oliquattro
Registered User
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- Mar 2, 2015
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Hello,
Test drove a Model 3 Performance for about 45 mins today. Here are my thoughts. Full and honest review, no bias even though I’m getting one.
Appearance and image:
SUBJECTIVE VIEW; Looks great in person. Front has brilliant presence and reminds me of an old Porsche. Back end is a bit meh. Interior is minimal and very comfy, however, the white colour is not for me. I test drove the grey one; it does look better in person.
The laminated, skeletal, glass roof is divine and adds integrity to the structure. Can also support four times the cars weight. It was extremely sunny today and I didn’t notice glare in the cabin or off the display. I usually where sunglasses but I intentionally didn’t this time. No issues there in high summer sun. May have some issues in low level winter sun reflecting off the screen but I can’t say for sure.
If you are tall, no problem. My two passengers were 6’3” and 6’1”. The glass roof allows taller passengers more comfort as there is no headliner.
Technology:
Way too much to talk about. Sentry mode is very cool! The interface is so easy.
Charging:
With 40Amp home charger you’ll get 24 miles charge in one hour. I only do 20-30 miles a day and overnight charge 8 hours will provide around 192 miles.
If you have no option but to plug your Tesla into a 3 pin plug (13A), then you will get 8 miles an hour. Enough to charge at a friends house for example and get home, or get to a supercharger on a long journey. However I will probably never have to visit a petrol station again apart from very long journeys.
If you are doing over say 250 miles in a day; it will automatically guide you to a supercharger. These are ridiculously high powered and can do 80% charge in 18 minutes. You get 5000 free supercharger miles too.
Considering you should probably take every 250 miles or so, I don’t think waiting 15 mins is an issue. Grab a Burger King. I recommend the chilli cheese bites.
Range wise; the salesman was totally honest and said they get 250 miles out of a full charge on that demo car. He said on motorway they are easily getting 300 miles. Of course in a demo car they will demonstrate acceleration, so 250 miles is better than expected.
Cost to charge a full tank is a few quid. In some town centres it’s free. You can also get dual tariff economy 7 at home, paying 50% less for electricity at night.
Anyway enough of the boring stuff.
Power:
Unbelievable. I don’t need to go on about this and get my thread deleted again. It has to be experienced to be believed. McLaren, neck-snapping quick. Perfectly linear. Very fun but you have to be extremely switched on and responsible.
Handling:
I set the car to Sports handling. I didn’t go into Track Mode because didn’t want hard regeneration during the test drive which would be uncomfortable for passengers.
It feel like a BMW 3 series. It feels solid, like a big metal unwavering block. The turn-in is dramatically sharp and virtually no body roll. It’s so sharp it reminded me almost exactly of my old BMW E90 or E82 135i (on non run flats). The chassis is solid. It feels like a German car from behind the wheel; solid, tight and refined. Similar turn-in but less body roll. Absolutely no apparent loss in traction.
The dampers are excellent. I honestly can’t say anything negative about the handling or I would do. I can confirm the steering wheel material feels a bit cheap in your hand, but I can get over it.
It doesn’t feel crashy or hard at all.
Braking:
Now this is where it suffers. The brakes are no way as sharp as my S4 for example. The weight of the car is very apparent when you brake. This is the biggest negative for me. You don’t get any dramatic movement in the chassis/suspension but you can tell the car is struggling to slow down. I’ll be honest I didn’t test the brakes very hard but they are definitely not BMW/Audi level. Mainly due the weight of the car. But like I said I didn’t stomp the pedal, just required more depression than I’m used to.
The brakes themselves are large but probably the only thing I would modify on the car. I had the exact same feeling in the Model X; it was too fast for the brakes IMO. Stupid fast, if there is such a thing.
Build quality:
Overall great I couldn’t see anything poor quality.....apart from an area under the bonnet where they missed spraying inside the honeycomb structure. I can live with stuff like this, but it’s a cut corner nonetheless. Photo attached of that. There is so little to go wrong in the interior and drivetrain because everything is super minimal. Doors and handles are solid.
Overall:
Better than I expected. The handling and power are the winners. Braking is the only department where this Tesla will suffer compared to an equally sized car. There is one thing seeing loads of positive reviews online, but actually driving the car was sensational. It’s the most progressive car I’ve ever been in.
Best thing about it; nobody even knows what it is. Hardly anyone even took a second glance. Maybe two people.
I asked Tesla again about their lease prices and it’s simply cheaper to use a different company and compare prices yourself. Just the way it is.
Anyway, don’t want to cause any problems here just give a frank and honest review about the Model 3 P because I’ve actually driven it. If this upsets anyone again I’ll delete the whole thread, it’s just a car.
