[natedog7700]

I get flamed hard on Tesla forums/communities so i came here because i know you guys are probably biased towards BMW but also, often times willing to consider other viewpoints and opinions and not just glorify BMW 24/7

I picked up my 2018 Model 3 LR (Performance Tune) on the used market for 25,000$.

I want to talk about the harsh truths no one else talks about, the truth of this car that a lot of critics and “tech guys” dont speak on for one reason or another. I am not trying to complain, just want to get the truth out about these cars coming from a car guy who pays attention to the smaller details. As someone would say, its all about the small things, right?

Ask me anything, i almost purchased a 340I but availability made them harder to find at the time within my budget of under 30,000$ and I was fairly picky about what I wanted. Now days, they are MUCH cheaper and i still consider a 340 after moving on from the Tesla, or maybe a F80 M3 if i can swing it. I used to daily a 2018 Camry as well, great car for DD. I have owned other BMWs, and many Toyotas for daily driving.


None of this has to do with Elon being part of Tesla, i couldn't care less about that tbh. I did NOT buy the car to hug trees and save the planet. I got it for a daily driver despite everything else related to EV and tesla.

Pro's

Value – For the value (mostly used market) 11 second ¼ mile car for under 25,000 is not bad, overall good car for daily driving considering the money

Styling – I think it’s above average, although not perfect by any means, still subjective.

Torque on demand - Power is very generous, great for daily driving getting out in traffic (I pull onto a busy road leaving my house)

No engine to heat up to get 100% of the power – This is amazing for work, and coming home for lunch (I live 2 minutes away)

Heat/AC work immediately – its not much better than gas to be honest, but it is quicker nonetheless.

Dog mode, camp mode etc – don’t really use any of these but it’s a nice feature

*Charges my EcoFlow backup battery*** but only enough to keep my fridge running during power outage – I can only charge it off the 12v lighter socket, unfortunately no bidirectional charging.

***Maintenance is minimal, generally speaking*** – Then again, my steering is squeeky, I think the ball joints are bad, parking brake is unusually loud (actuator may need replacing) and the fan vent speed at full blast will whistle, tires keep losing air, im not sure if this is a low profile tire thing or what, only when very cold out its an issue. My Camry with similar mileage had literally zero issues, ran like a top and everything always worked as it should (and it was previously a rental, added bonus)

**Handling** – Its good, it really is, for the year. It was able to match a M3 around the track, the new 2024 is also able to match a 2024 M3 around willow springs in terms of raw handling. Endurance is a completely different story.
My 2018 could still be better, I don’t think it has as much body roll as people like to say. It rotates well (square setup stock) and it has a tight, playful steering rack. Lateral grip is good and it feels pretty planted through the corners. In my opinion, the chassis doesn’t seem very refined, it tends to get a little uneasy/unsettled when pushed really hard, seems to show a bit of weakness at the very limit. Not being able to turn off the stability.traction control all the way (even in performance trim) is a bit upsetting because the car will constantly slow you down and nanny you into driving straight even if you want the car to rotate well, it just wont give you much before cutting you out and understeering you mid corner.

**Electric is cheaper than gas** - Electric is indeed cheaper than gas, at home. Insurance is twice the amount as my 2018 Camry and that takes about all the savings away.
Also, supercharging got really expensive. Freeway driving is literally about the same cost as my Camry in fuel because the Tesla is so inefficient at speeds 80-85mph and gas is under 3$ a gallon. I spent 16$ to put about 100 real world freeway miles into my car at a supercharger the other day.

Cons:

Charging - No access to level 2 charger at home would make this car very expensive to charge (almost as much as gas, if you were to run exclusively freeway) and very inconvenient. 10/10 would not recommend. To the guys that say “ohh whats 30 minutes, I could stretch my legs anyway” Is inconsiderate of the people who have kids/families, jobs, places to be, things to see etc. its simply not practical to have to wait “30 minutes” more like 40-50 minutes in my experience.

Range – Freeway driving, especially around freezing is abysmal. Bottom line is technology has its limitations and I personally get about 145 (295 rated) real world miles of range around 85-90mph freeway driving (around 32 degrees) on full battery. If you want to keep the charge between 20-80 percent, then you got only 87 miles to work with, unless the conditions are better or I slow down which I hate doing to be honest. Heat pump and newer models have slightly larger battery, okay great so that 145 miles may be like 200 at best. That’s still about 120 miles of “useable” range I guess.

