As this is my first Tesla I thought I'd share my first impressions after 2 weeks of ownership. Note: I had never even sat in a Tesla before getting this one 
Apologies in advance for the length of this post
Making the decision - going from Petrol to Fully electric.
I guess, like most, I spent some time looking at the pro's and con's of going fully electric and then owning a Tesla vs other EV's. For me it broadly came down to the vast Tesla Supercharging network that swayed my decision to swap, and go with Tesla, as well as the carbon credentials of going electric and possibly helping the industry to get to fully autonomous vehicles, which I personally think will be the future. No cars, just Pods that travel around with whatever interior you want. That's a whole other discussion.
After I'd decided on Tesla I looked at the different models, and for me the Model 3 seemed like a good all rounder especially given the Highland update. In regards to LR vs RWD, for me I couldn't really justify the extra £10k for the LR and so that decision was easy. Agreed, the extra range would be nice but with the Supercharger network being so vast I don't realistically see this as being an issue. Maybe in 6 months I'll have another view!
Delivery day
I was duly notified on the day of delivery that my car was on the way and then received a call about 30 minutes prior to arrival. Prior to the delivery day Tesla had sent a number of messages on the lead up but a few days before I had nothing to confirm, which I thought was a bit strange.
Disappointingly it came with only 30 miles of range and as it was 16:30 by the time it was dropped off I had to charge it to get home.
Also note that until Tesla know that the car has been delivered you can't use the App and so for me this was about 5/10 minutes after the car was delivered. I was starting worry that I wouldn't be able to use my phone, but all was good.
The car was offloaded and the fun began
First drive home
I was moving to a Tesla from a BMW 330e and so my expectations had been set high (I know some will argue this but the BMW was a good car for me, and had also been my first BMW).
My immediate first impression was how well built the Tesla was. I was worried about some earlier stories saying that Tesla cars weren't very well made, didn't drive very well, not comfortable etc etc.
Any concerns I had about build quality were immediately dispelled. It seemed very solid (if that's an acceptable word to use?!) and well put togehter. Opening and closing the doors was almost identical in sound to the BMW. I know that's a thing for a lot of people, the sound of closing a car door, and I guess for me also. I also love the electric boot opener and closing (and the charging port!). I've had this on other cars and missed it on the BMW. I guess it's standard for the car to come with a charging lead and home charger, which you plug into a wall socket and emergency pack?
I spent some time, whilst the car was charging, to have a look through the menus on the massive screen. I'd watched nearly all of the tutorials and so I kind of knew what and where to look for things. The screen is very responsive and apps load immediately. The map is also great and very responsive. I haven't really used it for route planning yet so can't comment on this just yet. I also haven't really had a play with the apps yet, but did use Netflix when charging at a Supercharger recently which was great!
I paired my phone to use the Phone-Key with ease and this works really well, albeit a bit weird just walking away from the car.. Do people actually use the lock and unlock function in the app? I manually locked my car the other day as I was in a place I didn't know and just wanted to be sure.. Maybe in the future I will have the confidence to just walk away.
Once it was charged I hit the road home. Not a massive journey but over an hour, so enough time to get a good first impression of driving a Tesla.
Driving position seems to be great and comfortable, lot's of options to modify the seat and steering wheel as necessary, and all electric which is nice. The front window seems massive and the car very spacious given the glass roof allowing light into the cabin. My BMW always felt quite enclosed to me. I'd have liked privacy windows but hey, you can't have everything. I might look at aftermarket for the rear at some point.
I travel across country, mostly on minor A roads, and so you can imagine (sadly) the condition of these roads, which are not great at all. But, I was really very impressed by how well the Tesla handled the road conditions, soaking up the dips and bumps really well, again when I compare to the BMW. The ride in the Tesla seems very balanced with suspension that soaks up the road pretty well but also gives a nice handling car.
From a road noise perspective, again very very impressed. The car is pretty quiet, even on some pretty terrible tarmac roads and roads of a concrete construction, which if you travel on them you will know are generally noisy.
Infotainment was pretty easy to use and not having a dashboard wasn't an issue for me at all, which I thought was going to be. Also not having a Head up display wasn't a problem at all and I used this ALL of the time in the BMW.
So from a first ever journey in a Tesla I would sum up as... very impressed so far and surprisingly better than the BMW..
