I made a decision to part ways with my CTR last month and put in an order for a Tesla Model 3 back on 11/15/18. It was actually partly thanks to @AKmoney who's thread got me looking at them again and partly to a few close encounters I've had in the past few months. I had a reservation since 4/1/16 but never acted on it because I picked up like 3 cars earlier this year including a brand new CTR. The decision was hard but there were enough plus factors that made it ideal to make the move. The hurt on the wallet was very real though since this car was pretty much almost 60% more than what the CTR cost. The other dilemma now that I have is that besides my 3rd gen needing to be sold, is that I might reconsider keeping the IS300 long term and maybe I should just combine those two budgets into one single RWD 2 door. Having two side cars on top of 2 dailies makes even less sense now. The IS300 has really been sidelined since I got this. I only take it out whenever I feel the need for rowing the gears.

This build thread won't be as intensive as my other two threads but I figured I wanted a timeline for this car some where besides my phone album. I mainly use it as my daily except when there is heavy rainfall or certain errands, then I take the 4Runner for clearance and space. Just a few simple mods planned, maybe front lip, suspension, and wheels. It's an EV, so theres not much out there as far as performance mods. It'll be boring for most but follow if you're interested in mostly pictures and stories.

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I went for a test drive back on 11/13 with my mom. They put me in a long range RWD (LR RWD) Model 3. I got to try chill acceleration and the enhanced autopilot (EAP). Since it was the middle of the day, I got to spend another 30-45 minutes asking questions regarding the different features of the car. My mom was sold on the cars safety features before I was and even wanted my dad to get one. The service center was pretty chill, they were very non aggressive as far as ordering the car. I didn't make a move until after midnight on 11/15.



They contacted me on 11/19 regarding initiating the process of acquiring the car. It took a bit of back and forth and mostly waiting because finances moved really slow due to the Thanksgiving holiday week. I had to figure out how to do the trade in and clearing the loan for the CTR. Tesla also does not provide financing for Texas for reasons I don't quite fully understand. From the small amount of info I've digested, Tesla does not operate dealerships and you purchase directly from the factory. I think that in Texas law limits this and they also use the fact that Tesla's aren't dealerships to prevent you from getting the state tax credit (which is $2500). Back to financing, so in order for Tesla to be able to initiate shipment of your car to you, a full payment for the car has to be made, which most financial institutions won't fund a loan without collateral and you can see this is a real problem here. You have to get Tesla to issue a letter confirming delivery of said vehicle, then you have to get the loan to pay for the vehicle in order for the vehicle to get delivered.



TLDR: Buying a Tesla is more complicated than it should be unless you have straight cash money to pay for it upfront.



Anyway, I finally get it all together and a dozen emails later, the trade in agreement is reached and the car delivery is confirmed for 12/10/18. The trade in process doesn't even require you to bring in the car. You just take pictures of several angles including the interior plus the title (which I took a picture of a piece of paper saying the bank had it) and upload it to their cloud. Their rate is quite competitive and they will match Carmax if necessary. I usually private sell my cars but the CTR was so new it was better to trade it in for the tax credit.



The delivery date of 12/10 was actually sooner than I expected. I thought it was going to be after Christmas before I would take delivery. I think at this point most cars are pre-built now that production has ramped up and are at the lot ready for delivery. I got my VIN assignment as soon as payment was made and contacted on 12/5 about moving the delivery date up. Tesla actually drives your car to your house and drives your trade-in back. I declined this in case my car had issues, I could have them take care of it without driving it back and forth. I also wanted pictures in front of the service center. I know kind of dumb reasons really. I ended up picking up the car after work on morning of 12/6. It was a bit rushed but I'm sure they were just trying to fit me in and I had already done most of the preliminary research on the test drive and through Youtube. There were none of the build quality issues that I read through the forums that other people had with theirs thankfully. I did find a paint drip on one of the door sills the other day but other than that, everything else was great. My dad went with me and commented how much more comfortable it was versus my CTR, but I think the two cars aren't really in the same class to be compared. I do miss the engine note, but the comfort and convenience of the EV makes up for it. My FD will make up for the lack of rowing gears / engine noise anyway.

