I've owned 4 Tesla's (never more than 2 at once)

2013 Model S P85 - no issues in 26,000 miles
2014 Model S P85D - 51,xxx mile and counting - no issues
2016 Model X P90D - 12,xxx miles - in the shop every 3 weeks - Tesla paid full price + tax + license fees and all other charges to buy it back from me no questions asked when I told them I was done (vin #000254)
2017 Mode X P100D - 15,xxx miles and counting - one issue - sun visor needs replacing - was that way on delivery we waited for 18 months for something else to go wrong and nothing did - finally broke down and get it fixed - warranty.

first off my Tesla's have been 100% reliable - they have never shut down or stranded me, failed to drive, or charge or some heavy debilitating "automotive" problem - the few if any problems I've had have been with software misbehaving (reboot the center stack) - and various things like door handles or windows switches - annoyances that shouldn't be there, but in all honestly the Tesla's have never failed to get me from point a to point b - the battery, motors and drive train are rock solid - the rest of hte stuff is annoying but bush league problems that yeah I'd rather not have - but all problems that have to do with run of the mill stuff that is the same as it in other cars - the "EV" part of the car has never ever failed me - the rest of the car has some issues but they are all minor.

so I've had window up/down problems, door handle problems, and some software bugs that are mostly fixed quickly with a patch or a reboot

What Tesla has done 3 times for me is call and schedule an appointment for a component that telemetry has told them will fail soon - and they wanted to get ahead of it…
12 volt battery was pro-actively replaced due to Tesla monitoring
Air Conditioning system was remotely diagnosed as "about to fail" so get it in so you don't lose you AC
Power steering pump was operating sub-optimizing (drawing too much power) which was indicative of an about to fail condition

_ALL_ problems have been resolved quickly/cheerfully and many many times with out me having to visit the service center - either with mobile service coming to me or them doing a valet swap my car for the loaner.

the Model X was vin #254 and had a lot of manufacturing defects - we worked with Tesla for about year to chase down all the issues, and again we had no problems with the FalconWing doors or the "EV" portion of the car, but sensors, window switches, and various extreme fit/finish issues kept the car in the shop way more than it should have been - the replacement X has been flawless.

is Tesla world class for quality - no - but their customer service is way better than _ANY_ other brand I've dealt with - and as I've said they are rock solid as a car and have never stranded me - the EV portion of the car has been flawless in the 4 cars I've experience - my gas cars have a much worse record even from top brands - and the service experience even from top brands is horrible!!!

I'll take Tesla defect rates and customer service over any of hte brands I've owned over the years any day of the week even with a lower defect rate.

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/taycan-a...rack-mode.html

the above link is Road & Track's review of "track mode" software update for the Model 3 performance model - they are doing some clever stuff and really drives home the point that these cars can get radically better with just a software update.

 

 

Thanks for the write-up, Pete.

I'd be curious on your thoughts on the Jag I-Pace, if and when you get to drive one. The one thing I'm not enamored with on the Tesla is the interior design (not necessarily materials and craftsmanship), which I think the I-Pace does extremely well.

 

I'll take a look when I can- it does seem nice.

I must stay that currently I view the I-Pace in a different usage class than the 3, at least around here. My previous electric car was a Fiat 500e with "88 mile" range, and in three years of ownership I charged that car outside of work and home exactly once. I averaged 10k miles per year with it, almost 200 miles per week, but that was almost exclusively commuting and short trips- we used my wife's Audi or my Porsche when we needed to go further.

The Model 3 is turning out to be very different- in the 3 weeks I've owned it that's become the primary car and I've already done over 2,200 miles, or 730 miles per week. This last weekend we put 400 miles on it in a one day round trip; so far I've already charged it five separate places outside of home and work. It's a combination of both range and the supercharger network which allows for the very different usage and relative disregard for range. So far anywhere I've gone supercharges have been both convenient and open, and they are remarkably quick if the car's low on charge: I saw 450 mph charge rate during one stop in Vacaville, meaning that in the time it takes to grab coffee and use the restroom you can add 120 miles of range (assuming your battery is low, charge rate is much slower as it approaches full). Given that a "310 mile range" car is in practice much closer to 250 with reserve and the way I drive this is proving to make all the difference in usage, and I do believe that around here at least many people could use a model 3 as their only car today. Though as more cars get onto the roads and the superchargers fill up that might change?

In this light the I-Pace is probably a half-way house: the 240 mile range likely means it's more than 2x as usable as the electric commuters, but it's still going to via for the "second car" slot in the garage with a gas car claiming slot #1. The Model 3D flips that- it's vying to be the primary "practical" car in our house: 4wd to go to the mountains, more cargo space than our Audi for Costco and home depot runs, the ability to go anywhere we need. Which might allow us to get something more fun for my wife, we'll see. I think the I-Pace likely has many of the ingredients to do the same, the question comes down to the charging network and evolution thereof.

 

Pete's experience mirror's mine - once you have a good EV (I don't consider the Leaf, eGolf, Ford Focus EV, Fiat a "good" EV too limited range) - you want to drive the EV all the time - the ICE cars fade into the background and if you have them it is now for narrow use cases or recreation…EV's are infectious - once you have one if you're a two car family you'll get another....