A few weeks in..
The big one for me.. Do i miss the dashboard and HUD? Nope, not at all. I have got used to keeping an eye on the speed on the top right of the screen, easily in view and using the screen has been very very easy.
I do miss not having a speed limiter function, which I used all the time, but have found that by using the Traffic Aware Cruise Control this kind of does the same thing. In regard to the cruise control I have been using this quite a lot, especially in slower moving traffic. Just letting the car start and stop on it's own is pretty good, but...
The system does seem to be quite buggy. I've been mostly using it on single carriageway roads, which it might not really be design for, and if it sees a car waiting to pull out from the left it has, on several occasions, applied the brakes. This can be overridden by pressing the accelerator but is't great. It's also done the same in a variety of other situations, such as seeing people on the pavement, lorries on the other side of the road etc. But I am persevering with it because on the whole it is pretty good. I don't use the keep in lane mode as this for me isn't something I need or want right now.
The over-speed warning has broken already and so the car is booked in with Tesla in a few weeks. Not great for a brand new car. I suspect, from asking people on this forum, that it's a known problem and should be fixed with a software update. For me I'd like this and use it. I know for some it's a blessing it's broken.
The car is very minimalistic on the inside, which I actually like a LOT. Some cars today have buttons and switches everywhere and often many the steering wheel. In fact my Sister-in-law recently brought a Mercedes and I'd like to think I'm quite tech savvy but it took us ages to figure out how to change some settings using the steering wheel buttons! More on the Tesla steering wheel later..
I like the storage in the centre consoles and there are 2 great cup holders (great for all the cup-holder fans out there!), as well as having a place in the door which will fit a drinks bottle. I use a Contigo Luxe Autoseal drinks bottle and it fits perfectly. I also brought a tray for the front compartment to keep things more organised (I hate just throwing stuff into a compartment and then not being able to find it!) and it's great as it slides backwards and forwards. Well worth it I'd say. I got it from a place called tessories.uk who seem to have a load of great stuff. I also brought a boot liner. I'll be getting a few more bit's over the coming months I like the sound of the electric soft close front boot addition, does anybody have this yet??
I haven't been in the back yet so can't comment on that or the screen in the back but my son seemed pretty happy about it and actually the car in general. I Couldn't get him out of it recently as he was sat in there watching a film
Boot space is great, especially given that there is space in the front boot and more space below the floor of the rear boot.
Steering wheel
I thought I'd make this a separate section given the reliance on this during driving.
Indicators - There is no stalk and you need to use the 2 arrows on the steering wheel to indicate left and right. Personally I'd have personally preferred a stalk for this because like, seemingly, many other drivers who don't use their indicators I actually do, all of the time. I can imagine that when travelling in places unknown and having to concentrate on the road this is going to cause some issues, mostly at places where the steering wheel is turned and hence the buttons upside down. Future apologies if you see a random Tesla going around roundabouts/junctions with the wrong indicator flashing!
Cruise control is activated and de-activated using the right scroll wheel. You can also set the max speed with this, which is great. Simple and easy to use.
Flashing main beam - this is also done from the steering wheel. I don't know the legal perspectives of flashing the headlights but we all do it for one reason or another and sometimes more than once, for example to let another driver know that you are slowing for them to pull out etc. This isn't as easy with no stalk.
Windscreen wipers - single press to wipe and long press to spray and wipe. Auto seems to be very buggy and sometimes the windscreen wipers activate with no rain and in other times don't when it's raining! Tesla said that this is in Beta mode and will improve. Come on Tesla, this isn't difficult surely! The BMW was brilliant at this.
Scroll wheel - these generally do several things depending on what you are trying to do. I haven't figured all this out yet and so can't really comment.
Overall summary
So far, loving the Tesla and have zero regrets about a) going all electric and b) going for a Tesla. I love tech generally and so for me it ticks all the boxes in that regard and like with all technology, sometimes it needs refining. Having said that, Tesla have been at this for quite some time and so I'd have expected more refinement in their software by now and not be having to return a 2 weeks old car for a software issue (overspeed warning not working - agreed, not a massive issue but an issue nonetheless).
The car seems to be well built. I hope the UK roads don't cause it to fall to bits! It's quiet and great to drive.