Thanks!
Test drove a Model 3 Performance for about 45 mins today. Here are my thoughts. Full and honest review, no bias even though I’m getting one.
Appearance and image:
SUBJECTIVE VIEW; Looks great in person. Front has brilliant presence and reminds me of an old Porsche. Back end is a bit meh. Interior is minimal and very comfy, however, the white colour is not for me. I test drove the grey one; it does look better in person.
The laminated, skeletal, glass roof is divine and adds integrity to the structure. Can also support four times the cars weight. It was extremely sunny today and I didn’t notice glare in the cabin or off the display. I usually where sunglasses but I intentionally didn’t this time. No issues there in high summer sun. May have some issues in low level winter sun reflecting off the screen but I can’t say for sure.
If you are tall, no problem. My two passengers were 6’3” and 6’1”. The glass roof allows taller passengers more comfort as there is no headliner.
Technology:
Way too much to talk about. Sentry mode is very cool! The interface is so easy.
Charging:
With 40Amp home charger you’ll get 24 miles charge in one hour. I only do 20-30 miles a day and overnight charge 8 hours will provide around 192 miles.
If you have no option but to plug your Tesla into a 3 pin plug (13A), then you will get 8 miles an hour. Enough to charge at a friends house for example and get home, or get to a supercharger on a long journey. However I will probably never have to visit a petrol station again apart from very long journeys.
If you are doing over say 250 miles in a day; it will automatically guide you to a supercharger. These are ridiculously high powered and can do 80% charge in 18 minutes. You get 5000 free supercharger miles too.
Considering you should probably take every 250 miles or so, I don’t think waiting 15 mins is an issue. Grab a Burger King. I recommend the chilli cheese bites.
Range wise; the salesman was totally honest and said they get 250 miles out of a full charge on that demo car. He said on motorway they are easily getting 300 miles. Of course in a demo car they will demonstrate acceleration, so 250 miles is better than expected.
Cost to charge a full tank is a few quid. In some town centres it’s free. You can also get dual tariff economy 7 at home, paying 50% less for electricity at night.
Anyway enough of the boring stuff.
Power:
Unbelievable. I don’t need to go on about this and get my thread deleted again. It has to be experienced to be believed. McLaren, neck-snapping quick. Perfectly linear. Very fun but you have to be extremely switched on and responsible.
Handling:
I set the car to Sports handling. I didn’t go into Track Mode because didn’t want hard regeneration during the test drive which would be uncomfortable for passengers.
It feel like a BMW 3 series. It feels solid, like a big metal unwavering block. The turn-in is dramatically sharp and virtually no body roll. It’s so sharp it reminded me almost exactly of my old BMW E90 or E82 135i (on non run flats). The chassis is solid. It feels like a German car from behind the wheel; solid, tight and refined. Similar turn-in but less body roll. Absolutely no apparent loss in traction.
The dampers are excellent. I honestly can’t say anything negative about the handling or I would do. I can confirm the steering wheel material feels a bit cheap in your hand, but I can get over it.
It doesn’t feel crashy or hard at all.
Braking:
Now this is where it suffers. The brakes are no way as sharp as my S4 for example. The weight of the car is very apparent when you brake. This is the biggest negative for me. You don’t get any dramatic movement in the chassis/suspension but you can tell the car is struggling to slow down. I’ll be honest I didn’t test the brakes very hard but they are definitely not BMW/Audi level. Mainly due the weight of the car. But like I said I didn’t stomp the pedal, just required more depression than I’m used to.
The brakes themselves are large but probably the only thing I would modify on the car. I had the exact same feeling in the Model X; it was too fast for the brakes IMO. Stupid fast, if there is such a thing.
Build quality:
Overall great I couldn’t see anything poor quality.....apart from an area under the bonnet where they missed spraying inside the honeycomb structure. I can live with stuff like this, but it’s a cut corner nonetheless. Photo attached of that. There is so little to go wrong in the interior and drivetrain because everything is super minimal. Doors and handles are solid.
Overall:
Better than I expected. The handling and power are the winners. Braking is the only department where this Tesla will suffer compared to an equally sized car. There is one thing seeing loads of positive reviews online, but actually driving the car was sensational. It’s the most progressive car I’ve ever been in.
Best thing about it; nobody even knows what it is. Hardly anyone even took a second glance. Maybe two people.
I asked Tesla again about their lease prices and it’s simply cheaper to use a different company and compare prices yourself. Just the way it is.
Anyway, don’t want to cause any problems here just give a frank and honest review about the Model 3 P because I’ve actually driven it. If this upsets anyone again I’ll delete the whole thread, it’s just a car.
Thanks!
