I’ve lived with our 2018 Tesla Model 3 for over five years now, and it is the most practical and reliable car I’ve had. Yes, it is an electric appliance with just a smidge of soul, but if I need to effortlessly get across town or across the state, the Model 3 is the car I’ll pick first.
Yet, I’ve got a few gripes with our 2018 Tesla Model 3, gripes that are rumored to be resolved in the 2024 Model 3.
Gripe #1: This is the big one: The 2018 Model 3 has a busy ride, especially for backseat passengers. One feels constantly jostled as the car goes down the road, and the rear axle sends jolts into the back seat.
Gripe #2: Our 2018 Model 3 has more rattles than Buy Buy Baby. The suspension can be heard clunking in all four wheel wells, and squeaks come from every corner of the car.
Gripe #3: (This one is our fault.) We bought a Model 3 Mid Range with a 65 kWh battery. On highway trips with an 10% to 80% charging strategy and an 80 mph cruising speed, our car only goes about 125 miles between charges. Los Angeles is 350 miles away, so our most frequent destination has become a two-stopper, where our ICE cars did it in one. And, by picking a rear-wheel-drive Model 3, we made winter trips to Tahoe more difficult because we must don tire chains when the snow starts to fall.
Enter the 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range. With dual-motor AWD, a bigger battery, and a new investment in ride quality and cabin quietness, my gripes may now be bygones.
The 2024 Model 3 is a major refresh for the Model 3, but it’s still just a refresh. As such, the car’s shape and dimensions are largely unchanged and it takes a keen eye to spot the updated lights and bumpers.
My first contact with the 2024 Model 3 is its door handle. Its flush design is familiar, but the new door is heftier and closes with a more substantial thunk. Tesla has added an extra latching point in the middle of the door sill, which might reduce rattles and improve crashworthiness.
Settling into the 2024 Model 3’s driver’s seat, I find a curious mix of familiar and remade. The airy glass-roof cabin, the prominent central touchscreen, and the pared-down dashboard are familiar. The doors and central console are remade, with new switches, better cubby lids, and minor material upgrades.
The 2018 Model 3 had no mood lighting, but the 2024 is keeping up with the times: An arc of ambient lighting swoops across the dashboard and onto the doors. The execution is similar to what is found in the Mercedes EQE SUV, but Tesla just allows a single color for the whole cabin, while Mercedes blends many colors together in themes.
I also note that the steering wheel is slimmed down and decorated for 2024. There is metal detailing on the six-o’clock spoke and a proliferation of thumb buttons at nine and three. The new controls—which include the blinkers, high beams and wipers—are refugees from the axed turn signal and drive selector stalks.
I’m disappointed that the 2024 Model 3’s seats are firmer than the 2018’s. Does the new seat ventilation require thinner padding? The old car’s front thrones were plumply overstuffed, curvy in all the right places, and oh-so-comfortable. But no matter how much I tinker with the 2024’s seat controls, I can’t get the lumbar support I desire. What a shame!
Before hitting the road, I explore the 2024 Model 3’s back bench. The rear shoulder, head and foot room appear unchanged in the refreshed car. The seating is comfortable for two adults of average height, and three grownups can squeeze in in a pinch.
The newest feature for the back seats is a small display on the back of the center console. The screen can adjust the climate control, but more excitingly, it can stream Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and Disney+ for the kids. My girls would enjoy this feature, although watching videos at shin height might trigger twin fountains of car sick.
Thankfully, the rear seat A/C is stronger in the 2024 Model 3 than in the 2018. The glass roof makes the car a solar oven, so improved cooling is critical for passenger comfort.
The trunk in our 2018 Model 3 is a marvel, as it takes a full-sized sedan’s load of luggage and even hides a pair of grocery bags under the floor. The 2024’s trunk appears to be equally commodious, though its under-floor storage may have been trimmed by the Long Range’s larger battery. Because the 2024’s lid is motorized, it closes with gravitas rather than the tinny slam of our 2018’s trunk.
Having surveyed the new Model 3 from head to toe, I’m eager to start my drive. I hop back in the driver’s seat and configure the car to my preferences. The new UI is nearly identical to the old Model 3’s—Tesla has pushed frequent software updates to our 2018—and I easily find the drive settings. The interface is bright, responsive and easy to navigate, though the menus are getting longer as Tesla packs on the features.
I put the steering into its middle resistance mode and the accelerator mapping into its fastest. While adjusting the steering wheel position, I notice that the wheel can move higher than before. (Not that I needed that extra height.)
With the drive stalk gone, I look around the cabin for physical PRND buttons but can’t find them anywhere. (They are hidden, unilluminated, near the rearview mirror.) Instead, I see that the leftmost edge of the infotainment screen is an elongated strip for shifting between forward and reverse. Swiping upwards engages drive and downwards reverse. (I hear the 2024 Model 3 can guess my intended direction, but that option is off.) I flick up for drive and set the 2024 into motion.
Now that I’m moving, the onscreen controls for drive and reverse hide. This is a little scary as if I had to make an emergency stop and reverse away from danger, it might take extra time to engage reverse!
Even though I’ve matched the steering resistance setting of the 2024 Model 3 to my 2018, the steering wheel feels heavier as I negotiate the parking lot. Approaching the lot’s exit, muscle memory has me swipe for the phantom turn-signal stalk. It takes a hard look at the steering wheel and two thumb presses before I manage to turn on the blinker.
Driving through the city at 25 mph, the 2024 Model 3 communicates less road texture than the 2018. At first, I chalk it up to the smooth road, but the feedback remains distant when the surface degrades. Tesla worked on giving the 2024 Model 3 a silkier ride, but some of that silk is gagging the previously talkative steering.