For now the Tesla is ahead of my old BMW 330e. See them both below.
New and Old
Apologies in advance for the length of this post
Making the decision - going from Petrol to Fully electric.
I guess, like most, I spent some time looking at the pro's and con's of going fully electric and then owning a Tesla vs other EV's. For me it broadly came down to the vast Tesla Supercharging network that swayed my decision to swap, and go with Tesla, as well as the carbon credentials of going electric and possibly helping the industry to get to fully autonomous vehicles, which I personally think will be the future. No cars, just Pods that travel around with whatever interior you want. That's a whole other discussion.
After I'd decided on Tesla I looked at the different models, and for me the Model 3 seemed like a good all rounder especially given the Highland update. In regards to LR vs RWD, for me I couldn't really justify the extra £10k for the LR and so that decision was easy. Agreed, the extra range would be nice but with the Supercharger network being so vast I don't realistically see this as being an issue. Maybe in 6 months I'll have another view!
Delivery day
I was duly notified on the day of delivery that my car was on the way and then received a call about 30 minutes prior to arrival. Prior to the delivery day Tesla had sent a number of messages on the lead up but a few days before I had nothing to confirm, which I thought was a bit strange.
Disappointingly it came with only 30 miles of range and as it was 16:30 by the time it was dropped off I had to charge it to get home.
Also note that until Tesla know that the car has been delivered you can't use the App and so for me this was about 5/10 minutes after the car was delivered. I was starting worry that I wouldn't be able to use my phone, but all was good.
The car was offloaded and the fun began
First drive home
I was moving to a Tesla from a BMW 330e and so my expectations had been set high (I know some will argue this but the BMW was a good car for me, and had also been my first BMW).
My immediate first impression was how well built the Tesla was. I was worried about some earlier stories saying that Tesla cars weren't very well made, didn't drive very well, not comfortable etc etc.
Any concerns I had about build quality were immediately dispelled. It seemed very solid (if that's an acceptable word to use?!) and well put togehter. Opening and closing the doors was almost identical in sound to the BMW. I know that's a thing for a lot of people, the sound of closing a car door, and I guess for me also. I also love the electric boot opener and closing (and the charging port!). I've had this on other cars and missed it on the BMW. I guess it's standard for the car to come with a charging lead and home charger, which you plug into a wall socket and emergency pack?
I spent some time, whilst the car was charging, to have a look through the menus on the massive screen. I'd watched nearly all of the tutorials and so I kind of knew what and where to look for things. The screen is very responsive and apps load immediately. The map is also great and very responsive. I haven't really used it for route planning yet so can't comment on this just yet. I also haven't really had a play with the apps yet, but did use Netflix when charging at a Supercharger recently which was great!
I paired my phone to use the Phone-Key with ease and this works really well, albeit a bit weird just walking away from the car.. Do people actually use the lock and unlock function in the app? I manually locked my car the other day as I was in a place I didn't know and just wanted to be sure.. Maybe in the future I will have the confidence to just walk away.
Once it was charged I hit the road home. Not a massive journey but over an hour, so enough time to get a good first impression of driving a Tesla.
Driving position seems to be great and comfortable, lot's of options to modify the seat and steering wheel as necessary, and all electric which is nice. The front window seems massive and the car very spacious given the glass roof allowing light into the cabin. My BMW always felt quite enclosed to me. I'd have liked privacy windows but hey, you can't have everything. I might look at aftermarket for the rear at some point.
I travel across country, mostly on minor A roads, and so you can imagine (sadly) the condition of these roads, which are not great at all. But, I was really very impressed by how well the Tesla handled the road conditions, soaking up the dips and bumps really well, again when I compare to the BMW. The ride in the Tesla seems very balanced with suspension that soaks up the road pretty well but also gives a nice handling car.
From a road noise perspective, again very very impressed. The car is pretty quiet, even on some pretty terrible tarmac roads and roads of a concrete construction, which if you travel on them you will know are generally noisy.
Infotainment was pretty easy to use and not having a dashboard wasn't an issue for me at all, which I thought was going to be. Also not having a Head up display wasn't a problem at all and I used this ALL of the time in the BMW.
So from a first ever journey in a Tesla I would sum up as... very impressed so far and surprisingly better than the BMW..
A few weeks in..
