I'm curious about the glass roof in the model 3. How does it perform in Texas during the summer? Does it cause a lot of heat to radiate into the car?

Orlwm_Ag said:

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I'm curious about the glass roof in the model 3. How does it perform in Texas during the summer? Does it cause a lot of heat to radiate into the car?

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My MYP has the same glass roof and I never felt hot while driving but I got a sun shade to keep it cooler while parked in the sun. The cabin overheat protection did some to not kick on as quickly and I have that set to keep it below 95 degrees.

It's nice to not come out to a car that's 150 degrees inside.

agracer said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Steering wheel does have two wheels that also act as buttons (press in, left, and right) and have multiple functions, such as volume, etc.

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yes, but from what I recall, the climate control is all in the touch screen. I test drove a Model 3 several years ago and the freaking wipers were like 3-menus deep on the touch screen.
I never did figure out how to activate the wiper/wash system to clear some dirt off the windshield.

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On my car, the wipers have a button. Touch once for wiper on and when you do that the wiper menu comes on the screen next to your right hand if you want to change something. Hold button to spray. Or voice control it.

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I was in the back of a friends Model S and to adjust the AC vents, I had to swipe around a touch screen...that's just stupid and something that will break a lot faster than a simple manual vent.

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I set the vent once and never touch it. The A/C temp is at the bottom left and you can press it left or right to change temp. But I pretty much keep the same temp all the time, so not something I touch or play with on a normal basis. Because I pre-A/C or heat my car before I get in, I don't have to get in, turn it on high to cool it down then turn it back down later. When I get in, it is comfortable and it stays comfortable while I drive. Much easier than on previous cars I have had or my mininvan or Landcruiser.

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The freaking horn is a small touch button near your right hand instead of on the wheel near both hands or the center like almost every car ever made. Again, just dumb.

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Mine is typical press center of the airbag in horn. Same as my other cars.

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I'll admit I'm picky about my cars and controls. My Ram1500 has the radio controls on the back side of the steering wheel, which is perfect. Except for some dumb reason, the left hand up/down/center button is UP to seek to the next station or DOWN to seek down to the next station but the center button will cycle thru your presets but UP only...no down. The UP/DOWN should be presets, not seek. No body uses seek anymore.

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I have those controls on my Pacifica and other than volume they all suck. But i never listen to the radio, I listen to Spotify, and everything with the Tesla wheel controls is superior to my Chrysler controls for my use.

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I've also yet to drive a car where the auto-wipers actually cycle at the correct speed, esp. under the variable intermittent condition.

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These are pretty good.

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The Ferrari 458 has some perfect steering wheel controls. No stalks at all, it's all integrated so you don't have to take your hands off the wheel and physical buttons.

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I don't think that was in my price range when I was buying my Model 3, unfortunately.

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And FTR, I'm not a Tesla hater at all. Some of the tech is very cool and innovative. Their ergonomics are just falling short IMO. Lots of manu. seem to be going away from the complete touch screen integration and returning to a more logical mix of physical buttons and touch screen.

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I really never go into the menus at all. Maybe the Spotify one to pick a different playlist or something, but that is about it. Most of the other menus are set it and forget it, at least for me. I use them so infrequently, that I have to remember where to go to find something, but the layout is intuitive. I was hesitant to use the voice controls, but it is pretty simple for lots of things that are typical use.

ReloadAg said:

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What is the main cause of faster tire wear with EVs? Is it the heavier weight of the car or just going nuts with the acceleration?

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Yes

agracer said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Steering wheel does have two wheels that also act as buttons (press in, left, and right) and have multiple functions, such as volume, etc.

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yes, but from what I recall, the climate control is all in the touch screen. I test drove a Model 3 several years ago and the freaking wipers were like 3-menus deep on the touch screen. I never did figure out how to activate the wiper/wash system to clear some dirt off the windshield. I was in the back of a friends Model S and to adjust the AC vents, I had to swipe around a touch screen...that's just stupid and something that will break a lot faster than a simple manual vent. The freaking horn is a small touch button near your right hand instead of on the wheel near both hands or the center like almost every car ever made. Again, just dumb.

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I hear you and it takes a bit to get used to. Here's how I handle these in my 2023 Model Y (with stalks)

Wipers: I'm not a fan of the auto setting so I control it myself and you push the button on the blinker stalk which triggers a single swipe & brings the wiper menu up on the screen. Now you can either push the button again to go to 1/2/3/4 and then back down or use the left wheel to scroll to the wiper speed setting. For wiper wash you push the stalk button all the way in and it's very liberal w/ the amount of fluid that it sprays out. This took me a minute to figure out as I didn't know the button was 'duplex'.

