MR2 and Tesla Model 3

[Dick]

Hi Chaps,

I am almost a long forgotten name in the IB world, having sold my '86 SSE a few 'cough' years ago, but I think a few of you chaps still remember me 😉  I peruse the forum regularly, but being an ex-owner unfortunately don't have much to contribute.

In the spirit of John wanting to keep all topics upbeat, I thought I would show you my new car.  It's only a lease, and it is American, and it doesn't make a nice noise, but you can't criticise it this week - ha ha.

In all seriousness, I do miss the sound of a decent engine, but this is for my daily commute, and replaces a Skoda Superb diesel, so it's not exactly much of a loss on the engine note side of things.  So far, I am pretty impressed, the build quality is really great, bordering on German quality but still falling a little way short.  The ride is excellent and the speed really blows my mind, considering my fastest car other than this is the Mk1 Toyota MR2 in the background (happy to share pics if anyone is interested?  Seem to recall they are a fav of yours Gary?)

The looks, well they are subjective, but I like it from certain angles, not so much from others.  

Feel free to critique, but don't get drawn into the whole EV vs petrol debate, I am no echo warrier, it's just cheaper for me to run for my commute.

Cheers

Rich

 

[jevvy]

Top darts - looks great Rich

[GrahamTompkins]

Can’t say the looks do it for me but that aside, one hell of a car, and you’re right, they’re rapid.I was on the M4 last week and I was moving pretty rapidly and one went past my M50d  as if I was standing still..chased it for a while and gave up..thinking to myself, wouldn’t mind a go in one of those suckers 👍🏻

[carreracat]

lovely looking MR2!

[Nige]

A guy at work has just taken delivery of one.  On initial ride out I liked it, but there was a couple of things such as the trim that looked a bit lose/poor fit.  I'd prefer some proper knobs for heater controls as I found you had to look too long at the touch screen to adjust the basics which was a bit too distracting from the road.

Be interesting to see what they fair like as a sub £10k secondhand buy 7-8 years down the line.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Nige

[Dick]

Yes I have always through proper knobs for heating would be better.  I haven't used it much yet, for obvious reasons, so haven't made my mind up on that part yet.

Thanks Carreracat, I always wanted a white MR2 T-bar when I was a teenager about the time they were released and got this one last year.  I am the 3rd owner with 49k on the clock, garaged from new, never been welded and not a spot of rust.  Quite amazing for a Japanese car of the 80's!  I have the original alloys with the original tyres on them, obviously not being used...

Gratuitous pics

[Lesworth]

Nige likes knobs shocker.

I get them but I just cant get on with the interior just having blank spaces. Perhaps you get used to it. Have you had to have a special charge point installed or can you get a full 'tank' from using normal mains overnight. Assume the battery is quite large?

[Dick]

I get that Les. I am a big fan of the newer Porsche's with buttons everywhere but so far I like the fact it's decluttered and easy to keep dust free.  The centre console comes in that awful piano black plastic which I hate so I have wrapped mine.
 

I have had a charge point installed, you can see it on the wall in the last pic, but it will do over 300 miles on a full charge so plenty for my 130 mile daily commute and I can charge at work for free with no taxable benefit.  A three pin plug wouldn't get you full overnight but enough for my commute.

 

Pre-heat is one of the biggest plus points. You can schedule it to be warm at a certain time each day or just press a button on the app ten minutes before you leave.

[jellyfishfields]

I'm in Norway a lot, so used to seeing Tesla's, Very popular mainly due to reduced taxes, no road tolls, allowed to use some bus lanes, many charging points etc.

Love the MR2, couldn't afford one at the time when they were on the go. Did have a Corolla GT though, the FWD one which at least had the same engine, I think.

Off to look at ebay🙂

[Beaky]

The Tesla is nothing to be ashamed of and for many of us will be the way forward in the not to distant future.

Future residuals is an interesting subject on electric vehicles, but if one leases it as you have then to some extend you dodge the bullet on it -  leasing make a lot of sense in the current climate (recession and climate change).

That looks like a very clean MR2 and the interior is 80's chic, just fab👍

[jevvy]

46 minutes ago, Dick said:

I am the 3rd owner with 49k on the clock, garaged from new, never been welded and not a spot of rust.

Looks fab, nice find. How long have you had it?

Just saw this on PH: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1861188

[Roy M]

It will be particularly interesting if Tesla in particular values hold up with the free supercharging only being available to first owner?

[Von Twinzig]

Dick!!! Blimey. Great to see you back. If folk want a laugh we could regale the ‘Stansted Wii’ incident.🤣

VT

[Beaky]

6 minutes ago, Von Twinzig said:

 the ‘Stansted Wii’ incident.🤣

 

Well you have too now!

[Dick]

24 minutes ago, jevvy said:

Looks fab, nice find. How long have you had it?

Just saw this on PH: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1861188

Nice spot Jevvy!  I will have a read through that.

 

22 minutes ago, Roy M said:

It will be particularly interesting if Tesla in particular values hold up with the free supercharging only being available to first owner?

Unfortunately the Model 3 doesn't come with free supercharging, which is a shame, but I am unlikely to use it that often anyway.  You can get 1,000 miles free using a referral code when you order one, which is handy.  Otherwise it costs about £8 to "fill up" at a supercharger, which is still pretty cheap.

