Review of my first EV after 10 days and the first roadtrip (2023 Model Y Performance)

I always enjoyed reading everyone's "personal reviews" of their new cars after having them for a bit, and the way they adjust to EV life. I just finished the first road trip with mine so I decided to write one up.

Background​

My background (because I think that's important context when someone's judging something): I'm a software architect and sometime-entrepreneur who is also a car nerd. I follow the car industry very closely and probably definitely drive people nuts because I am fascinated by the little details of how cars are designed and built...I've been a fan of Doug DeMuro's for years because I similarly love all the little quirks designed into cars and am always interested to learn the history/"why" something is designed a certain way. Even before Tesla showed up with their new way of doing automotive software, I would talk the ear off anyone who would listen about how car makers needed to modernize their approach to software. I used to fill notebooks with car drawings as a kid. I do autocross racing. My useless skill is that I can identify nearly any car built since the mid-1980s just by its headlight design. I've owned Dodge, Ford, VW, Honda, Kia, Acura, Lexus, BMW. And driven many more besides.

Why did I choose a Tesla? A combination of (1) the aforementioned software contributing to a better/slicker user experience, (2) styling suits me (both outside and in...mostly), and (3) value. I'd been eyeing an EV for a few years, and when Tesla dropped prices, plus the federal tax credit, plus my BMW 340i was starting to have electrical...gremlins...that no one could hunt down (German car tax), I decided it was time. In an ideal world I would have bought a Model S, but I just couldn't find an additional $45k+ of car there over the Model Y to justify it to myself.

Why a Performance model? Because...uh...zoom zoom? My wife, however, has banned me from flooring it while she's in the car...it's too violent for her (would hate to see her in an MS Plaid). It's not our primary roadtrip vehicle so I'm not too concerned about maximizing range most of the time. And I tend to buy go-fast cars. So I ordered a Performance in Midnight Blue Metallic with a white interior and the tow hitch. No FSD. Ordered July 25, delivered Aug 12.

Initial Impressions​

Delivery was fast and easy — love doing everything in the app. Fit and finish was pretty good, just a few very tiny chips in the front bumper (can hardly even see them unless you really stick your face in) and that was pretty much it. The local delivery center did a poor job prepping it though — polishing compound was everywhere and there was still sticky residue from shipping material on the bumpers.

I will say, the paint quality is atrocious — the worst I've ever seen on any car I've owned. Splotches/weird spots under the clearcoat everywhere, scratches, a few nibs, even what appears to be a slight "undersprayed" area on the hatch (like it didn't quite get enough paint). Unlikely that anyone will ever notice it, and I'm not willing to risk them making it worse by repainting, but still it's disappointing. Truly terribly paint quality. My mid-90s Dodge — truly a paragon of quality manufacturing — had way better paint than this Tesla. I'm a reasonably good DIY detailer, but even after I did clay bar, a two-stage polish, and ceramic...the paint is just okay at best.

As for the car in general, it's pretty much everything I hoped it would be — quiet, fast, good-looking, slick tech (mostly), pretty good sound system, good UX on everything from walk-away-locking to the charging experience. Spacious (especially compared to my snug 3 series). Tons of storage for the footprint. The minimalist interior suits me — I'm a bit of a minimalist where possible in my life, I like things with clean lines and not cluttered, so for the most part the interior works for me. But I do wish there was a HUD with at least some basic info (speed, turn signals). And ventilated seats. Really, really wish there was ventilated seats. It's hitting 107 heat index here this week in the midwest. I wish for that even more than CarPlay.

The ride in the Performance, while firm, is better than I expected (I didn't get a chance to do an extended test drive in a Performance because the Indianapolis Tesla center doesn't offer them for test drives — I just got to spend 5 minutes in a neighbors'). It's firm, but solid and (mostly) planted feeling. Many types of imperfections are reasonably well damped. It's over smaller imperfections that they still have some work to do...and when there's lots of small imperfections in a row, it does feel too busy. Drive this thing on a brick road like I did in East Grand Rapids and it sucks. But overall pretty good. I'll probably upsize the tire width when it's time to replace them and get a little bit more compliance out of a less-stretched sidewall.

And of course it's stupid fast for a midsize crossover. The kids think it's hilarious. It's terrifying to think of teenagers driving these things. I was hooligan when I was 18 and borrowed my neighbor's BMW 540i for prom...and that thing was nowhere near as fast as a base Tesla these days, let alone a Performance model.

The Roadtrip — charging and Autopilot experiences​

On the 6th day of ownership, I took it on a 230ish mile (each way) road trip from Indianapolis to the Holland/Grand Rapids, MI area. Up on a Friday, back on Saturday. This was my first trip in an EV. I used the Tessie app to schedule an automation that changed the charge limit to 100% at about 5 am (from 80%), which got the car charged up to 100% before I left at 9am using my Tesla Wall Charger I installed in the garage.

The route, using the "Drives" I did over those two days mapped in Tessie:

I wanted to show a version of that map with the Superchargers that I used marked, but the charging map view in Tessie doesn't seem to be working.

Autopilot..ish​

On the way, I tried out whatever flavor of Enhanced Autopilot/FSD I have on free trial (it's a HW4 car, so I don't have the latest FSD Beta, as far as I know)...I hang out on this forum too much and I still don't know what version of this service I technically have right now. Anyway, I turned on all the Autopilot options I could, and tried to use it. Observations from the trip:

• A couple of times, it aborted a lane change (initiated by me with the turn signal stalk) halfway through...the car swerved and canceled for no apparent reason. Alarming.
• Car's perception of things’ distance is jerky (like trucks) — is that truck next to me 5 feet away or 10 feet away? Dancing around on the screen.
• Couldn’t handle some of the construction lane shifts even though they were clearly marked with both cones/barrels and fresh paint. Some it did OK.
• Sometimes rode too close to the left line of my lane, close enough that I could tell the car next to me was feeling a little crowded.
• The attention nagger (apply force to the wheel) seemed totally random. Sometimes it would nag less than 5 seconds after I engaged Autopilot, sometimes it would go nearly a minute with me not touching the wheel and it wouldn't do anything. On that note, this is annoying...a capacitive sensor would be way nicer, just to know my hand is on the wheel, instead of having to apply force to it.
• The car would brake/slow down for yellow flashing intersection caution lights on US 31...far too much. It was dangerous because no one behind me is expecting me to slow down, and the car would decelerate quite suddenly (because it wouldn't "see" the lights until they were pretty close, relatively speaking, at 70mph). And then it seemed unsure if they were yellow or red lights sometimes.
• There was one spot the car was convinced there was a traffic signal and slowed down, where there hadn't been a traffic signal for a year (it is being converted to an overpass). And this is on the main north-south route through Indiana, not some side road.
• It was too slow to accelerate back up to the set speed after slowing down (because of a car in my lane or whatever). This resulted in me sitting in the left lane, very gradually coming back up to speed after another car had moved over, and irritating the people behind me. And this is the midwest, where drivers aren't anywhere near as aggressive as they are in many coastal cities.

