Everything wrong with my Tesla Model 3

What's up you guys, it's Graham here. So, almost one year ago, I bought myself a Tesla Model 3. This is my first time buying a brand new car, it's my first ever electric car, and it's my first experience ever buying a car online completely sight unseen.

But now having owned it for nearly a year and racking up over thirteen thousand miles, I think I finally owned it long enough to make a proper review of what it's actually like to own one. Because even though I'm going to say I love the car, there's still a few odd faults with it and a few warnings that I want to give people who are thinking about buying one. And don't worry, I'm not gonna be making this review from the perspective of a Tesla fanboy maniac who praises all things Elon Musk. I intend to be very critical in hopes of giving you as accurate of a representation as possible.

And what better place to start than online and the ordering process, as well as smashing the like button for the YouTube algorithm because, of course, that really helps to start. Like I said, this is the first ever car I bought online, completely sight unseen, and that felt a little bit like jumping off a cliff and hoping that Elon Musk was waiting at the bottom to catch me.

Because even though they do offer you a 7-day, 1,000-mile return policy that allows you to get back to the car if you don't like it, I mean come on, like once you actually have the car, it seems like a daunting task to go and give the car back and then get a refund. Especially after your loan goes through and you bought the car on title, it just seems like such a pain.

But thankfully, the ordering process was easy. You either have the option to go through their existing inventory of used cars, of which there aren't many, or you could customize your own. I almost like that there aren't that many options to pick from because that means you're not gonna be overwhelmed by choice overload. You either get the standard range plus, long range, or performance model.

There are only five colors to pick from and two types of wheels. The interior is either black or white. You have the option to pay an additional seven thousand dollars for full self-driving capability, and when you're all done, you just owe a non-refundable deposit of $100. Financing the car is also really, really easy. After I placed my order, that gave me the option to finance 100% of the car at a 3.75 percent interest rate through U.S. bank.

That meant I would only have to pay for sales tax, licensing, and registration out of pocket, of which I could put on a credit card to get the points, so that's what I did. Tesla handled all of the paperwork after that, and I was done. The delivery process was also fairly straightforward; just multiple texts and updates along the way, and within 30 days, the car was waiting for me at the local Tesla Center.

So next, this would not be a Tesla review without talking about the aesthetics of the car. And sure, some of this might be subjective, which I will definitely cover, but in terms of the quality of the car that I received, here is what happened. I bought this car the day the $35,000 Tesla Model 3 went on sale, which meant that it was rumored that Elon Musk was just rushing out these cars as fast as he could to meet his deadlines without much quality control.

I saw people online complaining about body panel gaps, scratches, and paint issues, so I was a bit worried when I took delivery, and rightfully so. Twenty-four hours after picking up the car, I met up with some friends so that we could detail the car and ceramic coat the paint. But upon closer inspection, there were a few obvious flaws. The first being a weird paint defect about the size of a golf ball in the trunk of the car. It looks as though there was a paint issue that someone had tried to buff out, but they left it completely unfinished.

There were also several other similar marks around the car that only became evident once you shined a light towards it. Thankfully, all of those were able to be polished out within a few minutes and then it looked as good as new. However, the interesting bit with all of this was that the car was actually missing paint in a few areas, the most noticeable being underneath the trunk lid. When you shine a light from underneath, you see that the paint didn't spray all the way from the factory and it left a large unpainted line across the back.

When I saw this, I was livid. It's one of those things you're never gonna notice during the day because that area is shaded, and you're never gonna sit there underneath the car just staring up at it with a light. But once you see that area at night, it becomes very noticeable. Like once you see it, you can't unsee it. So of course, immediately I called Tesla to let them know of this and they wanted me to bring the car in for inspection.

Now thankfully they did acknowledge the issue, but my options were to either one, return the car to get the car professionally repainted, or three, they were going to give me a two hundred dollar credit towards Tesla merch. To be honest, I wasn't totally thrilled with any of the options, so I just took the $200 credit towards the gift shop.

When I was in the parking lot looking at all the brand new cars, I noticed that every single black Tesla Model 3 had the exact same issue as mine, and really, because it's not visible during the day at all, I just decided to let it go. It's not like I could return the car and get one that was painted right. I mean, none of them were painted right now. I also noticed a few other areas on the car that were lacking paint, like when you turn up the front trunk lid; some of that is a little spotty as well as between the door jambs. But again, you're not sitting there looking for that, so I just let it go, and really, besides that, I didn't notice any other issues.

