2023 Tesla Model 3 vs 2020

What's the difference?

While it still carries its share of small frustrations and flaws, the Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive is simply the best value EV on the market right now considering its range and features for the price, and deserves its place at the top of the electrified sales charts.

It’s fast, fun, futuristic, and efficient, and while the ride is unnecessarily hard and the tech goes a bit too far in some places, it’s clear that its competitors are still playing catch-up.

I believe the Telsa Model 3 Standard Range Plus is the best Model 3 you can buy. Apart from its brittle, unpolished ride, it offers a lot of capability and capacity for occupants and luggage, and enough usable battery range to allow you to escape the city if you want to.

The Model 3 is slick, modern, inoffensive, but perhaps a bit featureless? To me it looks a little bit like a wireless mouse, but it speaks volumes that despite being a sedan, the Model 3’s curvy, garnish-free design is seemingly universally appealing across many markets.

There’s certainly something slick about its nose which dips inward as though taking influence from Porsche. It comes as no surprise this design has an extremely low drag coefficient of just 0.23cd.

Character is added back through the distinctive light profile, both front and rear, and the base 19-inch wheels on our car, which I know from various social media pages are seen as so stupendously cool that people buy them, or even steal them to put on other makes and models. It’s wild the cool bit is just a plastic aerodynamic cover for the alloy wheel beneath.

The cabin takes minimalism to the extreme, with just the single massive centre tablet interrupting the clean lines of the dash. The dash itself is low and finished with an appealingly simple woodgrain panel, and the directional air-vents are hidden away and controlled digitally rather than on full display.

This pairs with the abundance of glass to make for a space which is very… Apple Store. It’s spacious and pleasingly minimalist, but cars need to display information and have controls… more on this in the practicality section.

The mix of textures and materials is also pleasing, with soft surfaces where there needs to be soft surfaces, a neutral colour palette of blacks, greys, and silvers interrupted only by the woodgrain piece.

Again, I can see why this design is seemingly universally appealing. It’s simple, well executed, and feels modern.

I love those wheels. Love them. LOVE THEM. They are futuristic but somehow retro, too. And the fact is that they’re functional too, as they help cut down aerodynamic drag. Plus they’re smaller than the ones on the sportier car (18s as opposed to 20s).

The rest of the car? Ummm, I like elements of it - the glasshouse is attractive, the side profile is pleasant, and the rear is reminiscent of the Model S, but not copycat. The front? Well, it lacks a bit of character to my eye, and to everyone in the CarsGuide testing team, too.

You might want to have a look at my Model 3 Performance review as reference here - because the car we had in that test was very poorly pieced together. This base model car was a bit better, with more acceptable panel gaps and fit/finish, though still not as uniform as you’d see from one of the German luxury brands.

The interior quality was slightly better on this example of Model 3, too, but the fact there is still a level of variance between cars could be concerning to people who worry about quality. Like me. I worry about quality.

Check out the interior images below for a glimpse at the cabin and its minimalist design. 

As modern as the interior feels though, it comes with a few drawbacks. Primarily, the fact that about 90 per cent of this car’s core functions are controlled solely through the multimedia screen. It’s a huge tablet with very impressive software that runs lightning fast, but its crisp resolution means the touch areas for some core features are a little too small to be comfortable to use while you’re on the move.

Unlike other cars where even a small button can at least be sought out by feel and provides tactile feedback once it’s been pressed, in the Tesla you are forced to take your eyes from the road at times to make sure you’re doing exactly what you want when you adjust things like the climate controls, steering tune, and radio.

The same can be said for the centrally located speedometer and power/regen indicator. With no dash or even a holographic display, these two key items have moved to the edge of the centre display. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before. Old versions of the Toyota Yaris, Nissan X-Trail, and Mini Cooper spring to mind, but it is annoying to have to constantly look to the centre of the car to reference something as important as your speed.

I’m seemingly fighting a losing battle on this one, with Tesla acolytes in the comment section roasting me every time I mention it, but for some buyers coming out of a car with a more traditional layout, it’s worth mentioning. The same can be said for the touch panel, and to be fair here, Tesla is a trend-setter with brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Polestar, and others moving to similar fully touch interfaces. For the record, I don’t like them in those cars either, but at least the Polestar had the good sense to maintain an actual instrument cluster and make the key functions have enormous touch regions in its menus.

