Tesla Model 3 - long-term review

Our long-term test reports don't commonly end with the odo as high as 37,699 miles. But then they don't usually start at 30,000 as this secondhand one did.

So let's first answer the questions we posed in report 1: "Will longevity of the fit and finish be an issue?"

Well, there are some strange mismatches between panels and interior trim parts. Those haven't got any worse, and apart from slightly shiny driver's seat leather they don't strike me as any different from my memories of driving Models 3s when they were new in that era. The interior squeaks a little, but that's mostly on humid days when the frameless glass frets on its seals as the doors move a smidge over bumps.

"Is the dreaded battery degradation really a thing?" Well, Tesla isn't that clear about battery capacity, but general internet spoddery puts this version at 75kWh net when new. Now, looking at the trip computer and multiplying each trip's mileage by the energy consumption readout (the car self-reports in Wh/mile), then dividing by the proportion of battery used in that trip, is giving me around 67kWh net capacity.

Which is more loss than I expected. So as a sense-check I looked at the measured electricity input from the bills I got at each charge, and added 10 per cent charging loss, a figure I've found normal for EVs. It correlated at 67kWh. So yeah, we seem to have degraded by around 11 per cent capacity since new.

Still, this is what they do. Page 35 of Tesla's 2023 Impact Report shows the dataset of a huge number of its cars, a graph dropping on average to 90 per cent by 50k miles, but then levelling out and retaining comfortably over 80 per cent at 200k miles. Our result looks within one standard deviation of the mean.

So the next owner of this car will very likely get a stable battery. One that has usually been getting me 250 miles on a motorway if there's a bit of traffic and roadworks slowdowns.

Ting! Next question. "Will the styling, interior and chassis upgrades made to the Model 3 in late 2023 be sorely missed on this earlier car?" On handing the 2021 car back at the Tesla centre in Brent Cross, North London, I jumped into a brand-new one for a couple of hours.

Well the new interior looks little different but is definitely if subtly improved in material quality and assembly accuracy. Not life-changing. The new stalkless steering column, replaced by buttons on the wheel, are OK y'know. That's despite my initial horror at the indicator buttons: one above the other for a side-to-side operation – huh? At least they self-cancel more consistently than before.

But so much of what annoys me about this car is how it insists, in many ways, it knows best. So it doesn't have a 'transmission' lever now, because it uses its front and rear cameras to decide whether you'll want to depart forwards or backwards. The over-ride, on the screen, seems kludgy.

The new styling? Yes, good. It improves aero for a slight efficiency gain (motors and electronics are the same) and it looks sharper, perhaps shark-like, at the front. Cleaner at the rear too because the lights are no longer split in two.

It's better down the road. Tesla says the springs are tauter but that's not obvious. Instead you notice the more fluent damping, so the ride is less wooden without loss of body control.

"Is this the first car companion app I might actually find useful?" See report 5 for that.

"What treats will over the air updates bring me while I sleep?" A few small things as it went along, and then right near the end, a new seat menu and most significant the 'Actually Smart Summon' feature that lets you bring the car to you at parking speed using the phone app. But you're not supposed to use it on public roads and it was just days before the car went, so I couldn't try it.

Still, it was good to see this 2021 car had effective anti-ageing. On the day I drove the 2025 one, it had exactly the same software and interface. Including almost all the interface fails and inconsistencies I mentioned in report 3.

So, yeah the old one is fine and I wouldn't fear one with a higher mileage than this. After all you'd probably have heard if high-milers were a disaster in wait, because they've sold so many now. Here in London the Tesla is the cockapoo of cars. Ten years ago you never saw one, and now there are three on every street.