PianoAl
Active Member
We've got one of each. Although I prefer the USS, the vision only is getting close. They need to improve the warning tones with VO (I can get very close to something on the side with no tones, so I must look at the display).
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Drove the Highland Yesterday.
- Thread starter jmatero
- Start date
RayK
Active Member
FYI: This review is coming from the perspective of a 2018 LR RWD owner who has never test drove any other Model 3, much less been inside a newer model.
Tesla emailed me last Thursday (15th) evening to schedule a test drive of the Highland 3 from the 16th (Fri) to 18th (Sun). Had several locations to choose from so I selected Sunnyvale (over Santana Row, Fremont and Palo Alto). Arrived about 1/2 hour early as the email indicated that a waiver needed signing before the drive. The sales rep looked at my driver's license, confirmed my appointment, talked about some of the differences between my car and the 2024 and then handed a key card to me and said "have fun and be back in 15-20 minutes". I think I took 25 minutes. No photocopying of my insurance card (or even asking to see it; I suppose there was something in the waiver I signed that said I was insured - TL;DR), no inspection of the car (I did a quick glance around the outside and saw nothing out of sorts). Nothing like renting a car from any of the major corporations or even test driving a vehicle from a traditional dealership.
I chose the Sunnyvale location, figuring it didn't have too much traffic on a Sunday (not like Santana Row and the surrounding area), fairly quick access to a highway and I am familiar with the area. My loop was east on El Camino, right on Wolfe then north on 280. I initially thought that I would take De Anza back towards the showroom but decided at the last minute to continue on 280 to 85 and then come back on El Camino. That would give me more time on the highway. Maximum speed I hit I believe was 80. The car was limited to 85. It had FSD but I did not use it.
Initial impressions are that the car "feels" heavier and is a bit quieter. Steering is about the same; maybe a little bit more effort is needed when turning. That could be from a low tire pressure; I didn't check it. I repeated the same route in my own car after returning the demo. BTW, my demo was a LR AWD with 470 miles (photos below). Battery charge was about 72% at the beginning of the drive; miles was 240 or so.
I purposely muted the stereo during the drive so that I could concentrate on the road/wind noise so no evaluation of the sound system. The road and wind noise on the highway seemed a little bit lower than my car. But, tire brand/model can make a major difference. I'm currently running a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+ which are supposed to be nosier than the stock MXM4s. From looking at the photo I've included, the demo car had Hankooks.
Lack of turn signal stalks was immediately felt as the first several times I flipped my left hand up and down but nothing was there. When I did sorta get used to the turn signal buttons, I ended up one time signalling a left turn when going right. Guy behind me probably thought I was an idiot. Plus points for the signal auto cancelling after the lane change/turn. I did not try any of the new buttons on the steering wheel. From the looks of it they controlled voice command, windshield wiper, cruise speed and something else which I didn't recognize.
The "transmission" stalk deletion and replacement by the thin vertical strip on the screen also took a bit to get used to. I did not try the buttons above the mirror. Easy to figure out which "gear" to select given that the strip automatically shows up on the screen when the car thinks you might need it.
Acceleration didn't really feel any different than my old Model 3. Like I said, I think I hit 80 when merging onto the highway. I believe that the 2024 is supposed to be a second faster to 60MPH than my '18 RWD. As my own car is plenty fast, good enough to get a speeding ticket a few months after getting it, I don'tthink I need anything faster.
What I did appreciate on the new model was the ventilated seats. Nice to have hot or cold air blowing on your back. For me, that would be enough of a reason to buy one of these cars.
No inspection of the trunk, frunk or overall panel fitment, sorry if you were curious about these items. I did notice that it took a bit more effort in order to close the driver side doors than my car. I did not open either passenger side door. Center console changes were neutral (IMO), although I like the way that the covers slid open and closed. I wasn't aware of the relocation of the key card sensor from under the front of the armrest (i.e., behind the cupholders) to the phone tray, but an on-screen prompt helped my confusion.
My demo drive was from 12:30 to 1pm and the sun was out so no notice of the interior lights or the performance of the windshield wipers or headlights. Everything else felt the same to me.
Tesla emailed me last Thursday (15th) evening to schedule a test drive of the Highland 3 from the 16th (Fri) to 18th (Sun). Had several locations to choose from so I selected Sunnyvale (over Santana Row, Fremont and Palo Alto). Arrived about 1/2 hour early as the email indicated that a waiver needed signing before the drive. The sales rep looked at my driver's license, confirmed my appointment, talked about some of the differences between my car and the 2024 and then handed a key card to me and said "have fun and be back in 15-20 minutes". I think I took 25 minutes. No photocopying of my insurance card (or even asking to see it; I suppose there was something in the waiver I signed that said I was insured - TL;DR), no inspection of the car (I did a quick glance around the outside and saw nothing out of sorts). Nothing like renting a car from any of the major corporations or even test driving a vehicle from a traditional dealership.
I chose the Sunnyvale location, figuring it didn't have too much traffic on a Sunday (not like Santana Row and the surrounding area), fairly quick access to a highway and I am familiar with the area. My loop was east on El Camino, right on Wolfe then north on 280. I initially thought that I would take De Anza back towards the showroom but decided at the last minute to continue on 280 to 85 and then come back on El Camino. That would give me more time on the highway. Maximum speed I hit I believe was 80. The car was limited to 85. It had FSD but I did not use it.
Initial impressions are that the car "feels" heavier and is a bit quieter. Steering is about the same; maybe a little bit more effort is needed when turning. That could be from a low tire pressure; I didn't check it. I repeated the same route in my own car after returning the demo. BTW, my demo was a LR AWD with 470 miles (photos below). Battery charge was about 72% at the beginning of the drive; miles was 240 or so.
I purposely muted the stereo during the drive so that I could concentrate on the road/wind noise so no evaluation of the sound system. The road and wind noise on the highway seemed a little bit lower than my car. But, tire brand/model can make a major difference. I'm currently running a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+ which are supposed to be nosier than the stock MXM4s. From looking at the photo I've included, the demo car had Hankooks.
Lack of turn signal stalks was immediately felt as the first several times I flipped my left hand up and down but nothing was there. When I did sorta get used to the turn signal buttons, I ended up one time signalling a left turn when going right. Guy behind me probably thought I was an idiot. Plus points for the signal auto cancelling after the lane change/turn. I did not try any of the new buttons on the steering wheel. From the looks of it they controlled voice command, windshield wiper, cruise speed and something else which I didn't recognize.
The "transmission" stalk deletion and replacement by the thin vertical strip on the screen also took a bit to get used to. I did not try the buttons above the mirror. Easy to figure out which "gear" to select given that the strip automatically shows up on the screen when the car thinks you might need it.
Acceleration didn't really feel any different than my old Model 3. Like I said, I think I hit 80 when merging onto the highway. I believe that the 2024 is supposed to be a second faster to 60MPH than my '18 RWD. As my own car is plenty fast, good enough to get a speeding ticket a few months after getting it, I don't
What I did appreciate on the new model was the ventilated seats. Nice to have hot or cold air blowing on your back. For me, that would be enough of a reason to buy one of these cars.
No inspection of the trunk, frunk or overall panel fitment, sorry if you were curious about these items. I did notice that it took a bit more effort in order to close the driver side doors than my car. I did not open either passenger side door. Center console changes were neutral (IMO), although I like the way that the covers slid open and closed. I wasn't aware of the relocation of the key card sensor from under the front of the armrest (i.e., behind the cupholders) to the phone tray, but an on-screen prompt helped my confusion.
My demo drive was from 12:30 to 1pm and the sun was out so no notice of the interior lights or the performance of the windshield wipers or headlights. Everything else felt the same to me.
TBrownTX
Active Member
I think they'll save the performance feel for the performance model this time.
Sat in a highland at an auto show yesterday (no test drives available in Canada yet as far as I know). Definitely an improvement in quality with the doors. Feels way more solid. Very pleased with this update so far, can’t wait to drive it.
PianoAl
Active Member
Is it fair to summarize your review as: it wasn't much better than my 2018 except for the ventilated seats?
That's good to know.
RayK
Active Member
Yes, but that's based upon the experience of an almost half hour drive of 15 miles or so during daylight hours. It really didn't impress me all that much, with the exception of those seats. Maybe an overnight or weekend rental would change my opinion and I'd find something else which would either have a positive or negative impression.
The removal of the steering wheel stalks wasn't as bad as I originally thought it would be. It would definitely take a few days to get used to and then whenever I'd drive my wife's Ridgeline or a rental car, I'd have to re-learn the "old" ways. I still do that now when I want to shift gears and immediately try to flip the right stalk.
Back in 2018 I had wanted to get an AWD but with the Lifetime Premium Connectivity ending, I bought the RWD. Of course a few weeks later the AWD was available for ordering. I didn't feel any difference between my 2018 RWD and the 2024 AWD, given the roads that I drove. It might be a different story if I had taken the car up to snow country but I've been a "fair weather" skier for the last three decades so I decided that I didn't have to have AWD.
asus389
Member
One thing I noticed, almost all of the tow hook cover circles were slightly misaligned or loose. Otherwise fit and finish seemed pretty good. The window alignment issues that were common on the older cars seemed better or non-existent, at least on the cars I saw. 
I also test drove the new highland (LR AWD) in Seattle yesterday, I agree with most what was reported in this thread. Compare to our model 3 2019 with 19" wheels with Michelin PSAS4 the car doesn't have that much less road noise. The biggest difference is in the acoustic glass where you notice the improvement of noise from the environment around the car. The steering wheel buttons feel better than our X 2023 but I would prefer to have stalks (for the blinker mostly) on the X and the new 3, the horn in the middle is much better compared to the X but this has been fixed in the 2024 models (they should never had produced the S/X steering wheel with a button for horn).
I general things I like and noticed:
- The seats are better than the model 3 we have
- The back screen is useful if you have back passengers
- The blind spot indicator is a nice addition
- Suspension is a little nicer
- The car had no rattle even bad surface (I have to improve that on our 3, previous S and even a small rattle on the 2023 X when I got them).
Things that aren't an upgrade in my opinion:
- The interior console plastic sliding doors (I think the 2021+ have a higher quality console and the 2019 console so some degree)
- The steering wheel is better in the 2019 and feel better, ours still leather (I think they switch that sometimes in 2019), my previous S also have a nicer feel for that because of the leather as well.
- The lack of USS is definitely an issue but even more in the X because of large dead spot in front of the car. (And of course no Autopark because of that)
- No fog lights (yes they are useful only few days a year in Seattle but still)
- Lack of creep mode (I only use hold but creep mode has been very useful to teach a teenager that need to pass a driving exam on an ICE car).
- I don't like the Hankook tires even compared to the OEM that I had on the car (Continental LS) but especially compared to the Michelin PSAS4 we have (that are much nicer and absorb bumps better than both the Hankook on the new 3 and the OEM Continental LS we had). I don't know what the OEM for the 19" option.
Btw, in the showroom they had an RWD, the interior and sound system aren't as nice as both the LR AWD and our 2019 with the Alcantara on the doors and more speakers. If given the choice I would prefer that Tesla left the stalk compared to adding the ambient light. And of course, I think Tesla should add a front bumper camera especially with the dedicated camera button on the steering wheel, it will improve safety of the car.
I general things I like and noticed:
- The seats are better than the model 3 we have
- The back screen is useful if you have back passengers
- The blind spot indicator is a nice addition
- Suspension is a little nicer
- The car had no rattle even bad surface (I have to improve that on our 3, previous S and even a small rattle on the 2023 X when I got them).
Things that aren't an upgrade in my opinion:
- The interior console plastic sliding doors (I think the 2021+ have a higher quality console and the 2019 console so some degree)
- The steering wheel is better in the 2019 and feel better, ours still leather (I think they switch that sometimes in 2019), my previous S also have a nicer feel for that because of the leather as well.
- The lack of USS is definitely an issue but even more in the X because of large dead spot in front of the car. (And of course no Autopark because of that)
- No fog lights (yes they are useful only few days a year in Seattle but still)
- Lack of creep mode (I only use hold but creep mode has been very useful to teach a teenager that need to pass a driving exam on an ICE car).
- I don't like the Hankook tires even compared to the OEM that I had on the car (Continental LS) but especially compared to the Michelin PSAS4 we have (that are much nicer and absorb bumps better than both the Hankook on the new 3 and the OEM Continental LS we had). I don't know what the OEM for the 19" option.
