Skip to main content
car review
Open this photo in gallery:

Loaded with the optional performance upgrade package, enhanced autopilot and white interior, the Model 3 Performance test car costs an eye-watering $102,600.Tesla

Key card to the new Tesla Model 3 finally in hand, this is not what we were expecting. The car is a $102,600 lightning bolt, a far cry from affordable electric car that was announced 2 1/2 years ago.

Hype was off the charts in March, 2016, in Hawthorne, Calif., as Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Model 3. He called it the final step in his master plan. The crowd’s weird, reverent euphoria was something no other auto-industry CEO could inspire.

The Model 3 was to be an affordable, mass-market, long-range electric car, a product to disrupt a century-old industry.

“You will not be able to buy a better car for $35,000, or even close, even if you get no options,” Musk told the crowd.

More than 400,000 people put down $1,000 deposits for the Model 3.

It’s been more than two years since the company took those first deposits and the $35,000 Tesla still isn’t here.

Making cars, it turns out, is really hard. In 2017, Tesla ran into what Musk called “production hell.” The well-documented problems with manufacturing at the California factory – and its adjoining tent that houses a second production line – meant the affordable, mass-market Tesla would be delayed. Build-quality issues were a major concern on early cars.

Today, on Tesla’s Canadian Model 3 page, you’ll find the notice: “Standard battery available in 5-8 months.” That line refers to the affordable, $35,000 model – which will start at $45,600 in Canada. (You can debate if that qualifies as affordable or not.) The five-to-eight-month estimate is only for customers who put down early deposits. If you order now, depending on how production ramps up, you may get an entry-level Model 3 in 2019 or 2020.

“Shipping min cost Model 3 right away [would] cause Tesla to lose money & die,” Musk wrote on Twitter earlier this year.

Only the long-range battery version is available to order now, at a price of $64,100 and up.

At the end of Q2, only 28,386 Model 3s had been delivered, while 420,000 people were still waiting. Canadian deliveries of the long-range Model 3 began in May.

All automakers try to up-sell after attracting people into showrooms. Few buyers purchase the base model, but with other automakers, it is at least possible to get one.

Test drive

Open this photo in gallery:

The Model 3 Performance is powered by two electric motors.Matt Bubbers/The Globe and Mail

The car we’ve got on test is the top-of-the-chain Model 3 Performance with long-range battery and all-wheel drive powered by two electric motors: one at the front axle and another at the rear. It starts at $84,800 and comes with what Tesla calls “more capable inverters” to bump horsepower and torque up to 450 and 471 pound-feet respectively. Loaded with the optional performance upgrade package, enhanced autopilot and white interior, our test car costs an eye-watering $102,600.

Having the car on loan from Tesla for just two days, these are first impressions.

Panel gaps and built quality seem reasonably good. We had no minor malfunctions, as happened on early Model S and Model X vehicles that I drove.

Open this photo in gallery:

The car's interior has the cool austerity of an Apple store.Tesla

Is it slow? Hardly. This Model 3 rips from a standstill to 100 kilometers an hour in 3.7 seconds. That’s quicker than most Porsche 911s, or any sport sedan.

Without a racetrack to test its limit handling, it’s impossible to say if the Performance model has the chops to threaten a BMW M3 or Mercedes C63 AMG. The Tesla feels tuned for safe, neutral handling – going where you point it – rather than the drifty, muscle-car thrills offered by those German machines. A bit of under-steer is inevitable with this much car on skinny 235 section tires, but less friction grants increase driving range, which is a worthy trade-off.

Sitting in this car is like being in an empty Apple store. It’s cool and austere, with a giant iPad-like screen front and centre. And, that’s it. It’s barren. The seats are excellent, but over all the cabin feels a little basic considering the price.

The problem with having all controls on the touchscreen (save for two joysticks on the steering wheel) is that it’s distracting. You need to take your eyes off the road and dive into menus to accomplish even simple tasks. There’s also no permanent Map button on the big screen either, which would seem to be an easy-to-fix oversight.

