The Tesla Thread

Chrisc said:
But when its £50+ to charge a car, im really struggling to justify the move to electric?

I think it was a carwow video a few months back when the video showed it cost around £70 to charge one of the new BMW SUV things up. I get he was at a service station, and electric prices are rampant at the moment, but when it costs the same as a Petrol / diesel car I struggle justify the cost of an EV.

For me to be able to afford a £35-£40k car, I really need it to be able to swallow a big chunk of my current fuel cost.
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You need to be able to charge at home imho, typically I find I need a public charger less than 5 Journeys per year. I generally look to plug in with a granny charger at destinations. 250+ miles of range gets you a long way in the UK.

Here is a real world example from last week:
520 miles to mid France.
Started with 100% (charged at home on 7.5p).
14 minutes at Folkestone whilst waiting for the train 22kWh at 41p = £9.02
45 minutes at Rouen whilst we ate, it sounds like a long time but I had to rush my youngest 68 kWh at 29p = £19.72
30 minutes (roughly, I didn't check) at Tours 43 kWh at 32 = £13.44
Arrived with around 1/3rd charge and plugged into granny charger.

So all in all it cost £48.92 with 1/3rd charge extra. I just used the Tesla nav, putting the France location as the destination and it did the rest.

My Golf R used to get 30mpg on a journey like that (24 normally). So 79 litres, so at £1.50 a litre that would be £118.50. it was tuned, but so much slower than the model 3.

Note this is all fairly irrelevant as such journeys represent such a small part of my normal activities.

Teslas don't wear the brake pads at all and servicing is not a requirement of the warranty. The suggested servicing is peanuts.
 
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FerretBoy said:
You need to be able to charge at home imho, typically I find I need a public charger less than 5 Journeys per year. I generally look to plug in with a granny charger at destinations. 250+ miles of range gets you a long way in the UK.

Here is a real world example from last week:
520 miles to mid France.
Started with 100% (charged at home on 7.5p).
14 minutes at Folkestone whilst waiting for the train 22kWh at 41p = £9.02
45 minutes at Rouen whilst we ate, it sounds like a long time but I had to rush my youngest 68 kWh at 29p = £19.72
30 minutes (roughly, I didn't check) at Tours 43 kWh at 32 = £13.44
Arrived with around 1/3rd charge and plugged into granny charger.

So all in all it cost £48.92 with 1/3rd charge extra. I just used the Tesla nav, putting the France location as the destination and it did the rest.

My Golf R used to get 30mpg on a journey like that (24 normally). So 79 litres, so at £1.50 a litre that would be £118.50. it was tuned, but so much slower than the model 3.

Teslas don't wear the brake pads at all and servicing is not a requirement of the warranty. The suggested servicing is peanuts.
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Thank you, thats the best breakdown ive seen which helps out a lot.

Looking online, these Model 3's tend to be quite solid and dont really throw up many issues apart from build quality on the slightly older models. Is there anything I need to be weary of?

I was tempted to make the switch this year, but I think im going to save a bit more and try to get a good £10-£12k deposit together and take a serious look early next year.
 
FerretBoy said:
You need to be able to charge at home imho, typically I find I need a public charger less than 5 Journeys per year. I generally look to plug in with a granny charger at destinations. 250+ miles of range gets you a long way in the UK.

Here is a real world example from last week:
520 miles to mid France.
Started with 100% (charged at home on 7.5p).
14 minutes at Folkestone whilst waiting for the train 22kWh at 41p = £9.02
45 minutes at Rouen whilst we ate, it sounds like a long time but I had to rush my youngest 68 kWh at 29p = £19.72
30 minutes (roughly, I didn't check) at Tours 43 kWh at 32 = £13.44
Arrived with around 1/3rd charge and plugged into granny charger.

So all in all it cost £48.92 with 1/3rd charge extra. I just used the Tesla nav, putting the France location as the destination and it did the rest.

My Golf R used to get 30mpg on a journey like that (24 normally). So 79 litres, so at £1.50 a litre that would be £118.50. it was tuned, but so much slower than the model 3.

Note this is all fairly irrelevant as such journeys represent such a small part of my normal activities.

Teslas don't wear the brake pads at all and servicing is not a requirement of the warranty. The suggested servicing is peanuts.
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Tbh I'm surprised the R is so poor. I didn't get much less than that in my M3, and when I had a 911 turbo before that (3.6l twin turbo) I got 35 on long journeys, even at slightly more than legal limits. I agree about the Tesla, they seem to be reasonably well built, and I think at this point any issues that happen tend to be well documented. For instance I had the squeaky suspension happen to mine last year, and 5 mins of googling made me not worry as it seemed (relativly) common on my 69 plate.
 
