Oh dear, what have I done

[Mart]

Oh Nowty, what kind of idiot buys a TM3 LR in MSM paint ...........

You'll absolutely love it.

Regarding your 250 mile trip, I finally managed my 2020 Tesla Tour to meet a few forum friends in May 2021 (blasted Covid). I did 587* miles in two days, used 160kWh and averaged 272Wh/mile. So that suggests 275 miles of range. However, mine is a Sep 2020 car, so not as efficient, and almost all motorway driving was done at around 85-90.

Recent testing at 70mph, during that heatwave with the A/C on, was 236Wh/mile but only over 40 miles, and it was still falling as it used quite a lot to cool the car down in the first few miles. So that's around 320 miles.

So ~77mph, I suspect you'll be good for 300+ in the summer, and 250 in bad weather in the winter, but if worst comes to worst, you can always lift off a tad, and Supercharger stations are spreading so, so fast.

*It's a very comfy car too. I hadn't done more than 60 miles in one day for over a decade due to back issues, but as that improves, combined with the great seats in the TM3, I had no issues with the mileage, and was singing along just as enthusiastically to the 'best of the 80's' on Spotify at the end of the trip, as the start.

Only issue I had, was a slight numb / vibration feeling on the side of my right index finger for a couple of days. Turns out, the car is so smooth and stable, that almost all of those 600 miles were done with my left hand resting on my left leg, and my right elbow on the door, and my right index finger resting inside the wheel, but on top of the spoke, so it took all the strain and vibration. May sound like a silly thing to mention, but that's how smooth the car is, even at relatively high speeds**. Our Leaf was almost the opposite, getting quite light and scary in the high 70's, so you had to grip to stay straight, as I assume some of the weight was being lifted off the steering axle by the air flow.

** I say relatively high as I've only given it one real high speed poke, on a straight bit of motorway with no cameras, no bridges, and nobody else about. It was still accelerating rapidly when we hit intercity train speeds, so I lifted off, but still solid, stable, perhaps too calm and cool for average drivers like moi.

[dan_b]

Welcome to the club Nowty - but did you use my referral code?!

Am almost 18k miles into my Tesla experience now and quite frankly it's the best car, the best piece of technology, I've ever owned. And I think I've probably converted quite a few other people to go electric as a result. Compared to my model, you'll also have a higher capacity battery pack and the greater efficiency of the heat pump, plus better headlights and improved sound insulation.

Enjoy it.

[dan_b]

It's quite possible that the "appalling reputation for build quality and reliability" is overstating it somewhat based on what was originally a fairly small number of what are very complex vehicles from a start-up manufacturer. And that their build quality has improved markedly as the company has grown, particularly when it comes to the much more simple Model 3 platform. And also that a large proportion of their production for Europe now comes from China.

And it's also quite possible that their "terrible" reputation for customer service is also being overstated somewhat in what is a function of a company's stratospheric rate of growth.


My own n=1 experience of my Tesla Model 3 was that upon delivery it had one paint flaw on the front bumper, which they flagged to me before I collected it and repaired under warranty. I booked the repair via the App, they gave me a Model S courtesy car and it was done within a reasonable timeframe. In 18 months of ownership and 18k miles, the only other fault I've had with the car is the rear light cluster misting up. Again I booked a repair via the App, a mobile Tesla Ranger came to my house and replaced it in under an hour and it was all sorted.

Have to say that's markedly better than the reliability and customer service I experienced from the only other time I bought a brand new car from Volvo, which was a dealer-led pain in the arse from purchase to collection, and then two recalls, plus a failed steering column position sensor which meant the car wouldn't even start... And let's not even get started on my experience with buying a "approved Used Audi" from West London Audi, oh my word. Horrible dealership experience, and the V6 motor in the A4 Avant I bought was a total lemon.

Tesla have an appalling reputation for build quality and reliability. Basically what you'd expect from an American brand. Examples from the "S" are: inconsistent shutlines you can see from across the street, and doorhandles that fail every 6 months and cost £2k to fix. Tesla originally had a decent reputation for customer service, but that quickly disappeared and is now terrible.

