I did 8000 miles in a second-hand Tesla Model 3 - and this is what I learned

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Across the past decade, industry disruptor Tesla has been the global automotive success story.
And much of that success has been spearheaded by the affordable Tesla Model 3, more than a million of which have found homes since 2017. But 'affordable' is a relative term, and a new one will still set you back just shy of £40k – or nearer £45k for the reassurance of a bigger battery Long Range model.
As our 15 January used buying guide reported, those first cars are now being replaced, so the market is flooded with Model 3s – which is great news for buyers, with prices starting from just £12k.
There's plenty to choose from, whether you want the standard 252bhp rear-wheel drive model or the loopy 444bhp dual-motor Performance. I decided that 346bhp (and 0-60mph in a shade over 4.0sec) was probably more than enough and a claimed 360-mile range suited me, so I opted for the Long Range AWD.
My car has covered 37,771 miles and, being of 2021 vintage, got a heat pump as standard and was made in China (the timber on the dashboard and doors is the giveaway).
Finished in my favourite colour scheme of Midnight Silver with black pleather interior and attractive silver multispoke 19in wheels, it would retail for around £25k-£28k through Tesla's Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) scheme, and I picked it up from the Gatwick branch in West Sussex.
'All CPO Teslas undergo a 200-point inspection that goes through all the vitals of the vehicle,' explained sales manager Kul Rajbansh, who ran me through all of the car's features, pointing out that the tyres on CPO cars must have at least 10,000 miles left on them at the point of sale and there are checks to the cosmetics, interior, battery and brakes.
There's the odd scuff on the alloys, as you would expect of a four-year-old car, but it's otherwise very smart and has had a software upgrade to the latest operating system, along with Enhanced Autopilot (as on all CPO cars).
Usefully, going through a main dealer also adds a year or 10,000 miles to the remaining term or mileage of the original four-year/50,000-mile warranty, including Europe-wide roadside assistance, which is not to be sniffed at. (The separate warranty for the battery and drive unit is unaffected, at eight years or 100,000 miles for a standard car and eight years or 120,000 miles for a Long Range or Performance.)
If you're coming from an ICE car or even a relatively conventional EV, I would recommend getting someone like Kul to give you a guided tour of a Tesla, because even this four-year-old Model 3 has the kind of tech to make 50% of the new cars on the market feel outdated.
A few weeks in, I'm still trying to get my head around all the things the car can do, both remotely via the phone app and inside, where everything bar wipers, indicators and gears is controlled by the huge, 15in touchscreen in the centre of the otherwise completely bare dash.
As a fan of buttons, that alone has given me a bit of a headache, and at first, I felt the Tesla interface wasn't as intuitive as Apple CarPlay.
I think that's just about what you're used to, and once you've linked everything to your phone (easily done via QR codes for key apps such as Spotify), it's pretty seamless, and the built-in Google Maps sat-nav is remarkably good at guessing a journey time.
In truth, it doesn't take too long to realise that most of the car's design and technology is focused on making life as easy as possible.
The single-pedal operation works superbly and it soon becomes a matter of pride never to need to use the friction brakes, and I was right to decide that the performance of the Long Range AWD would be more than adequate.
Most of the time I leave it in Chill mode, because throttle response in Standard can be brutal in the wet; it's all too easy to light up the rear wheels. No wonder the Performance version gives supercars nightmares.
The Model 3 is also vastly roomy, certainly more so than it looks from the outside, with the full-length tinted glass roof giving even more of an impression of space.
Which means there's plenty left for the large elephant that follows me around wherever I go: the fact that, right now, for many people a Tesla is a fairly uncomfortable thing to drive in Britain.
Tesla registrations across Europe dropped by 45% year on year in January 2025, when overall EV sales were up 37% in the same period, and I reckon a lot of that can be attributed to that gesture by figurehead Elon Musk.
I'm sure some will dismiss this as me living in a London bubble, but I have friends who will refuse to go in a Tesla, let alone buy one. So it's very clever and more than a little controversial, but is the Model 3 any good as an actual car?
Right now, I'm still trying to decide, because I find myself so bamboozled by its 'otherness'. But that makes me particularly intrigued for the months ahead, and I will try to come back with a definitive answer once I've got my head around it. Update 2
One of the reasons I went for a Dual Motor Long Range version of the Model 3 was to avoid the range anxiety that's a feature of life with most EVs. A claim of 360 miles sounded like more than enough, particularly because I don't do many long journeys.
