Before diving head-first into the rabbit hole of opinions and focus points, I have to point out that my overall impression of Tesla remains quite high. Tesla is an incredible company, filled with innovation and unlimited potential that has only barely been tapped into.
This story helps to summarize some of the experiences and opinions thus far after 6 months of ownership. It may sound a little roughly weighted into the direction of negatives at times, but that is only because the company does appear (at times) to think that “its bile doesn’t stink” (to put the term in a more respectful manner).
I have been driving a 2022 Model 3 Long Range since the end of August of last year (2022). I paid a grand total of $75K, which includes the purchase of FSD (Full Self-Drive). Since then I have traveled just over 7,300 miles already. It is a little more time spent on the road than I normally find myself driving and this is mostly due to a balance between how fun it is to drive and the comfort of not having to pay for gas (my electricity is fed by solar). This mileage includes both in the city as well as travel, with the furthest trip being around 460 miles in either direction. So I’ve had plenty of time and experience to look or listen for anything that might be “off” expectation.
I have been asked many questions by others surrounding my thoughts, opinions, or regrets (if any). And like any vehicle (nothing is perfect), I have had plenty. Most common being “would you do it again?”, which I’ll get to at the end. For now, let’s start breaking things down! (and I apologize ahead of time for the length of this story)
FSD (Full Self-Drive)
This is something I wanted to jump right into. The big question of if FSD was worth it or not. Especially, with how expensive it has gotten. You likely have already browsed all over to find all forms of opinions spanning both sides of the argument, as everyone seems to be stuck in a bit of a stalemate on this topic.
In my own opinion, I think price and terms (in their current form) dictate the future and usefulness of FSD. Right now, it is far too expensive for what it is worth. Despite anything being said by the company, FSD is still in its beginning stages and has a long way to go. So when looking at the price, you have to consider it as an investment toward what it will become and not what it is today. Jumping into it before it grows into a much higher price. Then again, as it continues to climb in price, fewer and fewer consumers will be willing to buy into it. As each shift will alienate certain budget points.
My biggest concern that will affect my overall opinion of FSD (and the company itself), is how much the company is willing to deliver on its promises. Tesla said that the 2022 hardware could deliver a complete FSD experience (once the feature is fully developed). However, the company continues to launch updated hardware packages, with the new HW 4.0 coming soon. The latest HW package is said (by Elon himself) that it will not be retrofittable to older vehicles.
So if it winds up being that the 2022 models are not capable of taking full advantage of FSD, this will be a huge loss for the company and my own opinions of it will fall into the toilet. Mostly since this is one of the two biggest appealing benefits (and promises) of buying into a Tesla (the other being motor performance).
This is where the “terms” come into play. When you pay all this money to “buy into FSD”, it is non-transferrable. So imagine if 2022 models never do get FSD despite buying into it. Then, you end up buying into a new vehicle (eventually) that does have FSD. You are now forced to buy the software upgrade again, while your original “investment” is a total loss, buried by false promises.
Thankfully, nothing has been set in stone yet when it comes to what will or will not actually be able to make use of FSD when it properly/fully launches. But if we do run into FSD compatibility issues, the least the company could do is allow the purchase of FSD to transfer between vehicles by attaching it to the owner and not the car. This will reduce the amount of blow back against the company. Of course, this will only soften it as there would still be a lot of blowback when it comes to the money spent on the previous model vehicles in general.
Ultimately, it will be best that FSD functions in all of the vehicles/models that the feature has been promised to work with.
I started off with this topic since it is one of the most important variables that will dictate the future of the company. With so many promises made over the years, and so many delays leading to so many questions on if certain features or plans will ever happen, it is important to keep a keen eye on all of this. It’s important for the company to do the same.
So going back to the start of this section where the question of if FSD is/was worth it was asked, the answer is still in the air. That will depend on what the company does from here. If I eventually gain full access to a “true” FSD experience, it will absolutely have been worth it. Any other outcome and the answer will be: no. It may seem like a harsh answer, but the price paid is a lot if the service ends up being less or none.
