Hey-
Wanted to share my two cents on my Tesla, from the moment I first ordered the car till the day I took delivery and the first 1000KM driven this is such an innovative and exciting process/experience compared to traditional manufacturers. Yes you end up with a car at the end of both processes, but this has been more engaging and personal for me than anything I have felt buying a car before.
I average around 30,000KM a year.I have a good understanding of owning/driving cars and what to really expect with a one once the “new car smell” wears off.
I change my car about every 12-16 months for the last 10 years. I have never had any brand loyalty always just went with the most unique driving experience for the segment of car/suv/truck I am looking at trying. Give you an idea of what I have owned
My last 5 cars:
2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT
2020 Jeep Wrangler rubicon
2018 Mercedes C43 sedan
2017 GMC 1500 Denali
2016 Ford Mustang GT
When shopping to replace the SRT(replaced early due to catastrophic engine failure, dealer bought me out of the lease plus some)
I didn’t really know what I wanted so I drove the C43 wagon and was less than impressed…..but it did have the crackly AMG exhaust which is hard to pass up on.
I have always been a large fan of technology/innovation and everything else that l looked at with 4 doors online with a $100K budget just wasn’t exciting to me. Always loved the idea of a Tesla but never really considered one as I did not know enough about them.
I scheduled a test drive of a M3P & MYP and fell in love with the instant pedal response, the screen and how planted the M3P was to drive. The MYP drove to much like a cross over for me.
So I went home and watched every YouTube video I could find on the M3P and found this forum which helped me get an idea of real life ownership from current owners. These are my initial thoughts on the car after 1000KM driven.
1. The user experience- Tesla is light years ahead of any other manufacturer today that was in my budget.From the delivery process no pushy “sales manager” trying to upsell me, no more carrying a key, the app, the little touches I.E how the music starts playing once I open the door to enter and how it lowers when I open the door to exit, AC only turns on to each seat when it senses a body in the seat & the Spotify integration to list a few. Initially was quite concerned with the loss of Apple car play & XM, so far have not missed it.
2. Autopilot- this is an interesting one for me as I didn’t try it out when I did the test drive and was convinced I would never use it, had poor experiences in the past with the other brands enhanced cruise control. The ease of engaging the system tempted me to try it. I did a 400KM drive today and felt so relaxed during the long drive. To give you an idea this was on the busiest highway(401) in North America 18 lanes wide at its widest point during morning rush hour. Normally after a drive like that I am irritated after dealing with the all idiot drivers you encounter. Today just taking away the mundane task of stop and go traffic driving mixed in with lane centring and speed control when the HWY opened up. Made the drive a lot more enjoyable, I was in a better mood when I arrived because of Auto-Pilot than if I had not had it( the fact that basic auto pilot is free is astounding!)
3. Driving an electric- based on the KM I drive I thought no way could I ever go to an electric. After reading of what to expect on true range doing super charger mapping on my frequent routes( we are fortunate to have 150KW & 250KW chargers only) I realized this could potentially work for my driving patterns. Leaving my house everyday with an 85% charge is still taking some getting used to as I am have thoughts of what if I run out of juice during my day. I am sure this will subside with time and learning the cars true range based on my driving style.
4. Looks- this is purely subjective topic but I believe the M3P is such a unique looking car and is like nothing else on the road at first glance it’s like an English bull dog… it’s so ugly it’s cute. Now that I own it I have started to appreciate the exterior design, with the exception of the front end still looks like an angry frog to me. The interior was a bit scary for me coming from cars with more buttons than a modern day space ship half of which I didn’t know what they did, this is a breath of fresh air to control everything from the centre screen. The ease of use on the OS is seamless and I have found very little faults with using it on a daily basis( my two kids love the built in Whoopie cushion)
5. Build quality- I am going against the grain on this but I find this to be a well engineered/built car quite possibly superior product vs the competition in this segment. In a different way than most people look at it. Yes the interior isn’t as tight fitting as a Benz but with a Tesla you get so much more! What the Germans don’t bring to the table is the innovation & the recent engineering feats that Tesla has accomplished… who would of guessed 15 years ago we would have an electric car with a full electric“gas station” network built coast to coast OH! and has semi autonomous driving.
Now really what’s more impressive softer closing doors and better interior fit & finish or what Tesla has accomplished?
Worth a mention on the last 5 cars I have owned they all have had some panel gaps (both Jeep’s)poor stitching on the leather(srt), micro scratches on the paint (Mercedes-they run it through a touch car wash before delivery also had $20K of warranty work competed on it in my ownership) and terrible tech(Ford,GM) what I don’t understand about Tesla as a brand is the hyper critiquing they receive at time of delivery NO other car manufacture in the price range of M3 SR+ all the way to M3P faces this. With the forum posts I have read & YouTube videos I have watched of people tearing the build quality down , maybe we are looking at build quality with the wrong lens…Witnessed first hand when I was picking up mine an individual beside me callipers in hand measuring panel gaps, to top it off heard him demanding the car be hoisted so he could complete his inspection before delivery. Not to judge this persons rationale on why he felt this was necessary. Just don’t imagine other competing brands enduring this with pre delivery/post delivery scrutiny.(ever experienced the death wobble in older wranglers)no car is perfect at this price point.
I truly believe Tesla is a market distributor think Netflix to blockbuster… in the last ten years Elon has brought more innovation to this industry than the last 50 years combined.
Yes it’s not perfect car… but damn am I happy when I drive this car!!!
