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Tesla Model 3 review

The Telegraph has finally tested the Tesla Model 3, one of the most eagerly anticipated electric cars in automotive history  - Jeff Gilbert 
The Telegraph has finally tested the Tesla Model 3, one of the most eagerly anticipated electric cars in automotive history - Jeff Gilbert

Engineering visionary or petulant, dope-smoking prima donna, Elon Musk doesn't really exist in the middle ground. His car company, Tesla, has rarely made a profit, yet its influence vastly surpasses its money-making potential. The fog of boastful Twitter and Facebook posts makes it difficult to judge the true extent of that influence, however, and certainly Musk's acolytes are spiky; your correspondent has faced the wrath of Tesla's enraged management subject to the mildest questioning, as well as brickbats from battalions of owners incensed that their cars are judged just the same as others.

But this is where it gets serious. Tesla's normal constituency of Californian squillionaires won't be alone in wanting a Model 3. With prices starting at £38,900 including the Government's OLEV grant of £3,500, it is still over twice the cost of the average family car, but this is a price level which might tempt the moderately well-heeled.

On our test we were hailed by a man driving his children home from school; a train driver, he had a deposit on a Model 3 and was interested in what we thought. We made no comment, just let our Long Range All Wheel-Drive Model 3 (£47,900 including OLEV grant), in metallic grey (£950) on 19-inch wheels (£1,450), with a white upholstery (£950) and a £5,800 self driving preparation kit speak for itself.

"Oh dear," he said, as his finger followed the paint runs and highly variable panel gaps on the front of this over 60-grand car, "I know they've had problems, but... Perhaps we should wait for the model Y."

There are no guarantees, however, that Tesla's crossover Model Y (which if you believe the PR, is due in a couple of years) will be any better built. Even Tesla admits it has been through "production hell" at the old GM/Toyota NUMMI plant in Freemont, California. Much of the equipment has been bought in automotive fire sales and there's not a continuous production line, just a much cruder system whereby massive robots which pick the car up and turn it round onto a new track. Tesla's own first quarter figures for 2019 show Model 3 deliveries of 50,900 equating to about 4,200 cars a week, far short of the 5,000 a week of which the company once boasted.

Tesla Model 3 - Credit: Jeff Gilbert 
The Model 3 is somewhat unlike a 'normal' car in terms of design Credit: Jeff Gilbert

Still it's here now. Or at least nearby; our test car might have come from the UK head office in West Drayton, but it carried Dutch registration plates with the steering wheel on the other side of the car.

Inside, the Model 3 has fewer faults, though it's far from perfect, with creaking door seals and over stretched fabric covers. There's an almost shocking austerity in there; nothing but a facia-width ventilation duct in front of the driver and the absence of switchgear is stark; a hazard warning switch in the ceiling, two stalks on the steering column and a couple of multi-function buttons on the steering wheel. There's no formal ignition key, just a credit card which doesn't always reliably start or open the car; download the app and you can do the same with your telephone.

The rest of the functions are equally technically pedantic, even down to the opening of the glove box and adjusting the steering column, ventilation direction or mirrors, which require you to use the 15-inch centre touch screen. This impressively clear but distracting instrument divides opinion. On the one hand, it defines the interior like no other; this really does feel like a car from the future; on the other hand you are continually glancing at it, fiddling with it and some functions require your eyes away from the road for far too long.

That said, its landscape mounting makes it easier to access the quick-access keys than on the portrait screens in the cabins of the Models S and Y, though it's symptomatic of Tesla that the road safety implications of its swanky screen seem not even to have occurred to it. Everyone who came across the car, from expert car tester to ordinary folk, even Tesla insiders, looked at the screen and said; “Why on earth didn’t they put a head-up display in there?”

Tesla central touchscreen  - Credit: Jeff Gilbert 
The Tesla's controversial central touchscreen Credit: Jeff Gilbert

With eight cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a forward-facing radar, Tesla says Model 3 is ready for full autonomous driving when it becomes legal, though it's quieter on the business of handing back control to the driver, subject of some serious debate among established car makers and legislators.

Despite the wide, glassy feel of the front of the cabin, you sit high in the car and the low windscreen gives the visual impression of driving on the roof. The kick up on the rear of the coachwork means three-quarter rear views aren't good. There’s a fair bit of storage space around the driver and the centre console has a couple of USB sockets (and another two in the rear) and a number of glassy cubby covers with magnetic screens – close them too hard and the centre screen gives you a warning.

In the back accommodation is not so generous. The glass roof maximises head room, but the 75kWh under-floor battery means head room for a six footer is only just sufficient and you sit with your knees against the seat backs. The boot is plenty large enough, although Tesla prefers to quote the combined storage in the boot, under the bonnet and under the floor of 542 litres; the actual boot volume is 425 litres, which compares to an equivalent 480 litres for the BMW 3 series and Audi's A4 and 435 litres for the Mercedes-Benz C-class. The Model 3's seat backs fold 60/40 per cent flat onto the bases to give a usefully flat load bed.

