Highland test drives

[SO16]

Enhance Auto is promising S3XY stalks. They'd be required to get my spouse to do some of the driving on road trips.

Yes.

 

[starharbour]

I had a test drive today of a RWD Highland. Impressed. It feels more 'hushed' when the door is closed. A more solid feel all around, definately quieter, though not by huge amounts. The suspension is more compliant, steering felt lighter than my 2019 M3P, I would think it may feel slightly heavier in the AWD version. Interior feels more premium. The indicators, hmmm.... I got used to them pretty quickly, but have to say that no matter how long I use them, a stalk is still better. Will the stalk issue stop me getting one - absolutely not.

Good review.
I've had the car a week now and I must say, I was hesitant about the lack of stalk thing going into it. But a week has gone by now and honestly I don't miss the stalks. If I could choose the same car with or without stalks, I'd probably choose without. Stalks dont really add value IMO - just clutter. Very happy with the tesla minimalist approach and I see where Elon has come from with removing them. They aren't needed and IMO, its better without.

 

[dakang]

Just to add my tuppence.... Current car is M3 2019 LR. 4.5 years old, white interior.

Had test drive yesterday, LR black interior.

I actually liked the seats , they were super comfortable.
Biggest difference I noticed was suspension. My current Model 3 creaks a lot more and it's definitely not as smooth over bumps compared to Highland. I think there's two things going on there - one is the age of my current car (even though both front arms were replaced just before it hit 50k miles) and then the second one is that they have upgraded the suspension a little bit I believe.

Stalks - on my 30 minute test drive, the first 20 minutes they took a lot of getting used to. I had the sun glaring onto the steering wheel so I couldn't even see the markings. But in the last ten or so minutes I had an epiphany and just remembered that the horizontal ridge is your marker. Above the line : right, below the line: left. Once I figured that out it was actually okay and I didn't need to look at the steering wheel at all and I kind of got used to them.

I had no idea how to flash the lights to let another driver proceed!

I'm not a fan of the Alcantara. I prefer the sleek minimalism of my white panels. But then again I drove the one with the black interior so that's not apples to apples comparison

All in all I think it's still definitely going to be my next car because there's really nothing else I can compare it to. (I drive a lot of long distance so other brands are still a pain in the hole for charging).

I think I'll probably be tempted to do so towards the Autumn once they're a few revs further on.

 

[pdk42]

Drove an M3H today. Very impressed with the build, cabin refinement and ride. This is what the Model 3 should have been in 2019. But at least they got there. Loss of gear stalk I could live with, but the lack of indicator stalk is currently for me a deal breaker. Hopefully the Enhance Auto people can come up with a fix. Having just got a MY in Dec, I’m not in the market so plenty of time for solutions to come forward.

 

[starharbour]

Drove an M3H today. Very impressed with the build, cabin refinement and ride. This is what the Model 3 should have been in 2019. But at least they got there. Loss of gear stalk I could live with, but the lack of indicator stalk is currently for me a deal breaker. Hopefully the Enhance Auto people can come up with a fix. Having just got a MY in Dec, I’m not in the market so plenty of time for solutions to come forward.

You get used to the lack of stalk in a couple of days. Or at least most will.

 

[pdk42]

You get used to the lack of stalk in a couple of days. Or at least most will.

Yeah, I can see that it's mostly a muscle memory thing. I kept going for the non-existent stalk!

 

[SiW80]

Yeah, I can see that it's mostly a muscle memory thing. I kept going for the non-existent stalk!

After two drives I’m used to it now. Not ideal but could be worse. The ridge does help for feeling the buttons.

 

[Durzel]

I had a short 30 min drive of a Highland RWD today at Bristol. Let me first say 30 mins is not enough time to get acquainted with it, but they were stacked. I had expected to have it for an hour so was a bit disappointed coming out of the gate.

Since I only had limited time, I’ll deal with the obvious stuff… in no particular order:

1. Closures - Satisfying. This shouldn’t really be a big deal but coming from a 2020 Fremont car, the door closing sound/feel was sublime. Definitely a dramatic difference getting back into my car. Don’t know if later 2022/23 Model 3 owners will feel this to the extent I did.
2. Noise - Much quieter than my M3P which is dialled in. Apparently 30% quieter and it definitely shows. The car I drive had bad tyre noise, like really bad, to the point where it felt like the brakes were rubbing. A low pressure rumble.
3. Indicators - I purposefully targeted some mini roundabouts around the service centre, as well as some ones with multiple lanes. It’s a problem - no two ways about it. How bad was hard to gauge in 30 mins, but I had to look at the wheel coming off multiple roundabouts, taking my eyes off the road. Not good. To be fair it’s probably not going to be much of a problem outside those scenarios, and the degree with which people are going to be distracted will depend on how competent they are at driving and/or how bothered they already are about good roadcraft.
4. Fabric door card inserts - Felt cheap to me, like it’s trying to pull off a recycled materials feel. That might work on an i3 or similar car where that’s the whole ethos, but it just felt cheap to me on this.
5. Wipers - still crap. Didn’t activate once while the screen was getting progressively sprayed by other cars.
6. Powered boot - Nice. Near silent opening, near silent latching. How it should have been from the start. The boot area is more carpeted where it was previously plastic, which makes it feel more premium.
7. Seats - Felt slightly more supportive, but only slightly. Probably a good thing for non-Performances. I couldn’t feel the “cool” ventilation.
8. Steering wheel - Nice. A bit smaller. Looks and feels more like an Audi-grade wheel with metal accents etc. The steering itself felt a bit slack, even on Sport, but I don’t know if that’s because my M3P is tauter?

