Tempted, very tempted

[drtimhill]

It's a big chunk of money of course, but in your circumstances if you can stretch for it I would go for the LR. First, you will be MUCH more relaxed about range anxiety, and second I suspect (though I dont have numbers to back this up) that LR models have a better resale return (more desirable).

As for the regen, yes it seems odd at first. but once you get muscle memory (a few days) you won't even think about it, except when you get back in an ICE car and expect it to do the same!

 

[Sinx]

Many thanks for all the replies - very useful, and a lot of food for thought.

The heart definitely wants the LR but the head was saying that I could manage with the SR - but the heart is now saying that if I'm going to shell out this much cash, I don't really want to just manage ..... I'll think on it further!

 

[drtimhill]

Many thanks for all the replies - very useful, and a lot of food for thought.

The heart definitely wants the LR but the head was saying that I could manage with the SR - but the heart is now saying that if I'm going to shell out this much cash, I don't really want to just manage ..... I'll think on it further!

One other note: The battery is pretty damn robust on the M3, but there is no doubt if you want to really maintain it at peak condition as long as possible, its best to keep SoC (state of charge) in the 30% to 80% range (some would say 70%), and the LR would help you do this compared to the SR+. Don't get freaky over this; going over/below these ideal limits from time to time isnt a bug deal at all, but if every single day you went from (say) 90% to 20% then yeah you would be looking at losing some battery range after a few years.

 

[booyaka76]

Top up before and after every day !!! That will get old quick. 3 months is nothing. My time is more valuable. Sounds like your losing a half hour of your life every day. Because you cheaped out. Depending on when you sell trade you’ll get some of that back.

More range is more convenient. Period.

There are cases that it doesn’t make sense where people can charge free at work and have 10 mile commutes. Your example is a perfect case not to get an SR. But you did any way.

I never said anything about topping up each and every day......

Think you need to re-read what I posted....

Of course in a perfect world every one would be driving Performance/LR - however, that's not always the case

And personal attacks/insults on whether I "cheaped out" can be kept to yourself.....What an idiotic thing to say.....Highly offensive.

 

[mswlogo]

I never said anything about topping up each and every day......

Think you need to re-read what I posted....

Of course in a perfect world every one would be driving Performance/LR - however, that's not always the case

And personal attacks/insults on whether I "cheaped out" can be kept to yourself.....What an idiotic thing to say.....Highly offensive.

Sorry I misread "in a day" as "a day".

Don't get your panties all bunched up. I "cheap out" on lots of stuff. Just not on range Oh, and I get my panties bunched up too.

So basically, since you didn't say how often you do 250 mile days your post doesn't say a whole lot if a Short Range makes sense or not.

 

[gangzoom]

My other quandary is whether to go for the LR rather than the SR+ …. really just for that extra bit of range and thinking well into the future when it comes to battery degradation/range loss - I'm not sure the differences in the interior spec and the extra performance really justify the extra £8.5k?

I’m fairly sold on the M3 but I think it’s just the fear of stepping into the unknown!

SR+ 3 has essentially the same if not a bit more range than our 75D X, we do a regular 300 mile round trip - with destinationation charging, Leicester to Cardiff, and we are now coming up to covering 45k over 3 years. I can count on one hand the number of times I wished I had more range, and the lowest state of charge I've arrived home with is just under 10%.

HOWEVER the cost difference between our 75D (SR) X and 100D (LR) X at the time was just shy of £16kish, and real life range difference was around 50-70 miles, so over £250/mile, which for us was far too much to pay, but for many others wasn't.

The price/range difference ratio on the 3 is much better, and ultimately it comes down to personal finance. £8k will be pocket money for many Tesla owners, for others its a good few years saving, only you know how much or how little £8k is to you.

But which ever 3 you buy you will love it, Tesla have come a long way from the true pioneers who stumped near 6 figure sums for a converted Lotus Elise!!

There is nothing to fear, quite the opposite, forget the past and welcome to a new world of motoring!!

 

[mswlogo]

We never see a post that says "darn, I bought too big a battery, I have to much range left now that I am here. What do I do now?"

Or wish I had one less motor. Or wish I had a worse Sound System.