All in all, it was pretty disappointing. Other than being able to do lane changes when I signaled, it was no really better than the driving aids in our 2021 Kia Telluride. And in some ways worse (for example, the Telluride doesn't slam on its brakes when I get near yellow flashing intersection lights on the highway). It was not relaxing.

Charging​

On the way up, I drove around 70 mph for a lot of the trip. I made it to the Superchargers at Meijer in Holland, 221 miles, without stopping (it would turn out every charging stop on this trip was at a Meijer, by coincidence), and with about 12% remaining on the battery. So extrapolating, that would suggest a 255 mile range with the driving conditions that day. Not bad.

When I arrived at my first charging stop (which was also near my destination), it was about lunch time, and I knew I was going to want plenty of charge for the around-town driving I was going to be doing the rest of the day in Holland, plus I needed to drive 30 miles to Grand Rapids for the night. So I let the car charge from 12 to 99% while I got some lunch and killed a little time. This took 1 hour and 2 minutes, and cost $28.86. I was a little surprised at how much it cost. That was actually about the same amount I would have spent on gas to go 230 miles in my turbocharged BMW which got around 34 mpg on the highway and drank $4/gal premium. And only a few $ less than what it would cost to cover the same distance in our big three-row Telluride that gets around 24 mpg at highway speeds.

Did my thing, stayed overnight at a friend's (didn't bother to plug the car in at their house, it would have been a 110V outlet). Overnight the battery dropped 3% because I left Sentry mode on (and maybe also because it got a bit cool that night? Around 50F). Given what happened the next day with time constraints, in hindsight I should have asked him for an extension cord and plugged it in.

On the way home, I was a bit rushed because I had to be back home by 3:15pm at the absolute latest and didn't get out the door in Grand Rapids until about 10:40am. Normally a 4 hour drive, in a gas car that would put me home around 2:40pm. I knew I'd have to charge, but I didn't completely mentally build in enough fudge factor for the reality that the charging stations were not optimally placed for me to only charge at a low state of charge — thus my charging speed would be slower. PLUS, I needed to get home with a certain amount of charge because I had to run errands after getting back.

On this route, there's a Supercharger "void" of 125 miles between Benton Harbor, MI, and Kokomo, IN (unless you really want to detour far off to the other side of South Bend instead of skirting around the west side it). This really limits your charging options.

Summary of the drive:

• Leave Grand Rapids at 74%
• Stop to charge in Benton Harbor (at a Meijer) at 35% -> charge to 76% (18 minutes, $12.87). This was as far as I could go, I wasn't going to make it to the next Supercharger otherwise.
• Realize that if I drive slowly (65-70) I can make it home, but won't arrive with enough charge to run errands. So I'm going to have to stop to charge again, which will take time...which means I need to drive faster (80), so now I definitely need to charge because driving faster is less efficient, which means I'll need to charge even more to make up for driving faster. Weird damned-if-you-do/don't situation.
• Stop in Kokomo to charge (also at a Meijer), 22% -> 55% (10 minutes, $10.73)
• Arrived home at 3:07pm with 30% SoC, enough to run my errands for the rest of the day and finish the day around 14%.

Every Supercharger I used was a 250kW, by the way.

So that was an experience. And I learned I have to do my own math or augment Tesla's route planning with something like A Better Route Planner (which I don't like because it's buggy) if I have to arrive with a certain state of charge. Everyone around here says "just set the destination and stop where it tells you"...well, yeah that will get you there, but if you need to be charged when you arrive and you're trying to arrive by a certain time...now you've got to think about longer/additional charging stops, the charging curve...things get more complicated. PLEASE Tesla, add an optional "State of charge at destination" parameter to route planning. This one addition, which could show the total travel time after accounting for a longer charging stop (and the associated charging curve), would be a huge quality of life upgrade.

Summary: Pros and Cons​

Pros​

• The car feels great to drive. Smooth, powerful, handles reasonably well for what it is.
• Love the ability to remote start the climate from my Apple Watch (using Tessie) from inside a store on a hot day.
• It was very comfortable for the 4+ hour road trip. Seats were great. It was quiet. Music streaming and bluetooth via my phone of audiobooks worked effortlessly.
• I am happy every time I get in it. The whole user experience is pretty good — removing little pieces of friction like having to lock/unlock, press a start button, turn the car off, the fact that everything from the driving settings to the vent position is tied with my driver profile...it all adds up to an easy/seamless experience.
• I no longer feel guilty if I need to talk a very short trip in the Tesla vs firing up a gas car. We live in a small suburb's downtown area, it's mostly walkable where nearly everything is within a mile or two of our house...but certain stores, while very close distance-wise, are not that walkable because you have to cross 5 lanes of traffic or it's just a little too far to want to walk when it's really hot.