Bonus content: Tesla Vision - my first experience of it. It was ok, but not reassuring. It told me to stop when there was plenty of space. In addition to that the “choose gear automatically based on where you park” didn’t work very well for me. I parked front in, with the car telling me to stop even though I was just driving up to a kerb that was lower than the bumper, and when I went to drive off again it put it in Drive instead of Reverse….

All in all a good bunch of upgrades. Feels more like a facelift than a car that apparently has 50% of parts replaced.

I feel like it’s probably more of a revelation to people with 2019/2020 cars than later stuff, particularly anything that’s nearly new.

Definitely still interested to see what the Performance is like, though I think my car is worth too little to buy new on day one again.. We’ll see.

 

[Amnon Kruvi]

Let's put any and all stalk debate to rest: it's fine. I was biting my nails wondering what I got myself into, but it's not hard.

Obviously it's quite easy when making simple turns. In roundabouts, the trick for me was to grab the steering wheel with my left hand where the buttons were, and steer with that hand instead of two hands. After a dozen or so roundabouts I had trouble with only one, where I was already coming into it at an angle and grabbed the wheel in the wrong place. Second time I tried it I was prepared.

I'll see how Vision handles when I have a chance to go out. It was OK in my driveway, but I found it odd that there was no chime as I was getting close to the wall, or when I pulled up a bit close to the car in front of me. Dipped mirrors were a hindrance when reversing into a driveway instead of a parking spot, so that's been disabled.

Changing gears on the screen was also not an issue. I kept having to remind myself of where it was, but it's responsive enough.

Last, when I took a test drive in the 2023 M3 I was somewhat bothered by the speedometer positioning. Felt I would have to get an aftermarket dash display. But on the 2024 I find it easier. I also felt like the car "wanted" to stick to the speed limit, like it stopped accelerating as much when I hit 30 if I was only lightly pressing the pedal.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

So it’s not a problem, well maybe not after a few practice goes of tricky junctions (if only we can practice every junction before we get to it for the first time) and you don’t mind driving with your arm across the airbag (have an accident where the airbag deploys will throw your arm into your face and one if not both of which will break according to ROSPA, irrespective of the speed of impact) and driving one handed (maximum control on a turn, super)? Sounds awfully like a problem to me.

 

[browellm]

Some amazing cope, isn't it?

 

[Zilla91]

Let's put any and all stalk debate to rest: it's fine.

Great. Thanks for clearing that up for us

 

[Foxsbiscuits]

I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning the change in steering. They changed the steer ratio across the board, regardless of setting, and I found it noticeably worse than my current M3. It is laggy and more designed for motorway cruising.

 

[Js1977]

I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning the change in steering. They changed the steer ratio across the board, regardless of setting, and I found it noticeably worse than my current M3. It is laggy and more designed for motorway cruising.

Less sporty maybe? Base models have got slower as well as well as some others, less top end mph as well. Some softer suspension as well. Looks like its a case that they might be broadening the net now and making each model more distinctive but we won't know until someone gets the acceleration upgrade and lets us know for LR (if available) or the performance models come through.

 

[Foxsbiscuits]

Less sporty maybe? Base models have got slower as well as well as some others, less top end mph as well. Some softer suspension as well. Looks like its a case that they might be broadening the net now and making each model more distinctive but we won't know until someone gets the acceleration upgrade and lets us know for LR (if available) or the performance models come through.

That's a good point, hopefully the LR or P have the more responsive steering. I only tested the SR. Although something makes me think if it's a hardware thing they prefer to have the same gear in all cars as much as possible. Who knows.

 

[Foucault]

Less sporty maybe? Base models have got slower as well as well as some others, less top end mph as well. Some softer suspension as well. Looks like its a case that they might be broadening the net now and making each model more distinctive but we won't know until someone gets the acceleration upgrade and lets us know for LR (if available) or the performance models come through.

In Richard Symons video from a few days ago he said that there wasn’t an option for an acceleration upgrade on the LR he has. It may be added later as it wasn’t there when the first version of the LR came out. The oddest thing is the boot lid opens to a lower height than previous versions making the chance of banging you head much higher.

 

[M1tch]

Spotted my first highland in the wild today, just a few hundred meters from home. Looked nice and the headlights are the biggest give away. Apart from that, looks very similar. Might book a test drive - although zero intention of moving from mine.

 

[SiW80]

In Richard Symons video from a few days ago he said that there wasn’t an option for an acceleration upgrade on the LR he has. It may be added later as it wasn’t there when the first version of the LR came out. The oddest thing is the boot lid opens to a lower height than previous versions making the chance of banging you head much higher.

No acceleration boost available for my LR.

Steering feels good and the 3 options change the speed of turning. Coming from a non-Tesla it’s light and well balanced.

 

[kris182]

Let's put any and all stalk debate to rest: it's fine. I was biting my nails wondering what I got myself into, but it's not hard.

After having the car for a few days… agreed. It’s not a big deal after the first 10 minutes of instinctively going for the stalk. Stalks are still better though but it’s not the big deal some people are making it out to be.

Same for the gear change on screen. It’s quicker than moving the gear stick on the (auto) Cupra Ateca I’ve come from. Can’t compare to the previous Tesla stalk shifter as I only had a brief test drive a few months back.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

No acceleration boost available for my LR.

Steering feels good and the 3 options change the speed of turning. Coming from a non-Tesla it’s light and well balanced.

I’ve heard rumours you need to make sure your Tesla app is the latest version - may not make a difference but maybe worth checking