A Model 3 and X/SUV is a pretty good 2 car family combination IMHO - and is a close to no compromise solution excepting the slight style difference for road trips…

 

Just to be clear I go feel the need to keep (or rent) a gas car for some functions. I drive down to Bakersfield for work fairly regularly, ~300 miles +/-, often round trip in a day. It's not yet clear if the model 3 will work for that (I'll try it). I also sometimes drive to Seattle from SF in a day: 800 miles, and the 2 hours and 20 minutes of charging and five stops needed would likely make that a 2 day trip instead of one. These are (and I am) the exception rather than the rule, however.

When an electric is able to get 500 miles on a charge and charge at ~500 mph at regularly spaced stations (like the roadster is supposed to) I can see range being a non-issue for 97% of the US (weird "car guys" who race, etc, being the main exception). In Germany with the Autobahn the bar's significantly higher.

 

Great and balanced review, thx for sharing both your road and autoX perspectives here.

The 3 and S are different, but FWIW my experience with my Model S (90D) as an everyday car was similar... e.g. good in many ways, dynamically good up to 4-5 / 10ths, etc. But after 2 years or so I kinda missed a more engaging driving experience, even for my daily commuting (75-80 miles roundtrip, mostly freeway). I also struggled with EV life in the winter here in New England, cold weather effective range drops fairly dramatically and I go up to the mountains nearly every weekend where I don't have destination charging, though this is an issue for all EVs not just Teslas. So I put a deposit on a Taycan earlier this year, passed my S to my dad who really wanted an EV, and picked up a 10yr old RS4 for my four season daily driver.

The Tesla model range are really great cars and it's unfortunate in some ways the company has been caught in a near-religious war between fanatics and detractors. But I think among driving enthusiasts they work really well for some folks in their driving needs and not that well for others. Like most things in life truth is relative rather than absolute

 

Pete - I love your posting and respect your input greatly - but I think you're over estimating the stops to get from Seattle to SF in a Model 3

it's 807 miles
Model 3 can easily do 280 miles
807 / 280 = 2.88 - or 3 stops -

now I think each of those stops would be 40 minutes - so we are talking about 120 minutes in "charging" time - and if you throwing a 20 min top-off stop at a 4th charger we're in to the drive for an additional 140 minutes - so still not as fast an ICE car - but not horrible in my opinion

Tesla's route planner says the following (5 stops you win!!): I still think it can be done in 4 stops - but Tesla's plan is more conservative.

16 hours
Vancouver - 25 min charge
Springfield - 40 min charge
Grants Pass - 35 min charge
Mount Shasta - 25 min charge
Corning - 55 min charge

Total charge time 180 minutes - 3 hours - ok then - ignore me

if I was doing that trip I'd stay longer in grants pass - better food options - so you could skip mount Shasta…

https://www.tesla.com/trips#/?v=M3_2015_74&o=Seattle,%20WA,%20USA_Seattle%20King%20County%20WA@47.606 2095,-122.3320708&s=&d=San%20Francisco,%20CA,%20USA_SF%20San%20Francisco%20Cou nty%20CA@37.7749295,-122.41941550000001

 

Interestingly it's 10 minutes less charge time if you go the other direction due to the placement of the stations- charging is significantly faster when the battery is low, so it optimizes for getting the battery low quickly and then making more, shorter stops. Either way adding another couple hours to that trip (vs an ICE car) would likely push me over the line...

 

Evtripplanner (https://www.evtripplanner.com/planner/2-8/) predicts 1 hour 35 minutes charging for a Model 3LR between Seattle and San Jose. One can easily cover that with bio and food breaks.

 

the point is it's at least 4 stops and ICE would be fast - I'm comfortable taking the extra 2-3 hours on an 16 hour trip - but obviously this time matters to Pete - I respect that and all anyone can ask is you make an informed decision - and Pete is very very well informed. I do road trip infrequently enough that the extra time for fast charging isn't that big a deal for me -but I can totally see how others might find it unacceptable when there is an alternative.

Flying takes 2-4 hours including airport arrival times which is by far the best choice if you want to save time and a ticket is close to the fuel bill for 28 mpg @ 4 bucks a gallon each way…($120 in fuel each way)

 

A Better Route Planner (https://abetterrouteplanner.com/) predicts 1 hour 19 minutes of charging needed. Interestingly in Bolt EV mode it predicts 5 hours 7 minutes using CCS charging. (The latter is what the Taycan will use. Though in a couple years there will hopefully be more, and faster, CCS chargers along the route than there are today.)

Of course! But if one insists on driving, stopping for an hour and a half (or just less) on the way is both reasonable and healthy - regardless of ICE vs EV. A few years ago, I drove from Portland to the San Jose area in one day. I'm sure I spent at least 1.5 hours for food/bio/gas stops.

 

Is that considered to be significantly better than Tesla's own system?

Not without tanking your average...

 

Evtripplanner has been around for a few years. A college kid developed it when he was in high school. (His dad has a Model S.) He has actually done a really good job developing it, and a lot of folks use it.

ABRP is relatively new, and offers some features not in evtripplanner. One of the neat things is that they are using some real-time data from various volunteers cars to make their models more accurate.