I test drove a Tesla 3.
1. I didn’t like that you had to look to the center to know your speed instead of straight ahead. I’ve never received a speeding ticket and I’m not about to start because a manufacturer is to cheap to put a speedometer dead center.
2. The turning radius is terrible. I did a U-turn and almost didn’t make it full circle with the Tesla 3. I came way too close to the curb and almost had to put it in reverse. I’m used to the turning radius of Volkswagen cars and drive a 2019 GTI which has a turning radius similar to a Porsche 911. The turning radius of the last gen BMW 4 series Gran Coupe isn’t as good as my GTI, but it’s better than a Tesla 3. Not sure how the BMW i4 M50 will stack up.
3. Forced to use Tesla specific chargers for the Tesla 3. This is a deal breaker. If Tesla goes belly up where would you charge for road trips? Tesla specific chargers also limit where you can travel. Current and future EVs use/will use the CCS Combo and there are many more CCS Combo chargers out there and more are constantly being built. President Biden wants to install electric chargers nationwide as well. He’d want to install CCS Combo chargers because that’s what GM, Ford etc. are using.
4. Poor seat design. Tesla headrests protrude forward too much so if you stomp on the accelerator it’s like you’re punching yourself in the back of the head giving yourself a mini concussion. Not cool. I sat in a new BMW M4 and those headrests don’t protrude too much.
5. Paint and panel gaps. You hear of Tesla 3s with poor paint jobs which need to be repainted and Tesla does not want to cover it. The Tesla 3 I test drove had panel gaps and if it has panel gaps what else aren’t they getting right in manufacturing and quality control? I’ve driven VWs for the past 17 years and from my Corrado, Golf, Passat and GTIs panel gap was never an issue.
6. Tesla is dishonest and misrepresents the actual range of their vehicles. They do 5 EPA cycles whereas every other car manufacturer does 3. So a Porsche Taycan gets better highway range than you would think whereas the Tesla gets a worse range.
From a recent car and driver article they stated that while the Tesla 3 long range has an EPA range of over 300 miles, they’ve never gotten better than 230 miles!