Cons​

• Enhanced Autopilot/whatever watered-down version of FSD my HW4 car is currently running is barely better than a joke. In its current form, it's not any better (and in some ways is worse) then driving aids that have been available on mainstream automakers' cars for 4 or 5 years now. I know Tesla's continuing to invest heavily in development, and I am open to re-evaluating when the newest version becomes available for my car. But right now, I can't believe people pay extra for this.
• The parking aid/"sensor" functionality is also a joke, which I have ranted about in other threads. It's constantly off by multiple feet and the car's interpretation of its environment is sketchy at best. Probably the worst instance was when it freaked out because it thought I was going to hit...a painted white line on the pavement.
• Trip/charging planning isn't as powerful/flexible as I'd like it to be. You've got to do a fair amount of mental math and/or fiddle with third party tools like ABRP to make sure you can align desired arrival time and arrival state of charge (which is buggy when it comes to setting target departure/arrival times).
• Supercharging is expensive. Pretty much as expensive as gas, but is less convenient and takes longer.
• Ride is on the firm side, too "busy" on certain surfaces
• No cooled seats

I think that about sums it up! I may revisit/post an update after I've spent longer with the car. Like I said, I always found personal reviews interesting, especially as people adapted to an EV and thought about things they hadn't had to consider before (like in terms of planning roadtrips and stuff like that). So I hope this helps somebody.

Obligatory picture (pre-tint):

 

[Msicario]

Huh? I don't have 19s.

Sorry my bad; I was also reading the review of the gentleman that did a 12K mile road trip on his MYP.. first thing he did was change wheels/tires to 19’s..

Beautiful clean MYP .

 

[greatauror28]

Nice review!

I'm just going to comment about the AP nag - it varies depends on your current speed. Doing 40? It will nag you every 10 seconds. Doing 70? maybe after 30 seconds.

For the slow to accelerate in stop-and-go traffic, what was the distance you set it as? I find that it does this when I set it to 3 or 4 seconds apart.
Try setting it at 2 and you'll see it won't be as sluggish to accelerate and as hard to brake coming in to a stop.

Just my $0.02.

 

[Tronguy]

Couple of things.

First, what you have is what is currently called, "FSD". What it actually is in Enhanced Autopilot (EAP), which, on roads, gives you Lane Keep (LK), Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC), Navigate on Autopilot (Which mainly allows the car to take off ramps and, if that off ramp segues into another interstate, will navigate onto the other interstate), and the ability to change lanes when one taps the turn signal indicator. FSD adds the capability of stopping at stop signs and traffic lights, which is half-useful on local roads. There's some other stuff like summon and autopark. My SO's Model Y came with that trial; we ended up buying EAP a month or so after the trial expired.

Second: As far as the nag follies go, the comment about driving one-handed with one hand or the other at the 9 o'clock or 3 o'clock position does work. But doing that has always bothered me; I mean, driver's ed is big on Two Hands on the Wheel and, before Tesla, that's the way I drove. The problem with Two Hands on a Tesla is that it balances on the steering wheel and it doesn't see enough torque to keep the nag happy.

So, I've developed a scheme: With both hands on the steering wheel, gently torque the wheel back and forth with breathing. Do it enough, and it becomes a habit and one doesn't think about it any more.

Finally: Minor comment. In the 2018 M3 that's my daily driver I'm tootling around with the 11.4.4 version of FSD-b. Just so we're clear: FSD-b really is a Beta and very definitely isn't ready for Prime Time; Ma and Pa Sixpack shouldn't be driving a car like this. Those of us doing so realize (or ought to realize) that we're testers, looking for errors and reporting same back to the Mothership.

Having said that, there's no question that it's been in a state of steady improvement since a year-and-a-half ago. On local roads, it's not unusual to get 20+ miles or so without having to intervene, although those interventions, when they occur, can be hair raising. (Right now, the car tries to run this particular stop light. Not other ones, mind you, but this particular one, in either direction. Probably something about the LEDs in the stop light and their flicker frequency.)

Local roads are one thing. But interstates are another. You're car is running the same software stack that's been around for, what, two or three years now. On interstates FSD-b is on a full neural-network implemented thing at the moment. It switches lanes on its own and does a pretty good job of it, accelerating into the passing lane, keeping up with traffic, and switching out of the passing lanes pretty well. In my opinion it's a little slow getting over for an exit ramp, although it's mildly entertaining seeing it light up the two cars on the right it's planning to dive between a light blue color.. when the two of them are 50 yards up.

As far as your Supercharger follies go: I've driven quite a bit up and down the East Coast, including to Florida and back, and have been back and forth between here in NJ, Michigan (relatives) and tourism (Chicago, Louisville area, Mammoth Caves, etc.).

As a first cut, the SO and I just use the NoA and let it pick the SC's. Part of the reason for that is that there are reports that the Tesla Mothership runs Operations Research (OR) code in order to route Tesla's on trips to SCs that aren't overloaded. The other reason is that, as you've probably figured out by now, the NoA stuff tries to minimize one's travel time. That tends to mean showing up at an SC with 10% or less charge left, because it's at that point when the biggest slug of that 250 kW power to charge the car can be eaten. The NoA will sometimes have one stop for ten minutes (!) only because, really, it minimizes the time driving to do so.

The second cut is to check out What's Available at the SC when we get there, And How Does This Fit Around Lunch, anyway? These days, our tool of choice has been supercharge.info which, when one zooms in far enough, shows where the local eateries (or lack thereof) are; if it doesn't look good, or it's the fifteenth time we've eaten at that grease shop, we'll pick another. And tell the NoA that we're doing it.

Along these lines: At a 250 kW charger, it's only going to take 20 minutes or so before the car hits that 80% number and it's Time To Go. That's barely enough time to hit the bathroom. If one has been driving for six hours already, it's a bit nicer to sit down and eat rather than getting take-out and eating in the car. In which case, might as well let the car charge while one is doing so. Note: The slowdown this way isn't due to the car, it's the human occupants!

Good review.

 

[Chuck305]

@rogersmj thanks for sharing your experience. I recently test drove a Model Y with HW4 and noticed turn signal video was dangerously inaccurate. More specifically the video was delayed showing cars a good two cars behind me when they were actually in my blindspot and I could see the car pass me and the video was only showing it as just behind me. Did you experience this?

 

[rogersmj]

@rogersmj thanks for sharing your experience. I recently test drove a Model Y with HW4 and noticed turn signal video was dangerously inaccurate. More specifically the video was delayed showing cars a good two cars behind me when they were actually in my blindspot and I could see the car pass me and the video was only showing it as just behind me. Did you experience this?

You're saying there's significant lag in the blind spot camera video? No, I can't say I've noticed that, but I don't rely on those a whole lot. It's kind my third-level check...I do side mirror, followed by shoulder-glance, and only then will I sometimes glance at the camera feed. But I'll keep an eye out.