I didn't see any body panel gaps, I didn't see any scratches that couldn't be polished out, and I saw nothing else wrong, so I lived with it. But that doesn't mean I couldn't help but add my own custom touches to the car. Because in my opinion, as it is, it looks a little bit soft. I wanted something that would make it look a little bit more stealth, so I went ahead and wrapped it in satin black. I also have the emblems and brake calipers painted in acid green, and I upgraded the aero wheels to 20-inch flow forged black diamond rims. They're definitely not the most aerodynamic and they absolutely impact the amount of range you'll get on long trips, but I got to admit, a good set of rims on this car makes it look so much better.

My girlfriend also got me this carbon-fiber spoiler for Christmas, so I put this on as well. It's slightly larger than the Model 3 performance wing, but not so large that it stands out too much; it's just subtle enough. Oh, and also fun fact: when you order the standard range plus, it doesn't come with any floor mats. You don't expect for the price that they would give you an extra $50 worth of carpeting, but no, Elon Musk makes you buy these aftermarket for some reason. For that, I ordered a pair of all-weather mats online for about a hundred and fifty dollars and they fit in perfectly.

Now in terms of the actual driving and ownership experience, it seems like a lot of people first talk about what they absolutely loved about the car and then at the very end, they go into the downsides and the things they don't like. But in this one, I'm gonna make it interesting and go right into the difficulties and issues I've had while owning the car because in the last year, I've noticed a few, and I'm gonna be very critical of this one.

The first is with supercharging. Thankfully, I've yet to be in a situation where I've arrived at a supercharger and then all of them are full. However, I have been in a situation where I've arrived at a supercharger and then taken the last spots. Then someone else shows up a few minutes later and just has to twiddle their thumbs for 10 to 20 minutes waiting for something to open up.

Now, of course, in Tesla's defense, they do tell you how many available stalls are open at their supercharger before you arrive, but on road trips, you don't have any other choice other than to stop and charge up. Well, you know, you don't have any other choice other than to stop there and suck it up. Second, let's talk briefly about range anxiety. This is the phenomenon where you worry about running out of charge while driving, worrying about whether or not you'll have enough electricity to make it to your destination and back. And wow, this is not something I thought I would have to deal with until you take the car on long road trips.

I've had this happen three times in the last year where I was nearly convinced I was not gonna make it. The first was when I went to the mountains in Las Vegas on a fairly full charge, but in really cold weather with the heater on full blast, the battery drains way faster than you would ever imagine. So, it's really important to realize that in cold weather with the heater running on full blast, the battery may only last you about 50% of what you think it will if you aren't careful.

Besides that, I had another close call experience driving up to Big Bear, California, even though I had a full charge driving up; the lack of chargers in the area, combined with the cold weather and again running the heater, made my battery last way less than what I expected. Not to mention, there were a few other trips that I had not been able to go on just because there are not any available chargers in the area.

Now this would have all been entirely avoidable had I just opted to buy the long range Tesla Model 3 instead, which by the way gives you three hundred and twenty-two miles of range instead of 250. So, if you expect that you're gonna be driving long distances fairly often, then just listen to me, get the long range Tesla Model 3; it's entirely worth it.

And third, while we're on the topic of superchargers, it definitely adds time to your trip. The car will tell you that you're only going to have to supercharge for 10 or 20 minutes in order to give yourself enough battery to get to the next charger. But usually, you never want to cut it that close, and the mileage can be off by five or ten percent by the time you actually get there. So, that means you always end up staying at the charger for an extra five to twenty minutes just to give yourself a bit more of a buffer just in case you need it. Not to mention, you never want to show up at your destination with only 30 miles of range left, so that definitely needs to be accounted for. All that basically means is that your trip is going to take you longer than you think it will.

Next, we’re gonna be talking about another minor annoyance with this car, and that is going to be the entry. Now, for those that aren't aware, this car does not have traditional car keys. So instead, they give you this credit card-looking little bit of plastic that syncs with the car and opens it up. You could also download an app that controls the car over Bluetooth. This way, as long as you have your card or phone on you, the car will automatically unlock as you approach it.

However, I've noticed completely random times when I walk up to the car, it will not unlock. I'll try to open the handles or unlock the trunk, but nothing. Even though I have my phone on me, the car just makes these weird mechanical sounding noises like it's annoyed at my existence and then just stays locked. So, the only way to unlock the car is if I pull my phone out, unlock it, and then it works. Sometimes, if that fails, I actually have to go into the Tesla app, open it up, and then only at that time will it open up.

At first, I thought this was an issue with my phone, but then I got another brand new phone and that also has the exact same problem. So I'm guessing the entry is still a little bit glitchy, but it's more of a minor annoyance than anything. Speaking of minor inconveniences, my driver side window keeps having an issue where if I roll it down, sometimes the sensor glitches out and keeps the window down whenever I try to roll it up again. The only way to fix this is to keep arguing with the window to roll up, and then you have to hold down the window button until it eventually works.