Wanted to share my two cents on my Tesla, from the moment I first ordered the car till the day I took delivery and the first 1000KM driven this is such an innovative and exciting process/experience compared to traditional manufacturers. Yes you end up with a car at the end of both processes, but this has been more engaging and personal for me than anything I have felt buying a car before.
I average around 30,000KM a year.I have a good understanding of owning/driving cars and what to really expect with a one once the “new car smell” wears off.
I change my car about every 12-16 months for the last 10 years. I have never had any brand loyalty always just went with the most unique driving experience for the segment of car/suv/truck I am looking at trying. Give you an idea of what I have owned
My last 5 cars:
2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT
2020 Jeep Wrangler rubicon
2018 Mercedes C43 sedan
2017 GMC 1500 Denali
2016 Ford Mustang GT
When shopping to replace the SRT(replaced early due to catastrophic engine failure, dealer bought me out of the lease plus some)
I didn’t really know what I wanted so I drove the C43 wagon and was less than impressed…..but it did have the crackly AMG exhaust which is hard to pass up on.
I have always been a large fan of technology/innovation and everything else that l looked at with 4 doors online with a $100K budget just wasn’t exciting to me. Always loved the idea of a Tesla but never really considered one as I did not know enough about them.
I scheduled a test drive of a M3P & MYP and fell in love with the instant pedal response, the screen and how planted the M3P was to drive. The MYP drove to much like a cross over for me.
So I went home and watched every YouTube video I could find on the M3P and found this forum which helped me get an idea of real life ownership from current owners. These are my initial thoughts on the car after 1000KM driven.
1. The user experience- Tesla is light years ahead of any other manufacturer today that was in my budget.From the delivery process no pushy “sales manager” trying to upsell me, no more carrying a key, the app, the little touches I.E how the music starts playing once I open the door to enter and how it lowers when I open the door to exit, AC only turns on to each seat when it senses a body in the seat & the Spotify integration to list a few. Initially was quite concerned with the loss of Apple car play & XM, so far have not missed it.
2. Autopilot- this is an interesting one for me as I didn’t try it out when I did the test drive and was convinced I would never use it, had poor experiences in the past with the other brands enhanced cruise control. The ease of engaging the system tempted me to try it. I did a 400KM drive today and felt so relaxed during the long drive. To give you an idea this was on the busiest highway(401) in North America 18 lanes wide at its widest point during morning rush hour. Normally after a drive like that I am irritated after dealing with the all idiot drivers you encounter. Today just taking away the mundane task of stop and go traffic driving mixed in with lane centring and speed control when the HWY opened up. Made the drive a lot more enjoyable, I was in a better mood when I arrived because of Auto-Pilot than if I had not had it( the fact that basic auto pilot is free is astounding!)
3. Driving an electric- based on the KM I drive I thought no way could I ever go to an electric. After reading of what to expect on true range doing super charger mapping on my frequent routes( we are fortunate to have 150KW & 250KW chargers only) I realized this could potentially work for my driving patterns. Leaving my house everyday with an 85% charge is still taking some getting used to as I am have thoughts of what if I run out of juice during my day. I am sure this will subside with time and learning the cars true range based on my driving style.
4. Looks- this is purely subjective topic but I believe the M3P is such a unique looking car and is like nothing else on the road at first glance it’s like an English bull dog… it’s so ugly it’s cute. Now that I own it I have started to appreciate the exterior design, with the exception of the front end still looks like an angry frog to me. The interior was a bit scary for me coming from cars with more buttons than a modern day space ship half of which I didn’t know what they did, this is a breath of fresh air to control everything from the centre screen. The ease of use on the OS is seamless and I have found very little faults with using it on a daily basis( my two kids love the built in Whoopie cushion)
5. Build quality- I am going against the grain on this but I find this to be a well engineered/built car quite possibly superior product vs the competition in this segment. In a different way than most people look at it. Yes the interior isn’t as tight fitting as a Benz but with a Tesla you get so much more! What the Germans don’t bring to the table is the innovation & the recent engineering feats that Tesla has accomplished… who would of guessed 15 years ago we would have an electric car with a full electric“gas station” network built coast to coast OH! and has semi autonomous driving.
Now really what’s more impressive softer closing doors and better interior fit & finish or what Tesla has accomplished?
Worth a mention on the last 5 cars I have owned they all have had some panel gaps (both Jeep’s)poor stitching on the leather(srt), micro scratches on the paint (Mercedes-they run it through a touch car wash before delivery also had $20K of warranty work competed on it in my ownership) and terrible tech(Ford,GM) what I don’t understand about Tesla as a brand is the hyper critiquing they receive at time of delivery NO other car manufacture in the price range of M3 SR+ all the way to M3P faces this. With the forum posts I have read & YouTube videos I have watched of people tearing the build quality down , maybe we are looking at build quality with the wrong lens…Witnessed first hand when I was picking up mine an individual beside me callipers in hand measuring panel gaps, to top it off heard him demanding the car be hoisted so he could complete his inspection before delivery. Not to judge this persons rationale on why he felt this was necessary. Just don’t imagine other competing brands enduring this with pre delivery/post delivery scrutiny.(ever experienced the death wobble in older wranglers)no car is perfect at this price point.
I truly believe Tesla is a market distributor think Netflix to blockbuster… in the last ten years Elon has brought more innovation to this industry than the last 50 years combined.
Yes it’s not perfect car… but damn am I happy when I drive this car!!!