Tesla Model 3 anticipation thread

In My Humble Opinion
962

Congrats! I assume, based on your estimated position, that you ordered relatively late on 3/31 but still before the announcement? In-person or online? There was a Twitter exchange where Musk apologized for some online orders happening before in-person ones and promised to correct for that. So I think there’s been a batch of in-person invites that went out.

Well, keep us posted on it. I’m curious if you have a similar experience to me. Or were you going to wait? The still-available $7500 rebate seems like a pretty good motivation to go with the current config.

963

If you don’t mind me asking, what sort of options are you looking at for your order?

964

Yeah, pre-ordered online on 3/31/2016 during the initial live-stream presentation. Not sure if my location (central fl) has anything to do with it, but I seem to be somewhat of an outlier for configuration- I certainly wasn’t expecting to see it ready. I had considered waiting until the $7500 credit was almost exhausted, with the intent that (hopefully) more of the early production issues would have been fixed, but after about a day I gave in and put down the non-refundable deposit.

Other than the (currently) mandatory LR battery and interior package, just the regular Aero wheels & paint for me, figured I’d wait on forking over for Auto-pilot until either it stops killing people, or Tesla puts it on sale (yeah, I know they tell you its going to be extra if you download it later, but they’ll probably adjust their pricing based on both autopilot adoption rate and entrance of competition). I don’t think I’ve ever even activated cruise control on my current vehicle, so not a big loss right now.

965

Ok, online preorder–interesting. I think a lot of the configuration assignment is based just on where they have delivery capacity. It’s pretty clear that the Fremont location is maxed out as far as deliveries go, and I suspect several other CA locations are the same. They may be putting through outlier orders simply because those are the only delivery centers that can handle them.

There’s probably also the effect that there are only so many people that want the specific LR+PEP combo. They’ll run through those sooner or later.

966

Nothing surprising to those that have been following along, but Top Gear did their Model 3 review. They liked it. The biggest complaint was just the waiting list.

One thing I worried about slightly before picking up the car was this: would the car just be incredibly boring to drive? I’m coming from a stick shift, and while sometimes it could be annoying (stop and go traffic), overall I liked having something to do. It was something of a game to rev-match perfectly, to correctly judge the right gear for a particular curve, etc. These are not difficult things but it added a bit to the driving experience.

The Model 3 loses those of course, but it adds another: regeneration. Judging how early to let off the throttle so I can hit a stoplight or curve without touching the brake but is also as late as possible is another “game” that adds to the interest of driving, and partially makes up for the lack of clutch/shifter.

Of course, the instant acceleration always puts a smile on my face, too.

967

Car and Driverwasn’t so favorable, though.

968

I really do hope that Tesla can address these quality issues. There’s nothing that drives me crazier that squeaks and rattles inside a car. I hate hate hate it.

There’s a new story about starting Model Y production about 18 months from now:

969

I just got my invitation to configure. If I want to spend $49,000, I can get the car in 3-6 weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t want to spend $49,000, I want to spend $35,000 so I’m looking at “Late '18”.

The one upside, is this should let me decide if I want all wheel drive or not. It really depends on the price. I’d pay a few thousand more for all wheel drive, but at some point I’d rather save the money and put up with the hassle of swapping snow tires. Or just stick with all season tires and drive sensibly in the snow, like I’ve been doing for the last 25 years.

970

Here is my big question, particularly for Dr. Strangelove, and any others who have used a Model 3. Is the premium upgrade worth it?

Here is what the configurator says it includes:

[ul]
[li]Premium heated seating and cabin materials throughout, including open pore wood decor and two rear USBs[/li][li]12-way, power adjustable front seats, steering column and side mirrors, with custom driver profiles[/li][li]Premium audio system with more power, tweeters, surround speakers and subwoofer[/li][li]Tinted glass roof with ultraviolet and infrared protection[/li][li]Auto dimming, power folding, heated side mirrors[/li][li]LED fog lamps[/li][li]Center console with covered storage and docking for two smartphones[/li][/ul]
I guess until we see what the standard interior looks like, it will be very hard to say. I want front heated seats, front USB, and an audio system. I do not care about premium materials, heated rear seats, or the glass roof.

This is my math:

$9000 [long range] - $7500 [tax rebate] = $1500 long range, which is worth it me.

$5000 [premium] - $1400 [Tires, timing belt, etc. on current car] = $3500 for premium, which I don’t think is worth it to me.