 

[Chuck305]

You're saying there's significant lag in the blind spot camera video? No, I can't say I've noticed that, but I don't rely on those a whole lot. It's kind my third-level check...I do side mirror, followed by shoulder-glance, and only then will I sometimes glance at the camera feed. But I'll keep an eye out.

Thanks for sharing. I didn't use it much when I had a M3P since the Tesla screen is in the center of the car and I have to turn my head and look down. In my current vehicle the blind spot/turn signal video displays on the dashboard in the standard position so it's more convenient to use and I find myself using often, but I do also use the side mirrors. I suppose when I return to Tesla I'll readjust as it also won't have 360 cam, cross traffic warning, and no longer has uss. cross traffic warning is very useful at Costco where people just pop up out of nowhere when your backing out of parking space LOL

 

[rogersmj]

I suppose when I return to Tesla I'll readjust as it also won't have 360 cam, cross traffic warning, and no longer has uss.

This line really just drove home to me how not-ahead of the curve Tesla is now with driver aids. So many people thinks Tesla's so advanced in this regard, but the hard truth is that these days they're behind, mostly. Our 2021 Kia Telluride has all these things and they all work fantastically. Cross-traffic alert is probably the one I miss the most, because yeah I agree...some people speed like madmen in parking lots and it's hard to see around a big Escalade parked next to you.

Still love my Tesla but that doesn't mean I can't point out their shortcomings. Hopefully some of this gets remedied with software updates but I'm not holding my breath that park assist features via cameras will be as good as USS anytime soon.

 

[Tronguy]

Um. As I may have mentioned, I'm tootling around these days in my daily driver, a 2018 M3 LR RWD from September of that year. I bought FSD a year or so after getting it for a sum far, far below what it goes for these days. Which also came with a HW3.0 computer upgrade. Further, I'm one of the hundred thousand or so FSD Beta testers.

<Warning> I've got to make this a standard. The Beta is good for both city streets and limited access highways, but is definitely not ready for Prime Time, although it's getting there. When using it, one is warned (and they're serious) to keep one's eyes out front and to stay alert because, in Tesla's words, "The car may do the worst thing at the wrong time." And they're not kidding. I've seen lots of that. </Warning>

Despite the warning, no question: When it's not malfunctioning and scaring the bejeezus out of people (which is, these days, most of the time) it does a very good job with the cameras, avoiding cars in the blind spots, avoiding speeders heading towards the blind spots, and all that. When driving down a city street and some driver on a right-angle road with a stop or a stop light is moving faster than the car likes, the car will slow down In Case of madness. Which can be disconcerting the first time one runs into this kind of reaction, but there it is.

The other thing the car does when on FSD/EAP is a decent job of panic braking. The one that really sticks in my mind is when the SO and I were in traffic on I-95 N in Connecticut. In that area, it's four or five lanes charging straight ahead in heavy traffic, roughly 55 mph, that being how CT residents and such roll. There was this pick-up truck who was Trying To Get Ahead and kept on switching lanes - first to the right, got ahead a bit, then that lane slowed down, he pulled into the lane I was in a few cars back, and continued to look for holes in traffic. Nothing unusual.

Suddenly, the Tesla started braking hard, then harder. I noticed traffic slowing in front of me (the car had noticed before me) and everything ground to a halt, not quite screeching the wheels in the process. I had let the car do its thing, with it stopping about 10' behind the car in front of ours. Both the SO and I reached up and patted, the dash, "Good boy! Here's a Scooby Snack!".

In the meantime, I checked the rear-view mirror to see what was happening to the rear. Said pick-up truck hadn't quite gotten the memo in time, although the cars behind me did. We were in the left-most lane; the pick-up truck, trying to avoid a collision, swerved left and ended up scraping both the left and right sides of the truck on the Jersey Barrier and a car, two cars behind me.

Close call, Traffic started moving again and I became a believer in Forward Collision Avoidance.

 

[Chuck305]

This line really just drove home to me how not-ahead of the curve Tesla is now with driver aids. So many people thinks Tesla's so advanced in this regard, but the hard truth is that these days they're behind, mostly. Our 2021 Kia Telluride has all these things and they all work fantastically. Cross-traffic alert is probably the one I miss the most, because yeah I agree...some people speed like madmen in parking lots and it's hard to see around a big Escalade parked next to you.

Still love my Tesla but that doesn't mean I can't point out their shortcomings. Hopefully some of this gets remedied with software updates but I'm not holding my breath that park assist features via cameras will be as good as USS anytime soon.

I agree. I currently have a Hyundai Santa Cruz so when I test drove the Model Y in some way it was a down grade. I'm now leaning towards a M3RWD as a daily commuter which is imo priced great. Just waiting for the 2024 to arrive.

 

[cindysue]

I always enjoyed reading everyone's "personal reviews" of their new cars after having them for a bit, and the way they adjust to EV life. I just finished the first road trip with mine so I decided to write one up.

Background​

My background (because I think that's important context when someone's judging something):

Excellent write-up. I especially enjoyed your backstory. Probably not much of a hooligan if your neighbor let an 18yo borrow their BMW 540i. Just sayin

My new Model3RWD is sitting in the driveway (2 months now) until I max out the miles on my current lease (bolt) in early/mid October. I’m planning a trip to Southern California in a month and it will be the first real drive in the ‘3‘ other than bringing it home from the dealership (45ish miles). I don’t have FSD or any extras on the car but I do appreciate your honest assessment. I thought about buying it for a month for the trip… so you saved me a few bucks and some serious disappointment/anxiety if I were to experience the same as you.

Cheers!

 

[cindysue]

Thanks for sharing. I didn't use it much when I had a M3P since the Tesla screen is in the center of the car and I have to turn my head and look down. In my current vehicle the blind spot/turn signal video displays on the dashboard in the standard position so it's more convenient to use and I find myself using often, but I do also use the side mirrors. I suppose when I return to Tesla I'll readjust as it also won't have 360 cam, cross traffic warning, and no longer has uss. cross traffic warning is very useful at Costco where people just pop up out of nowhere when your backing out of parking space LOL

This is my biggest gripe (so far). My Bolt has a second screen behind the steering wheel with basic driving info, which is a much better / safer design in my opinion.

