Model 3 a barrel of fun
Tesla’s Model 3 is an excellent EV, but is it a good car? Damien O’Carroll drives the latest model to find out.
The insanely popular (in EV terms, that is) Tesla Model 3 is arguably one of the best electric vehicles on sale today, but does clearing that bar mean it is a great car? We check out the updated model.
Outside
There is no denying the Model 3 is a sleek, attractive thing that is quite the sharp looker from the front 3⁄4 angle. But there is also no denying that things start to get a little clumsy around the rear where the boot has to rise awkwardly high to meet the C-pillars.
It’s almost like it was designed on a platform intended for a small SUV that will no doubt go on to sell truckloads, secure the future of the company beyond doubt and probably be the best car they make.
So, yeah, the Model 3 looks great from some angles, weirdly awkward from other angles, but pulls it all together to be quite the handsome and distinctive thing, with a strong presence on the road that belies its smaller size.
Tesla has tweaked the outside of the Model 3 a wee bit for 2021, with new black door handles and exterior trim (to match the Model Y), a new alloy wheel design and a powered boot. The black trim looks better than the previous chrome, but as far as I am concerned reducing external bling is always a good thing. Others may not agree, but it does make for a handy, yet subtle way to pick if your neighbour has a newer Model 3 than you. . .
Inside
The tweaks continue on the inside, with the addition of a wireless charging pad and pair of USB-C ports.
The charging pad will easily house even the stupidly largest mobile phones out there and is big enough to take two of them. As the owner of a stupidly large mobile phone, the number of times I struggle to get it to fit in the wireless afterthought a lot of manufacturers provide is frustratingly common.
It is also refreshing that a manufacturer seems to be aware that there might be more than one person who would like to charge their phone in the car and doesn’t have a cord on them.
But aside from that tragically nerdy detour (and let’s face it: Elon Musk IS a huge tech nerd, but a lot of us are too and appreciate little things like this), the interior of the Model 3 is just as fantastically – and frustratingly – minimalist as it has always been.
Putting almost every control on the huge (and only) screen in the centre of the dash makes for an aesthetically-pleasing interior, but one cursed with a multitude of tiny frustrations. Tesla has done an exceptional job of keeping the layers of menus to an absolute minimum, but there will always be some things that are just better with a button. . .
The Model 3’s seats are wonderfully comfortable, but not terribly supportive, and the rest of the interior features
impressively high-quality materials, but still has a few build quality issues that you wouldn’t expect to find in a $90k-plus car, like the disappointingly rough cut on one side of the wooden dash insert in our test car.
Under the bonnet
Here is where the Model 3 Long Range truly impresses. Unsurprisingly.
Its WLTP range of 580km is super easy to achieve, and while Tesla’s quoted NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) range of 657km is less easy to see in daily running, somewhere in between is probably a closer average to what most people would see.
While Tesla’s Supercharger network will pump the electrons back in staggeringly quickly, I found that just plugging it in at home overnight once a week kept things easily within the area where I felt not only comfortable, but also slightly cocky about the range available at any given time.
And that was even when I was driving it like a total tool.
While the Long Range model doesn’t have the Performance model’s blistering 3.3 second 0 to 100 time, its Tesla-claimed
4.4 seconds is still very quick indeed, and is particularly impressive when combined with that brutal maximum-effort full torque take off from a standing start that EVs do so well.
On the road
And that maximum-effort torque carries on when up and running too. The Model 3 belts out of corners like a champ when on a lovely twisty road.
Unlike its larger siblings, the Model 3 also charges through those corners fantastically well, with a beautifully balanced feel that is almost un-American. Yes, there are still hints of Tesla’s traditional ‘‘push and pull’’ from the front and rear as the electric motors do their best to get the torque to the right wheels at the right time, but it is far less pronounced and intrusive here.
All that means the Model 3 Long Range is a fast, satisfying barrel of fun on a winding road, and still maintains an excellent ride quality.
Although the Model 3 is a great car to drive, leaving it to its own (strictly supervised) devices is less satisfying.
While Tesla’s Autopilot system is the subject of great hype, trumpeting it as a god-like system among Level 2 autonomous assists, the reality is it is a rather intrusive system that isn’t as subtle or intelligent as similar systems from the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Sorry Autopilot fanboys, but it is true – as a driver ‘‘assist’’ it is way too insistent that it is always right and will throw a hissy fit and give up all together if you try to correct it even in the slightest.
As an adaptive cruise control system it is rather good though, but it still insists it knows best at all times, which isn’t ideal in systems like this.
Verdict
The Tesla Model 3 is easily one of the best EVs on sale in New Zealand right now, but the most impressive part is that it is also a damn fine car regardless of what powers it.
The Model 3 handles well, is superbly comfortable and is a truly good car to drive. It does have build quality issues that shouldn’t exist in a $90k car.
You do feel a bit like you have joined The Cult of Elon driving around in it, but the quality tech and sheer effortless feel of it can make up for that, if you let them.
As a piece of technology, the Model 3 is untouchable. As a car, it is extremely good indeed, and that isn’t something I would have ever written about a Model S or Model X.