I've heard things have improved a lot, but still not up to German/Japanese standards by all accounts.

[Mr Gus]

Well put Dan.

As told on another forum in a galaxy far far away (t'other place) some 15 years ago maybe.

We too had a newish volvo, that "tapped" loudly (around 2002/2003)
which had a fault, that was reported & taken to a volvo garage.
which ended up going elsewhere to be put through the mill by their experts who were flummoxed, & so the fault continued
Which was sent over to volvo uk head office spods for assessment & fixing for numerous weeks 3+
Which was put on the rollers & dyno tested, still the fault persisted.

Volvo eventually shrugged & said they couldn't do anything about it, nor did they offer any resolution
Not impressed at that because they simply set us adrift with a car still under warranty.

This was our first introduction to our local independent garage whose origin as local agricultural engineers in dirty overalls with far more nous than volvo whose tiled floors & clean hands "washed their hands of us".

Sorted same day & when we questioned how come the manufacturer couldn't fix their own design's the reply was "what do they know"? (about cars)
BMW used to send their problem motors to the same garage to resolve issues that BMW trained mechanics couldn't.

& sure as eggs are eggs, Swedish Volvo weren't a little start up at the time. (founded 1927) sold to ford in 1999.

We sold the car pretty quickly after that faith in the brand destroyed & a little more understanding of tv marketing not reflecting the real world.
(& that a spotlessly clean garage was merely an indicator of hands that didn't have the knowledge to get dirty, disassemble & fix, it was illusion that meant you could charge more for less & get a 3rd party to take up the slack)

We are not Tesla fanboi's (as demonstrated by the woes we had going round garages to glean info on a potential purchase of pretty much all the UK EV mainstream brands available at the time, we weren't reeled in by tesla they beat the competition hands down in terms of detailed information first & foremost)
If the E-honda had more battery capacity we'd have had that, or another Leaf except for their cooling / fast charge problems going unresolved (stupidly which damaged their early lead in EV reputation)

[Joeboy]

I have no doubt that regardless of the baseline qc faults in the models that the trend will be resolutely upward regarding improvements. I was wondering at the differences in qc across different gigafactories? I'd prefer a German built going on known history of German car makers apart from dieselgate of course! Can this data be found and can you specify which factory you'd like to build your car? Unlikely but we used to prefer Cologne cortinas to Dagenham due to a better build quality.

[Mr Gus]

Joe,

As per earlier comment by myself, the MIC (made in china) Tesla 3 was a dilemma for us, ( china govt prison camp workforce, elsewhere, hong kong et al) ..paying for a product that keeps questionable people in power longer.

But time is running out, we've p____ed on our chips, global catastrophe problems are generally cheaper to sort out prior to cataclysm than after the event, we are in freefall as to how far we can keep the planet habitable now, wildlife is burning up, dying from man influenced drought etc etc.. so we bit the bullet as German built was also our preference, but is still several years down the line, in the meantime we've had wildfires in the UK in April, all over the world they don't seem to have seasonal relief, it is now "any season"
top that off with gulf stream kicking off (the foundation of my green awareness, not driving trying to live quietly in terms of footprint & sacrificing
several decades decent money making career in the process)

Thus, we bit our tongues (also all homes are brimming with MIC) so where do you start with outage, (a bit like finding food without palm-oil) because it was too far away & options were limited & often unacceptable because "ass-hats" dieselgate etc = slim pickings.

Planet needs to be the urgent conscience, look how far politics has got us.
So china it was.

7336 less guilty miles since march 2021

I still think, years down the line, we as a planet needed to stop procreating for a decade (a decade or two ago) & ramp up our efforts to not nosedive further, economies do not wish to accept the change required, thus they carried on with platitudes & naff all else.