The big one for me.. Do i miss the dashboard and HUD? Nope, not at all. I have got used to keeping an eye on the speed on the top right of the screen, easily in view and using the screen has been very very easy.
I do miss not having a speed limiter function, which I used all the time, but have found that by using the Traffic Aware Cruise Control this kind of does the same thing. In regard to the cruise control I have been using this quite a lot, especially in slower moving traffic. Just letting the car start and stop on it's own is pretty good, but...
The system does seem to be quite buggy. I've been mostly using it on single carriageway roads, which it might not really be design for, and if it sees a car waiting to pull out from the left it has, on several occasions, applied the brakes. This can be overridden by pressing the accelerator but is't great. It's also done the same in a variety of other situations, such as seeing people on the pavement, lorries on the other side of the road etc. But I am persevering with it because on the whole it is pretty good. I don't use the keep in lane mode as this for me isn't something I need or want right now.
The over-speed warning has broken already and so the car is booked in with Tesla in a few weeks. Not great for a brand new car. I suspect, from asking people on this forum, that it's a known problem and should be fixed with a software update. For me I'd like this and use it. I know for some it's a blessing it's broken.
The car is very minimalistic on the inside, which I actually like a LOT. Some cars today have buttons and switches everywhere and often many the steering wheel. In fact my Sister-in-law recently brought a Mercedes and I'd like to think I'm quite tech savvy but it took us ages to figure out how to change some settings using the steering wheel buttons! More on the Tesla steering wheel later..
I like the storage in the centre consoles and there are 2 great cup holders (great for all the cup-holder fans out there!), as well as having a place in the door which will fit a drinks bottle. I use a Contigo Luxe Autoseal drinks bottle and it fits perfectly. I also brought a tray for the front compartment to keep things more organised (I hate just throwing stuff into a compartment and then not being able to find it!) and it's great as it slides backwards and forwards. Well worth it I'd say. I got it from a place called tessories.uk who seem to have a load of great stuff. I also brought a boot liner. I'll be getting a few more bit's over the coming months
I like the sound of the electric soft close front boot addition, does anybody have this yet??I haven't been in the back yet so can't comment on that or the screen in the back but my son seemed pretty happy about it and actually the car in general. I Couldn't get him out of it recently as he was sat in there watching a film
Boot space is great, especially given that there is space in the front boot and more space below the floor of the rear boot.
Steering wheel
I thought I'd make this a separate section given the reliance on this during driving.
Indicators - There is no stalk and you need to use the 2 arrows on the steering wheel to indicate left and right. Personally I'd have personally preferred a stalk for this because like, seemingly, many other drivers who don't use their indicators I actually do, all of the time. I can imagine that when travelling in places unknown and having to concentrate on the road this is going to cause some issues, mostly at places where the steering wheel is turned and hence the buttons upside down. Future apologies if you see a random Tesla going around roundabouts/junctions with the wrong indicator flashing!
Cruise control is activated and de-activated using the right scroll wheel. You can also set the max speed with this, which is great. Simple and easy to use.
Flashing main beam - this is also done from the steering wheel. I don't know the legal perspectives of flashing the headlights but we all do it for one reason or another and sometimes more than once, for example to let another driver know that you are slowing for them to pull out etc. This isn't as easy with no stalk.
Windscreen wipers - single press to wipe and long press to spray and wipe. Auto seems to be very buggy and sometimes the windscreen wipers activate with no rain and in other times don't when it's raining! Tesla said that this is in Beta mode and will improve. Come on Tesla, this isn't difficult surely! The BMW was brilliant at this.
Scroll wheel - these generally do several things depending on what you are trying to do. I haven't figured all this out yet and so can't really comment.
Overall summary
So far, loving the Tesla and have zero regrets about a) going all electric and b) going for a Tesla. I love tech generally and so for me it ticks all the boxes in that regard and like with all technology, sometimes it needs refining. Having said that, Tesla have been at this for quite some time and so I'd have expected more refinement in their software by now and not be having to return a 2 weeks old car for a software issue (overspeed warning not working - agreed, not a massive issue but an issue nonetheless).
The car seems to be well built. I hope the UK roads don't cause it to fall to bits! It's quiet and great to drive.
For now the Tesla is ahead of my old BMW 330e. See them both below.
New and Old