The Positives
Clearly, one of the most notable strong-points is speed. The motor performance of Tesla’s vehicles is absolutely some of the best acceleration experiences I have ever had in a vehicle. Taking off in Ludacris Mode within the Model S is breath-taking, thrilling, and mostly unmatched (competition is growing though). Although I don’t get Ludacris Mode with the Model 3 LR, the result is still close to the same. Handling is also a strong positive for these vehicles.
I am a bit of a thrill-seeker myself. A fan of rollercoasters and other rides that offer a thrilling g-force experience (here’s looking at you Mission Space at Epcot). However, you do have to be careful about which settings are enabled when you invite passengers into your vehicle. In standard acceleration mode, you can really feel the g-force. So if you invite someone into the car that is affected by motion sickness, you may have an unfortunate experience. For these scenarios, there is “chill mode” within the acceleration settings. This reduces that g-force experience down to almost nothing, creating a smooth ride. At least, as long as you don’t slam on the acceleration pedal as there is still a bit of boost there, even in chill mode (comparable to any other fast vehicle).
Beyond FSD, the software/Interface is some of the best out there. The ability to deeply customize your overall experience is fantastic and really adds to the driving experience. At least, when it comes to acceleration/handling, positioning of seats and instruments, climate, heated seats/steering wheel, and more. Some of the Autopilot options are fantastic as well, despite not making it far enough to call anything “FSD”. This allows some of the basic autonomous features to still be competitive with the other companies that are slowly catching up.
As for that heated steering wheel, this is something I never knew I would care much about. It’s one of those things you don’t ever think about until you actually try it out. Mostly because I live in the desert. However, even the desert can get a little cold (hitting the low 30s this winter). I didn’t think I would use it, but when I finally tried it out it actually added to the comfort level. I’ve had heated seats for years, but this was a new experience for me. Something simple that had a notable impact.
The charging experience is another huge advantage you get with Tesla vehicles over the competition. Although this gap is starting to get smaller as other companies catch up, Tesla still has the fastest charging rate (Tesla and Lucid still hold the record thus far), reducing the amount of time spent at chargers during trips. The Wall Connector is also fantastic, if you opt to install one in your garage. It is fast, it is friendly, and it is fun to customize a user-friendly solution for getting it to and from your car with (of course, this could also be done with literally, any other charger as well).
I have also quite liked being able to break away from using gas in my vehicle. I have solar at home, so charging at home (which is where I do 98% of my charging) is easy and affordable since the sun covers everything for me. I only use charging stations when traveling outside of the city.
The Battery life seems to be pretty good as long as you don’t have a lead foot and as long as you aren’t going uphill for long periods of time (or pulling a trailer or boat — which it can do). This was another category that Tesla specialized in that many other companies did not (ie, my friend’s Chevy Bolt doesn’t come anywhere close to the charging speeds and battery life of this car). However, companies are catching up, so this advantage is thinning out a bit. It would have been nice to have 500 miles to a charge at minimum, but these just aren’t there yet.
It does a pretty good job at minimizing battery drain (while parked) as well. When you enable Sentry Mode, it does drain a little quicker, but not by much. However, if Sentry Mode isn’t enabled, it seems to hold a fantastic charge with minimal drain. I left it in the garage for a week as I traveled by plane. During this window of time, it dropped from 88% to 86%, which was quite impressive. It technically still read 87% when I climbed in, but it dropped almost immediatly the moment I started backing up. So you know it was just crossing the line of breaking 2% when I got back. To be extra fair, conditions within the garage were perfect, so it likely didn’t have to do much to maintain temps while I was away. There was no need for it to ever enable cabin overheat protection or anything. So it was only whatever it needed to do to maintain the state of the batteries.
As for wear and tear, nothing seems to be falling apart or degrading quicker than it should be. Certain surfaces of the dash appear to be a little prone to scratching if you aren’t careful due to soft surfaces/coatings, but nothing feels as though it will fall apart sooner than expected.