I debated between installing a Tesla Wallcharger vs a 14-50 nema 240v outlet. I decided to go with the latter since the 14-50 outlet will have more use if I ever decide to get a lift or welder plus whenever I sell the house, the 14-50 outlet is much more useful than a Tesla only wall charger. The only case I could make for the Tesla wall charger is that it looks asthetically pleasing, but my garage needs alot more work before I can start spending on stuff like the wall charger or doors for my cabinets.




I had the electrician run the outlet out to the post between the two garage doors, so I could charge the car at any of the four places I could park the car. Ultimately I do plan to park the car in the carraige garage in the long run just because I can summon the car and remote park it into the garage without needing to be inside the car. The foot print of the Model 3 is actually only inches smaller than the 4th gen 4Runner. Surprising for something thats a midsized sedan.





The 14-50 outlet uses the Tesla Mobile charger. You can also buy other home chargers but I won't justify the cost mainly because most of them cost as much as the Tesla wall charger. I bought a Hubbell outlet, which is more robust, in case I need to plug and unplug the charger whenever I leave home for a long trip. The lower cost Leviton outlet doesn't hold up to repeated plug/unplugging. I had the electrician run a 50 amp circuit and the appropriate wiring to match up. I had the outlet installed high on the wall so the charger wouldn't be on the ground. I just have to come up with or buy a solution for coiling the cord when not charging. I just have it resting on top of my spare 3rd gen dash at the moment and it just blends in with all my clutter that I'm trying to sell off.



I want to replace the white plastic plate with the ss metal one but I'll have to dremel the opening. For some reason the Hubbell outlet is larger in diameter than the usual 14-50 opening.


Here's one of the ways I can charge it if something is taking up space in the garage. I routed it out the carraige garage to the charger. I can do the same if the positions were swapped with the 3rd gen or even if the car was parked inside on either side of the garage. I usually charge it inside the garage though.

The other difference I didn't highlight was that the charge rate is slightly limited with the method I went with. The Tesla Wall Charger can charge up to 44 miles per hour versus the Mobile Connector charger can charge up to 36 miles per hour. The rate is also affected as the car reaches full charge, just like your mobile devices / laptops. I defintely don't miss stopping at the gas station for fill ups anymore. It's less of a chore to just plug in when you get home vs. going out of your way to fuel up.

Cool thread!

I debated installing 14-50 NEMA vs. Tesla Wall connector in my garage also. I went with the Wall Connector for the following reasons:

- I only had 30A to spare. A NEMA 14-50 outlet requires a 50A circuit breaker. I could have installed a NEMA 14-30 outlet instead, but...
- My utility (Southern California Edison) offers a $500 rebate for installing an L2 EV charger. It has to be a full-blown charging station, not just an outlet. This covers the cost of the Tesla connector.

I keep the Tesla Mobile connector in the trunk.

Not really true mods but like I said theres not much you can do to Teslas aside from suspension/brakes/visual mods. I finally got my 3DMaxpider Kagu mats in. These are the same mats I ran in the CTR. I like them considerably more than the WeatherTech liners in my 3rd gen because they are fully velcro in the back and do not deform over time from heat.




The trunk mat is direct from Tesla but is basically a rebranded WeatherTech liner with a Model 3 logo in place of the WeatherTech logo. I bought this before I found out that EVTuning was taking orders for the 3DMaxpider trunk liners. I would have held out for them if I knew. It's okay though, I'm sure this will do for now until I decide I have the itch to buy another.





I tried out supercharging the car back on 12/16. It started at a rate of 219 miles/hr with the battery at 20% but slowed to 149 miles/hr when the battery was nearing 70%, this was over about 25 minutes before I bugged out and went home. I just wanted to check it out. Obviously much slower than just fueling at the gas station but it was oddly relaxing. It'll be nice to plug in and go get some stuff done while your car is charging without it being an errand in between errands. I hope there'll be more level 2 chargers out there eventually. Texas isn't as up to date as other clean air states like California.





