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I drove the new Tesla Model 3, here’s what got better
The new Tesla Model 3 is now available for test drives at several Tesla Showrooms. It was available just an hour from me, so I decided to drive up and give it a spin.
The first Tesla I ever drove was a Model 3 back in 2019 when I first started writing for Teslarati. Since then, I have had the chance to drive the four models in its lineup. The Cybertruck is not yet available near me, but when it is, I’ll be sure to take that for a spin, too.
My expectations going into the drive were pretty standard. I knew that Tesla had changed a lot about the car, and I really do love the new look of the Model 3; it’s sporty and sleek, and just a better aesthetic than what was previously offered. However, looks only go so far, and what I was really interested in was the true performance and interior changes that the new Model 3 equipped.
It definitely was not what I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised by some features but underwhelmed by others.
First Thoughts and Initial Impressions
When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by the look. I really do like the new front end of the car. It looks sporty and tough and clean, but also it just seems more appealing. I think the legacy Model 3 is a good design, but it was just too generic when comparing it to this option.
The new headlight design is sleek and slim and, from the outside, you truly do think you’re getting into something that is super luxurious. I also loved this color in particular. I usually like white cars, but this Stealth Grey was super clean.
Getting In
The new interior is similar to the legacy Model 3 interior, but there are a few noticeable changes. I will say I don’t think I’d ever want to own a car without stalks. I totally understand the removal of things in preparation for Full Self-Driving, but we’re pretty far off from having a fully autonomous vehicle, so I think there should be an option for people to have traditional stalks.
Without them, and without a lot of other things, the interior of this car just feels empty. I am still a firm believer in having some more physical buttons and knobs because things are easier to adjust and are more accessible that way. In my car, I am able to change the climate, adjust which vents are active, and control other features, like my drive mode, with the touch of a button or the turn of a knob. It takes less than five seconds to do so.
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In the Model 3, it takes a few touches on the center screen to adjust everything from the mirrors to the steering wheel. To me, it’s too much of a process to perform these simple tasks, and the lack of things to look at is something I personally do not enjoy. I do understand the appeal, though.
Tesla moved from haptics to physical buttons on this new steering wheel, which was an interesting touch. It only took me about three or four turns, or roughly ten minutes, to realize I needed to stop reaching for stalks. I feel like the buttons are super convenient, but there were times I would push the edges or corners, and the signal would not come on.
You have to push the center of the signal button for it to activate, and it also holds that hand captive on that portion of the wheel.
The high-beam button is also where things get dicey. During my drive, someone was attempting to merge over into my lane in front of me. I flashed my lights at him to get over, which he did. But it was more difficult than just flicking a stalk a couple of times.
I totally realize that these are pretty tedious complaints, but I do believe there are some people who would see this as such an inconvenience that it would stop them from buying a car.
A lot of things I liked, including the ventilated seats, the wireless charger, the center console, and the cup holder covers are a sleek touch. Everything felt very high-quality. There was not very much creaking or movement from these parts, which can sometimes be cheap and seem like an inferior quality. This was not the case in this car, I was really impressed with everything.
Driving
It is fun to drive an electric car. Every EV I have ever had the opportunity to drive has been more fun than a gas version that is similar. The Model 3 is definitely an improvement from its legacy build, and I was impressed by the suspension feel, the cabin noise reduction, and the overall ride quality in general.
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I started on a four-lane highway that featured stoplights to test how it felt in traffic. It was as you’d expect. Where I really wanted to test it was on backroads in Pennsylvania, which there are plenty of. This is where the most fun driving is done, at least in my opinion.
I took it on some windy and tight backroads and it hugged the corners super well. The suspension kept the car feeling sporty and capable during some of the curves. I tried to push the car as much as I could responsibly, and it passed with flying colors. I will say there are only a handful of vehicles that have given be this amount of confidence when taking turns with some speed, one of them being the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Even the updated Model 3 outperformed the Mustang Mach-E, which was one of the most fun driving experiences I have had in recent memory.
I had a Rear-Wheel-Drive version of this car, and it was missing that truly face-melting instant torque that I have had in other cars, especially the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive and Performance configurations that I’ve driven in the past.
For me, I don’t drive super fast. I was in a couple of car accidents in high school as a passenger, and they taught me to be more responsible on the road. I know when I have to drive with some aggressiveness and with some speed, and it is not often. However, this configuration was just not enough pep for me. If I were to make an order, I’d be going a step up.
Other Thoughts
A couple of things worth mentioning are the rear legroom, the rear touchscreen, trunk and frunk space, and the road noise.
Rear Legroom
I am 5′ 8″, and I did not move the driver’s throne when I decided to hop in the backseat to see how much room there was.
There wasn’t much, and I don’t know if I could see myself being strong enough or patient enough to make it more than a few hours with such little space to move.
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For a sedan, it’s pretty understandable to have limited space. You will be stuck in this generic position for most of the ride, but the back is definitely more suitable for children.
Rear Touchscreen
I think the rear touchscreen is a nice addition. A lot of cars have one now, and it is a good thing to have. It is packed with features to keep your rear occupants busy, but I feel that it is more of a novelty move than anything. It’s a decent size, can play some of the games in the Tesla Arcade, and streaming is available.