Moving on, the Model 3’s interior is spacious for front passengers with some clever storage options. There’s a bottle holder in the door, two more in the centre console (although without adjustable ridges to hold smaller bottles in), dual wireless charging pads which help you have a cable-free interior, and two huge storage areas, one under the wireless chargers with a retracting lid, and another under the armrest console box.

The back seat is a less impressive story, with a more confined space courtesy of a descending roofline and seats which have bases much taller than in the front. I fit okay at 182cm tall, but if you’re any taller than me there’s a good chance your head will be touching the glass ceiling.

The seat trim is comfortable though, and it's a neat touch to have every position, even the centre position, heated. The flat floor gives you plenty of space for your feet, and amenity-wise there is a small bottle holder in the door, two more in the drop-down armrest, small pockets on the backs of the front seats, dual adjustable air vents, and dual USB-C power outlets.

The boot measures 561-litres (VDA) but this includes the large compartment under the boot floor which may not fit more unwieldy objects. We needed to use it to house the smallest (36L) CarsGuide luggage case to fit the whole set, but there was a little extra space to spare on either side once the larger two were loaded.

The frunk is 88-litres and was also able to fit the smallest luggage case, although this space is probably best saved for charging equipment.

If you’re aware of the Model 3, you’ll know it has some storage advantages that conventional cars can’t really match.

That’s because it has no engine in its engine bay. Suffice to say that Tesla calls the area under the bonnet the ‘frunk’ (front trunk), and it gives you 117 litres of cargo storage. That’s in addition to the regular trunk - or boot - which has 425L of cargo capacity, and also has a hidden storage section below the floor to store cables or luggage. All told, the total is 542L. 

The cabin is practical, too. There are door pockets with bottle holders all around, cup holders in the rear centre armrest, plus cupholders between the front seats. Then there’s the storage caddy between the front seats, which is huge, and there’s a glovebox which opens using the touchscreen. Why? Because it can, I guess.

Occupants have electric seat adjustment and heating up front, while in the back the seat is fixed and not heated (it is in the models above). Rear occupants still get air vents and two USB ports (plus there are two more up front), but the actual space in the back is tight for larger adults.

Sitting behind the driver’s seat in my position (I’m 182cm) there’s limited toe room, and knee room could be better - plus you sit in a bit of a knees-up position, too. Headroom isn’t terrific because of the angle of the roof (watch your head getting in and out) and as it is purely glass above, it could get hot back there.

The centrally-mounted 15.0-inch touchscreen has its pros and cons. A lot is controlled using the touchscreen, from setting the position of the side mirrors and the steering wheel (which you can save to your driver profile), to the Bluetooth audio streaming and phone connectivity. It doesn’t have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

You might appreciate that the screen can also act as an entertainment source - there are games you can play and different modes you can engage (including a whoopee cushion and Mars mode for the sat nav). That’ll appeal to a certain type of buyer, but it doesn’t to me.

For the driver, the gear selector stalk doubles to engage the cruise control or Autopilot (two quick taps of the gear selector) and there’s a windscreen washer stalk, plus there is a volume scroller on the steering wheel. But the fact you have to look to the top edge of the screen for your speed readout - there is no head-up display - could be a concern for people who live in places around Australia where the police will ping you for less than 3km/h over the limit.

The Australian Tesla Model 3 line-up kicks off with this rear-wheel drive Standard Range Plus, priced at $66,000 (before on-roads - drive-away pricing varies state by state).

Standard equipment on the entry grade car includes 18-inch aero alloy wheels, 12-way power adjustable and heated faux-leather front seats, a 15.0-inch multimedia touchscreen that doubles as the car’s dashboard with Bluetooth and built-in sat-nav, dual-zone climate control, LED front lighting, and a fixed glass roof. 

There are four USB ports, auto-dimming mirrors (with auto folding and heating for the side mirrors), a key card (but no proximity entry), driver profile setups, and smartphone app controllability.