Tesla Model 3 - Credit: Jeff Gilbert 
Andrew English and Alex Robbins debate the merits of the Tesla Model 3 Credit: Jeff Gilbert

Despite a kerb weight of 1,847kg, the performance is startling. Tesla has always made much of the electric drive's capability of leaving your tummy behind you and while there's no 'ludicrous' mode in this car, the quoted 0-62mph of 4.5sec is only matched by the most powerful and thirsty of the above cars. And it's so easy; just press and go. Throttle progression is well judged, torque is shared deftly between the two motors, with only a chirp on a dry road to indicate you are accessing the rocket-ship performance and little in the way of torque steer, which so drastically affects the far cheaper, £38,645 64kWh Hyundai Kona EV, and a bit for its superior sister the £36,495 64kWh Kia e-Niro. The brakes are well judged for the most part, though there's a distinct step between recharging braking and using the friction brakes, which means the nose dips as it passes through that Rubicon.

The ride isn't such an assured success, crashing through square-edged holes and over sleeping policemen and feeling choppy and ill settled even on smooth roads. Damping for the all-steel sprung suspension (wishbone front, multi-link rear) seems to resist movement almost too much.

The handling is much better; cornering flat and with amazing amounts of grip from the optional 19-inch Hankook tyres. Turn in and once the disconcerting lost movement in the steering has been taken up, the nose fair dives for the apex defying weight and mass. It feels grippy, quick and confidence inspiring though the sensation of the wheels flapping around, firing the road surface into the cabin is very much like the Model S. As fellow Telegraph tester Alex Robbins commented: "it feels like a Model S hit with the incredible shrinking ray."

Tesla Model 3 interior  - Credit: Jeff Gilbert 
The Tesla's cabin is roomy enough for those in the front, but taller passengers may feel short-changed in the back seats Credit: Jeff Gilbert

Tesla isn't as other car makers, and there's a wealth of information about its cars it flatly refuses to divulge including motor power and battery capacity, but a working assessment of this Model 3 is of a battery capacity of 75kWh, which given the balance of the National Grid CO2 emissions, means this version of the Model 3 has a well-to-wheels CO2 contribution of 79g/km. Charging on a 120kW supercharger takes about half an hour for an 80 per cent charge which will cost about £14. It comes with a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty, and the battery is warranted for eight years and 120,000 miles.

Despite its makers' remorseless self-promoting hokum, its distinctly iffy build quality and the questionable reliability of existing Tesla models (last year What Car? magazine found the Model S was one of Britain's most unreliable cars), Model 3 is hard to dislike. It challenges thinking and posits an alternative future for drivetrains as well as design, though few outside of Tesla think that battery electric is the only answer to future individual transportation. It should also be said that not building profitable cars is as unsustainable as using fossil fuels.

Perhaps like a cycle-race peloton, the rest of the car industry will eventually catch and overtake the plucky breakaway riders such as Tesla, for the moment, however, Model 3 feels indubitably special and pioneering, which is partly what inspires such devotion from its makers and owners.

Specifications

Length: 4,694mm

Width:  2.08m with mirrors (1.9m without mirrors)

Height:  1,436mm

Wheelbase: 2,725mm

Kerb weight: 1,847kg

Fuel tank capacity: n/a

Towing weight: 910kg

Load space: 425 litres (see text)

Tesla Model 3 long-range AWD – the facts

TESTED four-door saloon with 75kWh lithium-ion battery in the floor, driving twin-motor all wheel drive system

PRICE/ON SALE from £42,400 for entry-level RWD model, £51,400 for AWD long range model and £60,400 for AWD Performance model (not including £3,500 OLEV grant) - as tested £60,550/now, first deliveries for reservation holders in June

POWER/TORQUE (estimated) 362bhp/390lb ft

TOP SPEED 145mph

ACCELERATION 0-62mph in 4.5sec

RANGE WLTP 348 miles

CO2 EMISSIONS well-to-wheels 79g/km

VED Zero rated, with a £310 luxury car surcharge for the first five years.

VERDICT Undeniably special to drive and sit inside, the Model 3's statistics make impressive reading, although the 'affordability' of this car is highly debatable and it simply isn't built as well as it should be.

TELEGRAPH RATING Four stars out of five

Tesla Model 3 long-range AWD – main rivals

Kia Niro, from £36,495

First Edition 64kWh battery models will be followed by lesser models, but this is an impressive debut. Practical and good if not inspiring to drive, the Niro EV normalises electric driving at an affordable price. The 201bhp/291lb ft drivetrain drives the front wheels and offers 0-62mph in 7.2sec and a range of 282miles. This year's allocation is all sold, however.

Jaguar i-Pace, from £64,495

This year's Car of the Year is a highly impressive machine at a good price. More a competitor for the Tesla Model X SUV/Crossover, it's nevertheless only £5,000 more expensive than the Model 3 we tested. Spacious, dynamically competent and lovely to look at, it's a serious contender indeed with a 394bhp/512lb ft 4x4 drivetrain offering 0-60mph in 4.5sec and a range of 292 miles.

Volkswagen e-Golf, from £33,840

Like the new Mercedes-Benz EQC, the logic is priceless; Golf is Europe's favourite car, so why not simply put a battery in it? If you live in town or have this as a second car then the 134bhp/199lb ft front drive drivetrain's 10.4sec 0-62mph acceleration and 150-mile range will be enough, though off-street charging will help to increase the practicality of this EV family hatchback.

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