A friend just got a Model 3 and I flew over to Tampa to visit him and drive it. He came to Tampa International and let me drive the car from Sheltair TPA about 15 minutes over to his shop.
First thing, it's unique, with unusual flush door handles and a really interesting set of glass roof panels that let in very little light. The interior is comfortable, simple and basic looking, is not in any way distracting or busy. The center display panel is quite simply, perfect. It's a high resolution panel that will (and does) display everything you need and want. Including fantastic maps and traffic information. Just ask for what ever song you want and the system looks up the song and plays it on a fairly good audio system. It's got plenty of audio HP, but it's not quite audiophile quality, good but not fantastic.
The autopilot works well and will drive in traffic properly, until you neglect to touch the steering wheel, then it locks you out of the system for the rest of the trip. I found this amusing and annoying.
The car is stupidly quiet inside. Very little road noise gets in. Possibly due to the big 2170 battery pack under the floor. While it has no engine noise, it does have motor noise when power is called for, and it's pleasing.
As far as power goes, it's real-world fast. While not stupidly fast off the line like the P100D, it's sports car fast with tires at the grip limit, and it's fast at speed too. Passing people is a really fun event. Just jam the pedal to the floor and it's 90mph in seconds. Other drivers can do NOTHING to keep you from passing. We had a guy in a Challenger try to zoom and cut us off, nope! The instant response is, quite frankly, amazing and really pleasing.
The steering is as responsive and quick as any sports car, and the over all feel of the driving dynamics is better than my S2000. It's quick to turn in and the grip is sufficient to want to drive it like an idiot. Of course, the car slows rapidly upon pedal lift, for regen. But the brakes are really good too. The brakes worked properly with none of that wonky hybrid car feel. I think most/all ( ? ) of the regen happens upon pedal lift and the brake pedal is simply a brake pedal.
In any case, it has well over 300 miles range and really begs to be driven like a true sports car. It's the best new car I've ever driven. I LOVE IT. Period.
Driving this thing around Tampa is an absolute blast. Full "throttle" power U-Turns are an absolute ruckus. No drama at all, just a high G event that cannot be duplicated with any other type of vehicle. No downshifting, instant response and no sliding. YEAH!
Last edited:
