7 ms·

Tesla Model 3 vs. BMW M3 [video]

• soared 7y ago
  Does anyone trust topgear for actual reviews, especially when tesla is involved? The courts literally ruled that you shouldn't: > Mr Justice Tugendhat said that no Top Gear viewer would have reasonably compared the car's performance on the show's airfield track to its likely performance on a public road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_controversies#Tesla_Roadster_review https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_controversies#Tesla_R...
  • cobalt 7y ago
    The former staff of the top gear who originally made comments towards the tesla are currently hosting a show on amazon
  • jdietrich 7y ago
    Top Gear is under new ownership. Clarkson and Wilman sold the IP to the BBC and took their team with them to Amazon; post-2016 Top Gear is a completely new entity operating under old branding. The new Top Gear has been nothing but fair about EVs and has given glowing reviews to several all-electric models.
  • dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    Top gear is automotive themed entertainment, not automotive entertainment. Much to the dismay of many a Hilux fanboy you really shouldn't be taking shows like this as indicative of fact any more than you take that gold mining show on discovery as indicative of the economics of the mining industry.
  • GordonS 7y ago
    Clarkson and co haven't been involved with Top Gear for a while now - even before that though, the Top Gear website has always been much more "sensible" than the TV show. TBH, it always felt completely separate.
• dillonmckay 7y ago
  I thought there would be an article with text. Meh.
  • sctb 7y ago
    Thanks, we've noted that in the headline.
• TaylorAlexander 7y ago
  In this test performed by the show host (not a professional driver) the Tesla Model 3 won for 1/4 mile, 0-100-0, and the hot lap. The BMW M3 was deemed “more fun to drift”. Looks good for the Tesla!
  • ynniv 7y ago
    I'm not sure it really won the spirit of the 0-100-0. Yes it completed the task faster, but it also required more distance, implying that it takes significantly longer to brake. A quick search suggests this is a known Model 3 weakness. Edit: It would have been more honest to have one test of acceleration and another of only braking. Also, the Tesla won the hot-lap but had significant body roll that made it difficult to stay on the track... This video is really only appealing to people who already like the Tesla.
    • dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      A quick lookup of the curb weight and the OEM spec'd tires would also indicate this.
  • davidjnelson 7y ago
    If you really like driving sports cars, "more fun to drift" is not just a nice to have. It can be make or break on the decision.
• rootusrootus 7y ago
  I just rented a P3D a couple weeks ago for a weekend, and I agree with the review, it would spank an M3. Hell, it would even spank my Camaro. But it's not a driver's car. Steering is numb, handling is competent but it's a very heavy car, seats are disapointing as hell. I was impressed, but not enough to drop 60 grand. And to be honest, between an M3 and a P3D, I'd probably still choose the M3. It really, really depends on what you want from a car. If you want to win stoplight races, almost nothing will hang with a P3D. And if you're not an enthusiast, then it's probably sportier than anything you're familiar with. Go for it.
  • dplgk 7y ago
    I'm only aware of Model S, 3, X and Y. What's P3D?
    • ssheth 7y ago
      Model 3 (Performance Series (more HP) w. All-Wheel Drive)
    • rootusrootus 7y ago
      It's not an official designation, it is informal lingo for the Model 3 Performance. It's a riff on the P##D system that Tesla uses for the Model S.
    • jdeibele 7y ago
      P = performance 3 = model 3 D = dual motor (all wheel drive)
  • toomuchtodo 7y ago
    If you're going to track it, you're not going to mind ripping out the seats and putting something more sporty in with a five point harness. The vehicle is heavier, but adjusting to it would be similar (IMHO) to adjusting to sports cars with a mid engine layout.
    • dsfyu404ed 7y ago
• diab0lic 7y ago
  My last car was an E92 M3 MT (with Tech, Premium, Competition packages and a modded exhaust). It was the most fun vehicle I've ever driven. It had plenty of power, and introduced me to the side of cars other than straight line power. It also had plenty of luxury inside, the car was credibly comfortable. All in all I think it compared very favorably to my friends R8 with nearly as much performance and plenty more luxury. It was however incredibly expensive to maintain, especially those competition package brakes! A friend of mine has the Model 3, but not the performance version. He hasn't had it long but the torque is very comparable and I'll bet the maintenance is quite a bit lower. That said I'll miss that RWD behavior and those exhaust notes.
  • jklm 7y ago
    What else was expensive to maintain, and why? Was this on a new M3?
    • diab0lic 7y ago
      It was an E92, and specifically the 2008 model. The most expensive thing I ever did was the brakes. The competition package has floating discs and they were ~$2500 to replace. There are just a lot of design decisions on a car like that which favour performance over maintainability. Another example from when I first got it was the car was the gas tank would only fill up to about 3/4. Turns out because the car is so low the tank has a saddlebag design and a transfer pump transfers gas between the two sides of the tank. Though the truth is even oil is a lot more expensive as it drank six quarts of 10W60. A newer car would have likely been a little easier on maintenance, but the truth is the thing begs to be driven hard, which also doesn't help. Haha
      • diab0lic 7y ago
        Sorry I realized I didn't directly answer your question. It was used, ~64000 miles and ~7 years old when I got it.