971

Congrats on the config request! Seems like they’re coming through at a rapid rate now.

I agree about the premium pack–without seeing the non-premium model, it’s really hard to say.

I do like the glass roof and the §leather seats. Those alone are probably worth the upgrade for me (shit, I spent $3500 on a sunroof for my BMW that was 1/4 the size). The phone dock is convenient but actually not “working” for me at the moment, since I had to order the microUSB adapter and it hasn’t come yet. It seems nice, though, especially as I generally use Pandora and want the phone to be at least a little accessible. The heated seats have no value to me, and the 12-way adjustment seems like overkill but does at least match my BMW, so less than that might feel like a downgrade. Not sure yet.

The premium audio is perfectly serviceable, though not spectacular. I’d say this has decent value if the non-premium audio is a significant downgrade, though it would kinda suck since it would mean the base audio is not that great at all.

What is your mental threshold price for LR and PUP? If you order the current config, your price will be $41.5k (49-7.5). If you wait for the base version, your price will likely be $31.25k. Are the two packages together worth $10k to you? And if that means not having to fix fix up your current car, that comes down to about $8.5k.

Although I’m not certain, I suspect the debundling of LR and PUP will come at the same time. That is, there won’t be some point where you can leave off PUP but you’re still obligated to get the LR (or vice versa).

972

No weird sounds yet, but I’ll get back to you in a couple of thousand miles. It is better than the BMW, which came with a weird resonance in one of the door speakers and took a couple trips to the dealer to fix (despite having an easy repro). Nothing like that yet, but it’ll take some time for any dodgy adhesive to shake loose.

CNBC got a factory tour with shots of Model 3 production:

Only a few interesting bits in there (lots of time wasted on junk like “why the April fools joke?”), but it’s good to hear that the 2000/wk production wasn’t just an end-of-quarter burst (like the 1000/wk in Q4); it was actually a sustained rate.

973

he says the problem was too many robots, not enough people

974

I’m surprised the cornering wasn’t a little better than .84 G’s. Not a hateful number but this is supposed to be a sporty car. Probably feels like a Ford Escape and I suspect that’s because of the weight of the car. Bigger tires would improve that. The acceleration is zippy and along the lines of a turbo 4 cylinder only more responsive with the electric motor torque. That .84G number is going to be enhanced (IMO) by the almost perfect 50/50 weight balance. Even if it’s not glued to the pavement it will be very predictive and solid when drifting which is what you want. I’d rather have that than a 1G car that breaks loose and spins out because the balance is off.

975

That is on all season tires. I’m sure all the other cars are also on all seasons, so it is a fair comparison, but I don’t think you’re going to get over 1g without summer performance tires.

I can remember when I was reading Car and Driver in the 80s, and a .79g was considered incredible. I’m just excited by the increase, not saying the Model 3 should be compared to a 1982 Mercury Marquis.

In my earlier post, I think my math needs to be revised. The actual cost, to me, of the long range options is $9000 - $3750 = $5250, which is difference in the tax credit between ordering the LR today, and ordering the SR at the end of the year. I just can’t justify spending $5250 on the LR version. About the only advantage I can see with the LR version is I could drive to Vail and back on one charge. Of course, there is plenty of charging available in Vail, and $5250 buys a lot of lift tickets, even at Beaver Creek.

976

A 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe pulled .89 on 16" tires which was a little better than the Mustang at the time. I think it’s the weight of the Model 3 keeping the number down but I’m not an engineer.

What’s the real world loss of charge over time and does that work into your range requirements. Will you have an ICE car to back it up in which case you don’t need the additional range. realistically, you’re probably not buying an EV to travel cross country.

977

It is an 8 year warranty to hold 70% of charge. If I’m really unlucky, I’ll be at 165 miles at 8 years, which is 75% or original capacity. My 75% of usage requirement is 30 miles (two 15 mile trips) with heat or AC, and going to 60 miles (four 15 mile trips) will cover 98%. That’s just beyond the abilities of a used Leaf.

105 miles to Vail doesn’t concern me, because there is lots of charging available at the destination. Someplace like Leadville, with no guaranteed charging, will require more planning. Mostly just topping up before leaving I-70, or on the way home.

Playing with Tesla’s route calculator, it looks like the only likely destination that isn’t workable is Yellowstone National Park. Much further than that, and I’d rather fly. Also, if it’s less than about $.50/mile, renting for a road trip is a good option.

Just to make sure I’m not too green, I’ll have an ICE vehicle that gets 13MPG.

