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Whatever the production numbers are forecast to be, the reality is incredible, at least to me. I was not one of those who reserved in April two years ago. However, as time passed we did decide we would sell our 2012 LEAF SL and get a Model 3. So I reserved in mid-April of THIS year, and I am to take delivery July 19, next Thursday and only 3 months from registration to delivery. This is considerably faster than the 22 month register-to-delivery time of my LEAF. Could not be more pleased! After a few days to get used to the new baby, its predecessor LEAF will be on the market.
 
SalisburySam said:
Whatever the production numbers are forecast to be, the reality is incredible, at least to me. I was not one of those who reserved in April two years ago. However, as time passed we did decide we would sell our 2012 LEAF SL and get a Model 3. So I reserved in mid-April of THIS year, and I am to take delivery July 19, next Thursday and only 3 months from registration to delivery. This is considerably faster than the 22 month register-to-delivery time of my LEAF. Could not be more pleased! After a few days to get used to the new baby, its predecessor LEAF will be on the market.
Congrats. NC is really starting to get covered in SuperChargers. Happy to see that as it may be a retirement location in the future.

cg2snlA.jpg
 
For the first time since December 2011 I am no longer a LEAF owner. Took delivery of my Tesla Model 3 on Friday the 13th.

There are definitely some things that will take awhile to get used to (mainly the lack of an "off" button--you just get out of the car and walk away); and some things I will miss about the LEAF experience. I really liked the ability to easily switch in and out of B mode in my 2016. I would say that the standard regen on the Model 3 is about on par (maybe slightly more aggressive) than B mode on the LEAF, and while I certainly appreciate B mode in heavy traffic, it also requires more foot time on the accelerator during normal traffic, so I will probably drive with low regen on the Model 3 and forego the one pedal driving experience. Maybe I can figure out a voice command or one of the steering wheel thingies can be used to adjust between regen levels. Or more probably I'll just put it into autopilot in heavy traffic and let the car do the right thing.

At any rate, the one thing I have not really even looked at, much less cared about, is the headliner/trim material. :D
 
mtndrew1 said:
“A symphony of engineering.”

After 4,000 miles I agree. It’s a tremendous product.
My Model 3 is at ~ 3500 miles. It is almost everything I want in a car, and I'm pretty sure updates will cover a quibble I have.

I'm delighted with the car and think it is worth every penny. Time will tell if it lasts the 15 years I want out of it.
 
If they’re really building 5,000 Model 3s a week and really have a 25%+ gross margin on them then Tesla has a bright future ahead, provided someone disables Elon’s Twitter.
 
mtndrew1 said:
If they’re really building 5,000 Model 3s a week and really have a 25%+ gross margin on them then Tesla has a bright future ahead, provided someone disables Elon’s Twitter.
Yeah, what the hell had he been smoking when he called that cave diver who was heavily involved in the Thailand rescue a "pedo" on absolutely no evidence?!?! I'm not a cave diver but I know people who are, and it's the most dangerous type of diving that requires the most extensive training, rigorous practice and equipment prep to do safely, so I can understand why an experienced diver wouldn't want to be screwing around with some ad hoc tech ginned up on the spur of the moment.
 
mtndrew1 said:
If they’re really building 5,000 Model 3s a week and really have a 25%+ gross margin on them then Tesla has a bright future ahead, provided someone disables Elon’s Twitter.

Agree on the Twitter part.
Tesla isn’t currently making a 25% margin on 3s. I believe the Munro numbers depends upon production of 10k/week and a stable production factory.
3rd quarter, I expect a 10% , margin. Once they get the production lines ironed out and optimized, I expect we will see something closer to 20%-25%.
 
Official numbers for the Model 3 LR, AWD, P from fueleconomy.gov:

42571385425_d4e3ffffca_z.jpg


Yes, Tesla lowered the range for the RWD LR to "just" 310 miles, as was much discussed last year when the numbers were revealed. It appears that AWD is about 9% less efficient than RWD on the highway.
 
Interesting link on Drudge today about Tesla.

Don't know about the accuracy of the article but some of the comments are really funny. :D

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-19/why-are-thousands-teslas-sitting-field-california-0
 
leaf16 said:
Interesting link on Drudge today about Tesla.