Some Neutral Observations
Now we slowly transition towards the whole “Tesla thinks its bile doesn’t stink, but let’s be real about this” section (that comes next). For now, a few soft points to touch on that I was on the edge about. Not exactly heavy enough to be a negative, but worth noting.
For one, the majority of the USB ports are limited when it comes to what you can use them for. Only the one USB port within the glove box handles data. Everything else is charging-only. Within the console area, the front two USB-C ports feature up to 36W for charging, while the ports on the back-side of the console (for those sitting in the back seats) are good for up to 27W.
When it comes to charging your devices with a cord, this isn’t that bad. You typically don’t need anything more for charging even though some of the flagship models (like the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra) can charge at a much faster rate. At least, when it comes to charging your devices in a car.
It’s just unfortunate that you can’t use any of these console ports for data (ie, music, controllers, etc). This means in order to get the most out of the ONE port in the glove box, you need to purchase a USB 3.0 hub to put in there.
The wireless charger is a whole other story, as it is clearly behind the times. Tesla just isn’t focused on these items, leaning toward saving money on outdated parts instead. It’s nice that the Tesla has two built-in wireless Qi charging pads for your phones, but they are limited to just 5W each. This is when current phones are capable of 15-30W+. This would be outdated even for the Samsung Galaxy S8+ (which is a 5-6 year old model). Thus your phone is going to charge pretty slowly if you go wireless. This means for the hungrier phones, many drivers will skip the wireless and go back to plugging in a cable (or install a wireless mount capable of faster speeds through the 12V adapter).
Also, some of the largest smartphones out there may not fit. For example. I tried sticking the S23 Ultra in there within its case and it didn’t fit. I had to remove it from the case for it to just barely fit. Something I don’t plan to do as it isn’t easy getting it in and out of its case. So I am out of using my own charging pads it seems. At least, some of my passengers may be able to use that.
Last, but not least, I needed to touch on the audio system. This fell into a neutral point as it isn’t a terrible system. It offers a lot of immersion and a decent range and clarity. Not to mention, you have plenty of speakers and a sub (a total of 15 speakers). However, it has been described by Tesla and its reps as being “audiophile” and it just doesn’t fit the profile. We even published a story early on covering this specific topic. Again, it is a nice system. It just isn’t audiophile quality.
The Negatives
And finally we reach the section where I am going to get a bit mean when it comes to what I think about Tesla vehicles. Once again, this is because Tesla thinks it’s bile doesn’t stink. Thus I feel the need to point out why, like any other company, it does stink at times (sometimes, quite a bit).
With that, I am going to jump right into the topic of comfort levels. Including both physical comfort and the audible environment within the vehicle. The Tesla Model 3 feels and sounds like an entry-level Honda Civic with an EV engine, while handling stiff like a Corvette half the time (suspension is way too stiff, resulting in a rough ride if the road has any imperfections whatsoever). When considering the comfort level of this vehicle, it really feels as though you are only paying for the software, hardware, battery pack, motors, and upholstery–and that everything else was offered to you out of the kindness of their low-budget hearts.
Everything else kind of feels like an entry-level vehicle you’d spend $20K on tops, which kind of makes it underwhelming and you regret spending the money at times. A general Toyota vehicle is more comfortable/silent than this car. My previous car (a 2008 Mercury Sable), was quite a bit more comfortable than this one. It was quiet, smooth, and relaxing. Despite having a V6 engine, weighing over 3,800 pounds, and being made by Ford. All thanks to the added level of noise dampening and isolation the company took into consideration when building those cars (something the Model 3 seems to have none of). It wasn’t bad for a vehicle that ran less than $30K. At times, I have wondered why I sold it to buy this one.
There is a section of road near my neighborhood that needs a little love. Driving on it with my old car led to a certain muted level of noise in the road. It was noticable, but it wasn’t bad. Driving on it with the Model 3, feels like I am four-wheeling at times. God forbid you drive on a non-perfect road while having to use the restroom or suffering from a headache (or both).
