Real World Model 3 UK Experience

[Peteski]

I know I see it a lot on YouTube, but I’ve never really understood the need to blur out your number plate. I’m obviously missing something
What can someone do with your registration from YouTube that they can’t do with it if they saw your car on the street?

I've often wondered this too. I guess it's just that more people would potentially see your number plate on Youtube than out on the road. More people = more bad people. But I'm still not sure what the implications are in those "bad" people knowing your reg number?

 

[Roy W.]

I've often wondered this too. I guess it's just that more people would potentially see your number plate on Youtube than out on the road. More people = more bad people. But I'm still not sure what the implications are in those "bad" people knowing your reg number?

I’m sure you’re right. There are lots of bad people out there.
As far as I can think, there’s not much you can do with the registration without the V5C, but I’m happy to be corrected here!

 

[Tony Hoyle]

You can duplicate a plate, but you could just as easily make up a completely fake plate so not sure what that would gain even a criminal. Plus simply looking out of the window would likely get them enough plates to be going on with..

 

[Roy W.]

Perhaps it makes more sense just to blur the whole car

 

[cizUK]

Perhaps it makes more sense just to blur the whole car

Or maybe the whole video

 

[zap fizzle]

Realistically speaking in UK cruising for extended periods at 80 is rare - at least for me. Might do it for a 1 hour stretch once a month.
[...]
And those average 50 speed limits that are quite common should increase the range quite a bit.

It depends.

If you are going up and down the M1 during daytime then I agree - you'll mostly do ~50, and even when it's not busy there are enough HADECS cameras that going over 75 and then slowing down for them all is more faff than it's worth.

However if you're, say, going down the M5 at nighttime, then you could very easily do the AP maximum of 90mph for miles and miles.

I do find that on a typical journey, the stretches of AP-max-90-mph and 50-mph-with-SPECS-cameras balance out and the car ends up giving the rated range in summer.

 

[elecTED]

I'm based in Bromley, you might of spotted my M3P...if I actually had it at the moment. If you're in Bromley a lot it would be cool to meet up

@BubblegumPete forgot to reply to you.

Hope you have your car back and enjoying it. Apparently I’m supposed to pick this Friday - a £40K investment sealed by a few text messages and emails.

I’m occasionally in the Bromley so will let you know if I’m in the area, hopefully driving an M3!

 

[NorfolkMustard]

I agree. 250W per mile is a meaningless figure. It's like saying my car has a power output of 400 hp per mile. He could have meant 250 Watt hours per mile, but that would be a ridiculously high consumption figure for a CPU! That would be more like the total power consumption for the entire car.

Yeah, that's exactly what he was meaning. The 250wh/mile figure he gave was the total car consumption target - He was asked a question about how the FSD computer's power usage affects range, asked for a rule of thumb to compare the earlier consumption numbers given, and his answer of 250 watts (wh) per mile was to give a comparison so the person asking the question had something to compare the FSD power consumption of 72 watts to.

They weren't saying the FSD computer consumes 250 wh/mile

 

[elecTED]

Heya peeps

Want to share your feedback/experience after a few months of ownership?

Has the car lived up to your expectations?

Are you regretting your purchase?

 

[pdk42]

Well, it's a month for me now, but...

What has delighted you?
- The power and grip (LR AWD)
- The range
- The tech
- The comfort & refinement
- The sound system
- Single pedal driving
- Being a part of an environmental shift

What has disappointed you?
- Autopilot - basic TACC is almost unusable. Much worse than cars at a quarter the price.
- Rear visibility (but I'm getting used to it).
- Auto wipers (OK in daytime, but almost useless at night)
- Auto lights (slow to change, false dipping caused by reflections from signs)
- Tesla customer service (or lack of it)
- Handover experience (rushed and cheap)

How are you managing with the range?
- Very well. 95% of my charging is at home overnight.
- Longer trips need a little planning, but never been below 30% yet

What home charging option do you have?
- Single phase dedicated charger - 32A / 7kW

What are your favourite features?
- The sound system
- The power and grip

What features annoy you the most?
- Autopilot - it's almost unusable and borderline dangerous

What do you most miss about an ICE car?
- The lack of worry about refueling options

What 2-3 small features would you suggest for inclusion in a future revision?
- Fix the wiper controls
- A basic TACC that works
- More voice commands (wipers, heater)

If you have FSD, do you use it and what’s your take?
- Don't have it. Wouldn't pay £6k for it given that the basic features in AP are unfit for purpose

Have you had to make changes to your normal driving habits?
- Not really.

Any major or minor issues with the car yet?
- Minor bumper misalignment
- Steering wheel slightly off centre
- Both booked at an SC next week

Anything those on the waiting list shouldn’t worry too much about?
- Not really. Most issues are exaggerated.