 

12 minutes ago, Von Twinzig said:

Dick!!! Blimey. Great to see you back. If folk want a laugh we could regale the ‘Stansted Wii’ incident.🤣

VT

Blimey, I had forgotten all about that!  In the days when the Nintendo Wii had just been released you couldn't get them for love nor money in the UK.  Twinny very kindly offered to get me one when he was away on business (Scandinavian country if memory serves?) and I turned up to meet him at the airport with a brown envelope full of readies to do the "exchange" 😅

[Dick]

42 minutes ago, jellyfishfields said:

Love the MR2, couldn't afford one at the time when they were on the go. Did have a Corolla GT though, the FWD one which at least had the same engine, I think.

Off to look at ebay🙂

Yes I think they are the same 4-AGE engine.  I found mine on twitter would you believe - bought it directly from the 2nd owner for £7k, probably a bit much, but I value originality, and I was just selling a Lotus Elan for quite a bit more, so felt quids in anyway.  So far, it's been really reliable, which I could not say for the Lotus!!! 

[carreracat]

1 hour ago, Dick said:

 

 

 

 

Oooo, that's just lovely.  I would be sat in that working from home!

[Northy]

Dick! 👋
 

last seen late on a late apex at club corner

 

That was 2007! 😳
The model 3 is a nice place to be. If I had a charge point at home I’d 100% be ordering one. It’s worth it for the super charger network alone. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Northy

[Dick]

3 minutes ago, Northy said:

Dick! 👋
 

last seen late on a late apex at club corner

 

Blimey, there's no hiding my mistakes here is there, 13 years later and I am still haunted by it :-)  Nice to hear from you Lewis.  That was a cracking day out, still one of my best.

[Von Twinzig]

44 minutes ago, Dick said:

Blimey, I had forgotten all about that!  In the days when the Nintendo Wii had just been released you couldn't get them for love nor money in the UK.  Twinny very kindly offered to get me one when he was away on business (Scandinavian country if memory serves?) and I turned up to meet him at the airport with a brown envelope full of readies to do the "exchange" 

Yeesss not exactly the story, Dick.🙄

Yes Nintendo Wii’s were the #1 present on children’s Father Christmas lists that year. Sold out in the UK, but available in The Netherlands (which just so happened to be where my office was), if you didn’t mind swapping the plug over. In those days you could ‘sort of’ park right right outside the arrival door at Stansted, where Dick was indeed positioned. An armed policeman apparently strolled up and asked what he was doing “Oh, just waiting to collect a package from a bloke I know.” Said policeman then enquired where he was coming in from.?.....”Amsterdam,” blurted Dick before his brain had time to fully engage. When I came out and picked up my car I found Dick sitting in the service station. Looked a bit shaken.🤣

IB was bloody funny in those days.

VT

[Roy M]

43 minutes ago, Dick said:

Unfortunately the Model 3 doesn't come with free supercharging,

Is it just the performance version that gets it free or have they stopped that as well?

[Dick]

15 minutes ago, Von Twinzig said:

Yeesss not exactly the story, Dick.🙄

Yes Nintendo Wii’s were the #1 present on children’s Father Christmas lists that year. Sold out in the UK, but available in The Netherlands (which just so happened to be where my office was), if you didn’t mind swapping the plug over. In those days you could ‘sort of’ park right right outside the arrival door at Stansted, where Dick was indeed positioned. An armed policeman apparently strolled up and asked what he was doing “Oh, just waiting to collect a package from a bloke I know.” Said policeman then enquired where he was coming in from.?.....”Amsterdam,” blurted Dick before his brain had time to fully engage. When I came out and picked up my car I found Dick sitting in the service station. Looked a bit shaken.🤣

IB was bloody funny in those days.

VT

Oh god, my memory had completely erased that part! Probably due to it being so traumatic.  Good memory Twinny.  Those were the days...

16 minutes ago, Roy M said:

Is it just the performance version that gets it free or have they stopped that as well?

I don't think any of the Model 3 get it Roy, only the S or X.  

[flatsix777]

53 minutes ago, Northy said:

 

 

 

Great to hear from you Rich. That’s brought back a few memories - it was quite exciting from the passenger seat. It was a great day out - one amongst many back then. 

Cheers

David 

[Dick]

16 minutes ago, flatsix777 said:

Great to hear from you Rich. That’s brought back a few memories - it was quite exciting from the passenger seat. It was a great day out - one amongst many back then. 

Cheers

David 

Hi David! Sure was, I hope you are well.

Rich

[Teme]

I almost went for a Tesla Model 3 Performance 3 months ago for my daily driver. The performance is easy to like. I was less impressed by the build quality, materials, road noise, wind noise and some omissions in the equipment. And the noise was not just about the lack of engine noise - it was just plain loud. The ”Full Self Driving” feature or navigating on autopilot did not convince me, either. Model S was better on some of these, but was getting quite expensive. So I ended up with a fully kitted BMW 530e for now. Much more quiet, better equipped and much more comfortable and fast enough as a daily driver. But I will certainly reassess in a 2-3 years - although by that time a 2nd hand Porsche Taycan might also be an option. Regardless, the Model 3 was a really compelling 2nd alternative / runner up for me and I do get why their owners love them.