Now, I totally understand this is an adjustment the Tesla needs to make on Darrin with the sensor, but still, it's a pain to take the time out of my day to take the car down to Tesla to get serviced. So until there's something that's more problematic that comes up, I'm just going to live with it.

Now in terms of the repair process, anytime something breaks on the car, I got to say the one time I've used it has been pretty good. What ended up happening is that I was driving up to San Francisco on a really hot day and I stopped to charge the car. When I did, white smoke started appearing out of the front, and then after a few minutes, I heard a weird hissing sound coming from the front grille. So I called Tesla and they were able to diagnose the problems with the car remotely, and they determined it was an issue with a faulty air conditioner and that otherwise the car was fine to drive.

Well, as we all know, driving a black car in stop-and-go traffic in 100-degree weather without air conditioning is a miserable experience. But in Tesla's defense, they did end up fixing it, and as a replacement loaner car, they gave me a Tesla Model X P90D, which is absolutely amazing. So even though the air conditioner should not have broken in the first place, they did end up making it right. Plus, I've heard a rumor that Tesla will often give you a better loaner car than the car you're currently driving just to give you a better Tesla experience and show you what you're missing out on. So if this is an unspoken rule of Tesla service centers, then I am all okay with it.

Lastly, in terms of a negative, I just want to say this: I probably would have been a little upset how I paid five thousand dollars for the full self-driving option a year ago and still today not be able to use it as it was advertised. See, Tesla was aiming for full self-city driving by the end of 2019, and for $5,000, you could buy it before the price went up.

Well, they were right; the price did go up all the way to $7,000, but full self-driving has yet to become available, and I can't see it being implemented and used at least for another few years. That was one of the reasons why I decided to only opt for the normal autopilot feature without paying an extra five thousand dollars for something I was not going to be able to use. Like, I would much rather put that five thousand dollars in Tesla stock that would end up making me way more money than tying it up in a feature I wasn't really going to be using.

So with the bad out of the way, here's what I really like about the car, and these are the reasons that make the negative experiences totally worth it. First, autopilot; it's absolutely amazing. In the very beginning, I felt extremely uneasy about leaving my own safety and the safety of everyone else around me in the hands of a computer learning algorithm that guides the car on my behalf.

But after using it, I got to say the self-driving feature is a better driver than 99% of people on the road. It keeps the car right in the middle of the lane, it's avoided accidents from cars who have tried to merge into me, it keeps me going at the precise speed I set it to, and it makes the overall trip just so much more enjoyable, especially with all the stop-and-go traffic in Los Angeles. It takes a mental toll on you to constantly pay attention, hit the gas, hit the brakes, hit the gas. Well, there is no gas; hit the acceleration, hit the brakes.

But with autopilot, it does all the work for you. It allows me to completely zone out and to think about whatever I want to think about—like smashing the like button for the YouTube algorithm—and the car just guides you to wherever you want to go. Like, you know that driver fatigue you'll sometimes feel in long trips where you arrive somewhere and you're just exhausted? Well, with autopilot, you don't have that feeling; you show up to your destination feeling just as good as when you left, and for me that is worth the entire price of the car plus so much more.

Second, there's absolutely something to be said about not having a gas-powered engine. This means I never need to stop at gas stations, I never need to worry about changing the oil, there's never any mechanic that has to tinker with the engine or change timing belts. It's really as plug-and-play as you can get—literally. Plus, electricity is way cheaper than gasoline, so that ends up just saving me money.

Since I could plug my car in at home and it charges at a rate of 32 miles an hour. Now, to be able to do this, I had to install a 240-volt outlet on the side of my house, which cost me about $800 since I had to run the line 50 feet from the circuit breaker. But doing that allows me to charge at that speed, much faster than if I just plugged it into a normal outlet. Within my house, which by the way, I actually did for the first like two months of owning the car. I ran an extension cord from the living room into my driveway and that charged the car at about five miles an hour, which is totally okay for normal city driving.

Now in terms of how much it costs to charge the car at home, for me it works out to be about a dollar a day. This gets me about 30 miles of normal city driving every day, and then I just plug it in at night to top it off. But I could also probably make it a week without ever plugging it in just with normal city driving and not driving too far.

