2024 Tesla Model 3: Good Enough to Be Elon-Proof? – WSJ:
When it came to buying a replacement, safety was her top priority. Who makes the safest car on the market? she asked. I warned that she might not like the answer.
Tesla. Tesla models have earned five-star ratings from regulators in every global market, the highest cumulative scores in the industry. These marks capture Teslas’ crash resilience, their inherent stability (low center of gravity) and advanced driver-assist systems. Tesla’s standard suite of optical sensors and automatic braking would have at least mitigated the collision that took out her Kia.
New Model 3s start at $39,000 and honestly you don’t need to add more than a $450 wall charger. The entry level vehicle is stellar.
Perhaps even better, used Model 3s (like my 2018) can be had for around $20,000.
You can hate on Elon Musk’s political opinions (join the club), but the truth is that Tesla continues to make some of the best cars on the market and they’ve gotten much more affordable while they’ve improved:
The 2024 revision takes on well-known issues with first-generation cars—shortcomings early adopters were willing to overlook, given the epochal innovation of the thing. Easily discerned compared to the old car: The interior noise level is lower and the cabin isolation more thorough, at all speeds, marking the use of acoustic glass around and above the cabin, in the frameless panoramic roof.
Haters also complained the Model 3’s interior materials felt and looked cheap, complaints not without merit. Tesla has clearly changed AI-generated tailors and upgraded its synthetic woolwrights. New for 2024 are a touch-screen display for the rear cabin; ventilated front seats; and dual wireless charging pads. Even as the Model 3’s price of entry comes down, its cabin appointments argue for premium-class consideration.
Not that there are a lot of appointments. The interior continues Tesla’s march toward the minimal. There are no control stalks on the steering column (turn-signal controls are built into the steering wheel), nor a gear selector (the PRNDL is integrated into the touch screen), nor a Start button. I was concerned that Kathy—my older sister—would have trouble with the screen-based paradigm. It took all of five minutes before she was settled.
My Model 3 is five years old now, and if were in the market for my next car I wouldn’t even consider a gas-powered vehicle. Even among electrics, I’d need to see something pretty amazing to overcome the driving experience that Tesla’s had for awhile now.