There are three variants of the Model 3 on sale currently: the Standard Range Plus, Long Range and Performance. Here’s how all three stack up…
or you can access the car via your smartphone. There is a roomy and minimalist cabin. The windscreen is
How does it drive?
There are three versions sold in the UK in 2021: l Standard Range Plus @£40,990 l Long Range @£48,490 l Performance @£59,990
Design and engineering The Model 3 flies in the face of the car industry’s obsession to rush headlong into the arms of the lardy SUV. It’s relatively compact at 4694mm long and 2088mm wide, including door mirrors, and shorter than the established junior execs, such as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4, but has managed to remain recognisably a Tesla thanks to its low nose, tapering rear and ample glasshouse. The electric car range quoted above is the official WLTP range, stretching from 278 miles in the Standard Range Plus model via the 352-mile Performance to 360 miles in the Long Range spec.
seat, thanks to a cleverly sculpted centre console armrest with space for a fifth person’s feet.
panoramic, and the view forwards is clear and commanding, even if you don’t sit with the seat in a high position.
Much of the experience will be familiar to anyone who’s driven a Tesla Model S (or, indeed, any electric car). Niceties such as the Mercedes-Benz-style push-to-hold parking brake remain, but any remaining vestiges of Daimler switchgear have now been eliminated. Quality is good enough in here. It’s a stepchange over the ageing Model S and we’d judge that users in this price bracket will be quite
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The interior: a minimalist cabin
Even as you approach the Tesla Model 3’s interior, it’s apparent this car does things differently. There is no key - rather, you use an RFID card
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There are no buttons on the centre console, just a pair of roller-knobs on the steering wheel, four window switches on the door and (buried on the seat) the usual electric backrest and squab adjusters. It’s especially impressive in the rear passenger compartment, where a tall adult can fit comfortably in the middle
comfortable with the trim and materials used, with slush-moulded, soft-feel materials used throughout. The body rigidity is excellent, and the cabin is creak-free on the roughest of B-roads. This is an extremely slippery shape; Tesla quotes a drag coefficient of just 0.23, and the car does indeed cleave through the air quietly and with minimal fuss.
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