Options available include metallic paint (from $1400 to $2800 depending on colour) and there’s Tesla’s Full Self Driving Capability option ($8500) which will include a tech rollout later in 2019 encompassing auto lane change, auto parking, the ability to recognise and act upon red lights and stop signs, automated driving on city streets, the company’s Summon system (where your parked car will come and find you autonomously) and navigation-linked Autopilot.

Rivals you might consider against the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus include the Hyundai Kona Electric (from $59,990), Hyundai Ioniq Electric (from $44,990), Renault Zoe (from $47,490), Nissan Leaf (from $49,990). None of those electric cars can match the range of the Model 3, though. 

If you believe Telsa, the Model 3 is actually a competitor to established luxury car nameplates like the BMW 3 Series (from $64,900), Mercedes-Benz C-Class (from $63,700) and Audi A4 (from $56,100). 

Tesla doesn’t talk power figures for its range, preferring instead to deal in 0-100km/h times, which are dubiously useful for the average buyer. Regardless, the RWD is the “slowest” Model 3, completing the 0-100km/h sprint in 6.1 seconds. To put that into perspective, it’s about as rapid as a Hyundai i30 N but feels faster thanks to its instantaneous torque application. 

Data listed elsewhere has the Model 3 producing roughly 190kW/375Nm which seems about right to me. It’s both more powerful and has the advantage of rear-wheel drive as opposed to front-wheel drive compared to its closest base Polestar 2 rival.

Again though, this speaks to the value of this base car. It’s as fast as a hot hatch, has fun rear-wheel drive dynamics, and only costs $10,000 more than one while adding 491km of all-electric range. What’s not to like about that?

Tesla is strangely secretive about the battery pack and power outputs of the Standard Range Plus, but our research suggests this variant’s rear-wheel-drive powertrain consists of a 55kWh battery pack and an electric motor capable of producing 225kW - but at the time of writing, Tesla refused to confirm the outputs of this grade of Model 3. It has a single-speed (reduction gear) transmission.

The Standard Range Plus has a quoted 0-100km/h time of 5.6 seconds. It is capable of a top-speed of 225km/h.

First, range. 491km is the current number, although this seems to be changing frequently as Tesla tweaks the Model 3’s battery chemistry. The base car now has a new Lithium-iron-phosphate unit, which has both extended the range over its predecessor and eliminated the need to source the controversial cobalt as used in the more traditional Lithium-ion chemistries like NMC.

At nearly 500km of range though, the Model 3 RWD offers one of the longest ranges at this price-point, with the only rivals coming close including the Long Range Hyundai Kona electric (484km), new-generation Kia Niro EV (460km range) or Polestar 2 Standard Range (470km). 

In terms of efficiency the Model 3 RWD is one of the most energy efficient vehicles I have ever tested, scoring 13.4kWh/100km on my week with the car, against an official/combined number of 13.1kWh/100km. The only vehicle which I have ever pulled a better score from is the Hyundai Kona electric.

On the charging front the Model 3 maintains its great 11kW AC charger, but is able to charge at up to 250kW on a compatible Tesla Supercharger, well above the average for the segment.

Expect a charge time close to half an hour (from 10 - 80 percent) on DC, which is roughly what I experienced on my charge session on a 120kW Tesla Supercharger. According to the car’s computer, the session took 36 minutes to get to 80 per cent and cost $22.32 adding roughly 430km of range by the time it had achieved 100 per cent.

While Tesla location charging is no longer free as it once was for buyers, it is notable that Tesla users have the largest selection of chargers to choose from as they are compatible with both the software-locked Tesla stations and the regular public fast-chargers, as in Australia the Model 3 has a standard Type 2 CCS charging port.

One small downside to the Model 3 is it doesn’t yet offer V2L features (the ability to power devices from the car’s charging port) like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 or Nissan Leaf.

Nothing at this price point has anywhere near the claimed battery range as the Model 3 Standard Range Plus.

It has a claimed NEDC range of 460km, according to Tesla’s site, and according to the Green Vehicle Guide, the entry-level version is said to have a claimed energy consumption figure of 18.8kWh per 100 kilometres. 