Buyer's remorse?
- None at all

 

[elecTED]

What has disappointed you?
- Autopilot - basic TACC is almost unusable. Much worse than cars at a quarter the price.

My biggest dissapointment too. The phantom breaking is potentially very dangerours in certain traffic conditions.

 

[MaDProFF]

I am a little disappointed by range, for my performance, even after I was thinking 240-280, and being told it would be roughly around that area, it is achievable, but not at the general pace I drive on motorways, but My figures were that I could do 200 miles max before I get back home, and for the most part it has been no problems, but I do think if I actually do 200 miles on a cold wet windy day driving at a normal pace etc, it will be very close call, uncomfortable close. It is not as efficient as I was expecting it to be.

I am disappointed how the rear camera for reversing after driving in wet conditions is pretty well useless, I nearly had to get out last night to clean it before reversing, as with dipped wing mirrors reversing in the dark, you cannot see behind you or each side. It is poor that there is no 360º view.

I am a little disappointed about no speed camera data base on the sat nav, most other manufactures have it now.

There are things that do need sorting / can be like the wipers in the wet,
Headlight adjustment, high beam assist seems to dip far too late when the oncoming car has weak poor dull halogen yellow bulbs.
Floor pan should not flex like it does at the back, and seems worse when in warmer weather, I do think it flexes on its own sometimes while driving.
I also get warnings where it has panicked for no reasons, but I used to get that in the Mercedes. just everyone just tells you how advanced the Tesla system is over all other car manufactures, and tbh I am not so sure it is.
I think the layout out of the main screen needs more info, and bigger text for somethings, more one touch buttons.
To be able to turn the car off with one button and just sit in it with music a/c on, the other night I had to wait in the car, and the head lights are on all the time.

I cannot comment on the FSD never use it, although was a little disappointed it could not reverse into a parking space the other night, but tbh was not expecting it to be able to.

I think I am most impressed by the cars wet grip, the tyres are the best I have ever had for wet and poor condition driving.
It is really impressive by how much Tesla can change by just software updates and hopefully will do in the future.

The Car in general is what I expected so that is all good, I really enjoy driving it, it is just the little things that need to be and hope to be improved.

Overall I really please to drive it, and so far a good choice.

 

[ACarneiro]

My biggest dissapointment too. The phantom breaking is potentially very dangerours in certain traffic conditions.

Since v10 was installed on mine, there has been noticeably less phantom braking. It’s actually useable on the motorway now, I wasn’t even bothering to turn it on before...

 

[NorfolkMustard]

To be able to turn the car off with one button and just sit in it with music a/c on, the other night I had to wait in the car, and the head lights are on all the time.

open the driver's door and lift your bum off the seat the lights will go off then /voe

 

[MOBB]

To the lucky 250 or so, it’s been around a month since you took delivery of a M3.

Would you be able to share your real-world owning/driving experience of the M3 please?

Had my white performance for a month now;

What has delighted you?
- the stupid acceleration
- the general niceness of the drive
- the comfort

What has disappointed you?
- auto wipers are poor
- the live traffic sat nav is very inaccurate

How are you managing with the range?
- fine, my journeys are generally 50 miles or less so nowhere near range anxiety. I do however use 80 miles to travel 50 oops

What home charging option do you have?
- 3 pin currently as I am about to live house, will add a charger to the new house, though I suspect we could do without it

What are your favourite features?
- Netflix for when I’m bored
- brake regen
- heat car from phone

What features annoy you the most?
- wipers
- wipers
- wipers

What do you most miss about an ICE car?
- noise of my CLS63 AMG. Nothing else

What 2-3 small features would you suggest for inclusion in a future revision?
- press wiper button multiple times for different settings
- proper google map data

If you have FSD, do you use it and what’s your take?
- nope, not remotely interested as I believe it will never be fit for purpose

Have you had to make changes to your normal driving habits?
- not than I can think of

Any major or minor issues with the car yet?
- small bit of damage on collection

Anything those on the waiting list shouldn’t worry too much about?
- what is “wait”? Mine took 3 weeks........

Thanks a lot for your valued feedback!

 

[MidhurstNigel]

Positive - I really love the regen braking built into the accelerator. I knew it existed before I took delivery, but never really thought about it. A few weeks of practice and I really love it. Just ease off the accelator and you can time your approach to corners to perfection without touching the brakes. I think I've become a better observer of village speed liimits - easing off the 'go' pedal seems quite natural as you approach a 30 limit. Negative - auto windscreen wipers total c**p

 

[Keeper]

The overall concept is fantastic. I love the thought of never going to a BP or Shell filling station ever again. Having information about how i use the vehicle - stats and data, albeit through 3rd party apps, is very informative. Not into FSD yet. I’ve used it but think it’s probably not designed for the the short trip UK road system or motoring style. I like the regen braking too. The acceleration and speed is awesome but probably wasted on me. Like my white seats a lot.

