Tesla Model 3 - long-term review

We were supposed to be moving house, but that got delayed, so we did what any normal family would at the very last minute – hopped in the Tesla for a 2,000-mile lap of France, visiting friends in the South and stopping at hastily-booked campsites and hotels along the way.

My wife was apprehensive about the silly mileage and charging stress, but mostly about the lack of boot space. My two kids were delighted about the amount of screen time they were about to be encouraged to consume. Me? I was fascinated to find out if the supercharger network was as quick and reliable as I’d heard.

I won’t leave you hanging… 2,184 miles later and we didn’t have a single problem with any Supercharger. Only once did we have to queue, for about five minutes, but other than that plugs were always available, always working and always fast. A better metric, perhaps, is that not once, despite double-digit pit stops, did it feel like we were hanging around waiting for the battery to fill. We were always ready for a break, a runaround, some food, the loo and ready to go again when we hit our target percentage.

Because that’s the really smart part – however elongated your journey, the native sat-nav (no CarPlay here, though honestly I didn’t miss it once) will calculate not only where you need to charge but also for how long, to have enough battery to reach your next charger, or destination for the night.

It will actively reroute you, which happened a couple of times, if that bank of chargers is too busy, and by keeping you mostly in that 20 to 80 per cent sweet spot where the electrons barrel into the battery (and avoiding the slow drip of 80 to 100 per cent), you’re on your way in no time. It’s hugely impressive and endlessly satisfying, like you’re winning at a high stakes strategy game, when in reality you’re just following instructions from your car.

Clearly, at French motorway speeds – 130km/h or 81mph – we’re not hitting our WLTP range of 360-miles, not even close. Around 300km or under 200-miles between stops allowed three hour stints (the human bladder isn’t capable of taking much more), the battery to rarely dip below 15 per cent and no need to dawdle in the slow lane with gritted teeth.

More good stuff: the Autosteer function once you hand over your full trust takes the sting out of a long motorway grind, pre-cooling the cabin while it charged was joyous every time we returned and the phone for key function saved me 7.2 hours rummaging around in beach bags looking for a sandy fob.

Meanwhile, two USB-C chargers in the back were plundered to keep iPads juiced and the kids silent and happy – lucky so and sos, in my day all you got was a severe sweat on and 82 rounds of eye-spy.

Bad bits? The black leather seats get searingly hot – not a Tesla-specific problem, granted, but worth remembering that white leather is sensible if you live somewhere hot.

It doesn’t ride well, the Model 3, but on a smooth motorway at constant speeds, the isolation feels plush. And boot space, well it’s obviously not as a good as the hatchback-ed Model Y, but we made it stick by using bags to build The Great Wall Of Argument Avoidance between the kids in the back, and stuffing the floor space where a transmission tunnel would normally be.

Frankly, I’m totally won over by how easy Tesla has made the EV road-tripping experience and as I ticked off another 400-mile stint, a couple of thoughts crystallised. What does the newer, updated Model 3 bring that this doesn’t? Yes it looks better, rides and steers with more sophistication and can go further on a charge, but the true Tesla experience is in the charging and the software.

I’m not sure I would have used a new one any differently, or enjoyed it any more than this. Also, is the Model 3 the new Golf? It’s a car that you’re proud to own, but most importantly it just works whether you're road tripping or taking a trip to the shops. It doesn’t label you as rich or poor, or tech obsessed – that early adopter image has well and truly worn off. It’s just a car. A good one.