I had the issue with my temp plates flapping so I taped a new temp tag to the plates I took off my CTR and heat sealed a plastic bag around it at work. Simple fix that will hold me over until my actual plates arrive. I have temp tags through February 6, hopefully it won't take that long.



My GF bought me this plush for Christmas. She actually got me two. Got it from Bubbletech, who actually makes stuff for rotaries and RX7s. I figured it was fitting since this car also had no pistons. A bit of fun for this spartan interior.



I'm still waiting on my QI mat for the center console. I haven't decided what to cover my center console with yet and when I'll get the coilovers. They have the stock height almost like a 4x4 stance. The aerohats actually cover up a nice set of forged 18s. Removing them decreases the efficiency of the car though, increasing the drag. I also had paint protection film (PPF) installed on 12/19, by a different shop than the one that did my CTR. They did scuff an edge on my bumper but other than that, the job was pretty immaculate. Got a 10 year warranty on it. I decided to hold off on tinting the glass for now since its winter and most of my driving is from garage to garage. I might make a post detailing the different functions and tech related features the car has but that's it for now.

Yeah I wish Texas had discounts like that. I saw that most Cali utility companies offer a rebate for level 2 charger installs. I might get some sort of J1772 wall charger and keep the mobile charger with me. I made a post on Tesla Motors Club and the consensus was that I wouldn't need to take it with me that often. I'll probably keep it plugged in unless I take a road trip with no destination charging.

Haha, you got a post in before I was able to get pictures up

Before I installed the L2 charger I left the mobile connector plugged into a 120V outlet in my garage. It was never a problem not taking it with me. My office park has several Chargepoint network chargers available so I did the bulk of my charging there. Tesla Superchargers are another story - they're really congested here. In fact, I have yet to visit one.

I've taken my car on a few day trips to San Diego. Round trip mileage is about 180 or so. Never a problem with the Long Range battery - I've always made it home with at least 100 miles of range to spare.

The utilities here are a mixed bag. They have lots of rebate programs available but the rates they charge are outrageous.

I took the car on her first road trip this past weekend. I was able to pick up a JDM 99 bumper for my RX7 and both the guy at rx7.com and my friends in Dallas had plenty of questions on Tesla / EV ownership. Spent almost an extra hour just talking about Teslas and EVs in general at the rx7.com shop in Garland. On the way though I was able to try out the Supercharger over in Corsicana, TX. They have like 10 banks setup next to this place called Collins St. Bakery. I was skeptical that there would be lunch there, but they do have some pretty good food there on top of fresh cookies, baked goods, and fruit cake (if you're into that sort of thing).

Recouped like 140 miles in a 45 minute lunch / restroom break. On the way back I stopped for only 15 minutes. The car advised me to stay another 10 minutes if I wanted to make it back to my house with power to spare but I decided to push it and see how she'd do.




Ended up with 36 miles (10% charge) left by the time I got home. Surprisingly had no range anxiety. My friend said I could stop over at thet Supercharger 60 miles outside of town if necessary but I didn't see too much efficiency drop between Corsicana and Tomball.

Two weeks ago, I ordered a QI mat from Taptes after comparing Nomad, Jeda, and RPMTesla solutions. Taptes looked comparable to Nomad for slightly less cost. I think it might have been sitting in my mail box the past week or so. I didn't get to put it in til last night but it does what it's supposed to. The pad is less rubbery than the stock mat but other than that it looks like it'll do the job. I'm always weary of the lightning port wearing out and this helps a bit. Now to add QI charging to my other cars.





Instructions were not that helpful. Doesn’t tell you what to do with the 3M feet and felt tape.





Car should have come with the QI mat but I guess not all phones are ready yet. All easy mods compared to the 4Runner and FD.