 

[lencap]

Nice review - enjoy your car. When you search for SuperChargers I'd suggest using the on screen SuperCharger Icon to examine your choices. It will show the KWh charge for each location. As I drive across my state the rates vary from as low as $0.28/Kwh to as much as $0.40/Kwh. Depending on your choice the charge cost can vary quite a bit. Also, at least in my state, the state sales tax is added to the purchase. Gas stations display the "all in" cost, including Federal/State taxes. For EV charging it's an "add-on" undisclosed cost until you get through charging and see the total. That also narrows the advantage of EV versus gasoline travel.

Another unspecified cost is tire replacement. Tesla's are heavy with high torque and tire wear is not usually factored into mileage costs. A set or replacement tires on my 2018 Model 3 RWD was $1400, mounted/balanced, without an alignment. The original tires were all done before 30K miles. The Tesla team told me I did great getting that far, most are replaced by 25K miles, many even earlier. On the Performance Y 21" replacement tires will likely cost $2K or so. At 25K replacement intervals (that would be a VERY good wear rate) you'd add $0.08/mile for tires alone.

My KWh rate at home is a very reasonable $0.13/mile (incremental cost/KWh). With a 30K replacement range on the car (FAR above the norm) and a $1400 replacement cost, the tire wear was almost $0.05/mile. That's not earth shattering, but it's nearly 40% of the electricity cost. Home charging setups can cost $1K for a Tesla Wall Connector installed by an electrician (and permitted/inspected by the local municipality) on the low end, and potentially far more if you have to upgrade your electric service to higher amperage capacity or run a new circuit a long distance. It's especially challenging in condos where few boards are willing to install chargers, and if they do the EV buyer can wind up with far higher install costs than expected. Apartments are nearly impossible. So for many SuperChargers or private Level 2 companies become the norm (EVGO, ChargePoint and others are horrible - I've been there with other brands - see my signature).

Compared to SuperCharging, a hybrid running on regular gas with far lower tire costs will be significantly cheaper than a Tesla. That's not really the point - an Prius is as much fun to drive as a refrigerator (I've had 3 of them), and the Y Performance rivals any sports sedan, but the point is that the weakness of EVs becomes apparent when you're not driving locally and charging overnight at home. The added time to charge, combined with the unknown issues of Tesla opening their SuperChargers to Ford, GM, and others (all of those cars will charge far slower than the Tesla - taking more time at the SC and likely creating more delays), makes Tesla roadtrips doable, but not necessarily enjoyable or efficient.

Like you I've hoped that Tesla gave an option for having a certain state of charge for your destination, as well as allowing you to plug in multiple route destinations (point A to B, B to C, all in one trip) - that would allow the driver to decide if the suggested charging location was the best choice. Hopefully they read these posts and the suggestion make it to a future software update.

 

[rogersmj]

SuperChargers I'd suggest using the on screen SuperCharger Icon to examine your choices. It will show the KWh charge for each location. As I drive across my state the rates vary from as low as $0.28/Kwh to as much as $0.40/Kwh. Depending on your choice the charge cost can vary quite a bit.

Yep, I've figured that out. Doesn't really matter though because Supercharged density isn't all that high in the midwest, so it's not like I really have a choice in a lot of situations. It's not like gas stations where there's 5 within half a mile of each other. I don't really pay attention to the costs between Superchargers because it's only going to amount to a few dollars' difference in most cases and I'd probably have to really go out of my way.

On the Performance Y 21" replacement tires will likely cost $2K or so.

Yes, I'm used to buying high-end tires for my cars. Fortunately, I only put about 5k-7k miles per year on my car (if that) since I don't have a commute and it's not a our main road trip vehicle, so relatively short tire life doesn't bite me too bad.

My KWh rate at home is a very reasonable $0.13/mile (incremental cost/KWh)

My power cost at home averages $0.11/kWh, which if I did my math right, comes out to about $0.03/mile to charge at home or about $8 to "fill up" the car if it's virtually empty. Given that I'll almost always be charging at home, I'm thrilled with that.

 

[lencap]

Glad you're enjoying the car - it's a wonderful machine. One thing to experiment with is tire pressure. Originally Tesla had tire pressures pumped to 46PSI, later reducing it on newer models to 42PSI. Their aim was to maximize mileage, and the higher pressures helped, but at the expense of ride quality in many instances. I've driven the Y Performance many times, and found that even a 2 pound PSI difference has some impact on the ride/handling. I don't know the best spec for you, but given the tire profile, and your experience with performance cars/driving, I think you'll find a "sweet spot" as you put more time and miles on your car. Alignment is also critical, as I've found on both Teslas I've owned. Although Tesla doesn't address maximizing performance with various alignment changes, I'm pretty sure you'll notice the difference. I also enjoyed experimenting with the steering settings - Sport was my default, but in many situations it's too aggressive (adds to jittery feeling on some surfaces, especially concrete). That's what makes the Tesla so enjoyable - you essentially can tune it just the way you want.

I also had my tires rebalanced and aligned, and that helped to smooth out some issues. I didn't think it was necessary after only a few thousand miles, but it may be that the car wasn't fine tuned during assembly/delivery. It was a relatively inexpensive cost, and well worth it, at least for me. Tesla recommends tire rotation on a regular basis. It's likely not applicable to your car with staggered tires, but checking alignment may help improve wear.

The one shortcoming I've found is that the Tesla suspension isn't up to the refinement levels of most German cars, likely related to the Y's 4555 pound weight. My wife's BMW is more refined in day to day driving, and handles rebound and jitter far better. Needless to say it's hard for any car to be more planted and responsive than Porsche designs, but with some tuning and experience the differences can narrow.

Another thing to consider is that there is no spare tire, and no real place to put one. The optional Tesla tire repair kit wasn't what I expected after buying it. It's basic and not built to a high standard. It's better than nothing, but not by much. If you use the included foam sealer be prepared to replace your tire pressure sensors. Some people buy Jack Pads to keep in the car in case they need an emergency repair. Despite the higher price, and likely wait for service, I've relied upon Tesla's mobile service for emergencies. I only needed it once, but it was efficient and fixed the problem, even if it wasn't the least expensive solution. If Tesla locations are less plentiful in your area it may be worth checking into what options you have if you get a flat and need to rely upon their mobile support team.