Chrisc said:
Thank you, thats the best breakdown ive seen which helps out a lot.

Looking online, these Model 3's tend to be quite solid and dont really throw up many issues apart from build quality on the slightly older models. Is there anything I need to be weary of?

I was tempted to make the switch this year, but I think im going to save a bit more and try to get a good £10-£12k deposit together and take a serious look early next year.
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It seems there are some people that get dud cars. Made in the USA ones do indeed have more build issues.

They ride a bit hard, not really an issue for the performance. If you get an older car they have traditional 12v battery, this tends to be the thing that fails, around 3 years.

Mine is now 1.5years old, no rattles or noises (a million times better than my German built Golf R). No service at 1 year, at 2 years they suggest testing brake fluid and new cabin filters, they sell direct and cheap. For that matter I hear all parts are sold direct and reasonably priced.

Insurance is a bit more expensive , some people reporting wildly more expensive.

Both Performance and Long Range models battery chemistry means you only charge to 100% for the real long trips. Just to set expectations.
 
FerretBoy said:
It seems there are some people that get dud cars. Made in the USA ones do indeed have more build issues.

They ride a bit hard, not really an issue for the performance. If you get an older car they have traditional 12v battery, this tends to be the thing that fails, around 3 years.

Mine is now 1.5years old, no rattles or noises (a million times better than my German built Golf R). No service at 1 year, at 2 years they suggest testing brake fluid and new cabin filters, they sell direct and cheap. For that matter I hear all parts are sold direct and reasonably priced.

Insurance is a bit more expensive , some people reporting wildly more expensive.

Both Performance and Long Range models battery chemistry means you only charge to 100% for the real long trips. Just to set expectations.
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I'm still on my original 12v (to the best of my knowledge anyway), and I'm sure they've improved detection of failing batteries.
 
theone8181 said:
Tbh I'm surprised the R is so poor. I didn't get much less than that in my M3, and when I had a 911 turbo before that (3.6l twin turbo) I got 35 on long journeys, even at slightly more than legal limits. I agree about the Tesla, they seem to be reasonably well built, and I think at this point any issues that happen tend to be well documented. For instance I had the squeaky suspension happen to mine last year, and 5 mins of googling made me not worry as it seemed (relativly) common on my 69 plate.
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Well maybey memory isn't perfect. I did see 40once, following a lorry at 55mph... It was tuned too, so made it greedy.

Yeah suspension issue was a thing with the slightly older cars.
 
So far the experience is so good that I was considering the Plaid, until they made it LHD only. Saved me some money and it was probably too big for UK roads anyhow.

@Chrisc test drive a performance model, the instant response and no gears is something that makes me believe I'll never go back to ICE. It's much more impactful than the 0-60 times.
 
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FerretBoy said:
It seems there are some people that get dud cars. Made in the USA ones do indeed have more build issues.

They ride a bit hard, not really an issue for the performance. If you get an older car they have traditional 12v battery, this tends to be the thing that fails, around 3 years.

Mine is now 1.5years old, no rattles or noises (a million times better than my German built Golf R). No service at 1 year, at 2 years they suggest testing brake fluid and new cabin filters, they sell direct and cheap. For that matter I hear all parts are sold direct and reasonably priced.

Insurance is a bit more expensive , some people reporting wildly more expensive.

Both Performance and Long Range models battery chemistry means you only charge to 100% for the real long trips. Just to set expectations.
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Cheers for that, yeah my insurance doubles and goes to around £1000 which is something I need to take into account.

Are they fully made in China now? and if so, what age should i be looking at? In my budget they seem to be 2020/21 models.
 
Chrisc said:
Cheers for that, yeah my insurance doubles and goes to around £1000 which is something I need to take into account.

Are they fully made in China now? and if so, what age should i be looking at? In my budget they seem to be 2020/21 models.
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Yeah I definitely needed to shop around more and got it down to £350.

All new UK model 3s are China built. 21 **should** be China, powered boot, matrix headlights (not that the software uses them as matrix), heated steering wheel and have a heat pump (heat pump is nice to have, a little more range in the winter).

2020 I'm not so sure what you will get, you can always check for panel gaps and rattles etc. So it should be fine. The heat pump shouldn't be a deal breaker.
 
FerretBoy said:
Yeah I definitely needed to shop around more and got it down to £350.

All new UK model 3s are China built. 21 **should** be China, powered boot, matrix headlights (not that the software uses them as matrix), heated steering wheel and have a heat pump (heat pump is nice to have, a little more range in the winter).

2020 I'm not so sure what you will get, you can always check for panel gaps and rattles etc. So it should be fine. The heat pump shouldn't be a deal breaker.
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So you'd recommend 2021 onwards?
 