The third, speaking of the cost of owning a Tesla, we can't talk about that without talking about car insurance. Tesla just came out with their own Tesla car insurance, which is significantly cheaper than almost anything else out there. This is because Tesla understands how to fix their own cars in-house, and if their accident-avoidant capabilities are good, so they will go ahead and insure it for you for a fraction of the price. No joke, I have been quoted over two hundred and fifty dollars a month to insure this car as a twenty-nine-year-old here in Los Angeles, but with Tesla insurance, they got it down to one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month with even more coverage.

So, for anyone who's been thinking about this but has been held back by some of the hefty insurance costs, then worry no longer; Tesla insurance is something I would highly recommend. Fourth, I absolutely love how much storage this car has. You have a trunk here in the front, also known as a trunk, which is big enough for a small suitcase and some groceries. Then, you have a massive trunk, which turns into even more of a massive trunk when you put the back seats down.

Not the most comfortable, and then if you need even more storage, you have this compartment over here, and that way they're completely out of sight from bad guys and criminals who want to steal your stuff. And then we have the almighty Tesla app. From all the features out there, this one adds the most convenience by far. On here, you could set the car to begin heating before you even arrive. That way, on a cold morning, you could walk into the car and it's the perfect temperature, or if it's scorching hot outside in the middle of summer, you could set the car to cool down by the time you arrive.

The app also allows you to lock or unlock your car remotely anywhere in the world, so if you're traveling and someone happened to leave something in your car, well, no problem; just hit the button and the car unlocks. Not to mention for people like me who lose their car very, very easily because they forget where they parked it, it actually tells you where the car is located and it'll map you to its precise location. You can also schedule a service if your car ever has an issue right from the app without ever needing to call anybody, which by the way, just a heads up here, good luck ever reaching someone at a Tesla service center if you ever call them.

I think the reason they automated through the app is because when you call, it just continually rings over and over and over again and then goes to a voicemail. So, there's that, but at least the app works. Oh, and remember when I talked about having to wait at superchargers a little bit longer while going on long trips? Well, it's actually not all that bad because the center screen also turns into a TV in the event you want to watch YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu.

So, anytime we're parked at a supercharger for more than 15 minutes, it's super easy just to watch my own videos or watch The Office, whatever you choose. Or if you're also not much of a TV person, you can also play a whole bunch of games. The choice is yours, but either way, waiting in a supercharger does not need to be a boring experience, and Tesla made sure of that.

And lastly, we need to talk about the updates. That's right, just like an iPhone, this car gets over-the-air updates that just improve the features on the car, which means the car just gets better with time. The car gets updated with new games, new features, better range, faster acceleration, you name it. I'm always really excited anytime I see an update because it's just like, what did Elon Musk think of next?

So, in terms of my overall ownership experience, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised. The ride is incredibly smooth, having this giant monitor in the middle of the car makes navigating around the city so easy, the sound system is incredibly good, and the acceleration is pretty quick. And besides the few issues I mentioned, this car has been problem-free.

Now, I'll admit if I were to buy this car all over again, I probably should have opted for the long range model. For normal city driving, the standard range plus is totally fine, but on long road trips, you absolutely notice that extra 70 miles of range. Not to mention, I bet the resale value of the long-range Teslas would be just as good, so in a way, I bet you would be able to recoup a lot of that cost by the time you sold the car.

I also wish I would have spent the extra one thousand dollars to buy the white interior instead; even though I love the black, the white interior is really just so representative of it and seems really high-end, so I wish I would have gone for it. Then, in terms of wanting additional performance or acceleration, I just feel like that's not needed. Even though the performance model is an absolute beast of a car and the acceleration is unreal, what I use this car for, the extra speed wouldn't do anything for me except get me in trouble.

But for anyone out there who wants the extra power, then sure, go for it. And I gotta say, from my experience of owning this car now for almost an entire year, it's easily my favorite car that I have ever owned. I wish I was getting paid by Tesla to say this. People sometimes think I'm some Tesla shill who's just getting paid to say all of this, but no, Tesla doesn't need to pay for any promotion. I think their product just really speaks for itself.

A lot of the promotion is done by word-of-mouth, so it's really not surprising just how well these cars are selling. When it comes down to it, driving and owning a Tesla is very much an experience. It's kind of like getting an iPhone after having owned a Blackberry for 10 years, and once you get it, it's really hard to look at cars the same way ever again.

So, there's my review, and I really hope you enjoy it. If you have any other video ideas or suggestions you want me to cover, make sure to comment down below, let me know. As you guys know, I pretty much read all of the comments. So with that said, thank you so much for watching! I really appreciate it. As always, if you guys enjoy content like this, make sure to subscribe, hit the notification bell so YouTube notifies you anytime I post a video. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram. I post here pretty much daily, so if you want to be a part of it, there, feel free to add me there.

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