Australian Model 3 Highland experiences, tips, tricks

[Jules22]

Yeah, had a really nice old couple come up to us as we were about to leave. Were really curious about how the charging worked, how much it cost, if EV's could travel long ranges etc.

 

[dronus]

Yes new shelf had to be installed. Thanks for the info, will check soon.

The rear parcel shelf is the gift that keeps on giving. Like herpes.

 

[edy80y]

The rear parcel shelf is the gift that keeps on giving. Like herpes.

I know right?

Knowing about the tabs makes me think, perhaps the centre is not budged. Maybe the L/R sides of the shelf rear are too low and need to be propped up?

Looks like it's time book in a service. Will get them to update the FW on mobile connector at the same time.

Today It's shopping day to wash the car tomorrow:
- blow cannon
- adaptor for cannon bottle to my gerni
- proper sponges for washing (I don't like the sponges that came with the VIP maintenance kit)
- blower

I might model/print some grills to use at the bottom of the wash buckets too.

 

[dronus]

Sorry. Can't find photo.

Look in from outside and see if you can see signs of tabs that should slide from the back of the shelf into the structure behind the shelf. That's what I remember from the photo... the tabs had not slid into the slots, and had caused the shelf to bulge around the stop light.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. Good luck.

That’s more than helpful, I’ll go look at mine too but don’t think it looks too bad.

I know right?

Knowing about the tabs makes me think, perhaps the centre is not budged. Maybe the L/R sides of the shelf rear are too low and need to be propped up?

Looks like it's time book in a service. Will get them to update the FW on mobile connector at the same time.

Today It's shopping day to wash the car tomorrow:
- blow cannon
- adaptor for cannon bottle to my gerni
- proper sponges for washing (I don't like the sponges that came with the VIP maintenance kit)
- blower

I might model/print some grills to use at the bottom of the wash buckets too.

I’m about to go out to wash mine. The autoglym foam I use doesn’t foam up as much as I see others online but I’m not sure if it is:
A. The stuff doesn’t foam much
B. My cannon thing doesn’t foam it well, or
C. It’s just me not knowing what I’m doing

Or a combination of the above.

Was going to go and get a different detergent to try first as the other 2 are harder to fix.

 

[edy80y]

That’s more than helpful, I’ll go look at mine too but don’t think it looks too bad.


I’m about to go out to wash mine. The autoglym foam I use doesn’t foam up as much as I see others online but I’m not sure if it is:
A. The stuff doesn’t foam much
B. My cannon thing doesn’t foam it well, or
C. It’s just me not knowing what I’m doing

Or a combination of the above.

Was going to go and get a different detergent to try first as the other 2 are harder to fix.

I'm going with the Bowden's range of products.
- BOSNOW Blow Job foam
- BONANO Wash liquid

 

[Vostok]

Makes you wonder how they managed to take 2 hours extra, you would really have to try very hard to make that happen. Even more puzzling is the claim that they managed to make it cost more than $100 in the EV. That is one they must have really tried hard to manufacture. Maybe if they stopped at a busy charger and left the car fully charged for an hour to generate idle fees.

If you do the SYD-MEL trip in an EV, and it takes longer and costs more than doing the same trip in an ICE, then you’re doing it wrong.

And if, for some reason, you’re in a rush and the trip duration is important, catch a plane

 

[Jules22]

- BOSNOW Blow Job foam

Umm where do I buy this? asking for a friend

 

[Jules22]

- Slow downs, I had two slight slow downs, one while passing a large semi, wasn't really paying as much attention as I should have been on that one, was talking to my wife so it got down about 7 or 8 km/h below what I was set to, the second time was a car swerving all over his lane and freaked it out, that one I was ready for and only lost 2 or 3 km/h. One really impressive sight was a large truck crossing the highway in front of me, about 150m away. On the previous trip it would have slowed down for that, it visualised it but just kept at speed, so I was really happy with that and count this area as a decent improvement as well.

Interesting. I was just editing the video and saw that I have the first slow down recorded. This was the one that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been and I thought it was a 'fairly dramatic' slow down of 7-8km/h. Turns out it only actually dropped a couple of km/h, a car behind would hardly even have noticed, really shows how much the "phantom braking" is overblown, even I thought it was much more dramatic than that one actually was just because I wasn't prepared and paying full attention.

 

[dronus]

That’s more than helpful, I’ll go look at mine too but don’t think it looks too bad.


I’m about to go out to wash mine. The autoglym foam I use doesn’t foam up as much as I see others online but I’m not sure if it is:
A. The stuff doesn’t foam much
B. My cannon thing doesn’t foam it well, or
C. It’s just me not knowing what I’m doing

Or a combination of the above.

Was going to go and get a different detergent to try first as the other 2 are harder to fix.

Turns out it was the cannon, got a McGuire one and it made it look like the last scene in a late night movie on SBS

 

[dronus]

 

[dronus]

@richardnau I don't see any clips or tabs at the back of it. Am I supposed to see it from within the car, or in the boot?

Here's the bulge im talking about, and when I push it down, there's a foam piece, likely to surround the centre brake light to prevent light bleeding.



View attachment 1037940

Ill just go out to the shed and take a photo of my bulge so we can compare?

 

[dronus]

So just got done with the first leg of my CBR-MEL-ADL-CBR tour.

Drive down to Melbourne was fantastic, 99% on FSD/EAP, could spot several improvements over my last significant road trip in November last year.