I've only ever regretted not getting an option. Never regretted getting an extra option. You'll quickly forget how much you paid for it.

It's a shame though that the RWD LR are not available. Which even gets better range and AWD might not be needed for the OP.

 

[ME_UK]

We couldn't afford the LR, and I have a 100 mile round trip commute every day - with occasional 200 mile round trips too. So far had no trouble at all with range - although you're right in that it will drop to around 180 at zero degrees.

The short term range anxiety has been well worth it for the savings in fuel (my SR+ costs less per month to run that my Mini did) and have not yet had any issue finding a charge point when I've wanted one.

Many overestimate the inconvenience of stopping to charge - the reality is that a Supercharger is going to put plenty of range on the car while you go and get a coffee and come back, and many car parks near us now have free charging.

Yes - a bit of prior planning is needed for longer trips, but I charge to 90% at home overnight, and 100% for the longer trips and so far have had zero regrets. The cost saving, environment saving, smooth drive, autopilot, acceleration etc. all far outweigh the slight change in behavior needed for long trips, and at 20k per year you'll see significant savings.

 

[MrBadger]

It's a shame though that the RWD LR are not available. Which even gets better range and AWD might not be needed for the OP.

Agree on that. RWD LR was the sweet spot and I was very disapointed when Tesla removed that option (it was never offered in UK). Adding dual motor effectively doubled the price of the LR option. But then, it took the decision away from us as to whether we wanted AWD or not - couple of days a year it would be very handy as we live in a very hilly area.

As to compromise, everyone is different as to what compromises they are prepared to make. This was ours on a recent 2 day, 400 odd mile trip we recently did, everything else equal would have required an extra stop (2+1) and extra 2 on return (1+2) leg has we had an SR, however this only added about 30 minutes to charge time but nearly hour on trip. Both assume an overnight destination charge when in practice, we didn't have overnight destination charger available so I needed to supercharge first thing instead - not included in the above. If we were in an ICE, we would probably not have made one of the outbound stops.

My personal opinion is that if you are just doing out and back trips, then SR is probably fine if you have suitable charging available, but if you are staying away for longer periods where charging is slow or not so readably available, then LR will keep compromises to a minimum - we spend significant time on south coast (notoriously sparse for charging) with no opportunity to overnight charge - even with LR charging is/will be a big compromise, with a SR the charging would be been a right PITA. For us, LR allowed us to replace our main family car. SR wouldn't have allowed us to do that.

Below was above trip planned for wet weather. It was actually dry so our Wh/mi was actually around 280Wh/mile. As a result, we didn't charge quite so extreme, eg Warwick (N) 47-70% 12mins, Telford 45-95% 36mins, Warwick (S) 36-93% 37mins (and that also included some unplanned driving around whilst at destination 2).

 

[Jason71]

Agree on that. RWD LR was the sweet spot and I was very disapointed when Tesla removed that option (it was never offered in UK). Adding dual motor effectively doubled the price of the LR option. But then, it took the decision away from us as to whether we wanted AWD or not - couple of days a year it would be very handy as we live in a very hilly area.

As to compromise, everyone is different as to what compromises they are prepared to make. This was ours on a recent 2 day, 400 odd mile trip we recently did, everything else equal would have required an extra stop (2+1) and extra 2 on return (1+2) leg has we had an SR, however this only added about 30 minutes to charge time but nearly hour on trip. Both assume an overnight destination charge when in practice, we didn't have overnight destination charger available so I needed to supercharge first thing instead - not included in the above. If we were in an ICE, we would probably not have made one of the outbound stops.

My personal opinion is that if you are just doing out and back trips, then SR is probably fine if you have suitable charging available, but if you are staying away for longer periods where charging is slow or not so readably available, then LR will keep compromises to a minimum - we spend significant time on south coast (notoriously sparse for charging) with no opportunity to overnight charge - even with LR charging is/will be a big compromise, with a SR the charging would be been a right PITA. For us, LR allowed us to replace our main family car. SR wouldn't have allowed us to do that.