Noise – Yeah its pretty bad. I dropped about 2 to 4 decibels just changing the tires for my pirellis. The new 2024 models are guess what, running new tires and also run about the same decibels quieter than my model! I would guess 90+ percent of the 2024 model being quieter is just tires, I got Pirellis and I laughed when I saw that the new models came equipped with Pirellis! Lots of echo from the glass roof, noise isolation is disappointing.

Cant fully disable traction/stability control – This is a big big disadvantage for me, personally. Maybe not others and I understand that, im not mad at it.

Seat belt – Hate me or not, I like to disable the seatbelt chime. BMWs, Toyotas you can code it off, but not tesla. Bonus points here, Tesla will put me into Park when im at a stop light if I don’t have my seatbelt on. I work 2 minutes form home so I don’t always use it 100% of the time, again this is my personal take but I am not a fan of cars putting me into park when im just in my driveway or in my yard (yes I pull it around to vacuum it every once ina while) and the car goes to park because my seatbelt is on.

Adaptive cruise – Cant defeat or disable it permanently… Why? No reason to not be able to turn this off if one wishes. Cruise control WILL slow you down through corners, so your going 50 in a 45 it may drop to 45 around a very slight bend.

Updates – Im not sure why updates are a good thing, people think its great. Well I think a car should be released with a good software with well thought out features from factory…. I don’t want my car bricked from an update, stuck in an update for 60 minutes so I cant drive, recently a law passed made tesla update cars to not be able to close windows with remote or phone (safety concern) like why is that a good thing. The car will annoy you for an update until you do it like your phone, who turns this kind of thing into such a big advantage because I sure don’t.

Cruise control – No cruise control past 90mph, I don’t like that myself, I understand it wont affect others. Cruise control has also phantom braked on me multiple times in the same spot it just starts decelerating fast on the freeway from say 85 to 65 in a few seconds until I override it.

No Key Fob – They say the key fob doesn’t work like a typical key fob in that it works with Bluetooth so there can be a delay. Well, it would have been nice if I even got one though because they don’t give you one from factory. My phone does not always work, technology doesn’t always work perfect though, who would have guessed? Then im digging for the key card and place it on the center console and it flys off in between the seat. And the key card doesn’t always work perfect either if im being honest, I place it near the spot it should read and like 10% of the time im waving it around to unlock my car. Its silly.
I still have no idea why but my phone usually always works as a key to drive away but 90% of the time does not unlock my door so I just keep the doors unlocked now to avoid fumbling around.

Handles – Motorized door latches is a solution to a problem that didn’t exist, bring back a traditional door handle please. The handle, is not intuitive, cumbersome and can freeze shut “just use the app to unlock the door then” well id rather use the handle though, like its supposed to be used. When I pull the handle, It lags for a split second almost like im yanking on the door and it doesn’t release for a brief moment, then it opens, small complaint but it just doesn’t make sense to me after using it for a while. Imaging pushing on your bedroom door and it just stays shut for a half second before releasing like its sticking, that’s what its like.

No physical buttons – Way to over simplified. I don’t care for cluttery dashes with millions of buttons but the opposite is also not good either. A balance is probably good, like much of life…. This is one of the things I least like about the car as I still like to have a physical lock/unlock, climate controls, glove box release handle etc. WHo thought no buttons was a greta idea anyway?

Dealer network – Not as good as its competitors, not much else to be said here.

Quality – Better than what people say it is from my experience. But my Camry and BMWs were of better quality, not much else to be said here, kind of expected. The trunk leaks when it rains, comes rushing out when i lift the trunk open. Looks like its coming from underneath the bracket.

Comfort - Its sub par at best unfortunatly. Twitchy steering (great for performance) at speed, very harsh, bumpy ride, lots of noise. Comfort is NOT its forte.

Brakes – They are awful, truly worse than my 2018 Camry. Its unacceptable in my opinion but to each their own. Motor brake masks this concern for the average driver IMO.

Insurance – Twice as expensive as my Camry. More expensive than many other cars

Resale – Not great, but neither are a lot of vehicles. Certainly worse than a Toyota

No Bidirectional charge – I have a huge battery backup, why cant they offer a bidirectional kit or option? Disappointing I suppose.

Backup camera – Lags many seconds, even after restart, its worse than my Camry was but just a small little thing to mention.

Summary - Tesla makes a great powertrain at a competitive price for as good value, but they make a terrible car.