Have fun! Your color is great!

 

[TesLEEZ]

Another thing to consider is that there is no spare tire, and no real place to put one. The optional Tesla tire repair kit wasn't what I expected after buying it. It's basic and not built to a high standard. It's better than nothing, but not by much. If you use the included foam sealer be prepared to replace your tire pressure sensors. Some people buy Jack Pads to keep in the car in case they need an emergency repair. Despite the higher price, and likely wait for service, I've relied upon Tesla's mobile service for emergencies. I only needed it once, but it was efficient and fixed the problem, even if it wasn't the least expensive solution. If Tesla locations are less plentiful in your area it may be worth checking into what options you have if you get a flat and need to rely upon their mobile support team.

Have fun! Your color is great!

Yes, I would only use the tire sealant as a last resort. Instead buy a tire plug kit and a jack kit. It's come in handy for myself as well as helping others plug a tire from nails and screws over the years. It's always my first resort and I only had to use a spare tire once because a nail hit the sidewall instead of the tread.

 

[levyharaivan]

I always enjoyed reading everyone's "personal reviews" of their new cars after having them for a bit, and the way they adjust to EV life. I just finished the first road trip with mine so I decided to write one up.

Background​

My background (because I think that's important context when someone's judging something): I'm a software architect and sometime-entrepreneur who is also a car nerd. I follow the car industry very closely and probably definitely drive people nuts because I am fascinated by the little details of how cars are designed and built...I've been a fan of Doug DeMuro's for years because I similarly love all the little quirks designed into cars and am always interested to learn the history/"why" something is designed a certain way. Even before Tesla showed up with their new way of doing automotive software, I would talk the ear off anyone who would listen about how car makers needed to modernize their approach to software. I used to fill notebooks with car drawings as a kid. I do autocross racing. My useless skill is that I can identify nearly any car built since the mid-1980s just by its headlight design. I've owned Dodge, Ford, VW, Honda, Kia, Acura, Lexus, BMW. And driven many more besides.

Why did I choose a Tesla? A combination of (1) the aforementioned software contributing to a better/slicker user experience, (2) styling suits me (both outside and in...mostly), and (3) value. I'd been eyeing an EV for a few years, and when Tesla dropped prices, plus the federal tax credit, plus my BMW 340i was starting to have electrical...gremlins...that no one could hunt down (German car tax), I decided it was time. In an ideal world I would have bought a Model S, but I just couldn't find an additional $45k+ of car there over the Model Y to justify it to myself.

Why a Performance model? Because...uh...zoom zoom? My wife, however, has banned me from flooring it while she's in the car...it's too violent for her (would hate to see her in an MS Plaid). It's not our primary roadtrip vehicle so I'm not too concerned about maximizing range most of the time. And I tend to buy go-fast cars. So I ordered a Performance in Midnight Blue Metallic with a white interior and the tow hitch. No FSD. Ordered July 25, delivered Aug 12.

Initial Impressions​

Delivery was fast and easy — love doing everything in the app. Fit and finish was pretty good, just a few very tiny chips in the front bumper (can hardly even see them unless you really stick your face in) and that was pretty much it. The local delivery center did a poor job prepping it though — polishing compound was everywhere and there was still sticky residue from shipping material on the bumpers.

I will say, the paint quality is atrocious — the worst I've ever seen on any car I've owned. Splotches/weird spots under the clearcoat everywhere, scratches, a few nibs, even what appears to be a slight "undersprayed" area on the hatch (like it didn't quite get enough paint). Unlikely that anyone will ever notice it, and I'm not willing to risk them making it worse by repainting, but still it's disappointing. Truly terribly paint quality. My mid-90s Dodge — truly a paragon of quality manufacturing — had way better paint than this Tesla. I'm a reasonably good DIY detailer, but even after I did clay bar, a two-stage polish, and ceramic...the paint is just okay at best.

As for the car in general, it's pretty much everything I hoped it would be — quiet, fast, good-looking, slick tech (mostly), pretty good sound system, good UX on everything from walk-away-locking to the charging experience. Spacious (especially compared to my snug 3 series). Tons of storage for the footprint. The minimalist interior suits me — I'm a bit of a minimalist where possible in my life, I like things with clean lines and not cluttered, so for the most part the interior works for me. But I do wish there was a HUD with at least some basic info (speed, turn signals). And ventilated seats. Really, really wish there was ventilated seats. It's hitting 107 heat index here this week in the midwest. I wish for that even more than CarPlay.

The ride in the Performance, while firm, is better than I expected (I didn't get a chance to do an extended test drive in a Performance because the Indianapolis Tesla center doesn't offer them for test drives — I just got to spend 5 minutes in a neighbors'). It's firm, but solid and (mostly) planted feeling. Many types of imperfections are reasonably well damped. It's over smaller imperfections that they still have some work to do...and when there's lots of small imperfections in a row, it does feel too busy. Drive this thing on a brick road like I did in East Grand Rapids and it sucks. But overall pretty good. I'll probably upsize the tire width when it's time to replace them and get a little bit more compliance out of a less-stretched sidewall.

And of course it's stupid fast for a midsize crossover. The kids think it's hilarious. It's terrifying to think of teenagers driving these things. I was hooligan when I was 18 and borrowed my neighbor's BMW 540i for prom...and that thing was nowhere near as fast as a base Tesla these days, let alone a Performance model.

The Roadtrip — charging and Autopilot experiences​

On the 6th day of ownership, I took it on a 230ish mile (each way) road trip from Indianapolis to the Holland/Grand Rapids, MI area. Up on a Friday, back on Saturday. This was my first trip in an EV. I used the Tessie app to schedule an automation that changed the charge limit to 100% at about 5 am (from 80%), which got the car charged up to 100% before I left at 9am using my Tesla Wall Charger I installed in the garage.

The route, using the "Drives" I did over those two days mapped in Tessie:

View attachment 967337

I wanted to show a version of that map with the Superchargers that I used marked, but the charging map view in Tessie doesn't seem to be working.