We saw consumption on test of 18.48kWh/100km, and that calculated out to a real-world driving range of 298km. 

Given the claimed official range is 460km, it’s well short. Another way of looking at it is that on test it would have achieved just 64.8 per cent of its NEDC claimed range.

The Model 3 is as slick and modern to drive as its design suggests, the minimalist approach extending to your interactions with the car’s inputs.

Visibility is great out the front of the Model 3, with the low dash and abundance of glass making it easy to see in most directions, it is only out the rear where visibility is a bit limited by the tall boot lid.

The steering is somewhat artificial, and has three modes. ‘Normal’ and ‘Sport’ are far too heavy, with 'Comfort' the only mode I’d be using day-to-day. Even then, it was a relief to return to the comparatively featherweight steering of my Kia Niro long termer after my week in the Model 3.

The Tesla is much more fun though, with its absurdly responsive acceleration. Sure, on the numbers it’s only about as fast as a Hyundai i30N, but bloody hell does it feel faster. Dipping your toe into the accelerator simply throws you into the back of your seat, with the corresponding warp in speed anything but smooth. Use it to terrify your friends, family, EV naysayers, and family pets.

As heavy as the steering is, it’s also reactive, combining with the eager acceleration, firm ride, and rear-driven axle to make even this most basic Model 3 a lot of fun to steer.

For everyday driving though, the firm ride can be a bit much. It makes the car feel harsh and brittle, communicating much of the road through to the cabin. The base rear-drive with its 19-inch wheels is more comfortable than the Long Range or Performance grades too, with their bigger alloys, so keep this in mind if you’re shopping up the range. This problem is something the Model 3 shares with the Model Y, so buying the SUV version isn’t going to help.

One advantage the Model Y does get is ride height. The Model 3 is quite close to the ground, making it quite possible for it to scrape on speed bumps and driveways. This, no doubt, is to keep the drag down, but it might be too low for access to some driver’s properties.

The Model 3 is offered with a single regen tune, which can alternatively be switched for a more traditional drive experience where the brake pedal blends the regen in. The standard tune is nice though, with a linear roll-on and instant activation, saving you energy in every possible moment it can. It’s not quite as strong as some rival’s ‘single pedal’ driving modes, but it suits the Model 3 well.

Thanks to the hard ride the Model 3 is not the quietest EV when it come to cabin ambiance, with some road noise and thuds from the suspension being easily heard in the cabin. It also doesn’t emit a noise, with only a high-pitched whine from the rear electric motor when really pushed.

The software continues to be a strong point, with the Model 3 offering a very cool radar screen showing you all the objects around you, even ones you may not have seen, and the fact that there’s no push-start ignition or need to use keys is pretty neat, just hop in and drive, hop out and walk away, the car takes care of the rest.

Finally, the autonomous cruise feature is disturbingly good and deserves a special mention. While it’s hard to recommend the absurdly expensive ‘Full Self Driving’ upgrade ($10,100!) which is dubiously legal and offers you the opportunity to pay to be Elon Musk’s beta tester, the standard adaptive cruise is very good.

It stays in its lane better than pretty much all other active cruise systems I’ve used, is very clever at steering and avoiding objects, although does have a penchant for being a bit heavy on the brakes when in stop-start traffic. 

I’d go so far as to say this base Rear-Wheel Drive Model 3 is the pick of the bunch by a long shot. It’s fast and a lot of fun with a futuristic feel from behind the wheel. Sure the steering is heavy and the ride is hard, but it’s easily one of the best EVs to drive right now regardless.

If you genuinely do a lot of urban driving and don’t often head out of town, or you’re considering a Tesla as a second car, you could actually save some money and buy a Hyundai Ioniq. I mean, if you can deal with that badge.

But a lot of people want to buy a Tesla because they’re true believers, they buy into the mindset, they appreciate what the brand stands for, or they just want an electric car with lots of range. Or all of the above.

And while we didn’t experience mind-bending range on this test based on the route we drove (158km of urban, country, coastal and highway driving, with just 42 per cent of the battery left and a calculated range of a bit under three hundred kays), the fact is that it does have the best real EV range you can get at this price point at the time of writing. 