Handling

Open this photo in gallery:

The Model 3 Performance has easily the best handling of any Tesla.Tesla

On the road, the Model 3 has squirrel-like agility thanks to a very quick steering rack. The low centre of gravity, due to the underfloor battery pack, means the car turns with hardly any body roll. It’s certainly the best-handling Tesla I’ve ever driven – and maybe even the best-handling electric car. The fact that it weighs hundreds of kilograms less than a top-spec Model S helps a lot.

Powering out of a corner with gusto grants brief flashes of over-steer. You can feel the electric motors adjusting power to the wheels, swinging the rear axle around. It’s an artificial, computer-generated sensation, but it shows there’s potential here. The level of precision control at each wheel offered by electric motors could grant EVs handling ability beyond what their gasoline counterparts are capable of.

An upcoming track mode feature is said to deliver more entertaining, tail-happy handling, but it unfortunately wasn’t equipped on our test car.

Over rough city streets, this Model 3 on 20-inch rims rides slightly on the sporty side of comfortable. Given the car’s agile handling and lack of body-roll in fast corners, you’d expect much stiffer suspension. However, it’s surprisingly compliant, with this caveat – for a sports sedan. Again, that’s likely thanks to the low centre of gravity.

What’s most impressive though is the battery. “Cells used in Model 3 are the highest energy density cells used in any electric vehicle,” the company claimed in a letter to shareholders earlier this year.

Mitigating range anxiety

Open this photo in gallery:

Almost all of the vehicle's controls are on the large touchscreen.Tesla

During our brief test in which we drove it like we stole it, it averaged 221 Watt hour per kilometre. Tesla is getting an EPA-rated 499 kilometres of range out of an estimated 75 kilowatt hour (kWh) battery. (The company declined to disclose the actual capacity of the battery.) Jaguar’s electric I-Pace, for comparison, gets an EPA-estimated range of only 386 km from a much larger 90 kWh battery.

Charging at home on a 240V, 40A outlet will get you 60 km of range per hour. Tesla’s superchargers will provide 274 km in 30 minutes, but using them isn’t free for Model 3 buyers.

The Jaguar is the Model 3 Performance’s closest – and so far only – real rival is slower off the line, with 100 kilometres less range and a similar $86,500 base price. But the Jag is more of a known quantity with a refined, luxurious cabin. Audi will reveal the electric E-Tron Quattro in September as a 2019 model, but it too will have significantly less driving range than the Tesla. Porsche’s electric Taycan sports sedan will go on sale in 2019 as a 2020 model.

Rough year

Open this photo in gallery:

The cabin feels a little barren, but the seats are excellent.Tesla

Between production hell and the strange things Elon Musk tweets – calling a rescue diver a “pedo guy” and a surprise announcement about taking Tesla private that reportedly got the company subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – it has been a rough year for Tesla.

However, first impressions of the top-of-the-line Model 3 give reason to believe the entry-level version, whenever it does finally arrive, could live up to the hype. There are only a handful of other cars, of any sort, that are this fun to drive in mundane, daily-commuting situations.

Whatever happens to Tesla, the Model 3 is a strange and exciting machine that bodes well for a future filled with thrilling electric automobiles.

Tech Specs

  • Base price/as tested: $84,800/$102,600
  • Engine/range: Dual-motor electric/499 kilometres (EPA-rated)
  • Drive: All-wheel
  • Alternative: 2018 Jaguar I-Pace, Audi E-Tron (2019), Porsche Taycan (2020)

Shopping for a new car? Check out the new Globe Drive Build and Price Tool to see the latest discounts, rebates and rates on new cars, trucks and SUVs. Click here to get your price.

Sign up for the weekly Drive newsletter, delivered to your inbox for free. Follow us on Instagram, @globedrive.

Interact with The Globe