I can't say much about how an M3 without autopilot handles itself.
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As to cross traffic warnings at the rear that use radar, that's not how it's set up, I believe it's because the radar points frontward to provide more significant capabilities.
We can compare pros and cons of different cars, they all will be short of one thing or another. It's not a matter of being a fanboy, but objectively overall the Tesla does more.
But here's the thing, Tesla is only objectively *better/safer* ("does more"?) if one's goal is to someday not have to drive the car.
Before this thread, I couldn't rationalize the idiosyncrasies between this and every other car I've owned over the past decade or so. They're little things, but irritating nonetheless, and many relate to "safety" features (such as having no wiper stock or traditional rain sensor, so that the automatic wipers don't work well enough to be counted on (depending on lighting conditions and at least in the PNW?), so you're left fumbling with manual settings on the screen while it's dark and raining).
But now it all makes sense. I bought a self-driving wannabe car that makes no bones about being not designed for actual "driving" (other than as a "stop gap" measure until the robo-taxi fleet is ready).
I'm a little embarrassed to say I didn't even realize it until this thread, but it's also not like the differences were marketed to me ("Tesla, the car company that is so safety focused we didn't build in a cross traffic alert system because someday (as "summon" isn't available in Canada yet, even in beta as far as I understand) someone with an option you didn't buy, and have no interest in, won't have to worry about driving the car, let alone fussing around with backing it out").
I guess it boils down to picking the right horse for the course. I used to really like how my old car's headlights would follow the road, and how it had side lights that would kick in when I made a sharp turn, or how it would alert me--and stop my car if need be--if I was backing up when a car or cyclist was going past that I couldn't see, particularly at night. Or how I could turn the radio off--and have it stay off when the car turned back on--with the bush of a knob. Same goes for my yellow blind spot warning light--or turn signal for other drivers--on my mirror. None of those are particularly earth-shattering safety features, and I haven't got into an accident because of the lack of them on the Tesla, but they enhanced my "driving" experience.
Bottom line is that you're quite right, though. There's no point reminiscing about the past, and that I should be looking to the future (next few years hopefully), particularly now that I know that many features I miss in my Tesla haven't been overlooked, they've been designed out.
