Tesla 3 Highlands import from Spain to UK plus a little rant...

[zegnus]

Hi there. 4 years ago I decided to ditch my second hand Renault and buy a new car. My first one. I had saved +10 for a Tesla, I have always wanted a Tesla but at that time I was changing jobs, I was expecting a child and I didn't want big financial commitments at that moment so I decided to go for a 3 years lease on a Hyundai Ioniq Electric. I did not know if I would actually like a full electric car and the pros and cons. I absolutely loved the car, never want to go back to combustion. Only problem of that car is that the battery was way too small. Loved the adaptive cruise control and the auto lane assist and I used that every single day and on weekends with or without family. I trusted it so much that I allowed the car to break to full stop when a sudden traffic jam appeared in the motorway.

The three years passed and it was time for my Tesla. I reserved one and then I decided to move to Spain with my wife and kid. I cancelled the order but I bought one in Spain. A new Tesla 3 Long Range Highlands. Then I do my first trip up to the mountains, I activate the auto steer (beta?!?) and I got a few phantom breaks. My wife told me to stop so I had to drive manual all the way back. This has been a constant. Trucks passing by, cars queueing to be incorporated into the motorway scares the system, etc etc.. I just don't trust it. And this has been a huge disappointment. I trusted my Hyundai, I cannot trust my Tesla.

Now I find myself that we have to go back to the UK and I don't know what to do.
- I can sell the Tesla and buy a new one there. If I also want to buy the Long Range I've calculated that I'd have to put +£15k on top which I'm not very keen to do
- I can just import the car and drive with a LHD in the UK. This will make the car unsellable and potentially dangerous to drive?
- Go with any other car which I can just trust the lane assistance and the adaptive cruise control, which is what my wife wants me to do. I tell her that maybe, just maybe, Tesla will improve this and in a year or two we'll have FSD and everything will be ok; but I might be pushing this narrative too hard, even to myself. I love the car, but I just don't trust it. And that's dangerous. Which alternative I should go then? Kona EV? New Renault Scenic e-tech, Citroen e-C4...(or a potential new-to-be-release-this-summer) it will hurt to buy a similar pricing car, but not a Tesla...

What do you think?

 

[Durzel]

Zero chance of FSD over here in “a year or two”.

The answer to your broader question is, I believe, “happy wife, happy life”.

 

[GRiLLA]

The value of EAP/FSD in the UK is much debated in this forum. My personal experience over 5 years and about 50K miles of driving Model 3s is that using it on a UK motorway is very valuable, minimal interventions and I feel it increases my safety.

Other people disagree, other people seem to get phantom braking excessively and think it's going to kill them. I don't see we've ever been able to be civilised enough here to determine what the difference is between those that get on with Autopilot and those that don't.

My experience is that on roads other than motorways it is largely unusable.

I would suggest that a LHD car in the UK isn't going to be excessively dangerous, but it will be regularly annoying with car park machines, drive throughs etc. There aren't many tolls in the UK.

 

[Durzel]

I can feel for people with phantom braking. I've only had it happen to me once I think. Clearly some people experience it enough for it to be a real problem, and to be honest I can sympathise.. if you can't trust the car not to do it then you have to be constantly vigilant for it to happen at any point, as if someone was going to do an emergency brake in front of you at any moment. I can see how that would be both physically and emotionally draining, and make you fall completely out of love with the car.

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any solution for it, not one that appears to be something you can tell people to do or check.

 

[MrBadger]

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any solution for it, not one that appears to be something you can tell people to do or check.

And also for some (eg @Pagemakers), real enough for Tesla to check their car, not fix it and also add the caveat that it also does it to their own (Tesla) vehicles to the point that iirc even some of their own staff don’t use it.

Some people have gone to great lengths to try and solve their issue and even with Tesla involved, not found a solution.

 

[zegnus]

Thank you all for your answers. While I love the car in itself and it will be painful to buy another car at a similar price; looks like I'll have to look for an alternative

 

[GRiLLA]

Thank you all for your answers. While I love the car in itself and it will be painful to buy another car at a similar price; looks like I'll have to look for an alternative

If you buy a second hand LR of about the same age as your will you really lose £15K on the deal ? Seems a lot ?

 

[zegnus]

If you buy a second hand LR of about the same age as your will you really lose £15K on the deal ? Seems a lot ?

I haven't found a second hand Tesla 3 LR Highlands so far, where could I check it out?

 

[GRiLLA]

I haven't found a second hand Tesla 3 LR Highlands so far, where could I check it out?

'Highland' is the codename for the revisions to Model 3 for 2024, so it's only really been shipping for a couple of months, If you are selling a 2 or 3 year old car there's always going to be a sizeable step up to something brand new. Buy the same age as you have at the moment if you don't want to pay this step. I would expect it to be far more than £15K to go to a new car.

 

[FastLaneJB]

'Highland' is the codename for the revisions to Model 3 for 2024, so it's only really been shipping for a couple of months, If you are selling a 2 or 3 year old car there's always going to be a sizeable step up to something brand new. Buy the same age as you have at the moment if you don't want to pay this step. I would expect it to be far more than £15K to go to a new car.

