I thought it might be better to start a new thread about life with the Model 3 after delivery. The "Model 3 in Australia" thread is seems to be predominantly about pre-delivery and the actual delivery.
Ok, so the big thing everyone's very interested in are defects, are there any? Especially around paint? Well, I can say that unfortunately there are a couple. I only picked these up several days after ownership because they are very obscure. Thankfully, only 1 is on the exterior, the rest are in well hidden areas that should be easily fixed. The only exterior defect is I've got what feels like a scratch in the clear coat on the passenger A-pillar. You can't see it but you can feel it when you run your finger over it. I only noticed it after I gave my car a proper wash and was drying everything. Hopefully it will buff out when I take my car back to the service centre for the other defects.
The next couple of defects relate to scratches and scrapes on the door hinges. See photos attached. I suspect they were pretty rough with the door when they installed it and the two hinges rubbed and scraped on each other. The hinges are steel so I'm just worried about corrosion. I've already made a booking through the app and it should be an easy fix. Definitely have a check of this when you're taking delivery!
I also have a very slight squeak coming from the front dash when i go over some rough roads. The road needs to be just the right type of rough, one big bump won't do it, needs to be a series of small bumps. Furthermore, the squeaks seem to go away after I run some air through the aircon, maybe it only squeaks when a certain element is at a certain position? No idea. As long as it doesn't get any worse then it doesn't concern me. So for example I drove the car for a good 2 hours today and the squeaks only happened for the first 3 minutes or so of driving, then it was dead quiet.
There are people who have reported a brake fluid warning shortly after leaving the service centre. Apparently the brake fluid needs to get topped after shipping. I've had a look at mine and it looks full to the brim so that shouldn't be a problem. I'd ask your delivery specialist to check this for you. It's very easy to do, the service cover under the bonnet pops off with just finger pressure and the brake fluid reservoir is on the driver side.
One annoying thing is that the car keeps forgetting my setting for "walk away lock". So sometimes I'll walk away thinking it'll lock and it doesn't. I have to get out my app and lock it manually. The word from reddit and other forums seems to be that if you put you put your foot on the brake, put the car into park and then open the door (while brake is still pressed in) it will reset. You have to put your foot on the brake, put it into park, let go of the brake then open the door. I've tested the second method and it seems to be remembering it now. Hopefully this gets fixed soon.
I've done about 150km so far, just running around town, a mixture of stop-start, 40, 60 and 80k zones, no highways just yet. I'm averaging about 135Wh/km. The useable capacity for the SR+, according to the EPA, is 54.523 kWh. Assuming only using 70% (charge to 80% and running it down to no less than 10%) at 135Wh/km you'd get a range of 280km. I haven't done a highway (110+) sustained run yet.
My efficiency figures seem to be as follows:
The energy consumption graph and predicted battery % at the end of the trip seems to be pretty accurate. It aligns with what I end up having within 1%.
I've had the centre display freeze and crash on me a couple of times. Once when it was loading beach buggy. The other times were when the car was parked and "waking" up. Thankfully it hasn't happened whilst i was driving. I've also had an instance where my car wouldn't pair with my phone at all. Had to do the two button reset and my phone paired immediately. I've had one instance where the rear camera wouldn't turn on. It was just a black screen. Reset the screen and it came back.
Ok, so enough about the negatives. I would say overall this car is amazing and I couldn't be happier.
Driving this car is insane, just feels so different and alien. Gave a couple of people rides and the immediate response is amazement as soon as I accelerate (gently) off since the way it accelerates is so different. Especially if you're used to a more gutless car or an econobox with a small capacity turbo. The car is more than fast enough that non-car people will be plenty impressed with the speed. Seeing it bring so much joy to people I give rides to is amazing.
Ok, so the big thing everyone's very interested in are defects, are there any? Especially around paint? Well, I can say that unfortunately there are a couple. I only picked these up several days after ownership because they are very obscure. Thankfully, only 1 is on the exterior, the rest are in well hidden areas that should be easily fixed. The only exterior defect is I've got what feels like a scratch in the clear coat on the passenger A-pillar. You can't see it but you can feel it when you run your finger over it. I only noticed it after I gave my car a proper wash and was drying everything. Hopefully it will buff out when I take my car back to the service centre for the other defects.
The next couple of defects relate to scratches and scrapes on the door hinges. See photos attached. I suspect they were pretty rough with the door when they installed it and the two hinges rubbed and scraped on each other. The hinges are steel so I'm just worried about corrosion. I've already made a booking through the app and it should be an easy fix. Definitely have a check of this when you're taking delivery!
I also have a very slight squeak coming from the front dash when i go over some rough roads. The road needs to be just the right type of rough, one big bump won't do it, needs to be a series of small bumps. Furthermore, the squeaks seem to go away after I run some air through the aircon, maybe it only squeaks when a certain element is at a certain position? No idea. As long as it doesn't get any worse then it doesn't concern me. So for example I drove the car for a good 2 hours today and the squeaks only happened for the first 3 minutes or so of driving, then it was dead quiet.
There are people who have reported a brake fluid warning shortly after leaving the service centre. Apparently the brake fluid needs to get topped after shipping. I've had a look at mine and it looks full to the brim so that shouldn't be a problem. I'd ask your delivery specialist to check this for you. It's very easy to do, the service cover under the bonnet pops off with just finger pressure and the brake fluid reservoir is on the driver side.
One annoying thing is that the car keeps forgetting my setting for "walk away lock". So sometimes I'll walk away thinking it'll lock and it doesn't. I have to get out my app and lock it manually. The word from reddit and other forums seems to be that if you put you put your foot on the brake, put the car into park and then open the door (while brake is still pressed in) it will reset. You have to put your foot on the brake, put it into park, let go of the brake then open the door. I've tested the second method and it seems to be remembering it now. Hopefully this gets fixed soon.
I've done about 150km so far, just running around town, a mixture of stop-start, 40, 60 and 80k zones, no highways just yet. I'm averaging about 135Wh/km. The useable capacity for the SR+, according to the EPA, is 54.523 kWh. Assuming only using 70% (charge to 80% and running it down to no less than 10%) at 135Wh/km you'd get a range of 280km. I haven't done a highway (110+) sustained run yet.
My efficiency figures seem to be as follows:
- "Grandma in a Corolla" driving - 115-125Wh/km
- Sedate driving - 125-130Wh/km
- Moderate driving with some stop light heroics and darting in between traffic - 135-145 Wh/km
- Spirited driving - 150-200Wh/km. Predicted range of only 150-200km from a 80% charge.
The energy consumption graph and predicted battery % at the end of the trip seems to be pretty accurate. It aligns with what I end up having within 1%.
I've had the centre display freeze and crash on me a couple of times. Once when it was loading beach buggy. The other times were when the car was parked and "waking" up. Thankfully it hasn't happened whilst i was driving. I've also had an instance where my car wouldn't pair with my phone at all. Had to do the two button reset and my phone paired immediately. I've had one instance where the rear camera wouldn't turn on. It was just a black screen. Reset the screen and it came back.
Ok, so enough about the negatives. I would say overall this car is amazing and I couldn't be happier.
Driving this car is insane, just feels so different and alien. Gave a couple of people rides and the immediate response is amazement as soon as I accelerate (gently) off since the way it accelerates is so different. Especially if you're used to a more gutless car or an econobox with a small capacity turbo. The car is more than fast enough that non-car people will be plenty impressed with the speed. Seeing it bring so much joy to people I give rides to is amazing.
