Thinking of placing the order...wanted expert insight.

[Gauss Guzzler]

1. The back seat of the 3 is pretty large and comfortable and with no transmission tunnel it easily seats 3 people. The Y uses the same seats but they are positioned a little higher, the middle seat is a little wider, and there is more headroom and legroom so the result is a very significant increase in space all-around.

2. If your dryer outlet is unused you're in great shape! Just get the $45 pigtail and plug right in! But if it's an obsolete socket type I'd recommend changing the socket rather than getting an aftermarket adapter since you should really revisit the terminal connections anyway.
If the dryer still uses it your best bet would be to install a new circuit, or if that's highly impractical use a "Dryer Buddy". There's a 30% tax credit on any related expenses.

3. The car will get well over 250 miles of range but as others mentioned you should generally avoid approaching full charge or full discharge - best to charge more often, every 3-5 days in your case.

3b. No

 

[tm1v2]

Here's my take on these questions. I recently test drove 2021 MYLR, 2021 M3LR, 2021 M3P, and several other non-Tesla family-friendly vehicles both EV and ICE. We eventually settled on M3P. It's a second car for us, to complement our 2013 S P85 which was our only car for many years.

(I'm skipping the outlet questions as I don't have anything to add there.)

1. For those who have driven the Y and 3, how much bigger is the Y rear seat? I know it has a lot more storage but I think the 3 will work trunk wise. I also know the Y has a bigger back seat but my question is HOW MUCH of a differentiator is this in your experience. Is the 3 comfortable enough (Rear seat wise) that while it's smaller it's just fine or do you find yourself wishing you had gone with something bigger?

The Y back seat is MUCH more comfortable to me as a taller person. The 3 back seat is very low to the floor. There is enough legroom in the 3, but my knees are in my face and it would be pretty horrible for a long trip.

This is a common problem with EV sedans on a "skateboard" battery layout. That layout takes up vertical room, so either you end up with limited vertical space (Model S, Model 3, Lucid Air, etc) or you end up building a crossover just to get decent vertical height (Model X, Model Y, Mach-E, ID.4, etc). The one exception I've driven and sat in is the Polestar 2. It has its batteries in a big center tunnel, not under you feet. So the center tunnel intrudes, BUT you get real vertical height while still feeling like a sedan (not a crossover!) from behind the wheel. Less rear legroom than Model 3, but just enough for me to sit behind myself, so overall much more comfortable back seat to me. It's a pretty great car btw, drives fantastic with the Performance Pack suspension, and it's a hatchback/fastback, but compared to Model 3 it has less range and no supercharging. That made all the difference for us.

HOWEVER...the Model 3 is just way, way nicer to drive than the Model Y! In my opinion, at least. =) Yes the cars are very closely related, and they do feel similar to drive...but somehow the 3 feels much lighter on its feet, more nimble, better ride quality (not great but better than Y), less wind noise...the experience just comes together much better in the 3. The difference is greater than I expected from just the curb weight difference. The Y does not drive like a hatchback 3, unfortunately.

I love the 5 seat Y's packaging, its back seat is great, visible is excellent, cargo hauling is solid, it's a very good car...but I honestly couldn't stand how it drove. What it gains in back seat and cargo hauling, it sadly loses in driving experience. Just my opinion! We tested the Y first and I outright rejected it due to ride quality + wind noise. A week or two later Tesla finally had the 3 available to test again, and within minutes I realized I like driving the 3 so much more.

3. Anyone doing mainly country driving? I have winding country roads and about a 15 mile commute. Wondering how much of that 350 range I'll realize at 30 miles a day or will it be closer to some other number (expecting less but HOPING it's not substantially less with this sort of driving).

We do lots of twisty back road country driving! But we're waiting for our new M3P's PPF appointment before taking it on any long drives. I've also ordered smaller, lighter wheels (20" -> 18") which may help efficiency. Next month I'll start having some data on its efficiency. Obviously it's extremely dependent on driving style, wheels+tires, climate, exact roads, etc. But something is better than nothing

One thing I want to mention, if you're into driving fast on twisty back roads: The stock Model 3 suspension (M3LR or M3P doesn't really matter) is...junk, honestly. It feels sporty when you're driving casually, because you feel the road texture (not too busy unlike the Y) and the steering ratio is very quick (which I like!). And on smooth wide turns, like highway onramps, it can grip very well with summer performance tires.

