A friend let me drive his Model 3. It was just a short drive, maybe a mile on city streets. The car is very comfortable and handles very well. Acceleration is not as good as my Roadster, but it's reasonably zippy, and much better than my Prius or any of the small cars I've rented while traveling. Handling was very nice. Taking corners felt very stable. I was surprised that having the speedometer off to the side was not nearly as bad as I imagined, since it's at the top far left of the screen. I didn't play with the screen, but my friend showed me some of what it can do. For example, the knobs on the steering wheel are context-sensitive, so they do different things depending on what the screen is showing. I turned on AP for a few seconds, and found it kind of creepy. It will take some getting used to. My friend told me that where AP really shines is on the highway. On city streets it will stop if there's a car in front of you, but it won't stop for stop signs.



Fit and finish were excellent. The car has plenty of interior storage space, though I'd much prefer a liftback to the sedan body style. A liftback is a better use of space. In general, I don't care for minimalist style, or having nearly all functions operated through the screen. Afterwards, as we stood by the car talking, it kept locking and unlocking itself because we were just at that distance where it could not decide. I prefer the way my Prius does it: You have to touch the door handle for it to unlock, and you press a button to lock it, all providing the fob is nearby.



The glass roof starts far enough back that you don't actually see anything through it while driving. There's no start button: While the car is unlocked it's ready to drive. Just step on the brake and put it in gear. It shuts itself off when you get out and lock it.



My friend loves the car.



It didn't feel as big driving it as I feared it might. (I don't like big cars. My old '89 Honda Civic was the perfect size for me, and one of the things I loved about my old Zap Xebra was its small size.) But it's bigger than my Prius, which is already bigger than I'd really like. I'd say it's right on the cusp of being too big for me, but not a deal-breaker this early in the decision process.



I will definitely need a more comprehensive test drive before making a final decision. If I didn't already have a great electric car I'd buy the Model 3 in a heartbeat, but my decision is whether or not to switch from the Roadster to the 3, because I don't have parking for both, and still keep the Prius, which I need for my summer hiking trip to Canada until they install superchargers on the secondary roads I take getting there. If I could rent a Model 3 for a weekend, that would be ideal, to really give me time to play with it. That's what sold me on the Prius: The dealership let me take their demo from closing time on a Saturday afternoon until opening time on the Monday morning. I know that's not going to happen with the 3, but I'm hoping that maybe the car rental companies will have them and I can rent one.

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