January 29, 2021
Tesla Review
I'm long overdue for a transition update, and while much has happened the past month, i promise a post soon. If you're a regular reader to my blog, you'll know this post will be long.
Today is my one month anniversary of owning a Tesla Model 3, Long Range, or as we snobs call M3LR. LOL. Now that i've driven it over a wide range of conditions, i feel i have a better perspective from which to post a review.
First, terms.
EV: Electric Vehicles
ICE: Internal Combustion Engines
i'm convinced that EVs are the future of ground transportation, and with GM now announcing that it will completely phase out ICE cars by 2035, the writing is on the wall for the industry. That's good news for research on battery technology that is lighter, more efficient, and cheaper. We're years away from the tipping point, but the end of ICE cars is in the not so near future.
ICE won't completely disappear, though. I still think that there are situations where an ICE is more effective, say in Alaska, and airplanes will never be battery driven. Why?
It comes down to weight. My M3 weighs 4,000 pounds, much of which is from the battery, which affects tire duration by the way. My little plane carries 26 gallons of fuel and six quarts of oil, which comes to roughly 170 pounds. Any battery replacement would shorten range to a few laps around the traffic pattern before i'd have to recharge, so ICE is here to stay for airplanes.
Cost
It's certainly cheaper to own an EV. For comparison, my Honda Civic, which i sold last week, got around 37MPG on the highway and around 34MPG overall. At today's Costco price for fuel (2.95/gal), that comes down to around nine cents per mile, which doesn't include regular maintenance charges like oil changes. I drove my M3 887 miles over the past 30 days, including both city driving and four longer trips to the Bay Area. In all, the car consumed 220 Kilowatts of power from my home charger. At 15 cents per KW, the current winter rate in my town, that results in a cost of just under four cents per mile. My Civic would have consumed $77 of fuel, where my M3 used $33 of electricity.
Maintenance
Maintenance costs will also be lower. No more oil changes, radiator fluid, tune-ups, or belts to change. The few things that remain include windshield wipers and fluid, brakes and brake fluid, and the cabin filter. However, while i'll save substantially from yearly visits to maintain my Civic, my M3 should require service less often. When the M3 does get serviced, i suspect the costs will be greater though. As i wrote about previously, changing the headlights, which being LED should last about 10 years, requires you to disassemble the front of the car to get to the light assembly. It's not for the casual user, so a trip to Tesla to replace the entire headlight will run around $1K. The cabin filter, which in most ICE cars is a fairly easy task to replace, is more difficult in a Tesla, requiring you to take off two panels inside the car. it's doable for me, but much less convenient.
Tires also are a greater expense. While my Civic's Micheline tires could last upwards of 80K miles, Tesla's tires, also Michelines, only run for around 25K miles. Why? I think it comes down to the car's weight which takes a greater toll.
Oh, and a side note about tires. Tesla neither carries a spare tire, nor a tire jack, which i found bothersome. While this may be a weight issue, a side benefit is that the trunk fairly large with a smaller storage space below. This is in addition to the front trunk, or frunk as we call it. The downside is dealing with flat tires, so i'm glad i've kept my AAA membership with it's 100 mile tow range. To deal with tires that may be leaking due to a nail or under pressure tires due to the cold, many of us (including me) have purchased a small compressor that attaches to the 12V port inside the car. It easily fits in my frunk along with a spare charger cable.
Operating System
I have a love/hate relationship with the Tesla operating system, or OS, which controls a majority of the car's systems. I think Tesla wrongly decided to move some functions, which in ICE cars are physical controls, to the OS instead. This has the advantage of making the dashboard cleaner, while creating a learning curve to use features as you're driving.
A great case in point are the windshield wipers, which on ICE cars are usually on the right stalk of the steering wheel. These are really perfectly designed because you can just twist the stalk to turn on and adjust the wiper speed as conditions change, without taking your eyes off the road. Not on a Tesla though.
To activate the wipers, you must press the Wiper icon on the OS, which pulls up the wiper menu. There you turn the wipers on and select the wiper pace. This wouldn't be so bad, but after you've made your choice, the menu disappears, requiring you to constantly reactivate the menu each time wiper conditions change. i've found this "feature" frustrating, something which could be fixed if Tesla would leave the interface up once the wipers are on. I really think the OS designers haven't considered the ergonomics of their interface. The only bright spot is that Tesla is constantly pushing out updates to all cars, some which have bug fixes while most have added features or improvements to the interface. By the way, you can set the wipers to automatic, but i've found this feature problematic. The auto lights feature is far more accurate though.
The good news about the OS is that i have access to substantially more information about my car than in my Civic.
Visibility
Before my Civic, i owned a Subaru Forrester which was a perfect car for working on my rentals or going camping. I loved the forward, side and rear visibilities. Civic visibility forward and rear were fine but you really had to stretch to check your blindspots. Tesla's forward visibility is great, but rear and side are a bit worse than my civic, partly because the trunk is higher causing a narrower window looking back. Yes, theres a back-up cam that's easily accessible on the OS, but i always feel i'm not getting the entire picture when i check the rear view mirror
Driving
The M3 is largely a joy to drive, with quick access to speed if you need it and a quiet ride that allows me to enjoy listening to music. Tesla's version of Cruise Control, called AutoPilot has two modes. In the first, you set the speed you wish to maintain. Within the OS, you also determine the amount of car lengths you'd like between you and the car ahead of you. So, if your set speed is 70 and you approach a car going 65, your car slows down to 65 and maintains the distance you've specified. i've set my car to a two second separation. Within the OS, you can also set an automatic cruise speed that is tied to the current road speed limit. In addition, you can increase or decrease the speed In my case, i've set maximum speed at five MPH above the road limit. Once your speed is above 20MPH, clicking cruise control automatically directs the car to increase your speed your set limit. And, yes, those speeds are easily adjusted with a steering wheel roller button
In AutoPilot's second mode, the car does the above while staying within the current lane. It's a nice feature, but because Tesla now requires drivers to always have their hands on the wheel, it feels a bit redundant. If the car senses you're not paying attention, it first warns you and if you don't behave, it shuts off autopilot until your trip is finished.
There's so much more to say, but i've droned on long enough
Onward.
Laura