I’ve Never Owned an EV……So I Bought A TESLA!

I’ve always wanted a Tesla, not because it’s an EV but because it has FSD. Ever since test driving a model 3 way back in 2019 I was convinced a Tesla would be my next car. However at the time my wife drove an old 2011 Malibu and I didn’t want to have to use that Malibu for family road tripping. Although road tripping an EV isn’t that bad and is getting better each day it was just something I didn’t want to mess with. So I leased a 2019 Ram 1500, a vehicle I planned to have until my wife got a new car. However we all know what happened in 2020 and I ended up buying out my lease as that was the only real option. Fast forward to 2024 my wife now drives a 2021 GMC Arcadia so I was back in the market. While I waited I decided I wanted something with a bit more performance then a long range model Y so I decided I get the New 2024 model 3 performance. After having this car now for about a month and driving it just shy of 1000 miles what are my thoughts and did I make the right choice.

[mboiko]

My car was in the shop for 2 weeks (transmission...don't ask) so I went to Hertz and they gave me a Tesla Model 3. Many people told me it would suck...so each day I would wait for it to suck but it never did. Actually, I thought it was pretty cool, quiet, comfortable, relatively fast and charging was never a problem. Most people who said it would suck...didn't have a clue.

[Buggabones]

I prefer taking the Tesla on roadtrips. 20 minute break every 2 hours plus FSD equals zero road fatigue.

[shannon]

I bought a 2024 MYLR a few months back. I have never enjoyed driving a car so much in my life, not even the sports cars I have had. I now spend about 25% of what I was spending on gas to power this car, and FSD - as imperfect as it can be sometimes - has already prevented me from having multiple accidents. If you think about it, having the FSD prevent even one accident that would have totaled the car effectively pays for the car by doing so. I got FSD because no matter how safe a driver I am, I still cannot prevent others from crashing into my car (2x in the last 11 months, one drunk and one playing on her phone). So to keep my family safe, I bought the safest car I could find (a Tesla Model Y) and got FSD. As long as no more idiots crash into me, I expect to have this car until the battery self destructs from age in 15 to 18 years. At that point, with how the price of batteries is going down and the range is going up, if they still make batteries that fit this car I'd bet a dollar that a 1, 250 mile battery will cost something like $25. The value you get from Tesla vs the price is incredible, especially when you keep the car for a long time.

[manyaa]

Mate, I never thought I'd own an electric car. I bought a Model 3 LR as I get subsidy from work.
Best thing I've ever done.
Enjoy 🥳

[Zanzamar]

You should at least try using it on a road trip. It’s honestly not that big of a deal. You can drive for around 4 hours and most people will need a bathroom break after that long anyway. By the time you all use the restroom and possibly buy snacks or drinks, your car is charged up.

Will the total trip take longer? Yeah but only by a little bit. But it will be drastically cheaper and more pleasant of a trip thanks to FSD. You won’t be as tired because you can relax your brain by letting the car do the bitch-work of driving.

[questionablecommands]

I wasn't convinced on road-tripping an EV until a buddy walked me through the typical fill-up at a gas station and a typical charging stop. I won't go into the same level of detail (because it was boring) but the tl;dr was that you pull up, gas up, move the car, use the bathroom, get back to/in the car, and head out. I think he added it up to about 15min.

He then did the same for an EV stop where you park, plug in, use the bathroom, get back to/in the car which took 12min. His (and my) _typical_ charge time is about 20min (just 5min more than gas). Needless to say, he talked me into giving it a shot and he was pretty much spot-on. Now, this _does_ fall apart a little bit in those rare situations where you need to charge for 40min, but that's the exception (not the norm) and I just make those stops the times I eat. You gotta' plan a little ahead to make sure the stop either has someplace with food nearby, or that you'll be rolling up to the charger with food in-hand, but doing that planning is how I spend those surplus 8 minutes at the previous stop.

[aamold]

I just bought a used model 3 and I agree 100%. When you buy a tesla you end up having to argue with random people who believe that electric cars will destroy the world. I bought the car to save money and use full self driving but for some reason people feel like they have to explain to me where lithium and electricity come from on a daily basis.