Autopilot..ish​

On the way, I tried out whatever flavor of Enhanced Autopilot/FSD I have on free trial (it's a HW4 car, so I don't have the latest FSD Beta, as far as I know)...I hang out on this forum too much and I still don't know what version of this service I technically have right now. Anyway, I turned on all the Autopilot options I could, and tried to use it. Observations from the trip:

• A couple of times, it aborted a lane change (initiated by me with the turn signal stalk) halfway through...the car swerved and canceled for no apparent reason. Alarming.
• Car's perception of things’ distance is jerky (like trucks) — is that truck next to me 5 feet away or 10 feet away? Dancing around on the screen.
• Couldn’t handle some of the construction lane shifts even though they were clearly marked with both cones/barrels and fresh paint. Some it did OK.
• Sometimes rode too close to the left line of my lane, close enough that I could tell the car next to me was feeling a little crowded.
• The attention nagger (apply force to the wheel) seemed totally random. Sometimes it would nag less than 5 seconds after I engaged Autopilot, sometimes it would go nearly a minute with me not touching the wheel and it wouldn't do anything. On that note, this is annoying...a capacitive sensor would be way nicer, just to know my hand is on the wheel, instead of having to apply force to it.
• The car would brake/slow down for yellow flashing intersection caution lights on US 31...far too much. It was dangerous because no one behind me is expecting me to slow down, and the car would decelerate quite suddenly (because it wouldn't "see" the lights until they were pretty close, relatively speaking, at 70mph). And then it seemed unsure if they were yellow or red lights sometimes.
• There was one spot the car was convinced there was a traffic signal and slowed down, where there hadn't been a traffic signal for a year (it is being converted to an overpass). And this is on the main north-south route through Indiana, not some side road.
• It was too slow to accelerate back up to the set speed after slowing down (because of a car in my lane or whatever). This resulted in me sitting in the left lane, very gradually coming back up to speed after another car had moved over, and irritating the people behind me. And this is the midwest, where drivers aren't anywhere near as aggressive as they are in many coastal cities.

All in all, it was pretty disappointing. Other than being able to do lane changes when I signaled, it was no really better than the driving aids in our 2021 Kia Telluride. And in some ways worse (for example, the Telluride doesn't slam on its brakes when I get near yellow flashing intersection lights on the highway). It was not relaxing.

Charging​

On the way up, I drove around 70 mph for a lot of the trip. I made it to the Superchargers at Meijer in Holland, 221 miles, without stopping (it would turn out every charging stop on this trip was at a Meijer, by coincidence), and with about 12% remaining on the battery. So extrapolating, that would suggest a 255 mile range with the driving conditions that day. Not bad.

When I arrived at my first charging stop (which was also near my destination), it was about lunch time, and I knew I was going to want plenty of charge for the around-town driving I was going to be doing the rest of the day in Holland, plus I needed to drive 30 miles to Grand Rapids for the night. So I let the car charge from 12 to 99% while I got some lunch and killed a little time. This took 1 hour and 2 minutes, and cost $28.86. I was a little surprised at how much it cost. That was actually about the same amount I would have spent on gas to go 230 miles in my turbocharged BMW which got around 34 mpg on the highway and drank $4/gal premium. And only a few $ less than what it would cost to cover the same distance in our big three-row Telluride that gets around 24 mpg at highway speeds.

Did my thing, stayed overnight at a friend's (didn't bother to plug the car in at their house, it would have been a 110V outlet). Overnight the battery dropped 3% because I left Sentry mode on (and maybe also because it got a bit cool that night? Around 50F). Given what happened the next day with time constraints, in hindsight I should have asked him for an extension cord and plugged it in.

On the way home, I was a bit rushed because I had to be back home by 3:15pm at the absolute latest and didn't get out the door in Grand Rapids until about 10:40am. Normally a 4 hour drive, in a gas car that would put me home around 2:40pm. I knew I'd have to charge, but I didn't completely mentally build in enough fudge factor for the reality that the charging stations were not optimally placed for me to only charge at a low state of charge — thus my charging speed would be slower. PLUS, I needed to get home with a certain amount of charge because I had to run errands after getting back.

On this route, there's a Supercharger "void" of 125 miles between Benton Harbor, MI, and Kokomo, IN (unless you really want to detour far off to the other side of South Bend instead of skirting around the west side it). This really limits your charging options.

Summary of the drive:

• Leave Grand Rapids at 74%
• Stop to charge in Benton Harbor (at a Meijer) at 35% -> charge to 76% (18 minutes, $12.87). This was as far as I could go, I wasn't going to make it to the next Supercharger otherwise.
• Realize that if I drive slowly (65-70) I can make it home, but won't arrive with enough charge to run errands. So I'm going to have to stop to charge again, which will take time...which means I need to drive faster (80), so now I definitely need to charge because driving faster is less efficient, which means I'll need to charge even more to make up for driving faster. Weird damned-if-you-do/don't situation.
• Stop in Kokomo to charge (also at a Meijer), 22% -> 55% (10 minutes, $10.73)
• Arrived home at 3:07pm with 30% SoC, enough to run my errands for the rest of the day and finish the day around 14%.

Every Supercharger I used was a 250kW, by the way.

So that was an experience. And I learned I have to do my own math or augment Tesla's route planning with something like A Better Route Planner (which I don't like because it's buggy) if I have to arrive with a certain state of charge. Everyone around here says "just set the destination and stop where it tells you"...well, yeah that will get you there, but if you need to be charged when you arrive and you're trying to arrive by a certain time...now you've got to think about longer/additional charging stops, the charging curve...things get more complicated. PLEASE Tesla, add an optional "State of charge at destination" parameter to route planning. This one addition, which could show the total travel time after accounting for a longer charging stop (and the associated charging curve), would be a huge quality of life upgrade.

