What’s the one thing you like the least about your Model 3?

[SVMike]

I would put my gripes into two categories:
First, are things that were delivered but could be better
#1. The entire UI seems to have been designed by a 20 year-old with 20/20 vision while sitting at a desk. Do some testing with people with people who wear glasses, while driving on a non-smooth road. The text for many things needs to be bigger. The screen hot spots for tapping needs to be larger. The duration of timed warnings/errors needs to be longer (and/or be able to go back to see an old message)
#2. The wipers. Many have discussed already. But there needs to be a way to easily change the speed without needing to take your eyes off the road. Pick something, anything, but do it. (You could press and hold the one-shot button on the left stalk and roll the right scroll wheel, for example)
3#. Audio favorites could be better, podcasts should save your last episode #, podcasts should save your position even if you switch channels/stations and come back later

Second. Upgrades or options
#1. heated steering wheel
#2. ventilated seats
#3. nothin...I'm good with all the above based on existing technology. (Yes another 50 or 100 miles would be nice)

 

[MrABRanch]

Things that I would like to change:

• 100x yes to hatchback, I took my deposit back for this reason, was completely gutted about this, in the end had to come crawling back to Tesla and just suck it up, but it's just a dumb design choice, and very practical compared to the sedan design.
• Something on the driver's side (in the mirror or just a light) to alert to blind spot crossing, looking to the right to go left is just very bad design, and I'm always glancing over my shoulder to change lanes, should not be having to do that in this car!
• Icon sizes (I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this) I want the fanspeed/indicator and general buttons bigger or the option to make them bigger, I've left the indicators on many times because I can't hear it over the music and I can't see the little flashing icons well enough, I also find it hard adjusting the fan speed or nav volume with the very small buttons, in a moving car over bumps etc
• Move the rear vent button to the drivers side, I have to turn on air for my kid and reaching across the screen for a fairly small button and to hit it accurately while looking at the road is not easy, I can take my eyes off the road for the 1.5secs I need to hit the button but it's dangerous, wish button was closer, and bigger.
• indicator volume setting, I want to hear it over the music, and also I want the little click when it turns off, got so used to that.
• Make the rear vent fan speed adjustable.
• Auto wiper sensitivity setting, the auto wipers are 75% there, I'll hit the manual wipe button many times in the hope I'm teaching my AI driven little car to wipe more often for the level of rain.
• Sentry cam rear and B Pillar cameras
• Sentry cam triple/5x view on center screen, with 3x5x10xspeed, plus pause and scroll and jump to incident button (like the sentry cam browser viewer)

I have to say I love how quiet the car is, I never notice the road noise/wind noise, maybe because I don't come from posh cars! but the car is super quiet for me.

 

[Msjulie]

Forced software 'features' ..

 

[WilliamG]

Forced software 'features' ..

Example?

 

[Hans L]

19" Rims. While I like the style, they are way, way too easy to curb rash. Ideally, a little tire extends beyond the rim to reduce the risk of curb rash. I dread parking next to a curb as a result.

 

[Hans L]

No AM radio! Missing my KGO 810AM news talk radio.

You should be able to find that station within "Tunein" and save it as a favorite. That's what I did with several select AM stations I listen to - and the sound quality is much better than standard AM radio...!

 

[idealdreams]

I moved to my LR AWD Model 3 from a loaded Audi A4 Prestige. I miss the refinement from a "true" luxury brand. The little touches here and there, like fully customizable ambient interior lighting, heated steering wheel, hands-free trunk opening, XM radio, and other small convenience features.

Don't get me wrong, I love the minimalism of the Model 3, but at a $50,000+ price point, it doesn't compete with other luxury cars in its class in that category. Of course, it dominates them in other ways, but still miss the little things.

 

[adam0785]

Example?

ELDA?

 

[adam0785]

I moved to my LR AWD Model 3 from a loaded Audi A4 Prestige. I miss the refinement from a "true" luxury brand. The little touches here and there, like fully customizable ambient interior lighting, heated steering wheel, hands-free trunk opening, XM radio, and other small convenience features.

Don't get me wrong, I love the minimalism of the Model 3, but at a $50,000+ price point, it doesn't compete with other luxury cars in its class in that category. Of course, it dominates them in other ways, but still miss the little things.

But there are so many ways you can refine the M3 into your own custom luxury motorcoach:
- aftermarket weatherstripping and noise reduction kits
- custom door button stickers for passenger education
- custom center console films to protect the piano finish
- custom soft close frunk spring/latch kits
- heat reducing films/sunshades to transform that glass roof into a proper insulated/sunlight blocking roof
....and so on

 

[BioSehnsucht]

That's a problem with your phone hardware or software because we have two Model 3's that both work perfectly with our two phones (Samsung S8+ and Samsung S9). If the phone is not transmitting the Bluetooth signal properly, don't blame the car, blame the phone! Also, it's important that the high-frequency BT signals are not blocked by water, metal, your body, etc. They do not penetrate well so ensure your phone is in a forward facing pocket as you unlock the door.

Our 100% functionality has been this way through many, many Model 3 software updates over the last year plus and it just keeps working reliably. It's possible to screw up this functionality by installing poorly coded apps or having your power saving or BT settings configured wrong. And some lower end phones just have crappy Bluetooth. The lock/unlock feature is probably pretty demanding of having Bluetooth functionality that adheres to published Bluetooth standards. Nobody is going to steal a $40K + car if your phones streaming BT audio is not correctly coded. I'm sure Tesla security features push a phones BT to the max but it's just a matter of using a phone that can handle it (and hasn't been screwed up with crappy apps or bad configuration settings).

