who has worked with the Model 3.
3. Who was reasonably priced for an in-home installation of the Tesla Charger?
4. How did you decide on the Model 3? I am looking at an Acura TLX vs. Model 3.
Thanks in advance.
I don't have a Model 3 and live near Portland, I have had a Model S since 2016 but I can address #4 a bit. Because electricity in Washington is cheap and gas is among the most expensive in the country, you will save a ton of money on fuel. I calculated in 3 years of ownership I pay about $12 a month in fuel for the car. In cost per mile my car costs 1/4 what my partner's Subaru Impreza costs and it's twice the size. The price of gas has gone up since I did that calculation, it's closer to 1/5 the cost now. The Model 3 is also more efficient than my car.
Every winter when I see people huddled at the gas station pumping gas I am so happy I don't have to worry about that anymore. At least once a month my SO has a panic when she needs to get somewhere and realizes her car is almost out of gas. That never happens to me. I have forgotten to plug in the car when I got home a few times (less than 10 in 3 years), but there was always enough charge left to get where I needed to go and get back again.
Teslas are also fun cars to drive. With the instant torque at 0 RPM and the silent acceleration it's a lot of fun to launch. A couple of months ago I had to get in front of someone right after a light so I did a half throttle launch just as the light turned green. As I left the intersection I looked down and I was already doing 40. I have the "slow" Model S, not Performance.
I've gotten to a point where it's annoying to just move my SO's car in and out of the garage if I'm working out there. Electric drive is so vastly superior to ICE.
There are two drawbacks to EVs: they tend to have less range than most ICE (though the LR Teslas are at the low end of ICE ranges), and it takes a bit longer to "fuel" on the road. But in the way they drive, day to day fueling, cargo space, economy, convenience, quietness, there is no comparison. The Model 3 is dinky on cargo space compared to a Model S, but compared to other sedans about the same size it's vastly better.
As for fueling on the road, I actually prefer having to charge the car over gas. If I can fuel quickly I'm one of those people who tend to spend a minimum amount of time stopped and keep going. But taking a roadtrip in a Tesla, I'm forced to take some time and walk around at supercharger stops or I can catch a nap and at the end of a long day driving I spent a bit more time in transit, but I'm not feeling the aches and pains I did driving several hundred miles without any significant break. Having to walk around a bit is much better on your body when traveling.
If you are planning to do anything more than driving around Seattle, you will never regret the extra $10K for the LR, especially when driving into the mountains. In Washington superchargers can be few and far between, especially if you want to visit the North Cascades (still no way to do the North Cascades highway loop through Pateros and Chelan), or maybe go wine tasting in the Yakama valley (no superchargers between Ellensburg and Richland) or go over Chinook Pass.
There are some routes that are superchargers deserts. SE Oregon is one of the worst. But if you are planning on stopping for any length of time on a trip keep destination chargers in mind. A lot of wineries have put them in just for Tesla wine tourists. There are a lot of hotels around with them too if you're staying overnight. Some restaurants are putting them in too. On top of destination chargers, there are also chargers around you can find on Plugshare.com.
The range of the car is better than you might think. I go to Parkdale, OR to get apples every fall. We did a PDX Tesla trip of it last year. Some people may have gone to the Dalles supercharger to top off on the way back, but nobody seemed concerned about it. The first time I made the trip I was a bit concerned, but I still had around 100 miles range when I got home. Parkdale is over 1700 feet elevation and the car did eat a lot of electrons climbing the mountain, but the leg back down had crazy great Wh/Mi numbers. I've made other day trips that far or further on one charge.
You can probably find someone more reasonably priced than this, the electrician I work with isn't cheap but they do an incredible job every time.