Below was above trip planned for wet weather. It was actually dry so our Wh/mi was actually around 280Wh/mile. As a result, we didn't charge quite so extreme, eg Warwick (N) 47-70% 12mins, Telford 45-95% 36mins, Warwick (S) 36-93% 37mins (and that also included some unplanned driving around whilst at destination 2).

View attachment 496978

View attachment 496977

I have not done much motorway driving in my LR yet but I don't believe that rain would make a 100w/m difference. The ABRP estimate looks a bit pessimistic to me but the actual of 280w/m that you got is pretty good.
In my experience rain makes no difference in practice because when it rains I have to drive more slowly and that pretty much balances out the increase in rolling resistance etc.

 

[gangzoom]

My personal opinion is that if you are just doing out and back trips, then SR is probably fine if you have suitable charging available, but if you are staying away for longer periods where charging is slow or not so readably available, then LR will keep compromises to a minimum

When we have to go to destination with no charging we just take the combustion car. 400 miles+ range even in rain, sub zero temps, doing 80mph+ all day/night going which ever route you want (versus seeking out chargers), climate control on what ever temp you want etc.

In some situations combustion cars remain much mote convenient and sensible choice.

 

[Adopado]

The LR v SR+ decision for many people will be more of a psychological thing. I have the SR+ and it's quick and drives superbly. It was about 3 times more than I ever spent on a car so it was really pushing my limits of what I would ever be prepared to shell out. When I ponder on whether I should have stretched even further and got the LR I imagine the greater range being of reassurance ... then I look at my use of the SR+ over the past several months and realise that it met every requirement, so in my own situation the LR wouldn't have been much of an advantage.

There's no doubt that if my main use included frequent long motorway trips it would be a different story and in that scenario range is king. I'm fortunate that my longer trips nowadays are for pleasure rather than for work so are not time-pressured. I used to be someone who wouldn't stop on long journeys and prided myself on shaving off a couple of minutes ... I now build in the Supercharger stop and am much more relaxed at the end of the journey than ever I was with an ICE car!

 

[MrBadger]

When we have to go to destination with no charging we just take the combustion car. 400 miles+ range even in rain, sub zero temps, doing 80mph+ all day/night going which ever route you want (versus seeking out chargers), climate control on what ever temp you want etc.

In some situations combustion cars remain much mote convenient and sensible choice.

We (well me specifically), made a life decision to ditch the diesel. It was nearly at end of its life and we had choices to make about its replacement. Those decisions had been going on best part of 3 years, but window of opportunity was open now re Model 3. We don't change our cars every few years, so decision was a long term one. I have a small runaround as emergency, but small is the operative word, I personally don't like big cars if I can help it, and up until a few years back, my cars only had 2 seats. So choice was a 3 LR (or Model S or X but both unnecessarily large for our needs) or something with a petrol engine of some form.

 

[Sinx]

OK, decision made, I'm going to go for the LR ....

 

[interbear]

I went for LR as wanted AWD (as feel it’s safer) and range for occasional long trips (up to Scotland or down to France for example). Love it so much that expect to do more holidays involving driving! If you can ‘afford’ the LR go for it. You’ll never regret having extra range...

This ^^^^. Literally, exactly this including our trips up to Scotland and France

LR all the way, worth the extra cost for the range and AWD.

 

[tess19]

I concur with most here. If you can afford it, i would go for the LR. It has more range and 4wd plus a few other goodies. The fact that on cold weather, the range is reduced and you never drive to zero and charge to 100% means that your actual range is less than the wltp figure. Thats ignoring battery degradation. Also by the time you sell, you will get some of the 8-9k back. To me i think it is a no brainer. Obviously only if you can stretch to it.

 

[tess19]

Plus if you keep the car for +3 years then the cost per year is not as bad too.

 

[Sinx]

Yes this will definitely be a long term car!

 

[gangzoom]

Plus if you keep the car for +3 years then the cost per year is not as bad too.

Becarful how you do the man maths on that one, I plan to keep our car 8 years atleast.....You can start making all sort things look 'cheap' if you divide the cost by 8 .

 

[drtimhill]

OK, decision made, I'm going to go for the LR ....

I suspect this will be a good choice for you. Regardless, you will love the car. Let us know if/when you get it and we can pop the champagne cork!