Of the 82kWh battery, only around 75kWh is usable, so that total sounded ambitious against the WLTP efficiency claim of 4.2mpkWh, yet I still found myself frustrated by my early economy.
On motorway runs, the car was getting about 3.7mpkWh, but that was dropping in town, resulting in a disappointing average of 3.4mpkWh for the first thousand miles or so, meaning a 255-mile range.
Decent but not as good as I had hoped for – not least because the Tesla consumes energy even when I'm not using it, which can take significant chunks from that total. I was shocked during my first week with it to find that the total had dropped by 7% overnight.
I went straight to the forums, where it was suggested that I might have had Sentry mode on (a remarkable security system that monitors the car via its multiple cameras and wards off would-be thieves) and, if so, apparently that loss was about right.
So now I only use it if I think the car might be at risk. The onboard diagnostics are great for researching losses.
I've switched the powertrain from standard to Chill mode, which softens the throttle response and increases the severity of the regenerative braking (which has actually made it much nicer around town) and am trying to be stingier with the hugely effective climate control system.
Tesla claims average battery degradation of 12% after 200,000 miles, and out of interest I asked for a check on my car to see how its batteries were getting on. I wasn't given any specific numbers but was reassured that it was in line with expected degradation, so I'd guess there should still be 72-73kWh left.
Of course, after all of my stresses, the biggest change has been in the weather: as soon as spring came, things started to improve.
That means I will be spending less time at Tesla Supercharger stations, which is both a blessing and a curse, because I've had to queue for some (my nearest, in Croydon, is particularly busy) but there's also a nice camaraderie among owners as we sit glued to our central screens while our totals gradually tick up. Update 3
A few days away on the Isle of Wight helping my best friend do some work to his parents' holiday home was a good opportunity to give the Model 3 a proper run on a mixture of roads.
Among my pre-flight checks was topping up the windscreen washer fluid, which is under the bonnet and reminded me that the Model 3 has extra storage space up front that I hadn't used yet.
Once this frunk is combined with the long, deep rear boot, it gives a hatchback-rivalling 425 litres of luggage room – which was plenty for our bags, painting gear and various DIY tools without having to resort to folding the rear seats.
Our journey didn't start particularly well because we arrived in Portsmouth to discover that our 10pm Wightlink crossing had been cancelled.
We had over an hour to wait for the next sailing, but that time was easily passed watching That Mitchell and Webb Look sketches on the Tesla's central screen and we were soon aboard the ferry.
In my haste to get to the cafe, I couldn't work out which menu I needed to turn off the alarm (as instructed by warning signs on the car deck), but when the sensors detected movement as the ferry got under way, the car sent my phone a notification via the Tesla app and I was able to turn it off and feel smug as I listened to a chorus of beeping from everyone else's alarms.
I'm not sure I saw another Tesla the whole time I was on the island, though there was a smattering of small 'commuter' EVs.
Yet the Model 3 felt fairly at home: its compact dimensions are ideal for threading along the narrow roads and its cross-country pace is impressive, even if the inert steering means that it isn't a whole lot of fun, and rearward vision is restricted by the high tailgate.
When reversing, I've tended to rely on the rear camera more than in any other car. Happily, the one thing I wasn't preoccupied with was range.
Despite having established before departure that there were public charging options available to me on the island (albeit no Tesla Superchargers), the car managed the return trip and a few days on the island on a single charge. Update 4
Such is the advanced level of tech, and the lack of obvious wear and tear, that it's easy to forget my Model 3 is actually more than four years and 40,000 miles old.
But there is the odd reminder, such as the fact that the wipers were rubbish and overdue for replacement.
So I nipped to my local Euro Car Parts and grabbed a set of Valeo wipers – not cheap at £55 the pair – and fired up the Tesla app to check the 'Do it yourself' section, which has a useful guide to changing them.
Handily, within the Service menu on the central screen is a button for 'Wiper service mode', which parks the wipers about a third of the way up the windscreen to make switching blades a doddle.
The next bit of maintenance wasn't a DIY job. Since the car arrived, I have been disappointed by the ride quality: the primary ride is decent enough, if firm, but the secondary ride can be really niggly.
It's sufficiently bad that it can make the car feel oddly skittish at speed – despite its heft, at 1919kg unladen. It seems to vary from car to car: some Model 3s I've ridden in (often Ubers) appear to ride more sweetly and it's definitely better with a load on board.