Don't know about the accuracy of the article but some of the comments are really funny. :D

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-19/why-are-thousands-teslas-sitting-field-california-0


Not interesting it's desperate and shows how stupid Tesla shorts are.
 
EVDRIVER said:
Not interesting it's desperate and shows how stupid Tesla shorts are.
That was my first thought too, but now I say the shorts are desperate and the media that agreed to publish this garbage are morons.
Would it have been so hard for them to call Tesla and be told they found a newly rented staging area for rail deliveries in Lathrop ? As for the other lot, Musk has already said that deliveries are a bottleneck now that production has doubled in a short time.
 
So now that I've had my Model 3 for over a week and successfully experienced my first medium distance trip (250 miles each way) in it, I'd like to share some impressions:

1) As everyone has said, it doesn't take long to get used to the center screen and lack of binnacle. Except maybe at night. At night, with the dark center screen and lack of any light from behind the steering wheel I've caught myself looking down and seeing nothing and thinking that the car must be broken. So that may take another week or two to get used to. I will say that turn signals being on the center screen is a bit hard to adjust to as well.

2) Speaking of turn signals, I'm not a fan of how they work on the Model 3. Not a major issue because I am getting used to it, but unlike in a traditional turn signal how the stalk will remain in "left" or "right" turn position and it's fairly obvious when it clicks back into the neutral position, the Model 3 immediately swings back to the center position, but the turn signal is still active until you complete your turn or you cancel the turn signal (by moving the stalk a half setting in the opposite direction). There is also a "temporary" detente (similar to pushing the stalk "half way" on a traditional stalk) for lane changes that auto-cancels after 3 blinks, or you can simply hold it and release to cancel. That much is fine, but I've noticed that sometimes I mean to just do a lane change signal but accidentally move it to the full position for a simple lane change and then I have to cancel the signal. But because the stalk isn't in the left or right positions and the turn signals are not right in front of my eyes, I sometimes forget about it. Or conversely, I THINK that I accidentally went to the full left or right for a lane change (but really didn't) so after my lane change I go to cancel, but I'm really activating the opposite turn signal. Not sure I'm describing it well, but this could take awhile to get used to (although I do think I've improved).

3) Efficiency: for one leg of the return trip I achieved 199 Wh/mile. For LEAF and former LEAF drivers like me, this is 5 mi/kWh. And this was at highway speeds, part of which was faster than I typically go (I was traveling with someone who gave me a head start, but once they passed I sped up to follow them--I had the cruise set to 79mph (which wasn't fast enough for him). Granted, there was a nice big downhill section that I gained 3 miles of range back, so that didn't hurt my numbers, but this was a 133.7 mile leg through rain. Average speed was 69mph. This car is amazingly efficient at highway speeds. I am truly blown away by this. In my 24kWh LEAF at this time of year I could get 4.2-4.4 mi/kWh. In my 30kWh LEAF I pretty much got 4.0. I made the entire 250 mile trip home and still had 78 miles estimated range left. Wow!

4) Charging: Supercharging is amazing. Pulled 118kW from the Supercharger (470 miles per hour).

5) Road/wind noise: I was a bit concerned about this. I don't spend a ton of time on long trips in my LEAF (obviously), but I have taken the 2016 on a few trips (150 miles). I've been concerned that without the bulbous headlights, the Model 3 would have a lot of wind noise. And my wife's Volt has horrible road (tire) noise on long highway trips. But the Model 3 is at least as good as the LEAF (if not slightly better).

6) Ride (suspension): after hearing a lot on the forums about how "stiff" the suspension is, either the fix that they applied early this year did the trick, or I'm just not very sensitive to the ride. Either way, I'm very happy with the ride.

7) Auto-wipers: Another concern I had was with the auto-wiper function. Granted, I haven't yet been splashed by a big truck, but I did (unfortunately) get a chance to try out the auto wipers yesterday. I think they do just fine. And my wife is the big critic when it comes to keeping the windshield visible and no complaints from her.

8) Auto-pilot/auto-steer: Definitely takes some time to build trust in this system. It does seem to center itself a bit to the left for my taste, but it always held itself just fine, even on some parts of North Carolina highways that are really bad. On one section (before it had won my trust completely) I had a hard time seeing the lane markings myself, but it had no problem with it. In the almost 450 miles of highway driving that I had autopilot engaged (my estimate) I didn't experience a single "what the hell is it doing" moment. By the end of the trip my comfort level with the system had grown considerably. I still don't really know how far out it's looking for stopped traffic ahead. I chickened out once or twice and hit the brakes myself, but even that I had grown to trust more and more.

