Whether you are considering buying a Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model Y, or another electric vehicle, it is probably worth noting that the Model 3 is the most loved car or passenger vehicle in the United States, based on Consumer Reports surveys of vehicle owners of all types. In other words, owners of no other vehicles profess to love their vehicles as much as Model 3 owners do.
Last night I wrote an article “10 Best Things About Owning A Tesla Model 3.” I’m in the media, so I have to be sure to engage in false balance from time to time. So, in response to the article above, here’s a piece on the 10 worst things about owning a Tesla Model 3.
We’ve had our Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus for about 5 months now. The car is a wonderful vehicle and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. (Though, I frequently debate with myself if I’d prefer the Model 3 or the Model Y.)
I’ll admit it — I’m super eager for the first edition of Tesla “Full Self Driving” to roll out. Before critics start freaking out, I should make clear that I don’t expect to nap, work, or watch movies while using initial iterations of Full Self Driving. I currently use Autopilot a ton, and I’m well aware that it is handling most of the driving just fine while I’m essentially a simple passenger, but I do keep my hands on the wheel and constantly scan the road like a pretend driver fully focused on acting out the role in search of an Oscar (or at least a Teen Choice Award).
We recently received a Tesla Model 3 trunk organizer and a frunk/trunk cooler from EVANNEX. Aside from floor mats to protect the original Tesla-installed flooring, I consider these the top two Model 3 aftermarket items that just about everyone could benefit from. (Though, pneumatic trunk and frunk hood openers have me drooling, and I do have some other fun aftermarket products to review.)
When you buy a new car, your new car, you want it to stay in a perfect, kind of new way for as long as possible. At the beginning, you wipe each little mark off, get rid of every little spec as soon as you see it, vacuum every piece of sand (as if it was even possible living in Florida after going to the beach…).
But, let’s be honest, sharing this new car with two little kids is not easy at all. The car is not a museum where you are not allowed to touch anything, right? And those kids are not museum visitors.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said something similar to the headline above on the quarterly Tesla conference call a few hours ago.
It perhaps made me smile and laugh more than anything else on the conference call. The reason is simple, and it’s also why I’m keeping this article short.
Tesla Smart Summon was all the rage for a few days on Tesla Twitter and Tesla YouTube. For obvious reason, too — it’s fun! More thoughtfully (putting on my serious face), it’s an amazing step forward toward door-to-door fully self-driving Teslas. That’s at least half the excitement — what it indicates is coming, much more than what is here today. Nonetheless, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Tesla owners were eager to see what Smart Summon could do and what its limitations were. That included me, a new Tesla buddy, and a friend of his who happened to be in town at the Supercharger where we had decided to meet.
I don’t have much opportunity to use Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot since I seldom drive on the Interstate. (I’m eagerly awaiting “Navigate the City” or whatever the next iteration is!) However, I recently drove through Tampa, Clearwater, and cities in that vicinity for about 2 hours and had the chance to really spend some time using the beta Navigate on Autopilot feature. It’s a fascinating feature and the details of it go beyond what I realized before using it. I genuinely hate driving through Tampa, and the most concise takeaway of this whole experience is that Navigate on Autopilot definitely made that task safer, easier, and less stressful.
Okay, so I’m sitting in the car waiting for my whole family (husband and two little girls) to come back from a quick stop for shopping. The car is plugged in and charging at a Tesla Supercharger (thank you to buyers who used our referral code). My husband came up with a funny phrase to describe a “park & plug” state, which is “plark.” So, you could say I’m sitting in a “plarked” car in a Tesla “plarking lot.”