  • davidjnelson 7y ago
    That car is bananas, so fun to drive. I had the 2013 e92 m3 competition but very similar. Incredible luxury, 3.9 second 0-60 that literally slammed your head back into the seat producing a stupidly happy grin. The best part of that car was the handling/suspension and the stereo though. You could put it in M Dynamic Mode, which let you do controlled drifts. Shredded tires, but goodness it was fun to drift corners everywhere. The sound system was the best I've ever heard, far better than a custom $4,000 system. 800 watts, a 10 inch sub under both front seats. That car was the closest thing to perfection I've personally ever driven. Its only real flaw was it didn't have quite enough low end torque ( 300 lb ft ) because it was a naturally aspirated v8. Plus you had to really baby the throttle on the low end so the tires wouldn't start sliding around when you accelerated from a stop. I had literally 0 problems with it in three years outside of the stupid Takata airbag recall, which is why I didn't keep it. But you can't blame that on bmw. Plus I mean I spent a lot on tires, but that's on me :-) At the time I test drove a comparable tesla and thought it accelerated really slow and had poor handling. Also it didn't even have a backup camera, decent stereo, or integration with popular music streaming services. But I hear they have gotten better. For me the big benefit of the tesla is that you can shave 15-20 minutes off your commute by using the carpool lane and still have a decent car. Plus you are doing something to offset climate change.
• Judgmentality 7y ago
  I admittedly haven't watched the video yet (although I plan to and will update my comment), but as someone who really wants to love an EV, the technology just isn't there for me yet. The range is not nearly enough for me. Yes, 300 miles is not enough. Just this weekend I drove between LA and SF twice, and while I had to stop and get gas it took me 5 minutes instead of however long it would take me to charge the car enough to make it the rest of the way (I'd guess around 30 minutes). This is absolutely positively unacceptable when I just want to get from point A to point B, at least for me. The other factor is that batteries are heavy, and this destroys how fun a car is. Weight is always the enemy with performance vehicles (and I feel an M3 is too heavy as well actually). Yes, the cars have incredible acceleration - better than the majority of performance vehicles. But they handle like shit, and this is coming from someone who test drove a Tesla after driving there in a '94 Camry. I honestly preferred the way the Camry handled, and everyone would unequivocally agree my Camry was a piece of shit (parts of the car were actually falling off of it). The other thing to consider is that batteries overheat, so it can only go around the track I believe once or twice before you have to pull over for it to cool down. However, the idea of instant acceleration, a flat torque band, silent performance, and less pollution is very appealing to me. But the technology just isn't there for me yet, plus the inconvenience of the currently limited charging network compared to gas stations. Yes, I know it's getting better and I'm happy that it works for many people, but it does not work for me. I look forward to the day it does.
  • dragontamer 7y ago
    This is why I believe that plug-in hybrids will last much longer than people expect. I know most techno-geeks think that PHEVs (Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles) are "stop-gap" technologies.... but they solve the range problem AND solve the "batteries are heavy" problem very elegantly. Lets be frank: Li-Ion batteries may have gotten dramatically lighter, but they're no where close to how light gasoline is. PHEVs allow gasoline engines to operate at their optimal power-generation band as a gasoline generator (optimizing your gas milage), while also using standard electric connections to charge on a daily basis. So you don't need many Li-Ion batteries for PHEVs (lighter car, cheaper to make). You still get the flat torque band of EVs, and if you manage to charge your vehicle within 50-miles, you won't use any gasoline either. In the long term, gas stations will grow less profitable as electricity becomes sufficient for 80+% of driving cases. But it seems more sustainable to downscale gas stations in the USA rather than to build out a supercharging network. -------------- Pure-electric high performance cars like Model S will be fun toys for those who can afford it. But PHEVs are the ones that seem to make financial sense for the majority of consumers. Be it the Prius Prime, Chevy Volt, or Honda Clarity.
• leetbulb 7y ago
  FYI: youtube-dl works with this URL. Cannot stand watching a video surrounded by a ton of crap. youtube-dl -o - 'https://www.topgear.com/videos/video/video-tesla-model-3-vs-bmw-m3' | vlc -
  • Nerdfest 7y ago
    There is a maximize button.
• jak92 7y ago
  These super fast cars are a threat to life and safety in urban environments. EV or not, these fast vehicles should not be sold as these speeds do not serve any valid purpose.
  • tosser0001 7y ago
    I just came here to say something similar. It drives me nuts that this sort of power and performance is let loose on public streets. At some point I would think we'd be able to have some sort of geofencing system were a car would be forced into "golf cart" mode once it's off the highway.
    • xiphias2 7y ago
      What's better than geofencing is that the long needed depth sensing is coming to Tesla cars (watch the latest investor presentation about autonomous driving to see how it was trained). I believe emergency braking will save a lot of lives.
    • hpkuarg 7y ago
      Where is this sentiment coming from? Let the driver (who is legally, ethically, and morally responsible for the operation of the vehicle they are controlling) judge the appropriate safety boundaries of the environment they're currently driving through. A 45mph zone would be more appropriately driven at anything from 15 to 70mph, depending on so many factors other than "it's off the highway". At any rate, don't turn a fine piece of engineering that many people have an emotional connection with, not to mention pay a lot of hard-earned money for, into some vaguely-autonomous, ToS-bound appliance that does not what its owner sees fit, but what its maker deems appropriate from medium earth orbit. Censorship applies to behavior as well as words.
      • apta 7y ago
        > Let the driver (who is legally, ethically, and morally responsible for the operation of the vehicle they are controlling) judge the appropriate safety boundaries of the environment they're currently driving through. Time and time again, it's been shown that people do not have the capacity to make correct judgements on simple things, let alone things that threaten other's lives.
• hwj 7y ago
  I think the 0-100-0 point should go to BMW because it stopped a few meters before Tesla (visible at 00:02:45). This can make a difference in real traffic.
  • Pokepokalypse 7y ago
    not if the m3 driver is asleep!