For AC the auto settings work well and it's a single tap on the always-present temperature setting to adjust. Or tell your car to be warmer or cooler using voice controls with out adjusting your attention.

My horn is like any other horn where it's the full center of the wheel.

BQRyno said:

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I don't have anything to contribute to the thread, but I've been strongly considering a Model 3 Performance, and this thread is super helpful. I've got 3 kids, but we have a minivan as our family car. This is mainly just for me to get where I need to go with a kid or two on occasion.

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Set up a test drive through Tesla. It is pretty chill. You show up, they give you the car and say to bring it back in an hour.

The controls and lack of buttons is a hot topic, but this allows for so much customization of the controls and dynamic settings between drivers and if you need a loaner, your Tesla settings will be in place when you get in.

For the scroll wheel, here are the long press options; I used to have fan speed as I hate having air blowing hard in my face but auto works well enough now.

I like the lock settings as my wife's profile only unlocks the driver door when she gets close and you can set it to not auto-lock at work or home.

PMD03 said:

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BQRyno said:

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I don't have anything to contribute to the thread, but I've been strongly considering a Model 3 Performance, and this thread is super helpful. I've got 3 kids, but we have a minivan as our family car. This is mainly just for me to get where I need to go with a kid or two on occasion.

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Set up a test drive through Tesla. It is pretty chill. You show up, they give you the car and say to bring it back in an hour.

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You can use a referral link to book/buy and you'll get $1,000 off. If you're in Houston I be more than happy to let you check mine out. I love it but want the LX570 back.

https://ts.la/erik936611

GAC06 said:

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Can't speak to the older models but my 3 has a wiper button on the steering wheel, one push for a wipe, or hold for spray and wipe. The climate is in the touch screen but is always displayed, with one touch to adjust temp, or one touch to open it to a larger display for more in depth adjustments. The horn is activated by mashing the center of the steering wheel as it should be.

I don't like the capacitive buttons on the steering wheel instead of real buttons but I don't miss the dozens of console buttons on traditional vehicles at all.

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Model S with yoke horn is a capacitive touch button.

And you're proving my point on the climate. Taking my eyes off the road to touch a flat glass surface with no feedback is not go UI. I understand that 'auto' feature, but sometimes I want to lower the fan speed.

Also, folks are pointing out the pre-start to cool feature. That's been an a lot of cars for several years now either on a key or an ap (which most now are a yearly fee for that stuff).

EDIT: Again, not a Tesla hater, but the UI is just wonky. I considered one for my wife for back and forth to work but I know it would drive her nuts (she's constantly asking me for help on the computer or her phone). Also, occasionally take road trips and her CRV gets 30mpg while my truck gets 18. We stop for like 5m on road trips, not 30+....I've got her (and the whole family really) to get done quick for pit stops/gas stops and get on down the road. The Tesla would destroy a carefully built travel system of speed and efficiency that's taken 30+ years to develop...NFW I'm throwing that out!

Hell, we went to Hawaii for 8-days and she got bye with a carry on and a back pack!

If you're that worried about being distracted just engage autopilot and then adjust.

Teslag said:

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If you're that worried about being distracted just engage autopilot and then adjust.

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Lol, sometimes the nanny controls yell at me to pay attention when I'm doing something on the screen. WTF is the point of FSD if I can't look for an obscure song in Spotify?!

if you have a 50 amp outlet in the garage, do you still need the Tesla home charger or can you just use the mobile charger?

Just use the mobile. I've used the mobile charger only for 3 years now.

BL426 said:

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if you have a 50 amp outlet in the garage, do you still need the Tesla home charger or can you just use the mobile charger?

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I have two 50 amps and just use my mobile charger for the Tesla and the Pacifica with adapter

BL426 said:

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if you have a 50 amp outlet in the garage, do you still need the Tesla home charger or can you just use the mobile charger?

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I ordered both but returned the wall connector and get like 30 drive miles per hour of charging w/ the mobile connector on my 50 amp plug.

There are some advanced features on the wall connector but I didn't need them and you can set a charge schedule in the car by default.

Just some commentary.

EV tax credit could be ending under Trump if you qualify.

Model Y is inching closer to what could be a fairly significant upgrade. If you don't qualify for the credit and don't have an imminent need I'd wait to see what the upgrade is to see if it includes what could include reverse charging (basically home battery backup) or 800v charging (Tesla just announced the beginning of their V4 charger deployment, 2x power of current chargers).

agracer said:

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GAC06 said:

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Can't speak to the older models but my 3 has a wiper button on the steering wheel, one push for a wipe, or hold for spray and wipe. The climate is in the touch screen but is always displayed, with one touch to adjust temp, or one touch to open it to a larger display for more in depth adjustments. The horn is activated by mashing the center of the steering wheel as it should be.

