Merc has gone, EV has come

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PXW

MB Enthusiast
SUPPORTER
Joined
Aug 31, 2007
Messages
1,575
Location
Camberley
Car
Tesla Model 3 AWD Performance; MG ZS EV
As above - I also posted about this on a thread about EVs on one of the other pages. After 4 years and 69000 faultless miles, my S212 350 has now gone and we've bought a Tesla Model 3 Performance. All part of the rationalisation of the fleet now we are both retired - probably don't need more than one car now (though we reserve the right to change our minds on that down the line, of course) and with a real world range approaching 300 miles, this car is both big enough for us and has long enough legs to do what we need it to. And the monthly fuel/running costs will drop by about 80%, which is attractive. The fact that it does a completely ridiculous 0-60 in 3.2s is neither here nor there...!

It drives incredibly smoothly - no gear changes, of course - and I love the silent starts (it also has the non-silent farts, but that's just a bit of Elon nonsense!). The lack of switchgear and conventional dials makes the interior very clean and uncluttered. We were a little concerned about the accessibility of all the controls via the touchscreen, but in fact we find it very intuitive - quite iPad-like.

A few photos. If it's OK, I'll still stick around on the forum - I've been here a long time, and enjoy the quality of discussion here.

IMG_3006.jpeg IMG_3008.jpeg IMG_3010.jpeg Interior.jpeg

 
Congrats, I hope you enjoy the Tesla.
 
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Congrats on the purchase!

Please stick around: it'll be useful to hear some real-world Tesla ownership experiences in a few months once the new car gloss has worn off.

In the meantime, enjoy it :thumb:
 
Bugga me that's a hell of screen!
Looks very minimalist and Joe 90

With you having come from a MB (and nice one at that) it would be good to hear how you get on with it and potentially the issues / benefits that we will all have to face upto in the next 5 to 10 years.....

And 3.2 secs....really?????:eek:
 
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Thats lovely. Enjoy your retirement :thumb::thumb:
 
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Dash is about as simple as this lol

Austin_A35_1406_dash.gif
 
That’s a great car and will put most cars on the road to shame. :thumb:

Just a heads up, you can remove those wheel caps and underneath there’s some much more stylish looking alloys!! You can get a ‘centre cap and lug cap kit from Tesla’ to complete the look

Tesla Model 3's aero wheels look awesome without their aero caps - Electrek
As above - I also posted about this on a thread about EVs on one of the other pages. After 4 years and 69000 faultless miles, my S212 350 has now gone and we've bought a Tesla Model 3 Performance. All part of the rationalisation of the fleet now we are both retired - probably don't need more than one car now (though we reserve the right to change our minds on that down the line, of course) and with a real world range approaching 300 miles, this car is both big enough for us and has long enough legs to do what we need it to. And the monthly fuel/running costs will drop by about 80%, which is attractive. The fact that it does a completely ridiculous 0-60 in 3.2s is neither here nor there...!

It drives incredibly smoothly - no gear changes, of course - and I love the silent starts (it also has the non-silent farts, but that's just a bit of Elon nonsense!). The lack of switchgear and conventional dials makes the interior very clean and uncluttered. We were a little concerned about the accessibility of all the controls via the touchscreen, but in fact we find it very intuitive - quite iPad-like.

A few photos. If it's OK, I'll still stick around on the forum - I've been here a long time, and enjoy the quality of discussion here.

View attachment 89298 View attachment 89299 View attachment 89300 View attachment 89301
 
Thanks for the comments guys - I'll come back onto this thread and give a bit of a review once I've got some miles on the clock :)

Enjoy :D
 
Well I will not buy one,the company lost more money in quarter 2,the thing is it is a old fashioned built car,and as such the company has real problems ramping up production,the technology is fine,I just cannot get excited about Tesla.
 
Can you share purchasing options etc please? No problem if not
 
Can you share purchasing options etc please? No problem if not

Not entirely sure I understand what you are asking, but all purchasing for a new Tesla is done off their website. There are limited colours/interiors/options available, which is how they manage and control their supply (think there are about five colours, for example). For Model 3s at the moment there isn’t any price adjustment available (although my car was up-specced by them at no cost to me, which helped them with their 3Q delivery targets). Broadly you have the choice of Standard Range, Long Range (which has a bigger battery and four wheel drive) or Performance. There are then a couple of options for interior, and you can pay quite a large extra amount for what they call “full self driving”.

