Living with…The oddly troublesome Tesla Model 3

Despite its popularity and esteem, James, 32 from Stoke, shares her disappointing experience with the Tesla Model 3.

Tell us about your EV?

It’s a blue Tesla Model 3 from 2020.

What do you like about the exterior of your car?

Very little, although if it’s someone’s first encounter with a Tesla, they think it’s cool. It wears off, though.

What about the inside?

The inside is pretty smart and minimalistic. I really like it. Very comfy, and the console is brilliant. As is the steering wheel and electric seats.

What do other people think of your car?

Friends love it, and always want to test drive it. I do let them, and they find it so much better than a combustion engine car to drive.

What do you like most about it?

The drive is really nice. Much better than a combustion engine car. Driving home using adaptive cruise control after a hard day at work is bliss. Not having to constantly slow down and speed up on the motorway takes a lot of the stress of driving away from the commute.

Is there anything you don’t like?

The body seems to have been put together very haphazardly. Various things have gone wrong, such as door windows constantly dropping down a few millimeters, which makes for lots of road noise on the motorway. I have had this looked at several times, but it keeps doing it. Also, the windscreen has cracked TWICE while sitting in my car in the winter, waiting for it to heat up. I was told by someone at Tesla that they had seen this before (lateral cracks when heating windscreen), but when I got to the service centre (both times), they insisted that it was a stone chip. I had to pay twice for this.

If you could go back to the time you bought it, would you go for something different?

Yes, I would find a traditional manufacturer that has decades of experience building car bodies, but now fully electric. Something like a Polestar, or VW.

Review sourced on behalf of ChooseMyCar.