DON EDMUNDS: This is our new Tesla Model 3 sedan.
We've had a couple of weeks.
And in that time, I've driven it home, I've taken it shopping,
I've even driven it up into the mountains
for a little bit of fun.
But what I haven't done is what I'm about to do now.
I'm going to drive in on a test track and see what it can do.
So I'm going to pretty much just step off the brake,
step on the gas, and see what she's got.
Oh yeah.
That feels like a Tesla.
That's properly quick.
This has only got 258 horsepower,
but it's rear drive.
And it puts it all down.
And that's a pretty impressive launch
for a car that in its cheapest form will cost $35,000.
This one here is optioned up.
It's got the long range battery and the premium upgrades
package.
So it's about $56,000.
It's direct drive.
There's no transmission.
There's no shifting.
There's no special mode I have to put it in.
I just step on the gas.
And even right now, I'm in hold mode,
I got my foot off the brake.
So I just mash it and go.
The Model 3 is laid out like the Model S. It's got a rear drive
electric motor.
This is not a dual motor Model 3.
Those aren't going to be produced for a few more months.
So the single motor in the back of this car
makes 258 horsepower, which doesn't seem like a lot,
but the numbers that it's generating,
pretty darn impressive.
It helps and it's rear wheel drive.
When I mash the throttle, all the way
transfers onto the drive wheels.
And I get a great launch.
Acceleration is strongest right off the line, which
makes sense.
And then it kind of flattens out a little bit at top speed.
That's characteristic of an electric motor.
They've got 100% of their torque at zero RPM right at launch.
No surprise there.
And since there's no gears for it to shift into,
it's a direct drive situation.
It just kind of plateaus.
And the plateau depends on how much horsepower you've got,
and we've got 258.
I'm going to try something a little different
for this acceleration run.
All Tesla vehicles have a gauge that
shows how much consumption they're using instantaneously.
Generally, if you want to hit the rated range of the vehicle,
you've got to get close to a certain number.
In the Model S, that's about 310 watt hours per mile.
That's higher in the model X.
We haven't figured out what it is in the Model 3.
This is a more efficient car.
It's a lighter car.
To get its rated range, it's in the low 200s.
But I want to know what kind of consumption
you get when you just do one quarter mile run.
So what I've done is I've reset the meter.
It says zero watt hours per mile on trip odometer B.
And I'm going to punch it, and let you know
what it is at the other end.
Here we go.
It hasn't updated yet 2,605 watt hours per mile.
It's down to 1,289 because I got on the brakes.
But it was 2,605 the moment I lifted off.
So that's a lot.
Next I'm going to try braking.
We didn't buy the optional 19 inch summer tire upgrade.
These are the base 18 inch all season tires.
So these tires may not have the grip
necessary to get the best stopping distance.
But I don't expect it to be terrible.
Here we go.
The thing about the panic stop test
is it's good to know what the car is
capable of in an emergency situation.
But in most daily use situations,
because this car is electric and because it
has strong regenerative braking, you almost never
need to touch the pedal.
Straight line testing acceleration, braking,
and the like, it's all well and good,
but this is where it all matters--
putting it all together on a circuit.
And this thing just jumps out of corners.
A little out of shape there.
I really like the way the steering is weighted.
It's got three settings.
This is the sport setting.
Sport setting is a little bit better
in terms of build up and feel.
And the steering wheel is fantastic.
Pillars are slender, the cal's really low.
Brakes are really easy to modulate.
They're not as powerful as I'd like though.
I mean, rear drive that's great.
But the low center of gravity because the batteries
underneath the floor, that's awesome.
And the weight balances, really feels good.
It's just I little more tire, that's it.
That's what it comes down to.
A lot of punch down this back straight.
The brakes don't feel like they quite have what I''d like right
there.
I really like the way it bends into the corners,
goes right on my line.
There's a little bit more understeer than I'd like,
but that gets back to the tires.
Boy, it really leaps out of that slow corner.
Well, my average after those laps
is 1,042 for a sustained Lafley.
That's a lot of fun.
There is plenty of thrust from this 258 horsepower
electric motor to really get your attention on the straight
away.
And it comes out of corners really nice too.
Tires are another story.
I wish there was a little bit more grip,
but that's partially our fault. These
are the 18 inch base tires.
These are the fuel economy tires.
If performance matters, the extra $1,500
is probably worth it.
But if you're into efficiency and getting the most
range that you possibly can, the base tire is the ticket.
Well that's it for our first track test of the Tesla Model 3
sedan.
But it won't be our last, because we
have this car for a whole year.
During that time, we're going to come back
here, try a few things.
Maybe our opinion will change, maybe it won't.
But we're starting in a great place.
For more information on this car and others
in our long term test fleet, go to edmunds.com.
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