Week 1 in

[Palros]

So i collected my Tesla 1 week ago and I am still a happy Bunny. I just wanted to share some thoughts, lessons and experiences.

• Don't put child lock on and sit in the back seats. Its hard to climb through to the front to get out.
• Don't use fart mode in the dark when you have a 2 year old in the back seat. He though it was a monster (his words not mine). It was followed by tears.
• The piano black is easy to mark as everybody says. I was putting usb cables in and noticed i had made a small mark. Moments later i had order an AO Wrap.
• The USB ports in the front a really hard to plug into as the lighting is in the wrong place (you constantly block the light)
• I had to fiddle with USB ports a bit to make everything work. Eg. My Hub does not have enough power for both the Controller and the SSD to be plugged in at the same time.
• Range anxiety, is a real thing. The cold weather does not help, but i had found changing to % and the only worry about watt hours per mile, which with 3 adults and 2 children in the car I managed to get to 324 (at night)
• Teslifi is great, but I need to stop worrying about if your car is sleeping or not (at also stops you opening the App as you can check everything from there)
• Left my car in a train station carpark with Sentry mode on. Left it for around 35 hours, lost 35 miles of range
• I am amazed at the handling. I am so used to under steer from the big heavy lump in the front. The model 3 is pretty nimble for a heavy car, it turns in well. (i really want to take it out and push to see when it becomes unstuck)
• On mine, it seems the BT calling is perfect, in fact they are better than most of the cars i have had.
• You can fit an adult between 2 child seats in the back, If you dont like the Adult and you want them to enjoy a low level of pain for the trip.
• In my week of ownership, the car has already saved me £17.

Things that dont get old:

• Getting into a car on a cold day, where the seat it warm and your inside temperature is perfect
• The acceleration keeps making me smile.
• The Seats are sooo comfortable.
• Easy entry mode.
• The Joy of seeing another model 3 driver in your local town or on the road.

Areas for improvement:

• The Lights in the Cubby hole
• Wipers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Autopilot at night, in road works. Phantom braking is worrying when it happens.
• Some of the Screen buttons are quite far away.
• Being able to connect to 2 mobile phone via BT at the same time (i have a work phone and Personal phone)
• Change the black gloss finish.

Final question:

Parking:
Ok, I am normally pretty good at parking. (good being, I can park in the middle of a space without any issues). Since moving to my tesla I can seem to park straight, I also had a odd issue where i was much closer to a bush than my camera lead me to believe. Anybody else found this?

 

[WannabeOwner]

Range anxiety, is a real thing.

Something you get used to / plan for

Teslifi is great, but I need to stop worrying about if your car is sleeping or no

You probably do want to worry about that ... if it isn't your drain will be significant and if you, e.g., park at Airport with significant drain that won't be good ... if your power loss, when parked, is low then that's all fine

TeslaFi won't speak to the car if it is asleep, so better to use that (than APP) for "a quick check"

Left my car in a train station carpark with Sentry mode on. Left it for around 35 hours, lost 35 miles of range

Sentry Mode is a bit of a power hog ... but on the other hand when parked at Station someone might have keyed it ... I find it best to turn it off when parked somewhere for long period, and at other times charge-extra so you can use it without worry. (A conventional DashCam would use much less power, Tesla cameras weren't originalyl intended for this function so it-is-what-it-is I guess)

 

[WannabeOwner]

The Lights in the Cubby hole

Abstract Ocean sells strong replacement LED bulbs for Model-S - maybe Model-3 too?

 

[Jason71]

• In my week of ownership, the car has already saved me £17.

I assume the purchase price of the car is not included as part of that calculation nor the AO wrap?

 

[Palros]

I assume the purchase price of the car is not included as part of that calculation nor the AO wrap?

I choose to ignore that bit

 

[curmudgeon]

• Some of the Screen buttons are quite far away.

After a week of stabbing with my index finger like a loser on "The Golden Shot" I now secure my fingers round the back of the screen and use my thumb for greater precision. A bit like texting on a 90's nokia phone.

Not much help however for the centre of the screen and my arms are still a bit too short.

 

[Epico]

After a week of stabbing with my index finger like a loser on "The Golden Shot" I now secure my fingers round the back of the screen and use my thumb for greater precision. A bit like texting on a 90's nokia phone.

Not much help however for the centre of the screen and my arms are still a bit too short.

