Tesla Model 3 Highlights From 3 Owners & Me (Videos)

Electric vehicle activist, early adopter, and now Model 3 owner Paul Fosse was kind enough to take his fresh Tesla Model 3 an hour or so south to let me drive it. He also brought along some friends and their Model 3 for double the chocolate, double the fun. (Actually, I think no chocolate was involved — whoops.)

Michael Neuhaus, the driver of the second Model 3, was kind/cruel enough to record me on my first ride & drive. Alas, I couldn’t be bothered to laboriously edit that video and publish it before jumping into my written review of the Model 3. (And good I did, because it somehow caught Elon Musk’s eye and landed a retweet from the dude.)

To supplement my review of the car, I also collected comments from Paul, Michael, and Michael’s partner Glaiza about their experiences with the hot new car. This piece is dedicated to them. The first video below is a one-on-one with Paul about his car, the second video is a chat with Michael & Glaiza as they enjoy their first Supercharging session (at the same time that Paul is having fun with his first Supercharging session), and the third video is that one of me on my first drive (you can really ignore that one if you read my review — I’m better behind the keyboard than in front of the camera).

I know people often love written summaries and don’t watch videos, so I’ll quickly summarize a few of the highlights and lowlights Paul, Michael, and Glaiza passed along under each of those videos. But they don’t do the video commentary justice, so I encourage you to watch too.

• The handling is surprisingly awesome.
• The car is just an overall no-compromise car that offers the whole package — practical like a Honda Accord, sporty like a Porsche, prestigious like a Jaguar, green like a Prius, safe like a Volvo. (Actually, it’s generally better than each of those options at the things they are known for. That’s what you call disruption, sir.)
• Demand issues? Heck no — Chinese, European, & $35,000 Model 3 buyers are waiting for their cars!

• The seats are really nice — they “hug” you.
• The music options are superb. (There is apparently some confusion in the video. These owners don’t use Spotify, but they do love the built-in music system and how easy it is to just speak the song/artist they want to listen to and leave it to their Tesla to automagically do the rest.)
• The sunshine & heat coming through the glass roof was problematic for them, so they tinted the whole roof — using spectra photosync tinting. (Paul, on the other hand, hasn’t been bothered by the sun & heat and only had the back tinted. Our writer in Ventura, California, who recently picked up CleanTechnica‘s first Model 3 has had no problems with the glass roof.)

• The glass roof from the back seat is beautiful and amazing. It makes the car feel notably bigger than a Model S from the back seat.
• The white Model 3 is certainly pretty. (It has risen above the blue for my top choice, but the silver is also surprisingly more appealing to me than I expected.)

My full written review is here: Sorry, Elon — Tesla Model 3 Much Better Than I Expected (#CleanTechnica Review).

For more, read a wide range of Tesla Model 3 reviews — or at least our long-term Model 3 review articles.

Oh yeah, and there are a lot of other great electric cars to check out as well.