I cross the railroad tracks without hearing a cacophony of suspension clunking or cabin rattles. Gripe #2 is sorted: this 2024 Model 3 comes out of the factory tightly screwed together. (Although our 2018 developed its cabin noises with age.)
Heading into an industrial zone, the roads become choppier and potholed. In this neighborhood, the 2018 Model 3 was jittery and threw little donkey kicks over potholes. Commendably, the 2024 Model 3 smooths the bumps and eliminates the hard kicks. I couldn’t test it, but I believe passengers will find the backseat ride quality of the 2024 Tesla Model 3 much improved. Cross off gripe #1. The 2024 drives with the firm composure of a well-sorted sports sedan.
It takes a few lefts and rights—and hand swipes at empty air—to get to the highway. In the rare cases that I remember the blinker controls are on the wheel, I have to look down to locate the button. And, sadly, without the stalk, I can’t bump for three flashes to indicate lane changes.
Stupidly, the direction I’ve picked feeds me into stop-and-go rush-hour traffic. As I wait at the metering lights, I activate Autopilot. Autopilot is a liability in town but a pleasure on the highway, and the 2024 Model 3 does an astonishingly competent job of zippering into the clogged lane. Autopilot is the primary reason I prefer our Model 3 for long trips; it lessens my driving load with its human-like highway driving.
The Autopilot Full Self Driving display is the one piece of UI that looks substantially updated for 2024. The rendering of the world around is clearer and more authoritative; in my 2018 Model 3 with V3 Autopilot hardware, the rendered world is sketchy and constantly flickering as the system detects objects in the distance.
Right now, the 2024 Model 3 has a 75% charge and predicts a 249-mile range. Teslas tend to be optimistic with their range predictions—at least for my driving style. Doing the math, I realize the new car is underperforming its EPA-rated 341-mile range on a full charge, but it still handily outlasts our 2018 Model 3 Mid Range, which predicts about 240 miles range on a full charge or 180 miles on a 75% charge. Gripe #3 is sorted.
The traffic is so slow that I turn my attention to the radio. The 2018 Model 3 has phenomenal stereo, and I flick through the streaming music, looking for a good song. Sia’s Unstoppable is the first familiar hit, and it sounds terrific—deep and rich—in the 2024 Model 3. The 2024 still has a kicking stereo.
At the first interchange, I rectify my rush-hour mistake and reverse course to run against the flow of traffic. The metering lights for southbound Hwy 80 let me sample a 0-60 mph sprint in the 2024 Model 3.
Until now, I haven’t noticed the extra 138 hp that the 2024 Model 3 Long Range wields over my 258 hp RWD 2018 Model 3. (The acceleration map for the two cars hides the power difference.) Determined to find the missing ponies, I stomp the accelerator and the car pounds back with a sharp slap of thrust. The acceleration builds until 35 mph and then sustains longer than it would in my 2018 Model 3.
While the jolt and torque plateau is impressive, I can’t see needing the 2024 Model 3’s 396 hp when my RWD is already adequately spritely. (My wife makes me dizzy with her block-by-block sprints.)
Trotting along at 75 mph, the 2024 Model 3’s steering finds its voice and communicates the pavement texture better than it did at slow speeds. Different high-frequency vibrations come through the wheel over coarse and fine pavement and concrete slabs. The new car isn’t quite as chatty as the 2018 Model 3, but it still talks.
Highway speeds show off the 2024 Model 3’s new refinement. Wind noise is largely absent, and the tire noise is modest. Passengers should be able to talk normally in the 2024 Model 3, whereas they raised their voices in the 2018. The 2024’s suspension is also more supple over highway bumps, leading to a calmer ride.
But can the 2024 Model 3 deliver driving excitement?
The Fish Ranch Road exit is a tight hairpin, which I attack with gusto. The 2024 Model 3 hugs the corner and bolts past the apex. Through the steering, I feel torque going through the front wheels; through the seat, I sense the ESP moderating the power. (Like in the 2018 Model 3, Tesla’s ESP preemptively pulls power before the tires slip.) The 2024 Model 3 is undeniably athletic.
This initial impression holds as I rapidly climb Grizzly Peak. The new car is supremely confident in the corners, with its chassis breathing over the bumps, keeping the tires under control without pummeling the passengers. The 2024 Model 3 is a well-sorted sports sedan with suspension tuning befitting a BMW 540i M Sport.
Yet, while there’s a great turn of speed up the mountain, I don’t get much joy from hooning the 2024 Model 3. The aggressively-quick steering feels EPAS rubbery, and I miss the clear communication from the helm of my 2018 Model 3. Additionally, the 2024 feels less free to rotate than my RWD 2018. Could its extra weight (4,056 lbs vs. 3,838 lbs), front-heavy AWD, chassis tuning, or 235/45R18 Hankook Ventus S1 AS tires be blunting its responses? At least one of these factors is at play because my 2018 Model 3 is equally agile but purer in feel.
After my test drive, it is clear that the 2024 Model 3 has as many new weaknesses as it has new strengths. While gripes #1, #2 and #3 have been resolved, I now have gripes #4, #5 and #6. The crazy indicator stalk deletion is hard to accept, and I am sorely disappointed (pun intended) that the seat comfort has been compromised. But more than anything, the Model 3 has lost its connected feel, and that won’t do for this steering fetishist. I buy cars based on fingertip feedback, and the 2024 Model 3 AWD Long Range is not a standout in that regard.
So as the Righteous Brothers sang:
Bring back that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
Bring back that lovin’ feelin’
‘Cause it’s gone, gone, gone
And I can’t go on, whoa-oh
Mike's Steering Column 