There are also various vibrations that you notice here and there when the road isn’t perfectly smooth (review mirror area, doors, console, something in the rear somewhere, etc). Things you wouldn’t expect to hear in a brand new vehicle (not to mention an expensive option). Wind noise is also unacceptable, making it the windiest car I have ever driven.
It doesn’t help that Tesla doesn’t want to ever do anything about it. When I first brought the concern about the wind noise coming from the windows to their attention, they told me that “since it doesn’t have an engine, you’ll hear a bit more wind noise than normal” (aka, your over-reacting or imagining things as being worse than they are). This is a terrible theory as you wouldn’t hear “more” wind noise. You’d simply notice the noise that is already there, a little more. Not having an engine isn’t going to add additional wind noise. A bad seal around the door windows, however, will absolutely add additional noise. Eventually, the service center said I was just going to have to record it as they can’t even investigate the concern or examine the window seal unless I can prove it by recording it. So I did, and then posted it on YouTube for everyone else to witness as well.
As for the support centers, they are definitely a test of your patience and availability. Again, they won’t even look into something unless it is happening right there on the spot (easy to duplicate) or you have video evidence of it happening. This is, of course, after you have waited weeks (or even a month or two) to get an appointment to see anyone. I am a bit concerned about what would happen if something rendered the vehicle undrivable. My general quality of life (or ability to get to and from work) may be crippled if the experience is the same for those situations. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen for a long (LONG) time.
In the past, my experiences with the service centers of other brands suffered, at worst, being told “sorry, but we don’t have any availability today, but if you bring it in tomorrow, we can fit you in!”. So there is a huge difference when switching to a Tesla. Something the company has been working on over the last few years, but still has a long way to go.
I am not throwing any jabs directly at the staff of these service centers as they are usually friendly and helpful each time I find myself talking to one of them (and probably overworked). It is simply the policies and procedures they are forced to practice. The only negative experience I had was the girl I spoke to the day I made my order online. I came in with a decent list of questions that I hadn’t thought of yet or couldn’t research online. The first few questions went find, but after that, She had that look on her face that I was wasting her time or something (that “this guy isn’t going to buy anything and is wasting my time” kind of look). Or, maybe she was just operating on a total lack of sleep or something (to be fair). All I know was that she was happy when I reached my last question. Then I went home, and I bought it via Tesla’s website (which was the same as doing it there).
Ghost-Breaking is another interesting topic to cover. I mentioned the software is one of the perks outside of FSD. FSD and autopilot still has a long way to go before it can come anywhere close to replacing a human driver. It still experiences all sorts of interesting bugs and mistakes. One one of which, is ghost-breaking. This is where you have it on autopilot or FSD and it suddenly just slows down out of nowhere for no reason (at least, no reason you can come up with and no messages or errors on the screen). For the first so many months, I never experienced this myself. Possibly because I kept most of my driving in the city and didn’t travel further out just yet.
However, this January, on a drive to Lake Tahoe through a long stretch of Nevada desert, it suffered a constant case of ghost breaking. There were no lights, obstructions, traffic, or odd signs of any kind (and the weather was great). At times it would be a random soft break of a few MPH or so. Other times, they were much harder breaks, resulting in jerking passengers and load/items forward uncomfortably. Causing your fight or flight response to go through the roof. I pressed and held the car icon at the bottom corner to send a report so many times during that drive, hoping that it would help Tesla log these events and learn from them. It was also enough to drive one of my friends away from her initial interest of getting a Tesla (or equivalent) herself. It was a very unpleasant experience.
During that same trip the GPS kept leading down a path that is closed for the season due to avalanche/damage. Google maps and Waze saw it as being closed, but not Tesla (despite using Google maps as its map source). Adding 40 mins to our trip as we had to backtrack and go back and around the mountain. We warned another vehicle of friends from taking the route in case their GPS made a similar mistake. However, theirs was already guiding them down the right path.
Also, during that same drive, FSD kicked me out from using it until we pulled over at a gas station and started a new drive from there. This was despite having both hands on the steering wheel. It featured a few last-minute beeps and still kicked me out even though I was shaking the steering wheel to the point of it knocking it out of FSD as it thought I was trying to take control. I wasn’t looking at the screen for any warnings before that since I had my hands on the wheel and was paying attention to the road.