But when you really start pushing it hard on uneven roads with lots of tight turns, bumps, dips, poor pavement, etc...it all falls apart, the shocks become completely overwhelmed. The weight keeps bouncing around, never settles down. The back crashes into the bump stops if the dip is big. The steering feels slow to react. Etc. With a smaller, nimble-feeling car like the 3 I love that kind of driving, so the day after we ordered our M3P, I ordered Öhlins DFV dampers (coilovers) for it. The Polestar 2 I tested had Öhlins DFV dampers from the factory, and the damping was fantastic. You could tell it was very firm, yet ride quality was really good, small stuff was completely smoothed over and big stuff never upset the car. The harder I pushed that car with the Öhlins the better it felt, super quick steering reactions (despite slower steering ratio), and always stable and in control.

If you're not the kind of driver to really push your car hard on back roads, you won't notice these issues with the stock Model 3 dampers, they're fine for casual driving. Since you mentioned country driving though, if your country roads are as twisty and fun as mine, I figure I should mention this.

4. Any regrets?

Zero regrets about our M3P so far. Like any car there's plenty I can nitpick, no car is perfect, but I love driving our M3P even around town, it's so much more fun than a bigger car, but still just big enough to be a 2nd family car for us. I am glad my wife gave me permission to modify the suspension though, otherwise I probably would regret not getting the Polestar 2 Performance.

Also, since we're 7+ years into being EV-only family...zero regrets about that too! We considered and test drove some ICE cars in our recent car shopping, and realized that if we got an ICE neither of us wanted to be stuck with it as a daily driver. We just couldn't go back.

Now for a weekend fun toy I would certainly pick an old ICE sports car with nice engine noises and a manual transmission, but for a daily driver family car an EV is just a wholly superior experience in my opinion, so long as you can charge at home.

 

[Gasaraki]

Hello all. Just joined here. Been considering an EV for months and after a ton of consideration I think I'm going with the model 3. Was considering the Y but the price jump between the long rang 3 and the long range Y (currently about $8k) doesn't seem worth it to me. But I would LOVE some opinions if people have the time. A few last minute questions:

1. For those who have driven the Y and 3, how much bigger is the Y rear seat? I know it has a lot more storage but I think the 3 will work trunk wise. I also know the Y has a bigger back seat but my question is HOW MUCH of a differentiator is this in your experience. Is the 3 comfortable enough (Rear seat wise) that while it's smaller it's just fine or do you find yourself wishing you had gone with something bigger?

2. Keep seeing conflicting answers to this one. I have a 4 prong dryer outlet. Is there an adaptor (not the $500 charging add-on from Tesla) that will let me charge my model 3 using this 220 V outlet or am I stuck paying the $500?

3. Anyone doing mainly country driving? I have winding country roads and about a 15 mile commute. Wondering how much of that 350 range I'll realize at 30 miles a day or will it be closer to some other number (expecting less but HOPING it's not substantially less with this sort of driving).

3. Any regrets?

Opinions are appreciated....

1. The seats are not "bigger". The Y seats are all taller so you get more leg room.
2. Yes. You just need to get the $45 adapter from the Tesla site to enable the 240V charging on the charging cable that comes with the car.
3. Umm, if you are driving 30 miles a day, why getting 350 miles range from the battery an issue/worry?
3b. No.

I guess people are still willing to place an order even though you have to wait over a year to get one...

 

[Rtmpaul]

For number 1: I could have gotten a Model Y (or for that matter an S or X), but I came from a Honda S2000 and I felt that even the Model 3 was pretty big. So I only bothered to test drive the Model 3. Now that I have one, the only reasons that I can see to get a Model Y would be to get the huge hatchback opening (which comes at the cost of worse rear visibility) instead of a trunk, or to sit higher off the road if that is your thing.