9) Phone as key: similar results to most. It works fine 90-95% of the time (although it is strange to just walk away from the car and "hope" it locks--I wish it would toot its horn or something a bit more noticeable than a simple flick of the lights and folding mirrors). The other 5-10% it's not quite as big a deal to reset Bluetooth on my phone to get it working again, but I really would prefer that Tesla do the right thing and offer a fob. I have not yet set up a Tasker profile to reset Bluetooth hourly (which is likely to help), but it seems like that is above and beyond what a mainstream customer should have to do.

Overall impression: it's a really great car. There is a learning/comfort curve associated with it--probably more so for people brand new to EVs--but I think I am climbing it.
 
lpickup said:
So now that I've had my Model 3 for over a week and successfully experienced my first medium distance trip (250 miles each way) in it, I'd like to share some impressions: <snip>
Many thanks. It's the minor, regularly used interface stuff that tends to bug me over the long term. I've had to switch off the Auto Climate Control in my car the first time I adjust a setting (fan, direction or temp) after each time the car is started in my Forester for 15 years now, as I dislike ACC. I knew I'd hate it when I bought it, but had to take it to get some other desirable options (I hate options bundling). It's a minor irritation, but an unnecessary one. Apparently enough other customers felt the same way as I did and we all bitched to Subaru about it, as they changed the controls in that Forester gen's mid-life update to avoid having to do that. Maybe you can convince Tesla to do an OTA for the turn signals if you make enough noise.
 
GRA said:
I've had to switch off the Auto Climate Control in my car the first time I adjust a setting (fan, direction or temp) after each time the car is started in my Forester for 15 years now, as I dislike ACC.

Ahhh, let's talk about ACC for a bit. Maybe I'm just strange, but I really loved the LEAF's ACC. I found it pretty much did exactly what I would do with regards to fan speed and direction of airflow. So in my LEAF, HVAC was always on AUTO (unless I had to turn on defrost which would NOT do the right thing and keep heat going to the feet as well). But in general I was very pleased with it (despite hearing all the stories to the contrary and always using manual controls before then).

Of course all ACC systems that I've seen suffer a key problem during the change of the seasons in that there is no "neutral" window you can define whereby HVAC would be off and it is in "Fan Only" mode. So if I have a complaint about ACC (including the LEAF) it is that. Now in the spring as it is warming up, it's always been easy enough to turn off AC with a single button press to get fan only. In the fall however, when you leave the house in the morning with the HVAC set to 72 but it's only 58 outside, you get unwanted heat. In my original LEAF I had to turn the temp down to 60 to get fan-only behavior. In my 2016 LEAF with the HEAT button, this was fixed to my satisfaction (although I still would have preferred to be able to define a neutral or "dead" zone.

So with the Tesla, I haven't figured out how to get it into Fan Only mode at all, so yes, this is frustrating. I don't know that you can't do this, I just haven't spent the time to actually play with the controls to see how it's done (which is why I didn't mention it). But maybe it's worth mentioning that it's not intuitive enough. I'll see if I can play around with it and see what I find out. It's pretty much the wrong time of the year to worry about this as the AC has pretty much been on non-stop, but as we get into the fall it will become more important. I did notice the other morning, because we were in the mountains and it was cooler in the morning, that my wife's side (set to 74) was on heat and my side (on 72) was on cool. Again, a dead zone would be kind of handy here.

The good news is that since it's all GUI driven rather than actual buttons, a software update could provide a solution if it became a big enough problem for enough people.
 
lpickup said:
...

So with the Tesla, I haven't figured out how to get it into Fan Only mode at all, so yes, this is frustrating. I don't know that you can't do this, I just haven't spent the time to actually play with the controls to see how it's done (which is why I didn't mention it). ...

If I understand you correctly, I believe you can get what you are looking for by clicking on the HVAC button in the center. On the window that pops up you can turn “AC” on or off. As I recall it is in the upper right quadrant of the pop-up window.

Now that I am thinking about it, I am trying to remember if HVAC settings are stored in Profiles? If so, you could also creat a profile running ‘fan only’. Not sure if that would be easier or not.
 
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