If you read OP's post, they have a LHD Highland so the car is only a couple of months old. It probably does make sense that if you want to sell a few month old car you'll take quite a big hit if then buying a new one again.

Probably hardly any second hand Highlands around at the moment so if they want to stick with a Highland but in RHD they might have to go new at the moment.

If I was the OP, I'd stick with the LHD for the moment and bring it over to the UK. You'll manage and it'll save you a lot of money. When time comes you could always try to sell it back over in mainland Europe vs in the UK. Maybe there's something like WeBuyAnyCar that might be able to do a quick deal, you could drive over in the future. Sell it and have a holiday, then fly back.

 

[Unclepaul]

Ionic 6 seems to be a well reviewed offering from Hyundai. OP might get another one of those.

New Highland release has lots of upgrades, so this might also work. OP might need to self drive when Wifey is in the car, but that is probably doable.
Moving to different geography might mitigate the phantom braking issue. Tesla is working like crazy behind the scenes to make it's FSD better over time, so eventually this should become acceptable to the OP as well.

 

[GRiLLA]

If you read OP's post, they have a LHD Highland so the car is only a couple of months old. It probably does make sense that if you want to sell a few month old car you'll take quite a big hit if then buying a new one again.

Probably hardly any second hand Highlands around at the moment so if they want to stick with a Highland but in RHD they might have to go new at the moment.

If I was the OP, I'd stick with the LHD for the moment and bring it over to the UK. You'll manage and it'll save you a lot of money. When time comes you could always try to sell it back over in mainland Europe vs in the UK. Maybe there's something like WeBuyAnyCar that might be able to do a quick deal, you could drive over in the future. Sell it and have a holiday, then fly back.

I can't really follow when it was bought from the OP post, lots of 3 years referred to. It would certainly be unfortunate to have to replace a 2 month old car if that's the case. I would still think losing £15K on the deal is a lot more than I would expect selling a 2 month old car.

 

[Simavon]

I can't really follow when it was bought from the OP post, lots of 3 years referred to. It would certainly be unfortunate to have to replace a 2 month old car if that's the case. I would still think losing £15K on the deal is a lot more than I would expect selling a 2 month old car.

He says he bought a Highland. That really ought to be a clue.

 

[Drew57]

And also for some (eg @Pagemakers), real enough for Tesla to check their car, not fix it and also add the caveat that it also does it to their own (Tesla) vehicles to the point that iirc even some of their own staff don’t use it.

Some people have gone to great lengths to try and solve their issue and even with Tesla involved, not found a solution.

Why not others try what I did four years ago - go through all driving/Autopiot etc settings on screen and turn everything to warning only. Drive for a few days and see what happens (or not).

Then try each feature (individually) that seems important to you at its lowest 'take action' setting and do the same for a time before trying another.

You may find, as I did that phantom braking and various other annoyances don't occur but nevertheless you will still get audible and visual warnings so stay vigilant.

Autopilot is very useful on long journeys and I like it. However I want to be the one controlling the car and making decisions about whether to take evasive action or not. Having Tesla as a second set of eyes can be useful although I appreciate that many of the warnings I am given probably translate into something more dramatic for others if they have settings that result in that.

Maybe I have just been lucky in owning two different Tesla models plus a USA loaner which have all behaved identically with these settings on my cloud profile? However I think that's unlikely.

 

[zegnus]

What do you think about a second hand Polestar 2 with 2,306 miles? I would probably be able to just use the money from the Tesla and get this "free".

Let me explain where the +£15k comes from.
As I bought the car (last October 2023 - Tesla 3 Long Range 2024 model) in Spain and I will sell it in Spain the currency is Euros. I've checked and a non-detailed estimation from a company from there, the lowest that the would offer me is be €41,350. Than in GBP is as right now around £35,500. The same car in the UK costs £49,990 so the difference is around £15k. Which could be a bit less if I get a better selling price but I'll also have to pay a fee for wiring the money to my UK account.

About importing the vehicle to the UK. I have emailed Tesla (Dartford) and they didn't reply to me. I went to the Tesla shop in Spain where I bought the car and they didn't know exactly if the car would have to be adapted in any way to comply with the UK regulations. Mainly my worry is the headlights and the position of the light beam. Which if turns out that I have to change them then it would then definitely make the car impossible to sell in any market. Also the shop in Spain said that they would contact the one in the UK to give assistance but same as the FSD... I'm still waiting...

 

[zegnus]

or I could get a new Tesla 3 2024 rear-wheel drive, pay +£5k and pray for not having phantom break issues when using cruise control... maybe too risky?

About just having warnings... every time there is a audible warning my son quickly asks me "what happened??" and 10 out of 10 I have to say. No nothing, the car thinks that there is a hazard but there is non. Example:
- Lane bends to the left and there is people walking. As the car turns the the left it thinks that I'm going to hit them but I'm just turning left

 

[Zilla91]

Why don’t you get a second hand one and save yourself a fair few quid? Added bonus is that you get stalks and maybe even actual parking sensors. It’s a buyers market at the moment