978

Just got back from a little mini road trip. Fantastic! I love this car.

There’s a local road that motorcycle and performance car enthusiasts head to called Skyline Blvd. Getting to there means taking some 25-35 mph windies, and the road itself varies from 25 to 55 mph. Nice scenery and a nice mix of curves. Anyway, the Model 3 performed flawlessly; the regeneration is really pleasant to drive with, and the complete lack of body roll makes the curves a breeze.

Obviously, I didn’t press the car to its limits (gotta watch out for bicyclists and crap), but regardless, it has a great overall feel. It doesn’t handle like a frikkin’ Escape. As echoreply said, the lowish skidpad score is almost certainly a function of the tires (all season and low rolling resistance).

Normally, Skyline is a gas hog since there is so much braking involved–I think a standard ICE car would be lucky to break 10 mpg on a typical drive. In the Model 3, there was no noticeable impact on efficiency. A hybrid would show some gains here but probably not at the same level unless the driver went very easy on the accelerator.

I took Hwy 280 on the way back and exercised Autopilot a lot. It’s really a perfect use case: lots of well-marked lanes, not too much traffic, no construction zones, etc. And so of course it works great. It really does reduce the load and allow me to spend more time on spatial awareness, etc. Any driving involves allocating mental resources: short-range positioning, scanning the mirrors, looking farther down the roadway, etc. These are competing resources, so less mental energy spent on steering and acceleration/braking means more on more “strategic” factors. My only real complaint here is that it complains about holding the steering wheel too easily–that is, it requires too much force. I tend to hold the wheel near the bottom with a light touch, and this was enough for it to complain. I had to move my hand up a bit so that gravity provided enough force.

There is a bit more road noise than would be ideal. It’s probably a little worse than an average car. On smooth roads it’s fine but on (say) rough concrete it’s a bit louder than it should be. There’s probably some tradeoff here between noise and decent roadfeel–something the Model 3 is great at. The suspension feels tuned to not particularly favor any one frequency. This is one thing that I really don’t like about a lot of cars (not BMW): the suspension doesn’t just reduce the amplitude of the vibrations, it muffles them as well. It’s like hearing a conversation through a closed door: it’s quieter, but it also muffles the sounds, making the conversation impossible to hear. The Tesla and BMW suspensions feel tuned to just make the road quieter but not preferentially muffle high frequencies. This has the effect of making some roads rougher-feeling but gives a better overall roadfeel (IMHO).

979

I’m glad you’re enjoying the car but the Escape out-handles it on the skidpads. I’ve driven it and it’s pretty tight. You’ll have to be content with looking at it in your rear viewmirror when you hit the straightaways.

980

Skidpad sure ain’t everything. SUVs, particularly ICE SUVs, have a high center of gravity. There’s no way around them having significant body roll–something that the 3 doesn’t have.

For all I know–and I’m genuinely curious about the physics here, because I suspect it isn’t straightforward–a high CoG could help with skidpad numbers, to an extent. It may well be that putting more weight on the outside wheels (up to a theoretical limit of all weight on the outside) could be an advantage due to nonlinearities in the coefficient of friction of the tires. Whereas an even weight distribution–even under lateral acceleration–could be worse. Or, maybe it’s the reverse. I really don’t know but I’ll bet there’s some interesting physics here.

At any rate, the enjoyment of a car’s handling can’t be summed up in one number. It’s the combination of several objective factors and several more subjective ones. The 3 has, IMO, an excellent feel. Maybe not quite BMW level but in the ballpark, and the EVness more than makes up for the rest.

And for what it’s worth, it’s not the long straightaways that the 3 gains the most ground. It’s the short segments between curves where an ICE spends a precious second or two downshifting and maybe spinning up the turbos. I’m already braking for the next curve after accelerating from 25 to 40.

981

I’m more impressed with the sound system than I was before. It’s actually quite decent.

The previous limiting factor was me streaming audio from my phone. I dunno if my phone sucks, or Pandora sucks, or the Bluetooth connection sucks, or Bluetooth itself sucks, but this method of getting audio to the car is only adequate.

The built-in streaming, though, is great. It’s much louder for starters, and I can actually hear the subwoofer kick in.

It would be nice to figure out how to get decent-quality audio from my phone, but the built-in streaming is good enough that I’ll probably just use that. The USB port can also be used for local MP3 files, so that might be worth a go as well (I think it supports FLAC, too). Unfortunately, there’s no hardwired aux jack.