For number 2: As others have said, yes you can just get an adapter but it isn't really practical to unplug your dryer each time you want to charge your car. If you don't drive much more than your 15 mile commute and some errands, you actually might be fine using a regular 120 plug (the adapter for that comes with your car, along with the charging cable). You can expect to get about 4 miles of charge per hour with a regular 120 plug so an overnight charge might be sufficient for your needs. Remember that you could start out that way and see how it goes before investing in another solution.

Personally, I had an electrician run a 240 line to, and install a NEMA 14/50 socket in my garage (in my case, about $1400). Then I bought the 14/50 adapter from the Tesla store. I also bought an inexpensive charging cable organizer from Amazon to keep the cable off the floor. This arrangement has been great and gets me 32 miles of charge per hour. The only reasons to get the Tesla wall charger are if you need even better than 32/hour, you really want to keep your charging cable in the car (of course you could just buy another one), you want remote control over the charger, or you just like the look of it.

Since I received my Model 3 in early August, my charging cable has remained plugged in in my garage. I then plug the cable into the car every time I come home. No one has explicitly said it here, but you -want- to keep your car on the charger whenever you are not out and around because that prolongs your battery life. It also allows you to do things like pre-condition the climate in your car without draining your battery when it is really hot or cold out. Back to my charging cable remaining in the garage - for the few times when I needed to charge away from home I have found that Tesla's supercharger network is convenient (at least here in the Northeast) and very simple to use. So I have no reason to ever unplug my charging cable and take it with me.

For number 3: You will quickly find that you don't have any range anxiety at all if you are consistently charging at home. It is truly wonderful to always start out with a full charge (btw - 'full' means 80-90 percent for better battery life - I charge to an estimated 304 miles of range unless I am going to take a long road trip).

For number 4: Definitely no regrets. In fact, my Tesla has become our main family car because it is so great. The only reason that I don't wish I had gotten it sooner is because waiting got me the heat pump (for better winter range), no chrome (which is ugly and really bad for the environment), and the heated steering wheel.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

Here's my take on these questions.

This is a terrific post, I mean, I'm already a M3P owner, but I had wondered about the Y (parked next to one last week and was trying to size it up ...), and the additional EV info was interesting (specifically the Polestar).

For number 1: I could have gotten a Model Y (or for that matter an S or X), but I came from a Honda S2000 and I felt that even the Model 3 was pretty big.

Wow, yeah, it probably feels like a semi-truck

I had an S2K too, still one of, the best pure roadster executions, and it doesn't even look too dated. Honda could update/modernize the interior a bit, toss in the Civic Type R motor, and I would be in line tomorrow

Nobody asked, but posting it anyway ...

 

[fishacura]

Thanks all. I see the ABC mantra . I actually hadn't considered that as I had heard often that it's better for batteries to drain and not leave plugged in all the time. But that was years back regarding laptop computers and I think there's some science now to prove maybe that was incorrect. Based on all the ABC responses seems like it's not an iss

I guess people are still willing to place an order even though you have to wait over a year to get one...

Model 3 delivery dates are January so only a couple months.

 

[tm1v2]

Zero regrets about our M3P so far. Like any car there's plenty I can nitpick, no car is perfect, but I love driving our M3P even around town, it's so much more fun than a bigger car, but still just big enough to be a 2nd family car for us. I am glad my wife gave me permission to modify the suspension though, otherwise I probably would regret not getting the Polestar 2 Performance.

Just to be clear, if we had gotten the Polestar I probably would've regretted it too, for the crappy non-Supercharger fast charging experience, lesser range, and lack of EV software features vs Tesla. Those things matter for us on a weekly or even daily basis.

My ideal EV 4 door car would be a mishmash of Model 3 Performance and Polestar 2 Performance Pack, with quad motors for maximum traction (not for extra power, modern cars are stupid fast already). Seriously, when someone builds an Evo/STI style small-ish 4 door EV with quad motors...I'm there.

 

[twinpuller]

I had the same questions and was very close to buying the MY but after testing and comparing it to the M3LR, we settled on the SR+. I have 2 kids in sports and our primary goal was economy and couldn't justify the $35k extra (after rebates) it would cost for the MY. For me, it didn't offer that much more in value than the M3. The M3 suits us perfectly, and we use our RAV4 when we really need the space which is rare.