The main issue I have is that the close button is on the far left, this needs to change for rhd cars and be closer to the driver...I'm 6ft 2 and it's a stretch at times, can't image how much of a pain it is for shorty

 

[rotor2k]

Thanks for the great post! I collected on the 5th of November, so not far off from you, and I share the same experiences! I didn't know about Easy Entry Mode, thanks for the tip!

 

[tess19]

The main issue I have is that the close button is on the far left, this needs to change for rhd cars and be closer to the driver...I'm 6ft 2 and it's a stretch at times, can't image how much of a pain it is for shorty

Especially when the "X" on all Windows computer is on the right!

 

[Adopado]

Final question:

Parking:
Ok, I am normally pretty good at parking. (good being, I can park in the middle of a space without any issues). Since moving to my tesla I can seem to park straight, I also had a odd issue where i was much closer to a bush than my camera lead me to believe. Anybody else found this?

Yes!! I don't think others have mentioned this but I feel like a complete novice when parking the M3. I have been a pretty good parker in the past but I often get the alignment wrong ... I actually think that looking at the rear camera view puts me off. I would probably be better ignoring it. Unfortunately being a short guy my view out over the high rear sill and width of the car's haunches makes use of the camera view necessary. I think my brain becomes confused between believing the camera view and my own sense of where the car is. I suppose I'm also worried about scraping wheels etc on a new car! I've parked a bus with more confidence!

 

[Adopado]

The main issue I have is that the close button is on the far left, this needs to change for rhd cars and be closer to the driver...I'm 6ft 2 and it's a stretch at times, can't image how much of a pain it is for shorty

Who are you calling shorty? ... oh, that'll be me then... now you see, the good Lord provided us shorties not just with short arms to reach the screen but short legs too ... so we have the seat a good bit further forward so the reach ends up being much the same. Anyway we have the advantage that anybody sitting in the back has loads of leg room!

 

[Adopado]

Especially when the "X" on all Windows computer is on the right!

Yes, I think we're all quite used to dealing with close boxes on either side due to different operating systems or website choices so there's no reason why they couldn't switch to the right. I'm mostly a Mac user but I'm with the Windows guys on this one!

 

[volts]

I also can't reverse turn and park in my m3, even though I'd consider myself jedi status In the subject.

Also, after a week of autopilot I've only just realised that using the parking brake button to disengage is a very bad idea and you are meant to move the stalk upwards!!!

I kerbed an alloy on day 2. Honestly, I need bloody L plates.

My 10yr old spent 4 hours in the car playing games. They need to sit in the drivers seat to stop the screen going black+ I got an Xbox one controller so the wee man isn't using the steering wheel and pedals.

My 10yr old has a driver's seat profile.

 

[nightowl]

Things that dont get old:

• Getting into a car on a cold day, where the seat it warm and your inside temperature is perfect
• The acceleration keeps making me smile.
• The Seats are sooo comfortable.
• Easy entry mode.
• The Joy of seeing another model 3 driver in your local town or on the road.

Being able to alter the climate controls from the app whilst I'm getting ready to head off to work is amazing. No more sitting in a cold car and also I'm hoping no hacking away at ice on the windows over the next few months.

Acceleration - I've not even taken mine out of "chill mode" yet and it's probably my favourite thing about the car. I think the odd thing is being used to the sound of an engine grunting to meet the demands of your foot on the pedal but instead the car just GOES seemingly without any effort involved.

Easy entry mode - it seemed neat that it engages when unplugging the seatbelt but I didn't actually realise that it switches to your profile when pressing the brake pedal after getting in. I was initially selecting my profile manually.

Other Model 3 drivers - actually I like trying to spot any other Tesla cars on the road

Areas for improvement:

• The Lights in the Cubby hole
• Wipers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Autopilot at night, in road works. Phantom braking is worrying when it happens.
• Some of the Screen buttons are quite far away.
• Being able to connect to 2 mobile phone via BT at the same time (i have a work phone and Personal phone)
• Change the black gloss finish.

Wipers - definitely. Mine went totally insane when I got in the car recently. It had rained earlier but wasn't any more, but the wipers seemed to think the car was in an immense downpour and started frantically wiping. Other times it has just been content with having loads of water on the windscreen, requiring me to manually intervene.

Autopilot - this and auto-steer are generally really nice (if a little odd at first!) but yes, phantom braking is not pleasant. I can't say I'd trust these features for an entire journey but for times when you want to give your leg rest it's useful.

Screen buttons - argh, it's so frustrating to try and concentrate on driving AND adjusting something like the air conditioning temperature at the same time. I've ended up glancing at the screen, putting my fingers behind the screen and progressively moving my thumb to whichever button I want at the bottom of it. Sort of tempted to stick some kind of tactile label(s) behind the screen as a guide so I don't have to keep looking.