To make things worse, this acted as a strike against my Tesla Score (which raised my rate a little for the following month since I have Tesla’s own insurance). I was completely helpless as I had no one to complain to or defend myself to. Its error means I have to pay more, even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong. What kind of world do we live in where that is seen as ok or even legal?
I was told by others that it is best to drive with one hand weighing the wheel to a certain direction because if your hands balance each other out weight-wise, the system can sometimes think you aren’t even holding on. This is a huge issue with the system and I have noticed a number of times since that it will pop up the warning to put pressure on the steering wheel when I already had both hands on. A few times I had only one had on with what I thought was enough force weighing the wheel down. I wound up knocking it out of FSD a few times while moving the wheel around frantically because it wouldn’t acknowledge any form of pressure applied without applying “too much”.
Sadly, raising your voice at the car with “I AM HOLDING THE STEERING WHEEL, STUPID!” doesn’t help change anything (for the record). Just in case you were wondering.
The windows are also noticeably weak when it comes to durability. I’ve seen many discussions about this online and didn’t witness anything myself until the car started taking tiny hits of sand and pebbles from something on the freeway during a drive. I didn’t see anything on the road an couldn’t tell if it was coming from the back of any vehicle nearby. I also didn’t think much of it since the particles were so small, I couldn’t visibly see anything as it was hitting. By the time I parked at my destination, though, I noticed a number of micro chips in the windshield. That blew my mind as I have never had such an issue with any vehicle in the past (outside of much larger pebbles/stones casted against the glass). Thankfully, they are tiny little chips and not cracks (and shouldn’t ever form into cracks).
Some parts aren’t properly sealed, allowing chemicals to easily discolor things. This is why Tesla recommends avoiding automated car washes completely and doing things by hand using very specific types of soaps. The biggest culprit is the trim running around the doors and windows on the sides of the vehicle. These are prone to getting stained with odd chemical patterns because the trim material isn’t properly sealed from this. Instead of fixing the problem, the company simply tells customers to avoid car washes, which kind of feels like the easy/cheap way out.
Looking back to the topic of USB ports, there was one point that broke past the neutral points and into the negative and that was using the USB port in the glove box to play local files. This is a great opportunity to get a little more out of the audio system in the car since you can choose to listen to FLAC tracks or higher quality MP3s that have less compression than streamed music. However, it doesn’t come without bugs.
It’s difficult to listen to music from any drive connected to the USB port as it keeps getting confused when I park and come back for your next ride. Your initial listening experience is usually just fine. However, when you go to get back in the car later, the computer is always confused and stuck in the loading screen you can see in the above image. Forcing you to manually pull up the music sources, select USB, and click on a track to start it back up again. Something that happens just about every single time you get into the vehicle.
This is such an annoyance, I find myself giving up and going back to streamed content just so I don’t have to deal with it. Allowing me to get on with my drive.
At least, another bug seems to have been fixed finally. One that caused the system to get confused when getting back into the vehicle for a new trip. This wasn’t just limited to listening to local files as it would sometimes happen when you were listening to another source in your last drive.
What would happen (seen in the above image) is once in awhile it would automatically switch to Caraoke when you get into the car, followed by the last track you ever listened to using Caraoke (could be days, or even weeks or more ago) showing on the screen followed by an loading error. Probably erroring since that wasn’t what you were listening to before. I was about to bring that up to the service center when it had finally stopped happening. It seemed to have been fixed in the last update to the console that changed the main icon strip layout at the bottom and the location of the music strip. Hopefully, this bug is exterminated permanently and doesn’t come back.
Then there is the value of the vehicle after just 6 months of ownership from brand new. The cost of the car before FSD being added for an additional $13K was $62K ($75K total). At only six months later, the value of the vehicle has already fallen to around $42K in excellent condition. Thankfully, it is in excellent condition. However, this is a horrible drop in value.