Summary: Pros and Cons​

Pros​

• The car feels great to drive. Smooth, powerful, handles reasonably well for what it is.
• Love the ability to remote start the climate from my Apple Watch (using Tessie) from inside a store on a hot day.
• It was very comfortable for the 4+ hour road trip. Seats were great. It was quiet. Music streaming and bluetooth via my phone of audiobooks worked effortlessly.
• I am happy every time I get in it. The whole user experience is pretty good — removing little pieces of friction like having to lock/unlock, press a start button, turn the car off, the fact that everything from the driving settings to the vent position is tied with my driver profile...it all adds up to an easy/seamless experience.
• I no longer feel guilty if I need to talk a very short trip in the Tesla vs firing up a gas car. We live in a small suburb's downtown area, it's mostly walkable where nearly everything is within a mile or two of our house...but certain stores, while very close distance-wise, are not that walkable because you have to cross 5 lanes of traffic or it's just a little too far to want to walk when it's really hot.

Cons​

• Enhanced Autopilot/whatever watered-down version of FSD my HW4 car is currently running is barely better than a joke. In its current form, it's not any better (and in some ways is worse) then driving aids that have been available on mainstream automakers' cars for 4 or 5 years now. I know Tesla's continuing to invest heavily in development, and I am open to re-evaluating when the newest version becomes available for my car. But right now, I can't believe people pay extra for this.
• The parking aid/"sensor" functionality is also a joke, which I have ranted about in other threads. It's constantly off by multiple feet and the car's interpretation of its environment is sketchy at best. Probably the worst instance was when it freaked out because it thought I was going to hit...a painted white line on the pavement.
• Trip/charging planning isn't as powerful/flexible as I'd like it to be. You've got to do a fair amount of mental math and/or fiddle with third party tools like ABRP to make sure you can align desired arrival time and arrival state of charge (which is buggy when it comes to setting target departure/arrival times).
• Supercharging is expensive. Pretty much as expensive as gas, but is less convenient and takes longer.
• Ride is on the firm side, too "busy" on certain surfaces
• No cooled seats

I think that about sums it up! I may revisit/post an update after I've spent longer with the car. Like I said, I always found personal reviews interesting, especially as people adapted to an EV and thought about things they hadn't had to consider before (like in terms of planning roadtrips and stuff like that). So I hope this helps somebody.

Obligatory picture (pre-tint):

View attachment 967345

Awesome review, I drove my M3 from Atlanta to Nashville and now want to make a writeup like yours

 

[Midpack]

Another unspecified cost is tire replacement. Tesla's are heavy with high torque and tire wear is not usually factored into mileage costs.

one shortcoming I've found is that the Tesla suspension isn't up to the refinement levels of most German cars, likely related to the Y's 4555 pound weight. My wife's BMW is more refined in day to day driving, and handles rebound and jitter far better. Needless to say it's hard for any car to be more planted and responsive than Porsche designs, but with some tuning and experience the differences can narrow.

I keep reading about Teslas going through tires, and that being attributed to weight. But when I look at the weights of other comparable vehicles, Teslas are not that different?

I don't know which model we should consider comparable, but a BMW X3 is 4079 lbs and the X5 is 4919 lbs - not that radically different?

I plan to buy a MYLR later this year, and it weighs about 300 lbs or 7% more than my Hyundai Santa Fe. Must be more to it than weight WRT Teslas? And if it's the high torque, I would think that depends on how the car is driven...

 

[kpanda17]

I keep reading about Teslas going through tires, and that being attributed to weight. But when I look at the weights of other comparable vehicles, Teslas are not that different?

I don't know which model we should consider comparable, but a BMW X3 is 4079 lbs and the X5 is 4919 lbs - not that radically different?

I plan to buy a MYLR later this year, and it weighs about 300 lbs or 7% more than my Hyundai Santa Fe. Must be more to it than weight WRT Teslas? And if it's the high torque, I would think that depends on how the car is driven...

EV tire design is different in addition to designing for weight, they have to be designed for
Quietness, no motor noise to mask rhe tire/road noise
Range whereas ICE vehicles are not as sensitive to rolling resistance
In summary, EV tires are designed with advancements and compromises of quiet, range, weather, weight and traction or grip (sports vs all season)
Think we are on gen 3 EV tires vs many more generations for ICE tires
EV tires are much less mature

 

[Tronguy]

I keep reading about Teslas going through tires, and that being attributed to weight. But when I look at the weights of other comparable vehicles, Teslas are not that different?

I don't know which model we should consider comparable, but a BMW X3 is 4079 lbs and the X5 is 4919 lbs - not that radically different?

I plan to buy a MYLR later this year, and it weighs about 300 lbs or 7% more than my Hyundai Santa Fe. Must be more to it than weight WRT Teslas? And if it's the high torque, I would think that depends on how the car is driven...

Interesting question.

So, got a 2018 M3 LR RWD. Came with Michelins.

Around 20,000 miles in 2020 the tires needed replacement: Ye olde penny test said so.

Odd, said I. New tires of the same make and model had something like a 40,000 or 60,000 mile warranty. So, went and looked at the tire warranty. It actually had those bigger numbers in it. But then it said, "If sold by the OEM (i.e., Tesla), the warranty is good for" some much smaller number than 20k miles.

Mind you, these were the, "noise dampening" tires that have foam on the inside of the belt.

So, went looking for a new set. I kind of like Michelins, have had them on other cars, and Tire Rack had some well-rated ones (Cross-Climate II) for a decent price. Ordered them, got them mounted at AAA, and have been running with them ever since.

These tires have got that same warranty, but the long range (40k or 60k, I forget) definitely applies to me. But with the tires having 40k miles on them, at this time, they are nowhere near wearing out. Maybe 60%, 50% of the tread left.

Funny thing. I've been in the habit for decades now of buying cars new, then running them into the ground, then buying another new one, etc. But in, I think, every case, the tires that came with the new cars definitely didn't last all that long, but the replacements I bought, later, did.

 

[muru]

Found easy option without jerking for tesla for applying pressure warning go away. Whenever i get blue screen, just increase the speed and decrease it back. This is plan avoid the jerk rather changing the speed force computer your hands on steering removes the warning away.

With respect FSD/Enhanced Auto pilot, Tesla has prove current car with basic car autopilot should work properly

1. Don't think highway signs as speed limit and reduce speed set without any warnings
2. Unwanted Ghost braking, above option mentioned every 5 mins changing speed limit +/- 1mph avoided this problem.
3. Lane change slow down is pretty bad after current update. I can feel the slow down everytime when i am trying overtake somebody.