It's been over a year since I bought my first car under my name, and it still feels surreal that I get to drive a Tesla almost every day. As someone who used to dread driving, I now enjoy it so much that there are times when I have no destination in mind, and I just want to drive Snowpiercer (the name I gave my car) for the experience. I've never felt that way in my previous car.

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Tesla Model 3 Purchasing Experience in Southern California

Before purchasing my Model 3, I went in for a test drive at my local Tesla store. After a few minutes of driving the car, I immediately knew that this was the car for me. The Tesla employee even commented that I got used to driving the car faster than other customers. The car was fast, responsive, and smooth. After returning to the store, the Tesla employee helped me purchase my Model 3 online. I officially ordered my Tesla on March 7, 2022. The estimated delivery was May 25 - June 22, which was during a time when demand was high and supply was low due to global chip shortages.

My Model 3 Configuration

The Model 3 I ordered is the 2022 Long Range in Pearl White with All Wheel Drive, which gives me 358 miles of range with the 18-inch Aero Wheels. As with all Tesla vehicles, mine came with the basic autopilot. I also opted for the black and white premium interior, which was a $1,000 add-on. After a year, I can still say that the additional $1,000 was well worth it. I get a lot of compliments on how clean, minimal, and futuristic the interior looks. Looking back, I'm glad I decided to buy the car at the time despite the high price, as the 2023 Long Range version has less range than my 2022 Long Range due to the different battery. Since my previous car was blue, I chose the Pearl white multi-coat. I use Meguiar's Ultimate Waterless Wash & Wax to give it a nice shine. The overall result is a nice coating that's in the middle between glossy and matte. I got 75% windshield tint and 35% side window tints for both the driver/passenger windows and backseat windows. I got my tints done at Kooltint in Alhambra, and they used Xpel tint on my car.

The Delivery Experience

I chose to have Tesla drop off my car at my home. I took delivery of my car on May 31, 2022. However, since that day was a Tuesday and my street had cleaning, my car was parked on the side alleyway of my neighbor’s house. This was not ideal as I had to physically search for my car when I received the text message that morning saying it had been delivered. Overall, I was not fond of this delivery experience. It would have been better if the Tesla employee who delivered the car had shown me around the car, helped me unlock it through the app, and answered any questions I had. Despite this, I was able to easily and seamlessly unlock my new car through the app, which took less than a minute to connect to my phone.

Stats for my first year of ownership of the car (May 31, 2022 - May 31, 2023):

• 9,856 miles driven

• 2,474 kWh charged

• $715 savings in gas

• $667 spent to charge car

• 68% charged at home, 31% charged at superchargers, and 1% charged elsewhere

Improvements and New Features:

Better battery estimates for routes

For the first few months after buying the car, there was no battery estimate for the percentage of battery remaining when I arrived at my destination in maps. However, after numerous updates, Tesla added this feature and the battery percentage updates in real-time. They also made a significant update to the battery prediction page, providing a more accurate battery percentage based on factors such as wind, elevation, climate, and driving speed. The page even tells me which factors are contributing to more battery drain and gives me tips on how to improve range in real-time.

Chimes

Originally, the green chime was only available for those who purchased the FSD package. However, with a software update, the chime is now available to all Tesla owners. This is extremely helpful if you're at a stop light and not paying attention to what is in front of you, as the chime lets you know when the light turns green. This would be helpful for my dad, who gets easily distracted at stop lights.

New UI for maps and card layout

Card layout was available a few years ago, but Tesla removed it for some reason. However, since the 2022 holiday update, they are back. It gives me helpful information with a swipe of the current music I'm listening to, range information, and tire pressure. The UI for maps has also greatly improved since I bought the car. Information such as how much range I'll have left until I arrive at my destination and business information about the destination has been added since I bought the car. Crucial information is always on the screen in card format, and I can always expand it to see more.

Faster charging times at Superchargers

It still boggles my mind that Teslas are able to charge faster from a software update. Due to new battery optimizations in the software, my car now charges a few minutes faster than before. This is so beneficial when I'm on long road trips where time is limited.

Auto turn signals

One of the most beneficial upgrades over the year is the auto turn signals. The turn signals will automatically turn off once it has detected that you merged into the desired lane. For those who tend to forget to turn off their turn signals after the merge, this is a huge plus.

Apple Music integration

Tesla had all the music streaming apps except for Apple Music. With the 2022 holiday update, they've added Apple Music into all Tesla vehicles. I've heard great things about the quality of sound that you get from Apple Music as it supports Dolby Atmos.

Various App Improvements

Since I got the car at the end of May last year, they've made quite a bit of improvements to the Tesla app. They added more controls, more detailed charge stats to track how much you charged along with the cost for each month and year, and a revamped safety score.

The Good:

Acceleration. The acceleration is impressive and can be very beneficial when merging onto freeway ramps. Going from 0 to 60mph in just 4.2 seconds is faster than most combustion engine cars on the road today. The speed you can get in this car at this price is incredible.

15 in. Touch Screen. This is why many people refer to Teslas as "iPads on wheels." The car's brain can be controlled through a large touchscreen, which takes some getting used to but becomes intuitive with practice. For controls that require more than a single tap, such as adjusting temperature or wiper speed, Tesla provides convenient voice controls. I recently discovered that you can share a route from Google Maps to Tesla, which will display it on the touchscreen in seconds, rather than manually typing it into the 15-inch monitor. The touchscreen also allows you to watch Netflix or YouTube, as well as play games. This feature is perfect for car camping or waiting for your car to charge at superchargers.