So don't blame the car for something that is the fault of your phone.

Newer phones tend to work better, but there's people with brand new flagship phones who still have problems sometimes. Clearly the car is at least sometimes to blame. That said, I haven't had any problems since upgrading from my 2015 HTC One m9 to a Pixel 3a. I just wish the charge port would unlock when I approached rather than having to tap the door handle to unlock the car in order to unplug before leaving the house ... walk up unlock should work for this too!

 

[Hans L]

No AM radio! Missing my KGO 810AM news talk radio.

Yep, if you go to TuneIn => Browse => North America => Scroll till you find California => find San Francisco and then you'll find KGO 810. Hit the star icon to save it and now as soon as you open the music app, it will appear as a favorite.

 

[BioSehnsucht]

The spring means you can close the frunk with 2 fingers. But you can’t use the spring without the new struts. The new struts are necessary for the frunk to auto-pop on open.

Either way, replacing both struts and springs takes under 5 minutes and just requires a small, flat-headed screwdriver.

I saw someone post a video on youtube with the stock struts and a different softer spring that worked just fine with stock struts. They used SP 9605 - spring. I haven't tried it myself.

I imagine the heavy spring is heavy for a reason. Perhaps if we could get some kind of progressive rate spring we could solve for that reason while also making it easier to close.

 

[StealthP3D]

Clearly the car is at least sometimes to blame.

Clearly, the Earth is flat.

See what you did there? Made an absolute statement without any evidence that the statement is true. And I don't see it that way since it has worked every time since initial delivery a long time ago for me, my wife and a bunch of other people. All of these cars have substantially the same software through their lifetime (albeit constantly upgraded to new versions). The only time it didn't work for my wife she was baffled until I looked at her phone, swiped down from the top of the screen to bring up the phones settings menu and saw that Bluetooth was turned off. I turned it on and the car unlocked the first time.

Clearly, that was not the cars fault.

 

[StealthP3D]

Solutions should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. IMO, a solution that works great for you but not for someone else, or not always for someone else, is really more of a bodge.
Robin

Yes, we agree on that except for who to assign the bodge to. If the phone is not transmitting a signal, the car can't see it. My phone always transmits a signal (or else the door wouldn't open every time).

 

[Sully151]

This thread is funny to me.

I don’t have a Tesla yet, still working on it with my wife. I currently drive a Jeep JK wrangler with a 4” lift and 37” tires. There is nothing but rattles and road noise. It’s not Bluetooth capable, the plastic soft top windows are so faded, you can’t see what is behind you. I get 14 miles to the gallon and because of bad shocks, I need both hands on the wheel to drive unless I am shifting gears. Half the time the digital read out on the radio doesn’t irk and I am stuck with whatever station I was last listening to until it decides to work again. The steering wheel is literally peeling apart. Still love my Jeep.

I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.

 

[gulbrillo]

I ask the car to "navigate home", out it in reverse, the rear camera pops up, then navigation is done interpreting my command and turn off the rear camera to show the route. I manually activate the rear camera, finish getting out of the parking lot, shift into drive and... The rear camera is still on. Dang it! That is literally the most annoying thing about the Model 3 - and that says a lot.

 

[BYE FOSL]

The lack of rear vision is the biggest problem that I can’t fix. I can’t get used to it.
The seats need bigger bolsters, at least in the Performance.
It leans too much and is jittery at speed. I am getting new suspension.

 

[Msjulie]

Example?

ELDA?

What he said.

 

[TT97]

because of bad shocks, I need both hands on the wheel to drive unless I am shifting gears.

So, no nag issues with the Jeep?

 

[daniel]

@StealthP3D: I don't know why you tell me to "go back to [my] Prius" when I've said over and over that the Model 3 is the best car I've ever driven. And I don't know why you keep telling me to use some other system when I've said that these days the phone as key is working for me. The point is that a lot of people have reported having problems with it, and people who know more than I do have said that the BT protocol allows manufacturers to implement it in different ways which are not always all 100% compatible with each other. The simple fact that so many people have reported it not working is evidence that either it was a poor choice to begin with or Tesla implemented it poorly. And it is cavalier and disingenuous to expect or demand that everybody who buys a Tesla understand on a systems level how their phones work in order to avoid the apps that you say interfere with BT. If BT were a truly reliable system, no app on the phone would prevent it from working. The mere fact that an app on your phone can interfere with the phone's ability to open the car is reason enough not to rely on it.

Again, I'm not "complaining." Mine is working for the time being. I'm just agreeing with those who say that it was a poor choice. Tesla should have provided a proximity fob along with the car until they had enough experience with it for it to become truly reliable. The $150 key fob (sorry I got the price wrong) which should have come with the car at no extra cost, is hardly much better than the key card and is the crummiest key fob around.

This is the best car on the road today. I would not trade it for any other car, unless that car was so expensive that I could sell it and buy another Model 3 and have enough money left over to be worth the bother. But they did not get everything right. Pointing out the things they got wrong will allow them to make the next version better. It's not "complaining." It's constructive criticism.