But then my mechanic friend, Tim, spotted a potential reason. Although the tyres still had some life left in them (under Tesla's Certified Pre-Owned programme, all cars have at least 10,000 miles left on them at point of sale), they were dated May 2020, a year older than the car, and showing their age with cracks and crazes.
That pointed to hard, unyielding rubber, which won't do much for the ride, and they were also really badly shouldered so it made sense to replace them.
Interestingly, around the same time, Kwik Fit released research that suggested Teslas are harder on tyres than any other car in the UK.
The Model 3 topped its table of cars that require replacement rubber at an above-average rate in 54 areas across Britain, the most of any car, with the Model Y coming third.
I opted to take the car back to my supplying dealer, Tesla Centre Gatwick, but shop around and my car's 235/40 R19 Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3s can be had for around £180 a corner, fitted.
While I waited, I had a look at the latest Model 3 facelift in the dealership: aside from looking a bit sharper from the front (to my eyes the rear of the older car looks better), it's little changed from my four-year-old car, though my daughter would appreciate the new touchscreen panel in the rear.
A couple of hours later and my decision to invest in new tyres was vindicated. The ride is still very firm but it feels more supple – and quieter – over small road imperfections, and I have more confidence in grip levels in the wet. Update 5
EVs are pretty much universally accepted as an ideal solution to the challenges of urban driving, but there remains a stigma around their suitability for long road trips.
However, when we saw the cost of a sleeper train while investigating a 20th-wedding-anniversary long weekend to visit friends in Fort William, wife Emma and I decided to entrust our Tesla.
The usual M25 tedium was dispatched fairly quickly, followed by a fairly swift run up the M40/M42 and then the joy of the clear, fast M6 Toll, where we were comfortably the slowest car, keeping just shy of 70mph to conserve energy.
The dreadful tailbacks around Manchester were unpleasant, but once into the Lake District and beyond the roads were just glorious, their sweeping bends perfectly suiting the Model 3.
Using the Tesla's sat-nav system on a journey such as this forces you to adapt your way of thinking: instead of the traditional ICE mindset of using a tankful of fuel and then refuelling, you set your desired charge level on arrival and it gives you 'splash and dash' stops to keep the charge topped up without forcing you to spend hours waiting each time.
Usefully, these pauses tend to be timed perfectly for when you need a break – or in our case when our spaniel does (for which I can highly recommend Charnock services, where there's a pleasant dog walk beside the bank of Superchargers).
We made an overnight stop in Lockerbie, just north of the border, where we encountered a Dutch Model 3 undertaking a far more ambitious journey than ours.
Moving farther north, as we got into the breathtaking scenery and spectacular roads of the Highlands, it was impossible to resist switching the car's Dynamic mode from Chill to Standard to gain access to the outrageous full-bore acceleration that was able to dispatch the seemingly endless trains of motorhomes safely and with ease.
The stretch through Glen Coe was magical as ever. It was just a shame that the driving experience wasn't more interactive, as the Model 3's lack of communication prevented it creating a proper bond with me.
Nevertheless, it delivered us to Fort William refreshed and relaxed, and it did the same on the near-600-mile schlep home again, despite encountering terrible traffic on a sweltering bank holiday Monday.
It's refined (bar quite a bit of road noise), comfortable in spite of the firm ride and relaxing, and it managed an impressive 3.9mpkWh despite the climate control being on for the majority of the trip.
Above all, the trip was far easier than we expected, and a big part of that is thanks to Tesla's remarkable charging network. So many times in previous EVs I've arrived at chargers to find them all occupied, broken or reluctant to communicate with my car.
But there are now more than 1800 ultra-rapid Tesla Supercharger stalls at 160-plus locations across the UK, which are fast, plentiful and cheaper than most rivals – and, in the case of the Fort William station, pretty scenic as you sit and charge in the shadow of Ben Nevis. Final update
I will admit to having had reservations about Tesla, and in particular the company's owner, so it was hard not to embark on Model 3 ownership without some negative preconceptions.
But it's fair to say the car has comprehensively won me over, even if I have a few lingering doubts over its parentage.
After several months together, I've come to the conclusion that the Model 3 is an excellent appliance. If that sounds negative, it's not meant to: it inspires similar reliance and reverence as my unfailing Bosch dishwasher, 25-year-old Black & Decker Workmate and DeWalt drill, because it makes life easier.
The technology is initially overwhelming but swiftly becomes something you rely on: get into another car and you find yourself wondering why you have to unlock the doors, turn on the ignition, adjust your seat or connect your devices – or even steer, accelerate and brake, should you use Tesla's Enhanced Autopilot system (I prefer to stick to adaptive cruise control, which at least leaves me with the sense that I have an influence over my own destiny).
