Hello!
I've been in the market for a new car these past couple months and have been doing my research on what I'd like next and narrowed it down between the new Audi S3 and the Tesla Model 3. Coming from a 2015 Audi S3, I walked away extremely impressed with the Tesla Model 3 LR after test driving it twice; once by myself and a second time with my skeptical brother, whose opinion of the car completely changed once he sat in the passenger seat. Needless to say, it's on top of my car list right now, but I do have a few questions I'm hoping to get answers to!
Phantom braking - Does this only occur when either TACC, Autopilot, or FDS is turned on? The Internet is riddled with posts, articles, and videos of this scary behavior with both radar and Tesla Vision. A common remedy I see people suggest is to keep your foot by the accelerator, hence my question. I rarely use the adaptive cruise control on my Audi S3; only on long trips. Basically, I'm wondering if this behavior will occur in regular stop-n-go driving, which is 90% of my driving. It's not an option for me to turn off the Automatic Emergency Braking feature, and would likely be a deal breaker for me if this does occur in everyday driving situations.
Noise/comfort variance in builds - I noticed that there's various opinions on the noise and comfort levels of the 2021s compared to previous model years. Is this truly the case or a question of how everyone interprets noise and comfort? I test drove two different 2021 Model 3s and, in both occasions, I found the car to be very quiet, even on the highway going at 120 km/h. My brother also found it quieter than my Audi, although it was noticeable that the sound system was lacking ANC, but not a big deal.
Winter - Anything in particular I should know about the car in winter? The forums seem to tell a positive tale of the car in the winter, and I saw the 2021s have a heat pump that helps reduce the range impact in colder weather.
Suspension longevity - I live in Montreal where the roads can be god awful to drive on, but I found the Model 3's suspension to be good compared to my Audi S3 with adaptive dampers. Nonetheless, I've read that these cars can be a mixed bag with the suspension and wondering if it's something I should be concerned with.
White interior - Both cars I drove had the white interior, which I found to be amazing. Anything long term I should know before committing myself to a white interior?
Service Center Experience - Now, I'll admit that it's a very large concern how long it can take the car to get some attention by the service center, when my experience with Audi is typically within the week, but I'd like to know if it's that much of a concern? If I can still drive the car for the duration until the appointment, I'm fine with it, and I haven't found any common major issues that would prevent me from driving the car on this forum, suspension control arms aside.
I'd likely wait for the 2022s to be released before ordering, even knowing that Tesla takes an iterative update approach to their cars. I'd imagine there's no major change that would happen between 2021 and 2022, since 2021 was the refresh year, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by my thread!
I've been in the market for a new car these past couple months and have been doing my research on what I'd like next and narrowed it down between the new Audi S3 and the Tesla Model 3. Coming from a 2015 Audi S3, I walked away extremely impressed with the Tesla Model 3 LR after test driving it twice; once by myself and a second time with my skeptical brother, whose opinion of the car completely changed once he sat in the passenger seat. Needless to say, it's on top of my car list right now, but I do have a few questions I'm hoping to get answers to!
Phantom braking - Does this only occur when either TACC, Autopilot, or FDS is turned on? The Internet is riddled with posts, articles, and videos of this scary behavior with both radar and Tesla Vision. A common remedy I see people suggest is to keep your foot by the accelerator, hence my question. I rarely use the adaptive cruise control on my Audi S3; only on long trips. Basically, I'm wondering if this behavior will occur in regular stop-n-go driving, which is 90% of my driving. It's not an option for me to turn off the Automatic Emergency Braking feature, and would likely be a deal breaker for me if this does occur in everyday driving situations.
Noise/comfort variance in builds - I noticed that there's various opinions on the noise and comfort levels of the 2021s compared to previous model years. Is this truly the case or a question of how everyone interprets noise and comfort? I test drove two different 2021 Model 3s and, in both occasions, I found the car to be very quiet, even on the highway going at 120 km/h. My brother also found it quieter than my Audi, although it was noticeable that the sound system was lacking ANC, but not a big deal.
Winter - Anything in particular I should know about the car in winter? The forums seem to tell a positive tale of the car in the winter, and I saw the 2021s have a heat pump that helps reduce the range impact in colder weather.
Suspension longevity - I live in Montreal where the roads can be god awful to drive on, but I found the Model 3's suspension to be good compared to my Audi S3 with adaptive dampers. Nonetheless, I've read that these cars can be a mixed bag with the suspension and wondering if it's something I should be concerned with.
White interior - Both cars I drove had the white interior, which I found to be amazing. Anything long term I should know before committing myself to a white interior?
Service Center Experience - Now, I'll admit that it's a very large concern how long it can take the car to get some attention by the service center, when my experience with Audi is typically within the week, but I'd like to know if it's that much of a concern? If I can still drive the car for the duration until the appointment, I'm fine with it, and I haven't found any common major issues that would prevent me from driving the car on this forum, suspension control arms aside.
I'd likely wait for the 2022s to be released before ordering, even knowing that Tesla takes an iterative update approach to their cars. I'd imagine there's no major change that would happen between 2021 and 2022, since 2021 was the refresh year, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by my thread!