April 2023. California.
This is Part 1 of my 5-year review. The review will be broken up into short posts covering different aspects of owning the Model 3. New posts will be linked below as they go live. Topics will cover:
- 1. Day 1
- 2. My opinion on the car
- 3. Quality & Reliability
- 4. Battery Pack Status
- 5. Charging
- 6. Emissions
- 7. FSD
5 years ago in April 2018 I picked up our Model 3 from the Fremont showroom. After taking a tour of the factory I drove 120 miles home to pick up my kids from soccer practice. I’d been driving an EV for 5 years by that time so I was used to instant torque and acceleration, but that first drive was like piloting a rocket ship.
My family didn’t know I was picking up the car that day so I met the kids at their practice and followed them down the street with camera rolling to catch their reaction:
BTW, kids still like the car…. Looking back it’s remarkable that I ordered this car sight unseen. I waited 2 years from order to delivery and it was worth the wait, and not just because early orders came with a scale model in the center console. I provide more details in a separate post, but in short I love this car.