In terms of finance, we just paid for it with old fashioned money. But they do do leases etc, and you can do a trade-in (though I wouldn’t recommend it - they basically offer you auction price so you are highly likely to do better, even through one of the trade purchasing organisations - we got a price for Mrs PXWs mini from them and eventually bettered it by about £2500!).

Hope that’s helpful, but if I’ve missed the point of your question just let me know!
 
congrats on the new purchase, as said above please do stick around! Its the people that make this forum what it is!
 
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I said I'd come back with a review on the Tesla once I'd got a few miles on the clock. Well, 6 weeks in now, and 2750 miles on the clock (not sure how that happened!) so here are my thoughts on the journey so far:

1. The car. Much has been said about Tesla build quality, and it's certainly true that a number of people have had issues with final fit and finish on delivery. But from the boards I follow, it seems that Tesla are then generally good at sorting these out. I think it is part driven by the current requirements to get numbers of Model 3s out there - the US stock markets have some serious expectations. Our vehicle however has been fine - it's due an adjustment to the boot lid, which in extremis can let in a little water, but otherwise it has been absolutely fine. I would say overall build quality and materials are a bit down on Merc standards but not to any serious degree - our car is completely rattle and squeak free, for example, but some of the interior plastics don't feel quite as solid as my old Merc.

2. Driving. This is quite extraordinary. My car is what the Tesla crowd refer to as a P- which is a car with the full acceleration of the Performance ("P+") model, but on 18" wheels rather than 20". The top speed is therefore restricted to about 145mph rather than the 160mph+ of the P+. It also lacks the uprated brakes (but see below) and a little lip spoiler on the boot. But it still has track mode, and will still do 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds. The party trick is to get a car full of unsuspecting passengers, start off on a clear unrestricted road and, er, floor it! But party tricks aside, this is still a very competent, very powerful (around 460bhp at the moment...but again see below...) four wheel drive saloon. It handles and grips very well - helped by the fact that a lot of the weight is in the battery pack, which is under the floor - so it has a low COG. It's very quiet, as you would expect. I love pulling away in silence. At higher speeds there is a little wind noise from around the driver's door pillar, but nothing major. I'm occasionally caught out by random sounds as we are driving, only to realise that they are actually just things going on around me - noises I wouldn't have heard in my previous car, like someone calling out, or another car's door being slammed. However, the overriding impression driving the car is of something very smooth and relaxing. Both Mrs PXW and I find we are cruising perhaps 5-10mph slower than we used to in the Merc - not because the car can't go faster, or isn't up to it, or loses composure - we just don't seem to need to try. Drove back from the North East to Surrey over the weekend, and got home feeling relaxed and unstressed. Good for the blood pressure! You also find you brake very rarely - just for the last few mph the coming to a stop. The rest of the tine, this is one pedal driving (very easy to adapt to) - as you lift off the accelerator, the car slows by regenerative braking, adding energy to the battery. It's very effective, to the extent that some US owners see their brakes as fitted for the life of the vehicle (though of course they don't have bends over there).

3. Owning. Everything is controlled by an app, and your phone is the key. It links by bluetooth so isn't vulnerable to the keyless theft issue. If the car needs anything doing to it, it will tell you, and you just log a service visit on the app. If they can, Tesla will deal with it by way of a Ranger visit - a mobile mechanic who will come to you. Otherwise it's a trip to a service centre. There is no regular service schedule - there isn't anything that needs doing on a timed basis (no gearbox, no oil, timing belts etc etc...). The car's software is regularly updated over the air (though you are advised to link it to wifi if you can). The claim is that Tesla is the only car you can buy that improves over time. I'm not sure about "only" - haven't researched that - but it's definitely true that the software updates improve the car in all sorts of ways. For example, the one that is pending on my car at the moment will increase power by 5%. There are also lots of improvements to software, car systems, operating systems etc. Tesla view themselves as a software company as much as a car manufacturer, so the parallel is more to the updates you get to your phone or computer over time.

4. Fuel/Battery life. My car is supposed to have a range of 328 miles from full. It doesn't at the moment, but it's actually fine. Let me explain - this does take a bit of getting your head around, and is probably the biggest shift in thinking needed to make an EV work. Firstly, the car has a very sophisticated battery management system to protect the life of the battery. Tesla have designed the battery in the Model 3 to last between 350-500,000 miles. In practise, and in normal day to day use, you shouldn't charge beyond 90%. You can charge to 100% if you need it, say for a long trip, but you shouldn't leave it at that state - do it and then drive it. You can go as close to zero as you dare (the Tesla forums have an informal "0% Club" for those who splutter to a halt next to the charger!).