 

[Floger]

I can't for the life of me find a button to "like" these responses so let me just say THANKS!!!

You have to be active for a while before you get the honour of having access to the ‘like’ button haha.

 

[21EV]

1. I have a M3 but had a MY loaner for a bit. If this was my primary car I would’ve gone for the Y for the extra space though storage wise the M3 excelled on a recent apple orchard visit.

2. One of these, just look at the plug you have and order the adapter. I have a 14-30 adapter and it works fine as a backup. Gen 2 NEMA Adapters

3. I would only worry about country driving if it were long distances. Driving off interstate for long distances requires more planning in some instances. Before I picked up mine I went to A Better Route Planner and check all of my potential routes to see how they would work.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

Before I picked up mine I went to A Better Route Planner and check all of my potential routes to see how they would work.

ABRP is a superb "pre-sales" tool, I spent a couple of weeks before I ordered knocking around in the app/website, and was able to determine that all of our regular routes, we're not a big deal in a TM3. The Keys? A 24 minute stop for lunch. MCO? A 10-12 minute stop on the return trip. Universal? Free charging at the resorts (i.e., no stop while driving).

In fact, between ABRP and PlugShare, I was a bit surprised at all the charging options, even some places I thought I knew pretty well, wound up having chargers.

 

[fishacura]

I had the same questions and was very close to buying the MY but after testing and comparing it to the M3LR, we settled on the SR+. I have 2 kids in sports and our primary goal was economy and couldn't justify the $35k extra (after rebates) it would cost for the MY. For me, it didn't offer that much more in value than the M3. The M3 suits us perfectly, and we use our RAV4 when we really need the space which is rare.

I literally measured my son's catchers bag lol

 

[stopcrazypp]

I have both. The Y is much roomier front and back. Much more legroom in the back. The 3 is Honda Civic sized. 6 months ago it was a no brainer to pay $3000 more for a bigger car. Now a $8000 difference. Ask yourself if you absolutely need a bigger car.

Yeah, for $3k (especially when SR model was around) Model Y would have been no brainer instead of the Model 3 SR+ I ended up with, which I got delivered literally days before the Model Y SR was announced. $8k takes some consideration (reason why I didn't go with LR Model Y).

Personally, none of my family are particularly tall, so I don't think the extra passenger room would have made much of a difference, as we are used to driving/riding in compact/mid-size sedans. The hatch would have been nice to have to haul some larger cargo (it's not really the room of the Model 3 that's the issue, given with the seats down, it can fit some pretty large items, just that there is no way for some items to fit through the openings of the doors or the trunk).

 

[firstkill]

I literally measured my son's catchers bag lol

The rear seat after the update is fine for adults in the rear around town, Im 6ft 200lb and fit in the rear behind my driving position..... Its fine for around town......Im not sure id like to be back there for hours, but honestly its not a deal breaker as long as you have entertainment. Still better than a coach flight........ Is a Y taller and more comfortable, sure but at the expense of a larger car.

The Y does not drive like a taller 3 in terms of suspension and turning... a test drive is the only way to know.

As for the storage in the 3......the trunk is deep but the opening is not that tall. So boxy items do not fit well...longer sports bags are fine.
Things with handle bars/ adult scooters kid bikes sideways wound be tight.

charging is person preference, every night, every 3-4 days.......what ever your usage indicates, but id always give enough time to top off the car in 1 nights sleep..

There are 3rd party converter boxes to split the dryer plug, so that the car will only charge if the drier is not on. Basically you dont have to plug and unplug things.... If you want to save cost buy the adapter for the plug you have and use the charger the car comes with..

A regular wall socket will charge at 3-4 miles, not sure on your down time at night, but if its about 10 hours, then you can get a days worth of usage... Even if you take a weekend trip longer, you may be able to catch up over the week to top off the car... That math is on your own..

 

[tech_nerd]

It's my understanding that the 3 & Y are almost identical up to the glass in the doors, it's lifted an inch and a lot taller. I would've preferred the Y, but since my goal was cheap, and since they phased out the SR Y, the 3 just made more sense. My only gripe with the 3 is how low it is, but it is fun to drive. As for back road commutes, I think the M3 more fun and economical on windy back roads and less so on highways.