Right now where a tesla is made bearing in mind how it has pretty much outshone US built since opening is the least of a prospective buyers problems, if we cast our eyes around our own homes, the difference is this is a western company using (like many) chinese land, workforce, material, with serious individuals promoting product expectations & pride in workmanship, which from a factory floor employee level in the USA seemed to be simply taking the piss "if in doubt send it out" zero pride mentality. (leyland at its worst, fiat at its worst, etc)

Folk typically rate Ikea for design, but much is made in china to IKEA specs & likely a swedish spod overseeing / visiting & demanding quality (of sorts) Ikea is answerable, they unlike many generic ali express sellers do not "melt away" when a problem occurs, tesla MIC is like IKEA doubtless with a US taskforce hammering home expectation by results & getting it (mostly).

Inspire your workforce, reward your workforce, hone your workforce cut the dross out, & promote from the floor rather than have too many peacocking linked in management p__ks, a good employee on the floor knows the place backward & is in place to spot problems & minimise / negate them expediently.

Like japan / Kaizen

After Tesla USA I was pretty sure the next similar model of factory implementation would be right this time round, Germany is too far into an uncertain future so we jumped (on the octo-pump & the new battery chem)

Price is only going up! (if you want to look at it that way) more EV means more change & potential to put the brakes on.
An ev is a better badge to drive (whatever its marque) than a silicone "awareness" bracelet that does naff all, promotes understanding & uptake of ASHP & pushing a "green drive" expectations to companies output whatever they produce as they want to remain in favour & scandal free regardless of actual intent beyond profit.

[Joeboy]

There is a lot of good views within this thread and thoughts on the Tesla brand from owners. I think it will be very helpful going forward to others considering a Tesla purchase, nice one.

I don't agree quite so strongly on we're all doomed. That's ok though, I do see your point. I'm on that side of the fence but not quite as far.

[Mr Gus]

I understand joe,

The memory for me at an early age, was a bit like the previous generations chill fear of the atom bomb in the 60's, but if a few are dropped there's more planet to shift to.

With the gulf stream collapse potential, its a lot bigger than that.

Inverewe, up in the western highlands they grew palm tree's, the sea (was) richer in marine life, you trace your 11 yr olds perspective of the gulf stream, dive below the surface of the waters of britain as a kid & have a vague idea of how dependent we are on "the whole shebang" (well I did) but due to a pre computer world info was few & far between & hard to find, so its only in the internet age I can play catch up, as the news is breaking of change along our coastline & how it can screw us up further.

We are losing the "shebang" & there will be no "private investment" to put it back.
Britain's success / survival relies very much on the gulf streams continued flow (mixed in with the icecaps) as it does on the amazon as a pair of lungs for the planet.

Depending on which model we follow then one of the prospects is uk arable land falling from 32% to 7% which is obviously food production for a country that doesn't know nor can handle restraint , from what remains a small island, as just one factor of survivable change, but hell to adapt to & casualties along the way. the need for irrigation costing around 10x the value of the food product for example, before we begin on "knock on effects" from a gradual slowdown rather than total shutdown scenario.

[Stinsy]

I think we're lucky in the UK. Our temperate island will grow different crops but will still be inhabitable. Many Mediterranean or North African countries will simply become uninhabitable. The destabilisation of Syria a few yeas back is seen as a consequence of climate change by many. There is a distinct possibility of the same destabilisation and displacement of people but on a much bigger scale in years to come.

[AE-NMidlands]

I think we're lucky in the UK. Our temperate island will grow different crops but will still be inhabitable. Many Mediterranean or North African countries will simply become uninhabitable.

I wouldn't put any money on the UK staying fit for farming. We could end up with a climate like Greenland or Iceland today (or the N Canadian coast where the only thing that kept the original population alive was a diet of whale blubber.)
If energy was free and came with no climate costs you might be able to continue living here, but I wouldn't even bet on that - especially if not making atmospheric CO2 any worse was accepted as an international treaty obligation.
Solar & wind power driving geothermal energy and heat pumps might work, but I doubt it.
A