In this review, I will be talking about my 2023 Tesla Model 3 (white), and some pros and cons of ownership.
I bought my Tesla in December 2022 after there was a price drop of $3,750. Unfortunately, there was another price drop of $3,750 shortly after, which I missed out on 😟. This is my partner and I’s only car as we usually work from home (WFH).
We called him/her Stuart, like Stuart Little.
Pros
- Looks: Nice :3
- Good for environment: help make the planet better + more sustainable for our children/grand-children
- Abstracted UI – the screen hides controls when they’re not in use whereas traditional cars usually show all the controls which makes the console look busy
- Buying experience: Honestly, I don’t like going to dealerships (stealerships). Buying from Tesla using the app was the best car buying experience ever.
- Quiet: This is one of the most pleasant driving experiences ever as I don’t have to listen to the drone of a CVT engine sounding like it’s dying.
- Comfortable: Nice vegan leather seats. I honestly can’t tell the difference.
- Fast: I love the speed of the car.
- Maintenance: Didn’t have to do any maintenance on my car, which is amazing. I once had a 2012 VW GTI which had a turbocharger maintenance bill of e.g. $3k. It’s not fun to maintain an old car.
- Autopilot: Wow, this thing is literally amazing. It feels like the future of cars as I don’t have to drive; the car just drives itself. Just be careful for edge cases – sometimes it turns jerkily for some reason, and I’m like why did you (car) do that lol.
- Tech: you can go to GitHub, clone an e.g. NextJS starter repo, deploy it, edit on codespaces, and push from the car
Cons
- Relatively weak windshield: Had a crack in the windshield and had to pay $800 to swap it out.
- Inconvenience of charging: Sometimes you have to wait if superchargers are full. Also, the charging takes forever, like 30-40 minutes. It’s better if you have a house to charge your car in.
- High depreciation: 😢 CarMax came back with $24k (05.2024), when MSRP is $38,990.
- Not great for road trips: I drove down from SF to LA (~380 miles) several times, and for some reason, I had to charge the car 3-4 times each way (e.g., Santa Nella, Kettleman City, Buttonwillow). This was confusing as I thought the range was rated to 270 miles. However, if you go faster (like 80-85 mph on I-5), the range drops much faster.
- Sunroof: Whoever decided to install the full glass sunroof should have used a optional (closable) sunroof instead. The reason for this is that in the summer, the car heats up making it uncomfortable for longer periods in the car.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it’s fun to own an electric car. However if I could go back in time, I would have bought used instead of buying new.
For now though, I’m keeping the car as it’s pretty chill. Also, it’s fun to watch Netflix when I’m charging.
2024 update: after 2 years of ownership I can safely say that this is the best car I’ve ever owned.
Recently there was an auto park update and holy $&&” it’s like magic.
I really see it more as a robot friend and I can’t wait to see what Elon and Tesla release next 😀
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