 

[Candleflame]

If you need to put full size adults in the back seat regularly, or for long drives, there's no question you need the Y. The backseat of the 3 is pretty horrible for any humans, especially anyone over 5'9". Just getting in and out through the door opening is painful compared to other cars like a Camry or Optima.

The Y is super roomy in the back seat, and your knees aren't above your head like the 3.

that was purposefully planned by holzhausen who wanted to sell the Y and it really annoys me.
The 3 would have been an insanely good sized sedan - and god knows we need good sedans, everyone wants suvs these days.
They just needed to make it the same lenght as other sedans in its segment i.e. 3 series.
The 10cm extra lenght of the 3 series would have gone long way to make the rear space endurable. Both from having a better seating position as well as not banging your head against the glassroof above 180cm.

Paradoxically for the Y they added 5cm back onto the lenght.

They made that a conscious decision imho.

 

[Candleflame]

It's my understanding that the 3 & Y are almost identical up to the glass in the doors, it's lifted an inch and a lot taller. I would've preferred the Y, but since my goal was cheap, and since they phased out the SR Y, the 3 just made more sense. My only gripe with the 3 is how low it is, but it is fun to drive. As for back road commutes, I think the M3 more fun and economical on windy back roads and less so on highways.

They are not. The Y is 5 cm longer and much higher which means that the front seats are also on... i think 5-8 cm stelts. That translates to essentially 10cm more legroom in the rear and better headroom.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

I came from a 3-series coupe which was a huge car compared to the much smaller 3-series sedan. But the Model 3 is almost ridiculously long - soooo much longer than our Lexus sedan or the super-long BMW and very close to the limit of what can fit in my modern 3 car garage or even a standard parking space at Costco, Target, Vons, etc.

Funny to see someone complain that the Model 3 isn't long enough! It was 3" longer and 2" wider than the BMW 3-series when it first hit the market but now that BMW has gone from gargantuan to ludicrous, all of a sudden the Model 3 isn't long enough?

 

[Candleflame]

I came from a 3-series coupe which was a huge car compared to the much smaller 3-series sedan. But the Model 3 is almost ridiculously long - soooo much longer than our Lexus sedan or the super-long BMW and very close to the limit of what can fit in my modern 3 car garage or even a standard parking space at Costco, Target, Vons, etc.

Funny to see someone complain that the Model 3 isn't long enough! It was 3" longer and 2" wider than the BMW 3-series when it first hit the market but now that BMW has gone from gargantuan to ludicrous, all of a sudden the Model 3 isn't long enough?

View attachment 734233

Model 3 was never bigger than the 3 series.
Model 3 is 4.694 meters long.
The G20 3 series was 4.709 meters long.

I dont think its fair to compare the 3 to the F20. The F20 came out like 6 years before the Model 3.
The G20 was released around the same time when the 3 became widely accessable.

 

[Bouba]

There is something about the styling of the model 3 that makes it look a lot smaller than it actually is. Without actually measuring it I just assumed it was smaller than my last car (Volvo V60) until I came to parking it and I realized that it’s the same width and only slightly shorter than the station wagon.
I have heard second hand that if the M3 is full of passengers it can bottom out on potholes. But only our dog lives in the back seat (and he loves this car!) but on the test drive my wife sat in the back, she is tall and extremely sensitive to car seat design and she found it very comfortable (but it’s only a short test drive).
We had plans to get a faster home charger. But found it a lot harder to get it installed in a small French town than we anticipated (despite a Government scheme that gave €300 tax break for home installation). In fact Tesla said that they are not allowed to sell their home chargers in France! So we thought we would just give it some time and do it later but in the meantime we have found that the ordinary household plug was putting in 20 kilometers per hour and that (so far) has been plenty.
But as a car, it’s just something different altogether. Sure, we all love to go down and polish and admire shiny new cars (although I’m more of a boat than car guy) but the Tesla is more like having a new family pet. Almost a living thing .
Believe me I’m no a ‘fan boy’, I wanted to be but dealing with the salespeople shattered all those illusions. But the car is hard to fault and it changes the driver experience.