- What's up all you barf bags,
I'm driving new cars and talking about 'em.
It's the New Car Show,
starring two-time Kentucky Junior Rodeo Champion,
James Pumphrey.
(ding)
(electronic dance music)
Real quick,
I want to thank Turo for hooking us up
with this car.
Apparently, Model 3s are sort of hard to get,
but Turo has a ton of 'em.
They have a ton of other awesome cars too,
like Lambos, and Porches, and stuff.
Stay tuned to the end of the episode
to find how out you can save 25% on your first Turo car.
Click the link below to get the app.
The electric car take-over
is something we've been expecting for
about 20 years now.
But always seemed about 10 years away.
The technology isn't there, they'd say.
The infrastructure ain't ready.
Well I got news for you guys.
The future is here.
Thanks to one little company called Tesla.
'Sup, Elon.
We love you guys.
We like Tesla so much that we sent one into space.
♪ Space, space ♪
Tesla launched their first car, the Tesla Roadster
in 2008.
Where were you 10 years ago?
Personally, I just moved to the big city.
A little small town boy
with a dream of being the best boy
who yelled about cars on the internet ever.
I'm gonna make it, dad.
I'm gonna be an internet man.
(dramatic chord)
A lot has changed since then.
When the Roadster debuted,
people wrote it off as a flash in the pan.
Hopes weren't high for Tesla,
but today, I mean, just look at this.
(rock music)
the Model 3 is Tesla's most basic car,
both in price, and features.
Their goal with this car
is to bring electric to the common driver.
Now this car starts at $35,000.
And the premium features that this one has:
closer to 50k.
So what is it actually like to drive.
A lot of people say,
"Oh, it's electric, but it feels just like a car."
A car is a car is a car.
You won't even notice.
Bull (beep), baaap.
I'm a level with you guys.
This thing is weird,
but not in a bad way.
We all know there's no engine in it so it is
alarmingly quiet.
And you turn it on with a friggin' credit card.
There's no start button.
There's nothing to tell you that the car is running
because it doesn't run.
Yeah.
(dramatic chord)
You just put your trust in it,
select drive, and hope you pull away.
You press the gas pedal to accelerate.
All you hear is the tires and a slight hum.
Oh God.
It's cheesy, but I kind of wished they would have played
some sort of noise through the speakers
just to give me some feedback.
Perhaps a (imitates car engine revving)
Okay, I'm going a 100.
One of the biggest things that weirded me out
is the lack of shifting.
There's no transmission so you never get that
(imitates engine revving)
that you get in normal cars.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a new thing.
It's like in Mario Kart,
when you go through all the checkpoints
and it's like bing, I'm brave.
Bing.
Jesus.
(spontaneous dance music)
Makes my tummy hurt sometimes.
Besides the lack of noise, the Model 3 is fun.
The electric motors pull pretty hard.
It does 0-60 in 5.1 seconds.
That's not so bad.
Aw dude, well.
Jesus.
(laughing)
So torque-y.
Oh God.
(laughing)
So sick.
Now I've heard some complaints on the internet
about how at cruising speed, the acceleration
is not impressive.
And I just gotta say,
I wish this one was closer to a Model S, and it's not.
It's just a nice, small sedan.
So the exterior is pretty good.
But it doesn't fall into the trap
that a lot of other electric cars do.
I.e. look like an electric car.
The only thing that keys you into the fact
that this thing doesn't have an engine,
is the lack of grill up front.
Blank stare.
Poker face.
If I can be frank... furt.
It looks kinda like a little Panamera.
The Model 3 is just a really good looking car;
not too flashy, but not boring.
Tesla nailed it.
Elon Musk probably doodled it on a napkin
during brunch with Steven Spielberg or something.
One thing that they didn't exactly nail
was putting it together.
I'm sorry, I know, it's the go-to Tesla criticism.
But there were some pretty noticeable
body gaps all around the car.
In the rear especially.
But I don't really made gaps in the rear.
When you get inside,
that is where you really see
how different the Model 3 than every other car.
There's not even a dash.
There are no buttons anywhere.
Except for two scroll-y guys on the steering wheel.
There hasn't been a car this bareboned since the Model T.
And that's a big James Pumphrey guarantee.
The only interface you get is this giant tablet
right in the center of the car.
You control everything
through this screen.
And then these touchscreen and cool,
which sounds cool, but it's sometimes a pain in the ass.
Say you want to turn on the air.
I got to have A/C, I'm a sweaty guy.
Sue me.
Don't sue me.
In a normal car, you turn like two knobs at most.
And you never take your eyes off the road.
In the Model 3, you gotta poke at the screen,
look at it, seems kinda dangerous to be honest.
And it's like this for every function of the car.
I get why there aren't any traditional knobs or button.
Accessories like that add cost
to development and construction time.
But I gotta say,
there's reason why every other car on the road has them.
They just work.
Also, the Model 3 doesn't have door handles on the inside.
It has buttons.
At first, I hated it, but it grew on me.
For the most part, I felt like an adult driving around.
I felt very sensible.
Like someone who does their taxes
a month before they're due.
Also the sunroof is cool.
What Tesla has cleverly done
is portray themselves as a tech company,
and not a car company.
Their model rollouts are closer to something you'd see at
an Apple keynote or CES.
Very little of what they do
is like a regular car company.
And sometimes, that works.
And sometimes, it doesn't.
It really depends on whether or not you like Tesla.
And I do.
Shouts out to Turo, for sponsoring this episode
of the New Car Show.
Turo is a car sharing app,
that lets you choose from the awesomest cars
you can ever think of.
Turo is an awesome way
to experience the cars that you can't afford to drive daily.
I mean, what do you think I was doing?
They have a ton of options.
Over 850 makes and models.
And they're all really, really cheap.
Like, way cheaper than traditional rental places.
They've got cars in 5,500 cities,
and over 300 airports.
I can't even name half that many airports.
Plus, you can get the car delivered to you.
I had a blast driving this Model 3,
and if you wanna have a blast
driving car that you can't afford,
hit up Turo.
And at checkout, make sure you enter donut25
to get $25 off your first rental with Turo.
Click the link below to get the app.
If you guys click the link, then I get more cars to drive
and we get to make cool content for you guys to watch.
Support Turo.
'Cause Turo supports Donut.
Hey, hit that subscribe button.
The more subscribers that we get,
the more cool stuff we get to do.
You guys are honestly the only reason
that a lot of us have jobs.
Literally, most of us, did not go to college.
Follow Donut Media on Instagram @donutmedia.
Follow me on Instagram @jamespumphrey.
If you want some cool Donut merch,
go to shop.donut.media
you wanna learn what VTEC means?
Check out this episode of Science Garage.
You want to learn about a car with an engine,
check out this episode of Up To Speed.
Tell your parents you love 'em.
I love you, Free Meek