I don't like the capacitive buttons on the steering wheel instead of real buttons but I don't miss the dozens of console buttons on traditional vehicles at all.

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Model S with yoke horn is a capacitive touch button.

And you're proving my point on the climate. Taking my eyes off the road to touch a flat glass surface with no feedback is not go UI. I understand that 'auto' feature, but sometimes I want to lower the fan speed.

Also, folks are pointing out the pre-start to cool feature. That's been an a lot of cars for several years now either on a key or an ap (which most now are a yearly fee for that stuff).

EDIT: Again, not a Tesla hater, but the UI is just wonky. I considered one for my wife for back and forth to work but I know it would drive her nuts (she's constantly asking me for help on the computer or her phone). Also, occasionally take road trips and her CRV gets 30mpg while my truck gets 18. We stop for like 5m on road trips, not 30+....I've got her (and the whole family really) to get done quick for pit stops/gas stops and get on down the road. The Tesla would destroy a carefully built travel system of speed and efficiency that's taken 30+ years to develop...NFW I'm throwing that out!

Hell, we went to Hawaii for 8-days and she got bye with a carry on and a back pack!

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A carryon and a backpack? Damn. My wife needs 3-4 bags for an overnight trip.

hph6203 said:

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Just some commentary.

EV tax credit could be ending under Trump if you qualify.

Model Y is inching closer to what could be a fairly significant upgrade. If you don't qualify for the credit and don't have an imminent need I'd wait to see what the upgrade is to see if it includes what could include reverse charging (basically home battery backup) or 800v charging (Tesla just announced the beginning of their V4 charger deployment, 2x power of current chargers).

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Vehicle2Grid would rock but I doubt Tesla will embrace this as they want to sell their Powerwall for home power backup.

At their 2023 Investor Day event during the Q&A period they said all their vehicles would gain the functionality by 2025. The Cybertruck already has the capability, so it's not a universal resistance to it.

https://www.tesla.com/powershare


3h15m into this video
https://www.youtube.com/live/Hl1zEzVUV7w?si=f8T-ZTwZNRV_pn3_

ReloadAg said:

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You see so many of them on the road now I'm just curious what the ownership experience is like. How's the comfort/maintenance/reliability/driving experience? How much does insurance and charging cost? I could make a case for one as my next car since I put on a lot of around town miles for work (about 650/week). I'm just curious at this point more than anything. Thanks.

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Comfort and driving experience you simply need to test out yourself since you're going to get subjective opinions.

Maintenance experience is simply re-fill windshield wiper fluid and replace tires. No oil changes, no spark plug replacements, no clutch replacement, and brake pads last over 100k miles. For me I've had my tires last over 50k+ miles. But still need to make sure you rotate the tires regularly and have them properly aligned to get as much life out of the tires. The stories I hear of people needing to replace their Tesla tires after less than 20k miles simply have lead foots and/or never rotate their tires and/or have their wheels improperly aligned.

Reliability is much better on average than a regular gas vehicle for the very fact that there are far less moving mechanical parts you have to worry about breaking. Yes, stuff will still break and that's why it's important to make sure you live near a Tesla service center to make the repair process as convenient as possible.

Insurance is roughly the same price as any other "luxury" vehicle within the same price bracket. But of course you'll need to shop around based on what coverages you want and other discounts you can get. I pay around $3000 a year for 2 Teslas.

Charging cost vary depending on your driving habits, but just know that for the vast vast majority of people it is always cheaper than gas regardless what percentage you drive locally vs roadtrips. But you'll save even more money on a per mile basis if you drive locally and therefore simply charge at home/work where electricity rates (especially in Texas) are roughly 1/3 the cost of gas on a per mile basis.

FIDO*98* said:

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You're not putting 30K miles a year on your car like the OP and my wife. The Tesla if fine for running around New Braunfels. It's different when you are in and out of your car all day.

When I lift my foot off the gas pedal in my Acura, it does not dramatically change speeds. When you lift your foot off the gas pedal and a Tesla it is the equivalent of hitting the brakes. It's really great when they cruise control decides to self-cancel and you nearly get rear ended on 35

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You must drive like my dad who treats the gas pedal like a binary switch constantly releasing and pressing the gas pedal in order to maintain speed. So it was very nauseating whenever he drove my Model 3 performance on sport mode when he kept pressing the "gas" pedal on and off with very little finesse. I am much better than my dad in being able to maintain speed by knowing how to better modulate the "gas" pedal, but it still doesn't help my very balance sensitive brother from getting a little car sick.