I am less convinced about the centre screen and the inability to use it other than touch screen. I find that I have to take my eyes off the road to look at the screen longer to achieve a simple operation than I did any other previous car. I expect that this will eventually end up in front of the driver as a HUD or a built it monitor. Commands will be undertaken using mouse type functions hopefully. There should be no reason to take the hands off of the steering wheel to say, find and change a radio station. It’s crazy for example that the song list on Spotify doesn’t scroll down automatically as the songs are played or that they could be scrolled using the steering wheel buttons. To do this you have to look and scroll down with your left hand! Not safe.

Don’t know why but the the car seems fragile in comparison to my previous cars. Like all American cars - I wonder how long it will last. I can still see primer paint if I look carefully - that seems wrong. The handover wasn’t great but I understand the reason for it but I didn’t like the fact that spec items that I thought were included in my price were not - frunk carpet and homelink. Minor issues but they left me feeling I had been done.

I think knowing now what I know I would probably buy an Model S, probably a used one. They look like they are stronger built. I like the mix of conventionality of the interior combined with the technology and I like it’s hatchback for practicality. But I’ve made my choice and I’ll give it a go.

 

[Obliter8]

What has delighted you?
- The power and grip (P)
- The range - 200 miles real world for me, the other car is a Zoe which gets 120 Max. Super charging makes the longest trips really achievable
- The tech, and the frequent updates
- The comfort & refinement
- The sound system
- Single pedal driving
- Being a part of an environmental shift
- The app is rock solid, and I can easily access so many useful features on the car

What has disappointed you?
- Autopilot - TACC is in some ways better than my previous cars, but can be incredibly nervous. On a quiet motorway the car will look after itself, and the drive is incredibly relaxing. It's a shame that lorries freak it right out.
- Auto wipers - too slow to react, but ceramic coating the windscreen minimises the problem, and the button to activate is so easy to use
- Auto lights (slow to change, false dipping caused by reflections from signs)
- Tesla customer service (or lack of it)
- Handover experience (rushed and cheap
- Sentry power consumption and lack of easy viewing options. I hate how long it takes to review the footage

How are you managing with the range?
- Very well. Super chargers are common enough, and usually available when I need them. Rest charged at home.

What home charging option do you have?
- Single phase dedicated charger - 32A / 7kW

What are your favourite features?
- The sound system
- The power and grip

What features annoy you the most?
- Sentry - got to be a better way to review/triage files
- App unlock - works 99% of the time, doesn't at the most annoying moments

What do you most miss about an ICE car?
- not a damn thing

What 2-3 small features would you suggest for inclusion in a future revision?
- More voice commands (wipers, heater)
- Improve wiper responsiveness
- Improve Spotify searching

If you have FSD, do you use it and what’s your take?
- Have it, wish we got what the US gets

Have you had to make changes to your normal driving habits?
- am trying to calm down - the instant power can make you too confident

Any major or minor issues with the car yet?
- bug damage to paintwork from transport
- UMC didn't work, replaced
- condensation in rear light

Anything those on the waiting list shouldn’t worry too much about?
- Not really. Most issues are exaggerated.

Buyer's remorse?
- None at all

 

[Yev000]

Have to agree with the others on all parts. I personally don't dislike autopilot/TACC as much, but I'm coming from an older car so maybe not as spoilt

Would like to add my pet annoyance as well:

Car auto-locks with people inside.

The scenario is, I get out, unlock the house (2 meters away), by the time I get back to the car to get the kids out it locks right in front of me. Pulling the handle straight away does not unlock it. There seems to be some kinds of bluetooth delay to unlock it straight away. Bluetooth in general is a really unreliable way to lock/unlock the car, I quite often have to restart my bluetooth for it to work.

So far the only solution I've found was to leave one of the door slightly unlocked or leave the phone in the car. Both not ideal.

Really, maybe it's a booster seat thing and it just doesn't detect kids as well.

It is still slightly annoying when I'm by myself, when it locked while I was getting stuff out of the house.

 

[elecTED]

Did our first longish distance overnight trip last week. Car was full of luggage and passengers. Distance of 110miles (Around 80 motorway miles) driving at approx 75mph took range from 230 to 60 so around 170 battery miles. On way back (a little faster and extra load) started at 165miles and had to top at super charger (added 45 miles) and came back home with 20 miles. So journey used up around 190 battery miles. A bit more range used then I was expecting for both journeys.

Cold weather, heavier loads and faster speeds defo kills range fast.

So overall a successful experience in our M3 sr+ (had the luxury to granny charge at in-laws over a couple of days) but If I did the same trip as I normally would have done with an ice car (ie, a bit faster, more aggressive use of accelerator and brakes etc) then I can imagine the range really dropping down even faster.

Perhaps a positive by-product of driving an EV, especially longer distances, is it makes you a little more mellow and take life at a more gentle pace on the roads!