[pandemik]

Model 3 performance is the ultimate sports car bargain, but the true genius is how easy it is to convince the wife to buy one. The performance tier is not much of a strech over the LR, and many spouses will "let him have that".

[dpie]

Unless you have a bad charging network in your state, I would argue the Tesla is better at long trips compared to your ICE car. You have the self driving which is so incredibly relaxing to use and every 3-4 hours you go for a break and charge it up.

[franksaremba]

Hello, I'm Frank from Germany. I hope you enjoy your great Tesla. I'm already driving my third Tesla and have already driven 60, 000 km with the current one as I travel a lot all over Europe. I'm a trained car mechanic and master painter and have driven Mercedes for 35 years. But Tesla is much better today. Best wishes from Germany.

[alpenfoxvideo]

I have an early 2019 base model, bought just to see how these “teslas” were.
I am interested in the performance, but i’ll try to hold on to mine for 2 years more as it has zero issues

[etmax]

I live in Melbourne Australia and drove (in my S75D) to Brisbane Australia which is around 1800km which I believe qualifies as a road trip, and it went so well that my wife that tends to panic over anything different and it was so seamless and organised (by the car) that my wife found it was something she would want. Note that charging infrastructure is way more Spartan than in the USA.

Every 2-3 hours we'd stop for a coffee and/or a snack and twice we overnighted. It was totally non-stressful and didn't take much longer than it would've in an ICE car. The whole things that EV's are bad for road trips just doesn't hold water most trips, and certainly any I've done.

[julioblanco]

During my last car purchase, I was between the Ram 1500 limited and the Model Y Performance. Ended up with the Tesla and don't regret it.

[eugeniustheodidactus]

So this is unique in that new Tesla EV customers are now also talking about FSD. This is a *_subtle but powerful paradigm shift_* in the auto industry.

[RickJohnson]

Nice! I have a 2019 Model 3 LR AWD that I paid for the acceleration boost for (mid 3 second 0-60). A 2025+ Performance 3 might be the next one. Glad to see some footage of it.

It is our only car, and I don't have any issues road tripping w/ the abundance of superchargers. Navigation takes care of the worry. Most charging stops aren't to 100% and you're stopping every 2 or so hours for 20 minutes, which is plenty of time to stretch, use the facilities, etc.

[xpeterson]

Road trips in a Tesla really don’t feel nearly as exhausting as any other car because of the self driving. You really don’t realize how taxing driving is until you do a self driving road trip for 14 hours and realize you’re still up to drive some more when you arrive

[syspowertools]

Don't be afraid to road trip it, and ignore the range estimate but trust the arrival %. The other day I went to visit family 100 miles away, I forgot to change the charge limit so we left with 80%, drove arround a lot after we got there going to dinner, park, hockey arena, ect. and left for home with 35% the car said arrival with 1% so I didn't charge. When I got home I had 1% I didn't even have to slow down, it just knows how I drive.

Also the best thing to know is you should leave superchargers a little before it tells you, so you arrive with less than 10%. You charge fastest with a low battery and doing this turns a 20 min charge to a 13 min charge every 200 miles.
We love our Teslas, and while I think there are use cases for trucks, I do think EV technology is mostly going to overtake most of the market. As far as I'm concerned, people should get what they want, but I think more people are gonna want Teslas.

[agoatmannameddesire]

I’ve had one for 2 years, I think you’ll appreciate the continuous updates/improvements/new features to the software.

[davidkinch]

You can road trip fine… I have the same car, well older. I have 154, 000 on the car and have been coast to coast. Also live in Canada, so snow is not an issue either.

[dwolvin]

6 years on my model 3 LR (single motor). No such thing as a perfect vehicle, but this is faster than all of my sports cars, better (San Diego to Detroit) at long distance traveler, and returns amazing efficiency (if you can drive a little mellow). I may not get another Tesla, but I can't imagine going back to ICE.