The fact is, though, that we had enough range to go for a lovely drive all day down south of Sydney and into the Southern Highlands, and still had enough battery remaining for the return trip in to town. 

That drive included a jaunt up a mountain pass, and the rear-wheel drive layout of the Model 3 was its most engaging element. Sure, we didn’t thrash it or drift it, but the balance it displayed in linking tight corners together was impressive. And in RWD guise, the steering is more pure and predictable, where in the AWD model there’s a level of numbness as the front wheels have to both drive and steer. 

The acceleration may not be as insane as in the Performance model (which does 0-100km/h in just 3.4 seconds), but with acceleration of 5.6sec the Standard Range Plus is hardly a slouch. In fact, that’s in the realm of some pretty impressive sports cars. That's part of the reason we think it has 225kW of power (and maybe about 400Nm of torque, too)... but old Mr Musk keeps his cards close to his chest.

But the fact you can have the car run in Chill mode, which makes it considerably more sedate and manageable in its acceleration, or in Sport mode, which is considerably quicker (almost like you flick a switch), is an advantage. Plus if you want more performance, you can get it if you pay for it - a lot of the other electric cars out there don’t have go-fast variants, so if that’s your thing, then Tesla will no doubt appeal to you. 

Our biggest annoyance with this grade of Model 3 was the ride comfort. The suspension offers up a brittle, crunchy ride at times, especially over lumpy urban roads and pockmarked country patches. 

Part of that comes down to the lack of any adaptive element to the suspension dampers, which can be flummoxed by repetitive bumps and ripples in corners. Some of it is also down to the 18-inch wheels - plenty of EVs have smaller, skinnier wheels and tyres to help with aero efficiency, but the Model 3’s standard rims are larger than you get on a Hyundai Kona EV, for instance.

The Model 3 achieved a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2019, and as part of the breakdown it scored 94 pert cent for Safety Assist tech (the highest ever for that part of the ANCAP testing regime), and it also scored 96 per cent for adult occupant protection.

There are dual ISOFIX child seat anchor points and three top-tether restraints, but parents take note: because the rear seat has integrated headrests, your baby seat may not be able to be fitted as tightly as you’d like in the outboard rear seats. This is a common complaint when the headrests aren’t removable.

All Model 3s come with six airbags (dual front, front side, full-length curtain), plus an advanced safety suite consisting of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) that works at city and highway pace and has pedestrian and cyclist detection. There’s also blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, and that’s all wrapped up in the ‘A’ word… Autopilot.

The aforementioned “Full Self-Driving Capability” option ($8500) adds even more safety and more than a hint of added convenience, too, if that’s what appeals to you. And while it’s best to option it when you lay down your deposit, you can have it retrofitted at a later date, possibly at a higher cost.

The Model 3 is covered by a four-year and 80,000km warranty which seems on the face of it, quite lacking. It is in front of only BMW’s three-year warranty, and behind the industry standard five-years or more desirable seven-years.

The battery and drivetrain components however, are covered by a different eight-year or 192,000km warranty, adding at least some peace of mind.

Servicing is computer-determined, meaning the car will tell you when it wants to visit the shop, depending on how it has been driven and how long it has been between visits.

Scanning Tesla’s inventory of parts, filters, and fluids, none seem particularly expensive, although to maintain efficiency and handling you’ll want to keep the expensive EV-specific tyres in good condition.

The Model 3 has a four year/80,000km warranty for the car itself, which isn’t as good as it used to be (the brand recently quietly rolled warranty cover back from the previous eight years/160,000km). 

The powertrain warranty for this RWD model it’s eight years/160,000km - if you option up to an AWD version, you get eight years/192,000km cover.

Tesla doesn’t offer maintenance plans anymore - it used to have a selection of three- or four-year cover plans, but the brand says its maintenance requirements are so minimal it doesn’t need to have that level of cover anymore.

The brand does have an inspection checklist customers should abide by. Every two years the cabin air filter and brake fluid should be seen to, while the High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter requires checking every three years, and the air conditioner needs service every six years, too. 

There are wheel balance/alignment/tyre rotations to consider, too.