- I did get the lane change bail out a couple of times, I think someone else here mentioned this is an issue on the Hume, but not something I had experienced on the CBR-BNE trips. I think I might have caught one of them on camera, definitely seems to be related to the camber of the road, both times it was in an area where there was a significant camber on the road, it just didn't want to change back into the left lanes (both times were going to the left), I managed to force it by holding the left indicator down and it went ok. I'll hopefully have all of that on video. Apart from that though, lane changes were fantastic.

- Trying to go into exit lanes randomly. I had experienced this on the trip to BNE, this time it was MUCH better. On the trip to Brisbane it did it a few times, sometimes it 'swerved' slightly and corrected itself, others I stopped it myself, never ever got close to actually leaving the lane. This time it was MUCH more gentle and it gave a warning each time with the indicator, which was extremely handy. It only actually made a move 2 or 3 times, with the warning it barely got to move the wheel a few cm's and it was such a gentle motion that the passengers would hardly have noticed. A couple of other times it just gave one or a half indicator click like it was thinking about doing it but realised it was wrong. This was definitely a big improvement.

- Slow downs, I had two slight slow downs, one while passing a large semi, wasn't really paying as much attention as I should have been on that one, was talking to my wife so it got down about 7 or 8 km/h below what I was set to, the second time was a car swerving all over his lane and freaked it out, that one I was ready for and only lost 2 or 3 km/h. One really impressive sight was a large truck crossing the highway in front of me, about 150m away. On the previous trip it would have slowed down for that, it visualised it but just kept at speed, so I was really happy with that and count this area as a decent improvement as well.

- Speed cameras, all of the speed cameras that were on the route were shown (there were no mobile ones which I suspect are not implemented yet) it saved me once, had a Merc who was constantly speeding up and slowing down, got the sh1ts and had just got into the right hand lane and was half way through planting it when I saw the speed camera ahead wording on the nav and then saw the symbol. I count that as a big win, it definitely would have nabbed me at least 20k over.

- Charging- I overrode the stop it had intended (Holbrook) as I wanted to check out the new V4 cabinets at Albury. Got there with 25% left which I was quite happy with after ~350km. Had a good meal there and within about 30 mins I was already at 97% and had enough to get to Melbourne, again was pretty happy that CBR to MEL is definitely feasible with one charge stop in a RWD model. Decided to check out the Evie charger at Avenel and just do a quick top up there. First time using an Evie charger, it was OK, much slower than advertised, said it was up to 350kw in the app, but only managed about 70kw, I think I went from ~50% to ~60% or something like that. Anyhow, got to MEL with plenty of charge for tripping around over the next couple of days. All up cost me $42 in charing, would have cost $83 in fuel. As far as time spent, we had lunch in Albury for 30 mins and spent 10 mins topping up at Avenel (which was purely voluntary could have easily skipped that stop). If I'd been driving our ICE vehicle, I would have had to stop for fuel, 10 mins is a good average, and then I'd still have had to take time to go to the bathroom, eat, etc, so the time I spent in Albury would have been exactly the same as we didn't spend any time waiting for charging. At best it's break even, if you count the fact that the second stop was purely voluntary to check out a different brand charger, then the EV was 10 mins quicker.

Overall was an excellent drive, the new Model 3 is significantly better than the 2019 one I did the last trip in. Everyone felt the seats were much more comfortable, considerably quieter, fantastic sound system like all Tesla's, Autopilot is just fantastic for long drives and makes a HUGE difference. Really stoked to see the level of improvements over my last long drive, especially given we are on such an 'old' version compared to the current stack.

Spending a few days here with friends then we head to the Barossa via the great ocean road.

Im just searching back to see what EAP features are actually available on the M3H in Australia.

Im guessing your FSD would include all of the EAP features, can you update us on what EAP features would likely be currently available to use in Australia?
Or if anyone with EAP instead of FSD can comment, id sure appreciate it..

Auto lane Change
Navigate on Auto Pilot
AutoPark
Summon
Smart Summon

 

[dronus]

Ill just go out to the shed and take a photo of my bulge so we can compare?

No bulge

 

[dronus]

Just wanted to check, does everyone else have the defrost icons always on below the temperature?
Trying to see why they are there in the manual but can’t find it.
Maybe it means it’s set to auto?

 

[dronus]

Hrmm nope, set it to manual or off and it’s the same.

 

[Jules22]

Im just searching back to see what EAP features are actually available on the M3H in Australia.

Im guessing your FSD would include all of the EAP features, can you update us on what EAP features would likely be currently available to use in Australia?
Or if anyone with EAP instead of FSD can comment, id sure appreciate it..

Auto lane Change
Navigate on Auto Pilot
AutoPark
Summon
Smart Summon

Yeah FSD doesn't give you much more here at this point. I think Navigate on AP is FSD, as is traffic light control.

Parking/ Summon isn't available for M3H just at the moment in Australia. Sounds like it's coming soon though.

 

[Wagits]

Just wanted to check, does everyone else have the defrost icons always on below the temperature?
Trying to see why they are there in the manual but can’t find it.
Maybe it means it’s set to auto?

View attachment 1038245

It probably comes on when it senses humidity in the car. Is this straight after a wash. It's a warm day in Adelaide today. Either that or there is some heavy breathing going on in the car

 

[dronus]

It probably comes on when it senses humidity in the car. Is this straight after a wash. It's a warm day in Adelaide today. Either that or there is some heavy breathing going on in the car

All of those parameters are correct however it has been there the whole time I’m pretty sure.
Just wanted to check to see if I had defrost on all the time which I don’t, der I just turned them on and they go orange…

 

[dronus]

Ha, that would be why my audio sounded wonkey

 

[edy80y]

View attachment 1038242

No bulge

Thanks now I know my bulge is bigger than yours

I will book in a service call in the coming weeks and report back