Some of this is thanks to the price drops we have seen already in 2023 as the company made moves to make sure its Model 3 and Model Y models fit within the requirements for the new federal rebate. This was a great benefit for those recently buying into a new vehicle. However, it was devastating to those who already purchased one at the old rates as this caused the value of these vehicles to plummet.
And since FSD stays with the car and not the owner, I’d also be out of the $13K I paid for it, making it a total loss of $33K (or 44%) in just six months if I decided to sell my car now.
Insurance Companies
Insurance companies consider Tesla vehicles to be a “premier luxury sports car”. Sports car? Sure. Premier or Luxury? Meh. Maybe if it drove like a cloud with a quiet environment like my old car (that was worth less than half of this one). They can absolutely get away with calling is a sports car though.
All of these terms are excuses to drive up the cost of what you pay so they can still make a killing on profit despite having to pay out a claim here or there. These cars are expensive and those insurance execs don’t want their golf games to skip a beat. Because of this, the average price of insurance for a Tesla is through the roof.
With the exception of Tesla’s own insurance that the company started offering as a way to both provide an affordable option for owners while also attempting to drive some competitive pricing among the other companies (the latter of which has never happened, at least yet).
The insurance I had before would have more than doubled if I stayed with the company I had, so I went with Tesla’s insurance. It was close to what I was paying before, thus it was a great choice at the time. However, it does make use of your “Tesla Score” to determine your premium every month. A score that is littered by bugs and errors like the FSD knockout I experienced in the above list of negatives.
There are so many things that can trigger your premium to raise in the following month that are out of your control. If someone pulls into your lane out of nowhere and does it close to you, the Tesla will likely throw up a front collision warning. Even if you are pulling full attention and respond properly to the situation, this will count against your score and drive your premium up. It may not have been your fault, but Tesla doesn’t care about that. They profit if your score drops and your premium raises, afterall.
Then there is getting punished for actually enjoying the act of driving your vehicle around. If you go above the 12,000 predicted yearly average in miles, they will significantly increase your rates. In that case, you might as well just stick with options like Progressive. The first six months, I drove out of state to really break it in and get a feel for the car and how it handles. Which is why I have 7,300 miles by 6 months. This caused the insurance to assume I will go above the 12,000 annual average and rose my premium, nearly doubling it. How much you want to bet that if I don’t go over the 12,000 miles by the end of the 12-month window, they won’t refund me what I clearly overpaid?
So if you do plan on going over 12,000 miles annually, you may be better off with any other company that offers you the next best price as it just isn’t worth the anxiety of being judged by your every action while you drive. Especially, if the price is going to be close to the same.
Conclusion
So would I do it again? Probably not. I think we are taken for much more than it is worth and that stings. That feeling will follow me when it comes time to buy a new vehicle. I’ll likely opt for something that has a better balance between performance and comfort (and better service).
The service center experiences and the company’s inability to offer any attention to custom concerns is alarming. Again, this isn’t a jab at the employees as many of those I have ran into at the service center have been fantastic. It’s just policies, procedures, and wait times (at times, waiting weeks to months for an appointment) that really play into it all.
Then there is the number of items that need attention in the design of these vehicles that really shouldn’t be an issue to begin with. I mean, we (as a species) have been manufacturing and designing cars for over a hundred years. Being that many of those behind the design of Tesla vehicles come from other companies with plenty of experience, there just isn’t any good excuse to explain some of these problems.
It’s a fun car with plenty of speed and a lot of neat features. But it’s like they skipped past the basics in order to get to all of that. Thankfully, this shouldn’t be hard to fix and I predict that the future of Tesla will become much better as the company realizes that comfort is important too.
I also think that 500 miles per charge as a minimum would be a great requirement for those building a list of things to look for before putting all the money down on a new EV. That and more reasonable pricing for a more competitive industry and less remorse for the buyer.
For now, it is a just really neat toy that doesn’t quite live up to some of the basic features of other vehicles. There are a lot of reasons to want to own a Tesla, but there are also a lot of reasons one should wait until the company gets its act together and brings balance to the overall experience.