Autopilot. Letting the software do its thing and taking your hands off the wheel is amazing. Autopilot has been mostly accurate, with only a few instances of phantom braking and going too close to the side of the wall. It keeps my car in the center of the lane most of the time, which is handy during long road trips when I need to rest.

Software updates. This is a game changer! I can download the latest software updates without leaving the house as long as my car and phone are connected to my home’s wifi. New software updates can make your car feel like a brand new car as it gets new features and improvements. Tesla also supports software updates for older models, which helps increase the value of the car in the long run.

Regenerative braking. This allows for one-pedal driving, where you only need to have your foot on the acceleration pedal and rarely have to touch the brakes since the car automatically slows down once you take your foot off the pedal. Regen also saves energy since it converts the kinetic energy from braking to electric power. Another benefit is less wear and tear on your brakes.

Home charging. This has been a game changer for my car. I can just plug in my charger and let my car charge overnight instead of going to a nearby supercharger and potentially waiting 20 minutes for the stall to open up. When I wake up the next morning, the car is fully charged. It can be cheap depending on the time of day. I use the 10-30 Nema Adapter Gen 2 for a 120V outlet for Level 2 charging at home.

Cheap maintenance and service costs. Although it has been a year, I have not spent any money on maintenance costs yet. There have been no issues so far, and I do not need to replace my tires yet. You do not have to worry about oil changes since everything is driven by electric motors.

Storage space. The amount of storage space in this car is impressive. The trunk is spacious, and there are two cubby storage spaces on the left and right side. Underneath the trunk, there is another storage space that is pretty deep. I store all of my chargers and cables here. You also get a spacious front trunk to hold your other miscellaneous items.

Mobile app. One of the great things about owning a Tesla is that you can control most functions of the car through their app. You can lock/unlock doors, turn on the a/c, open/close windows, open/close trunk and frunk, and more. The app also notifies you if you have a window or door open which is very convenient. You can also schedule your departure time as well as schedule your charging time. I can also find the exact location of my car through the app.

Supercharger network. Tesla has over 1,782 superchargers in the U.S. and more than 45,000 superchargers globally. You can recharge up to 200 miles in 15 minutes, which is faster than most EV charging stations around the world. The NACS plug that Tesla uses is smaller and more compact compared to other charging plugs and works seamlessly with Tesla vehicles. A lot of EV makers have noticed this and started implementing NACS outlets in their future cars.

The Bad:

Noticeable battery degradation within the first year (306 mi -> 290 mi). To get a more accurate reading on the health of the car's battery, I may need to do some calibration on the Tesla Battery Management System.

Denim transfer on white seats. Around the 9-month mark, I noticed some denim transfer on the driver's seat. However, I was able to clean it up and apply long-lasting protection using GYEON Q² Leather Shield.

Routing on maps isn't perfect. For the most part, Tesla's maps do a good job of routing you to your destination. However, in some cases, I've noticed that it will take you on a longer route compared to Google Maps on your phone, even though Tesla uses Google Maps to navigate. I've had a few instances where it navigated me on a much longer route, and I ended up being late to my client sessions during rush hour. I've also had cases where the route I shared from my phone to Tesla ended up being a location that was 1 or 2 miles away. Until Tesla does a better job handling navigation, I'm still going to rely on my phone to navigate me to my destinations and use Tesla navigation when I'm coming back home from my destination to avoid any mistakes.

Autowiper is not accurate. There were quite a few instances where the wiper would turn on when it isn't raining or there is only a little bit of water on the windshield. I heard that there would be a software update coming soon that will fix this issue.

Phantom Braking on some cars. After a recent software update, I experienced phantom braking for myself. I had only three instances where the car would brake randomly when I'm on autopilot, even though there is no car in front of me. I didn't have this issue at all before the software update. I'm one of the lucky ones, as I've heard from other Tesla owners that their car phantom brakes at least once or twice whenever they put on autopilot.

Noticeable road noise. The sound isolation is not that great in the Tesla Model 3. Once you drive at more than 45mph, wind noise becomes noticeable. It's not as quiet at these speeds as other luxury automakers like Lexus and BMW.

Full Self Driving isn't there yet. The FSD package has been constantly improving over the years, but in my opinion, I don't believe it's worth the $15,000 at this moment. If you mostly drive on freeways or highways, it might be worth it, but it's not that good when you're driving in the city. I've seen a lot of videos on Youtube, and the car drives like a grandma most of the time. It's very slow to make decisions, especially on turns. Tesla still needs to work out some issues to achieve close-to-perfect or level 4 or 5 autonomous driving, where minimal to no driving intervention is required.

Conclusion

After driving a Tesla for over a year, I don’t think I can ever go back to a gasoline car. There are so many benefits to owning an electric vehicle that it doesn't make sense to switch back. I'm still amazed at how quick this car is. It feels like I'm driving a spaceship and every time I floor it, it's like riding a rollercoaster. I love having the peace of mind of not worrying too much about upkeep. It's awesome not having to go to a gas pump ever again. This car is perfect for long road trips since Tesla's Supercharger network is unmatched. Driving this car has been a blast, and I can't wait to keep driving it for years to come!