But the element of Tesla ownership that makes life easiest isn't the car at all: it's the supporting infrastructure. Tesla has ensured that its customers won't suffer the frustrations that most EV users do on a long journey by having more – and better – chargers than anyone else.
There are now more than 1800 in the UK, and when you plan your route, the car's navigation system automatically tells you when and where to stop, with minimal disruption to your journey, as well as how long you will need to charge for and how much it will cost (usually less than from rival charging providers).
When I got my Model 3, I asked whether a used Tesla would make the most of these advantages in the same way as a new one, both in terms of range and software integration. The answer is an emphatic yes.
Initially, I wondered whether all of that wizardry was there to blind me to the Model 3's shortcomings, but in reality, they are relatively few.
I can't help wishing it were the hatchback that its shape implies, but it's still eminently practical – aided by the rear seats dropping down (although the seatbelt warning chimes if you put a heavy load on the folded seatbacks).
In addition to overall capacity, storage for everyday essentials is excellent: there's a deep well in the boot for charging cables and more, plus up front there are large cubbies for the essentials of family life. That said, the fact that you have to go into a sub-menu on the touchscreen to open the glovebox is infuriating.
The technology in what is now a four-year-old car continues to be cutting-edge, aided by regular over-the-air software updates, that touchscreen impresses both with the insights it can give when you're driving and the entertainment available when you're not.
I'd like to have had a head-up display, because the speed readout isn't easy to see at a glance, but otherwise the controls (both on board and in the Tesla phone app) are hard to fault and the climate control (with automatic heated seats and steering wheel) is intuitive and effective.
It's telling that I've got this far without talking about what the Model 3 is like to drive, because it's hard to define.
It's comfortable over long distances, despite a firm ride, and devastatingly rapid cross-country, with 346bhp of instant punch combined with a low centre of gravity, swift turn-in and plenty of grip.
Yet it's difficult to forge any kind of emotional bond with, there being little in the way of feel and feedback through either the wheel or the seat.
I've found that in most conditions, I barely scratch the surface of its performance, preferring to pop it in less aggressive Chill driving mode rather than seeking out opportunities to go for a blast as I might in, say, a BMW 3 Series.
The range has improved as we have transitioned from late winter to mid-summer, and across a full year I'd expect better than my 3.8mpkWh average.
If ultimate distance is your ambition, it might be worth tracking down a single-motor car; reader Fred Reschen reports that he gets 5mpkWh on longer journeys in his Long Range RWD.
Fred has also been impressed by his car's build quality – something I'd had concerns about following warnings from bar-room pundits. In truth, my Model 3 has never looked or felt like a 'used' car: it feels as well screwed together as any other premium saloon.
But it isn't a new car, and I spent more on maintenance – new tyres, new wipers and an MOT test (which it strolled through with no advisories) – than I did on charging, although that would balance out long term.
The fact that there has been little deterioration in battery life is reassuring, and Tesla has now sold more than 250,000 cars in the UK, which means a healthy used buyer's market.
Add in the fact that my car represents a saving of nearly 50% over its new equivalent – which, facelift aside, is essentially the same – and it's a compelling package. As for my feelings about Elon Musk, I guess I could always buy a bumper sticker… Used Tesla Model 3 specification
Prices: List price new £49,935 List price now £49,990 Price as tested £28,000 Options: Enhanced Autopilot £3400, Midnight Silver metallic paint £1000, 19in silver sports wheels £1450 (prices all in 2021)
Fuel consumption and range: Claimed economy 360 miles Battery 82/75kWh (total, usable) Test average 3.8mpkWh Test best 4.3mpkWh Test worst 3.4mpkWh Real-world range 285 miles
Tech highlights: 0-62mph 4.2sec Top speed 145mph Engine Permanent magnet synchronous motor (r), asynchronous motor (f) Max power 346bhp Max torque 299lb ft Transmission 1-spd reduction gear, 4WD Boot capacity 425 litres Wheels 8.5Jx19in, alloy Tyres 235/40 R19 Kerb weight 1919kg
Service and running costs: Contract hire rate £404pcm CO2 0g/km Service costs MOT test £54 Other costs Tyres £720, wipers £54.99 Fuel costs £489 Running costs inc fuel £1318 Cost per mile 19 pence Faults Tyre-pressure sensor failure
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