Key things that affect range are temperature, style of driving and weather. Temperature is just a facet of batteries - the "real" range for ours in the colder temperature we have had recently is more like 230-250 from 90% charge rather than the rated 300-ish. Style of driving speaks for itself. Weather is interesting. Wet weather and high winds will reduce range by perhaps 20%. This is a physical effect that actually applies to all vehicles, whether EV or ICE. However, a lot of the energy produced by an ICE vehicle generates heat and noise, so you might find that of the total fuel consumption, perhaps 35% goes to produce forward motion. In an EV, the conversions rate is much higher - probably 90%+ - so a weather impact of 20% on the energy needed for motion has a near 20% impact on range, where as in an ICE the effect is less noticeable - on the figures above, it would be 20% of 35% , so an extra 7% - and that would be the impact on fuel economy in the same conditions. Sorry for the maths, but it really helped me to understand this - I couldn't initially work out why my EV would be more affected by wet roads than an ICE! Other issues that are often quoted, like heaters, use of aircon, lights, wipers, etc - these don't really add up to anything significant.

In the better half of the year weatherise, I am confident we will see a full charge range of close to the claimed 328 for what we have seen so far. The nominal range is rated for the car using 250watts/mile - and even in cooler weather, we have managed to beat that a number of times (though acceleration demos do tend to hurt those figures quite a bit!).

So, how does this range affect us now. Well, not very much, really. Most of our charging is done on the drive. We have a car charger, running at 32amps, which adds about 29 miles of range per hour. And of course we don't have to sit there and watch it - we just plug it in and it gets on with it. And for the majority of our journeys, where we are doing less than say 250 miles in the day, that's it. And less than 3p per mile in fuel cost (I can even cut that in half when I get around to amending our electric tariff). On a longer journey you do of course need to charge. But the car works out where, and maps you to the supercharger, and even conditions the battery for optimal charging when you get there. The Tesla superchargers are really their ace card for usability - it's a decent and rapidly growing network, and only Teslas can use them. And they are quick - up to 150 kW/hr. Most "rapid" chargers on other networks are up to 50kW. That's not bad, but it's a lot slower when you are sitting there waiting - we tried one the other day just to test it out (Teslas can use pretty much any charger). On a supercharger we can go from say 10% to 90% charge in about 30 minutes. Now, I know that's slower than filling up with petrol - but this is where the different mindset helps. It's the only time I spend fuelling the car - so it offsets against my many previous 10 minute trips to the petrol station. And in practise it is rare that you would be there that long - typically you just charge enough to get to your destination. So, for example, the other week we were heading back from Gloucestershire to Surrey, and (due to weather!) needed to charge. Pulled in at Membury, plugged in, walked to the service station for a comfort break, walked back to the car. 10 minutes, and the car had added nearly 100 miles in range - plenty to get home, where we just plugged it in on the drive again. And you may not do the top up at the point where the car is low on charge - heading to the north East last weekend, we started fully charged, did about 70 miles and then did a top-up before completing the rest of the journey. It's different thinking, but it does work. We are looking at doing a big European road trip next year - and not the slightest bit worried about getting charges when we need them!

It does help that we are no longer in work, so time is not so critical. But could I have managed this with my previous working lifestyle? Yes, I think so - but it would have required a different thought pattern to the usual "drive til the light comes on then fill up and repeat".

Anyway, apologies for the long post, but I thought this might be interesting. Happy as always to answer any questions/comments etc.
 
Interesting post, thanks for taking the trouble to write it up.
Now, if only they were cheaper I may be converted :)
Looking forward to your next update [emoji106]


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Nice helpful ownership insight, thank you.
 
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As you state - and I think this is ultimately EV’s biggest hurdle - you’ve got to change your mindset as to how you “fill up” and a 300 mile tank between charges should see most people happy.

I’ve got to admit, I think they’re great looking cars and Musk has advanced the notion of EV’s so much that they’re looking more and more a serious proposition to the general populace.
 
This newest generation is at the point where they are now truly useable, especially in comparison to the earlier cars. For example, a friend's 2015 Leaf took 11 hours to do a 300 mile trip recently, that would take 5-6 in a "normal" car. That's a very long time hanging around waiting for charging points.
 
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Informative and very well-written information, PWX. :thumb:
 
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