The best way to simply fix this driving habit is make the EV behave more like a gas vehicle by decreasing regen and set acceleration to as slow as possible. Otherwise people like you with decades of automatic transmission driving experience do need to adjust their pedal modulation habits to minimize the sudden accel and decel movements.

Guitarsoup said:

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GAC06 said:

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I thought it was fine in the summer and agree that using the app to cool the car before I get in is great. Then again I've never felt a gas pedal was fatiguing.

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Yeah. The gas pedal being fatiguing is a wild complaint.

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I know we argue about basketball, but my god are we locked in on this one.

Gas pedal fatigue is CRAZY WORK

coolerguy12 said:

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Set aside a monthly payment for tires. The two guys I know with Teslas said they replace them every 15K-20K miles.

One of them had to pay $900 for a flatbed tow from San Antonio to Houston because he had a blowout on a Sunday and didn't have a spare. I almost died laughing at the mental image of him and his buddy riding three wide in the tow truck for 3 hours.

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I got 40k on my first set with my Model Y Performance, and I love to fly off the line. I can't imagine why someone would get only 15-20k.

Orlwm_Ag said:

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I'm curious about the glass roof in the model 3. How does it perform in Texas during the summer? Does it cause a lot of heat to radiate into the car?

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I put ceramic tint on my glass roof and it doesn't get any hotter than my truck or my wife's volvo.

FIDO*98* said:

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You're not putting 30K miles a year on your car like the OP and my wife. The Tesla if fine for running around New Braunfels. It's different when you are in and out of your car all day.

When I lift my foot off the gas pedal in my Acura, it does not dramatically change speeds. When you lift your foot off the gas pedal and a Tesla it is the equivalent of hitting the brakes. It's really great when they cruise control decides to self-cancel and you nearly get rear ended on 35

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I am driving 25k+ a year in my Tesla nd have NO pedal fatigue. The regen breaking is GREAT, it does take a little time to get used to it but it is a one pedal car which I love.

JAW3336 said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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You're not putting 30K miles a year on your car like the OP and my wife. The Tesla if fine for running around New Braunfels. It's different when you are in and out of your car all day.

When I lift my foot off the gas pedal in my Acura, it does not dramatically change speeds. When you lift your foot off the gas pedal and a Tesla it is the equivalent of hitting the brakes. It's really great when they cruise control decides to self-cancel and you nearly get rear ended on 35

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I am driving 25k+ a year in my Tesla nd have NO pedal fatigue. The regen breaking is GREAT, it does take a little time to get used to it but it is a one pedal car which I love.

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Yeah, I pretty much only have to use the brake pedal when dumb suburban moms in their SUVs pull out of Starbucks and don't accelerate to the speed of traffic.

FIDO*98* said:

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My wife has a 2024 Model 3 dual motor. I find the seats to be very uncomfortable, it is hard to keep cool in the summer, touchscreen everything is very annoying, no gauge cluster is annoying, no turn signal/wiper stick is annoying, no manual lock/unlock is annoying, regenerative braking is annoying, door handles are annoying AF, gas pedal is heavy and fatiguing, interior materials feel cheap, range is less than advertised, and road trips are a PITA.

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Wow - I guess you hate the DJ at Kyle Field too

2018 model 3, 92k miles on it now. thanks to the regular software updates, its a better car now than when it was brand new.

fsd is pretty good but still a work in progress

first couple sets of tires wore through pretty quick, but the hankook ion evo's have a ton of life left after 30k miles

switching from an f150, my fuel costs went down 90%. and currently i can charge for free at work, but not everyone has that perk

service is a pain, needed service this fall and nearest appt was a month away

preconditioning the car in texas summer heat is awesome

What type of service issues have you had so far? Is there any maintenance to do on it? How has your experience been with insuring it so far?

maintenance: rotate the tires, fill windshield washer fluid, change the cabin air filter every 1-2 years

service: 12v battery lasts 2-3 years, front control arms and both front headlights were replaced under warranty, along with a few trim pieces, service this fall was for air conditioner, but i found where airflow over radiator was being blocked, so it wasn't really necessary. have had a few proactive 'repairs' such as a wire harness in the trunk, contact pins for charging, frunk latch. many of these were done by mobile service in my driveway or office parking lot

insurance was fairly cheap to begin with, less than my wife's jetta. but has gone up alot over the years

I've had good luck with the Prius but I think of eventually getting a Tesla too. I just don't have a place to plug it in right now.

Is there any hint on the release date for the next Model Y? I never thought I'd be looking at one but here I am. Have some really good credits in CO and now that I'm back driving to the office a couple days a week (free charging at work) I'm considering one.