Hi All - have had my P3 (grey, white seats, FSD computer) for about 2 weeks now. For reference, my previous car was a Mercedes A45 AMG, so also a very quick car. The few things I miss (e.g. the seats) were because the A45 was fantastic, not because the Tesla is not very good. Similarly, I find the Tesla much more comfortable than my old car, despite the occasional complaints about hard suspension.
What has delighted you?
The acceleration is pretty amazing, even coming from a car that did 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. The A45 had great acceleration, but the lack of noise and drama in the Tesla is amazing. For overtaking on country roads it's hard to beat. The throttle response is wonderful - as a biker this is something I really like; incomparably better than any ICE car. I like the regen braking very much too; makes it easy to drive smoothly and I like the idea I'm not wasting energy on wearing out brakes.
What has disappointed you?
The voice recognition is terrible, particularly for voice dial. I simply cannot dial my wife by name, no matter how many times I try, or how I pronounce her name. Any names that are a small number of syllables or which sound like a dictionary word seem to have this issue. I have actually had to change to her full name in my contacts to get it to dial, and even then I still have to touch the screen to choose the right number. Just not good enough. Lots of other voice controls (e.g. changing radio stations etc), often need a tap on the screen as well. For such an otherwise technologically advanced car this was a real disappointment.
Android auto is so far ahead on this that if I were Tesla I would just give up and offer android auto (or put some major effort into making voice recognition competitive). That would also address other things I wish I had - the ability to control audiobooks by voice and (optionally) use Waze for navigation (the Tesla navigation is very good most of the time, but Waze is better routing around traffic in London and I often run Waze on my phone as well). As it is the voice recognition on the £15k hire car with android auto that I drove to pick up the £64k Tesla was *far* better.
I had hoped that summon or autopark might be able to get my car into (or at least out of) my narrow off street parking spot, but they can't. autopark doesn't detect it, and summon just stops, presumably because it thinks it's too narrow. Not exactly a diappointment, but it would have been amazing.
How are you managing with the range?
No issue so far. This is my first EV, and I do have to plan in advance much more than with an ICE car, but not a big deal.
What home charging option do you have?
I am getting a 7kw point installed. I expected to be able to charge slowly from a home socket in the interim, but it always trips the house RCD if I try, so I have had to use public charge points for now.
What are your favourite features?
Love keyless entry with my phone. I use google pay a lot, so often I can leave home with just a phone. Don't need car keys or wallet. Walk away from the car and it locks.
The size and location of the screen is great. Took about 1 minute to get used to not having a speedometer where i expected.
Love being able to access the car remotely from my phone. Can check it's locked, see the charge level, see the location, beep the horn to find it, etc.
Autopilot is good, especially in stop start traffic, so longer drives are more relaxing.
What features annoy you the most?
See above on voice recognition.
What do you most miss about an ICE car?
Nothing much. The P3 is not perfect but it's good enough to make me realize ICE cars are dead - at least when batteries get cheaper and lighter. It's a bit less agile than the A45 was, mostly due to the extra weight. It's not bad because the centre of gravity is so low, but you are aware of it.
What 2-3 small features would you suggest for inclusion in a future revision?
1. Android auto
2. Android auto
3. Make summon/autopark able to get in and out of my drive!
If you have FSD, do you use it and what’s your take?
It works well in simple driving situations, e.g. on motorways and A roads without too much traffic. But even in those situations it isn't as responsive to road conditions as a good driver would be. For example it doesn't seem to alter position within a lane to avoid road imperfections, and won't change position within a lane when passing or being passed. It will overtake a truck sitting bang in the middle of a wide lane, while I would move to the outside of my lane to get more time to react and be more visible to the truck driver. When I've enabled it in more complex situations it has struggled occasionally - for example when crossing a junction where the lane markings disappear and are slightly offset on the other side, or when another car is coming the other way, or changing lanes when there is a car slightly behind. On one occasion when there was a very low kerb ahead it was heading so close to it that I took over - not sure if it would have hit it or not, but I didn't want to find out. In the city it's not really worth enabling; you will hit a situation it can't handle or where it feels dangerous every minute.
I've driven a lot on US and UK roads, and generally US road systems are much simpler, so I suspect the proportion of the time that EAP works well is a lot higher in the US. Having said that, I did let it drive for long sections of my motorway trip last week and it was fine and made the trip more relaxing. But it feels a long way from full self driving on UK roads at least.
Have you had to make changes to your normal driving habits?
Not really.
Any major or minor issues with the car yet?
No.
Anything those on the waiting list shouldn’t worry too much about?
I'd heard all the stories about paint and panel gaps and build quality. It's just not an issue. To me it seems entirely in line with any modern car from a major manufacturer.
Once I have my home charging point I will almost never have to worry about recharging.
Superchargers are great for longer trips.