Since moving to my tesla I can seem to park straight, I also had a odd issue where i was much closer to a bush than my camera lead me to believe. Anybody else found this?

At first I did not trust the camera or sensors at all, so I did a bit of testing to get a feel for the parking sensor accuracy and at what point the car says to stop. There's a few inches left when it says to stop. The rear camera has a wide lens so everything does seem to look a lot further away than it really is (particularly to the sides!) - it's useful to see what's behind but the parking sensors are probably going to be easier to interpret (obviously this assumes that the sensors pick up whatever it is you're seeing in the camera.)

The white lines on the rear camera seem to line up close to the outer edge of the tyres (someone on YouTube tested this), if that helps - i.e. if the bush is to the side of your parking space, make sure the white lines aren't right next to it as there's still a couple of CM of car!

As for parking straight - I have the mirrors set to tilt down when in reverse, so that helps to line up in marked parking spaces or on a patterned/brickwork surface. Again the rear camera's white lines also help with this as they bend to indicate your trajectory as you turn the steering wheel in reverse.

 

[nightowl]

I also can't reverse turn and park in my m3, even though I'd consider myself jedi status In the subject.

Also, after a week of autopilot I've only just realised that using the parking brake button to disengage is a very bad idea and you are meant to move the stalk upwards!!!

Well, I learned something today! I thought pushing the stalk up might be how to disengage autopilot but it felt like it would be really wrong to be doing that just due to the labelling. I know it would be utterly dumb for the car to go into reverse whilst on the motorway but I just didn't dare to try it. Instead I've been gently tapping the brake pedal to force it to turn off autopilot and then quickly switching to the accelerator to avoid slowing down.

I struggle to work out where to begin a reverse park in mine. I was fine with it in my previous (shorter) car but I just can't quite work out the initial approach. I'm really considering going to a car park at a quiet time (e.g. late at a 24-hour Tesco) just to practise some bay parking rather than go to a busy car park and delay everyone else whilst getting it wrong!

 

[pgkevet]

Yes!! I don't think others have mentioned this but I feel like a complete novice when parking the M3. I have been a pretty good parker in the past but I often get the alignment wrong ... I actually think that looking at the rear camera view puts me off. I would probably be better ignoring it. Unfortunately being a short guy my view out over the high rear sill and width of the car's haunches makes use of the camera view necessary. I think my brain becomes confused between believing the camera view and my own sense of where the car is. I suppose I'm also worried about scraping wheels etc on a new car! I've parked a bus with more confidence!

I have the S (rather then 3) but similar parking issues at first. In days o yore one half turned in the seat and looked out the back to park but view in these cars is poor like that (and I have neck/back problems). For me the issue used to be that the rear cam view doesn't instinctively fit with the front of the car. As in you can do a perfect park in rear view but be very yawed in the space.

I've solved the problem (for me) by an extra pull forwards or two rather than trying to slide in in one and accepting there's no need to be a hero. It's still easier than reversing a tractor and trailer down a narrow rutted track but I bet the X with a two-wheel trailer is a bitch.

 

[TM3PTN]

Parking:
Ok, I am normally pretty good at parking. (good being, I can park in the middle of a space without any issues). Since moving to my tesla I can seem to park straight, I also had a odd issue where i was much closer to a bush than my camera lead me to believe. Anybody else found this?

I found that I lost the ability to park in the middle of a bay when I first got my car I kept overcompensating to the left or right! I think i'm getting the hang of it now though (after a month ).

Regarding the reversing camera - tend to reverse verrrrry slowly in close proximity to things, just in case there is a lag between camera and screen/sensors.
I wish they had used the design from Mercedes where the camera pops out when activated. This would stop any mist/dirt/water from obscuring the view. Also, the picture quality of my Mercedes reversing camera was miles better than the one on my M3.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

Regarding the X to close windows on the screen.

most, perhaps all?, windows can also be closed by swiping down anywhere on it, or tapping anywhere outside the window ( i.e. that usually means tapping on an area of the map still visible behind the popup window you want to close)

also, you can tap the same menu button you tapped to open it. That usually closes it too

 

[Palros]

I feel better now about the reverse parking. If anybody see a model 3 at the back of the car park reversing in and out of a space like a learner.

That will probably be me.

 

[WannabeOwner]

That will probably be me.

And after that you'll be the only one NOT parked at 45-degrees in the Supercharger bays