Btw, in the showroom they had an RWD, the interior and sound system aren't as nice as both the LR AWD and our 2019 with the Alcantara on the doors and more speakers. If given the choice I would prefer that Tesla left the stalk compared to adding the ambient light. And of course, I think Tesla should add a front bumper camera especially with the dedicated camera button on the steering wheel, it will improve safety of the car.
Creep simulates an ICE automatic transmission.It's for efficiency, and thus to reduce arguments over the accuracy of the car's range predictions. 2024+ Models 3 & Y only.
Tesla Removing Creep And Roll Stopping Modes From Model 3/Y
Tesla has eliminated two of the stopping modes from the Model 3 and Model Y. The changes are being made in conjunction with the revised range estimates Tesla provided on Thursday night, and will only […]driveteslacanada.ca
I love hold mode. What's the reason to not use it?
Glad to hear it can be turned off.
Roll simulates an ICE manual transmission.
Coming from a stick, I use Roll and would miss it if they took it away from the 2023 and earlier.
Transformer
Do the math. Save the world. — Mark Leon
Personally, I'd rather intentionally shift into N when I want to roll, like backing up when I pulled a tad too far into the garage. The rest of the time, Hold mode is really great when stopping at a steep SF intersection (esp. without a hand brake) or even in the driveway where passengers might get out and walk right behind the car.
did anyone get a chance to test the "vision only" Highland versus the "vision only" outgoing version in regards to phantom braking? more, less, the same?
I drove one yesterday. That part was way darker and was like Alcantara. I agree that looks awful in the photo above but the door looked hot in person.
My daughter and I drove a highland this morning. I've had a 20 m3 and currently drive a 23 m3 rwd.
The good: the cooled seats are awesome. The rear screen is nice.
The bad: pretty much everything else. I didn't think it rode any differently than either of our m3s. It also didn't sound any quieter. Most of the noise still comes through the glass. My daughter commented about the steering feeling different but I think it was due to the setting vs what she usually has it set too. I set it to my normal sport setting and it felt the same.
We didn't like the cover over the cup holders. She liked the ambient lighting but I thought it was gimmicky.
We both hated the turn signal buttons and swipe to drive. The stalk is so much easier to use because it doesn't require require you to take your eyes off the road operate. Neither of us liked the cloth dash and preferred the wood.
They also had a deliverable foundation ct! I thought it looked awesome and she thought it was horrible. It hadn't been prepped yet and it was a mess. There were fingerprints all over it, there was a scratch on the hood and all of the panel gaps and door alignment were uneven. If it was my ct, I'd make them fix every panel before I took delivery. It was that bad.
I try to keep my car clean and the fingerprints would drive me absolutely crazy. I'd probably have to wrap it.
The good: the cooled seats are awesome. The rear screen is nice.
The bad: pretty much everything else. I didn't think it rode any differently than either of our m3s. It also didn't sound any quieter. Most of the noise still comes through the glass. My daughter commented about the steering feeling different but I think it was due to the setting vs what she usually has it set too. I set it to my normal sport setting and it felt the same.
We didn't like the cover over the cup holders. She liked the ambient lighting but I thought it was gimmicky.
We both hated the turn signal buttons and swipe to drive. The stalk is so much easier to use because it doesn't require require you to take your eyes off the road operate. Neither of us liked the cloth dash and preferred the wood.
They also had a deliverable foundation ct! I thought it looked awesome and she thought it was horrible. It hadn't been prepped yet and it was a mess. There were fingerprints all over it, there was a scratch on the hood and all of the panel gaps and door alignment were uneven. If it was my ct, I'd make them fix every panel before I took delivery. It was that bad.
I try to keep my car clean and the fingerprints would drive me absolutely crazy. I'd probably have to wrap it.
Interesting. I found it far quieter than my 3 and Y. I have a newer 3 with double glass in front. I did think the material feel of the wheel felt cheaper but I felt the resistance was similar. I’ll probably swap my m3p wheel out for alcantara anyway this time around. Give the buttons some time. I thought I’d miss the stalks but didn’t after a while.
Transformer
Do the math. Save the world. — Mark Leon
Isn't the point of “Ultra-Hard 30X Cold-Rolled stainless-steel” to be ultra scratch resistant?
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