If you can afford 2021, I’d go for a 2021.

Make sure it’s actually got a heat pump, you can do that in the main screen. Google will throw up some screen shots for you. Some people wrap the older cars to look like 2021 cars and even change the centre console to match. There was a bit of a transition where some cars had the cosmetic 20201 updates but no heat pump, not sure that effected the U.K. though as ours all come from the same batches.

Also check any claims of enhanced autopilot and FSD thoroughly, they are also shown on the same screen. Every car has ‘full self driving computer’ it’s the line underneath that is relevant. Some dealers claim the car has FSD when they don’t because of the above.

P.S. don’t pay a premium for a car with FSD, it’s not actually available in the U.K. and probably will not be for years yet.
 
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My tesla comes in about a week or two. Planning on doing the norm trunk light, abstract lights, rear applique, dash cam, (hopefully can find a professional installer) tent, floor mats, shelf butler. Than later powder coat rims, paint the break calipers
 
FerretBoy said:
snip

My Golf R used to get 30mpg on a journey like that (24 normally). So 79 litres, so at £1.50 a litre that would be £118.50. it was tuned, but so much slower than the model 3.

snip
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I'm getting 40 mpg on a run with my mk.7 Golf R, it's stage 1 and does 4 sec 0-60mph and is limited to 155mph, it doesn't need to wait around when refuelling, how can it be "much slower" than a model 3 :confused:
 
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RianBB said:
My tesla comes in about a week or two. Planning on doing the norm trunk light, abstract lights, rear applique, dash cam, (hopefully can find a professional installer) tent, floor mats, shelf butler. Than later powder coat rims, paint the break calipers
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Ssuure but you know they come with an integrated 4 camera setup already. Apart from very early model S/X I think.
 
tyke_ said:
I'm getting 40 mpg on a run with my mk.7 Golf R, it's stage 1 and does 4 sec 0-60mph and is limited to 155mph, it doesn't need to wait around when refuelling, how can it be "much slower" than a model 3 :confused:
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Imagine your Golf R but faster and has all its power available all the time, that’s the advantage of electric and no need to mod.

It’s never in the wrong gear, no waiting for change downs and no loss of acceleration when cycling through gears (although I do appreciate that’s minimal on a car with a dual clutch box).

The Golf will probably come back at the Tesla when your doing 110-120mph but that’s not exactly useable speed in the real world.

You wake up with a full tank every day and overall spend less time at filling stations. When I am well outside of range, it’s very rare I’m actually waiting for the car.

I’m doing 425 miles today (212 each way) in my standard range. I’ll not be waiting for it to charge once. I can’t get through a 3.5-4 hour drive (each way) without needing a toilet break and the time that will take in each direction is all it needs to get the electricity needed to get me home. I could plug in on a granny charger for an hour or two at my destination but it’s probably not worth it for 2-4kwh.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Imagine your Golf R but faster and has all its power available all the time, that’s the advantage of electric and no need to mod.

It’s never in the wrong gear, no waiting for change downs and no loss of acceleration when cycling through gears (although I do appreciate that’s minimal on a car with a dual clutch box).

The Golf will probably come back at the Tesla when your doing 110-120mph but that’s not exactly useable speed in the real world.

You wake up with a full tank every day and overall spend less time at filling stations. When I am well outside of range, it’s very rare I’m actually waiting for the car.

I’m doing 425 miles today (212 each way) in my standard range. I’ll not be waiting for it to charge once. I can’t get through a 3.5-4 hour drive (each way) without needing a toilet break and the time that will take in each direction is all it needs to get the electricity needed to get me home. I could plug in on a granny charger for an hour or two at my destination but it’s probably not worth it for 2-4kwh.
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No doubt the Tesla is a better car when considering all things (especially running costs) and if I could afford 1 I might consider it, but in the real world is a Golf R really "much slower"? Standard they can do 0-60mph under 5 secs and 155mph. Tbh I don't think my brain can safely compute navigating the road going much quicker than my car is capable of so not sure if i'd want faster...i can imagine the Teslas 0-60 is great fun though. Tbf I am seeing far more Teslas on the motorways nowadays which could point to them being useful for longer distances.
 
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The running costs on a Tesla are a lot lower than any ICE car assuming you can charge at home. 3p/mile is very achievable for fuel vs something in the region of 15-18p for petrol. That’s not a Tesla thing, it’s just an EV thing.

Tesla specifically has pretty minimal serving/maintenance and you can ignore it without voiding the warranty (probably not recommended). Cabin filter every 2 years which you can DIY and it’s sensible to get the suspension checked and the brakes lubed as you would with any other.

What’s the concern about longer distances? There is a big EV thread which may be more a better place to ask. Tesla is just one of many good options these days.
 
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