If you’ve watched any of Nick Murray’s videos before, you’d know that he likes BMW as a brand. He’s owned an E92 BMW M3 and an F82 BMW M4 and really enjoyed owning both. He also still owns an old E30-gen 3 Series back in New Zealand. So when he test BMW’s newest rival’s newest car, it’s interesting to see what he has to say. In this latest video, Murray drives the Tesla Model 3, the Silicon Valley brand’s latest entry and its attempt to take on the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. So what does he think?
It seems as if Murray is quite enthusiastic about the Model 3. He drives it mostly on the highway and in a straight line, so we don’t really get to see what it’s like to drive on some twisty back roads. However, that’s really the important part of testing any new Tesla because you get to see how well its famous Autopilot system works. Murray uses it for awhile, until it locks him out for using it wrong, and it seems to work really quite well. It even changes lanes smoothly and it’s nice to see that Tesla added the necessity to touch the steering wheel every once in awhile, or else it will lock you out. So no jumping in the back seat anymore.
He also seems to think that it drives really well, surprisingly well, even. And we’ve heard that before, that it has surprisingly good steering and handling. However, what I, personally, can’t get over is the fact that it’s just so minimalist and digital to the point of being boring. There isn’t a single button in the car and everything is controlled by a massive touchscreen in the center dash. While the screen looks cool, there are about a million submenus to dig through to do the simplest of tasks. For instance, if you want to adjust the rear seat HVAC controls, you have to press two different icons on the screen just to get to the rear seat menu. While driving, that can get tedious.
It also just seems to have no soul at all. It’s a very impressive car, there’s no doubt about that. It’s just a very impressive appliance. I have a coffee machine that’s very impressive. This is a lot like that. But my personal distaste for Teslas doesn’t take away from the fact that it is a surprisingly impressive achievement. The Tesla Model 3 is good to drive, comfortable, high-tech and very functional. I just hope that Tesla learns how to manufacture some character and enthusiasm into its cars, like the BMW i3.