Trunk and Frunk
The frunk and power trunk are both spacious and provide room for a lot of things. I couldn’t get a good gauge on how much luggage you could fit in the trunk, but the frunk space would be nice for those daily trips to the grocery store to pick up odds and ends.
My biggest concern would be fitting a few golf bags in the trunk, and it seems like two or three would be the limit there.
Cabin Noise
Last week, I had to drive to Penn State to cover a wrestling match, and I went by myself. Spending 10-12 hours in front of a computer screen daily, constantly having to listen to things, living with a dog, and barely ever having peace and quiet prompted me to turn the stereo off and take the two-hour trip in silence. It was great.
One thing I truly love about this new Model 3 is the cabin noise. It was so quiet in the car and so peaceful, that it was undoubtedly my favorite part of the test drive. I never turned the music on once, I just chose to drive in the quiet, and I really liked how peaceful it was inside the cabin because road noise has been a huge complaint of some drivers in the past. I didn’t have that issue at all.
Closing Thoughts
Tesla did a good job of improving some of the parts of the Model 3 with this update. The sleek and sporty exterior look is great, the amount of noise in the cabin was excellent, and the suspension and ride comfort were top notch.
Were there things I wish were different? Yes. Absolutely. I wish stalks were still a thing, I wish changing climate control settings and other things that are commonly adjusted throughout the course of a drive were more easily accessible.
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Do I think this is a mini Model S? It’s tough to say. Personally, the interior of this car makes me feel like I’m not getting much for the price. I didn’t feel blown away by the inside of the car from an aesthetic perspective. It just felt too minimalistic, and I’ve liked driving other Teslas more than this.
“Would I trade in my current car for this one?” is the question I ask myself when I have the opportunity to drive other vehicles. I did not get that impression from the Model 3. In fact, the Model X and Model Y are the only two cars I’d even remotely consider at this point from Tesla, but there are a few reasons for that.
- I prefer an SUV or something with more interior space than I truly need,
- I drive my car on the beach every year; I wouldn’t sacrifice that privilege for a sedan that doesn’t blow me away in every aspect,
- The minimalism truly is a major turn off for me. I liked the stalks, the display behind the steering wheel in the Model X and S, and more things to look at
Did Tesla improve this car? Yes. Was it the best EV I’ve ever driven? No. But it’s also the entry-level Tesla, and if you want more, you have to pay more, or settle for another car. It is unrealistic to expect this vehicle to check off all the boxes at this price. Is it a good car for a first-time/young driver? Absolutely. It is something I’d consider if I drove an hour to Baltimore or 45 minutes to Harrisburg for work. As someone who works from home and spends a limited amount of time behind the wheel, it would not be my first choice. But, it’s still a great car.
What did you think of my Model 3 review? Were there things I missed? Things you’d like to hear about further? Shoot me an email at joey@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s newest tunnel vehicle runs on Tesla parts and no one is driving it
The Boring Company’s new tunnel vehicle runs on Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units.
The Boring Company just introduced a new piece of hardware, and it runs on parts pulled straight from a Tesla showroom. Liner Truck 3, unveiled in a post from the tunneling company’s official X account, is an all electric vehicle built around Tesla Model 3 battery packs and drive units, purpose built to move concrete tunnel segments to the boring machine face without a single person underground.
Introducing Liner Truck 3 — our latest fully electric tunnel vehicle.
– Tesla Model 3 battery and drive units
– Transports 22,000+ lb of concrete segments to the boring machine
– 28 miles of range
– 12 mph max operating speed
– Remotely piloted from Global OCC in Texas, with… pic.twitter.com/XB7FgSXnpy— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) August 7, 2026
The job itself is unglamorous but critical. Each precast segment run weighs more than 22,000 pounds, roughly the load of a full cement mixer, and Liner Truck 3 hauls that weight repeatedly between the surface staging area and wherever the Prufrock machine happens to be cutting.
The Boring Company said Liner Truck 3 is piloted remotely out of its Global Operations Control Center in Texas, extending the Zero-People-In-Tunnel approach the company has spent years building toward. An earlier version of a ZPIT liner truck was already tested at the company’s Bastrop, Texas research tunnels, and a factory tour released last month showed an employee flying a fully loaded liner truck with a PlayStation controller. Liner Truck 3 looks like the production version of that same idea, cleaned up and pushed into daily use.
The timing lines up with a company digging in more places than it ever has before. The Boring Company now has multiple Prufrock machines active or arriving in Nashville, where Music City Loop construction has been accelerating since February, and its Vegas Loop network keeps adding tunnel mileage on a near monthly basis. Every one of those projects depends on getting concrete segments to the cutting face fast enough to keep the boring machine from idling, which is exactly the bottleneck Liner Truck 3 is designed to remove.
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It also reinforces something Tesla owners have watched happen gradually across Musk’s companies: passenger car hardware finding a second life in heavy equipment. Model 3 drive units already move people through the Vegas Loop, and now the same components are hauling concrete underground in Nashville and wherever The Boring Company digs next. Whether that kind of component reuse extends further into TBC’s equipment lineup, or into other Musk owned industrial hardware, is the next thing worth watching.
SpaceX stock did the opposite of what most of Wall Street expected this week, when the day designed to be its most dangerous turned into a rally, and the rally kept going.
Thursday marked the first major lockup expiration since SpaceX’s June IPO, making roughly 911.5 million insider held shares eligible to trade for the first time, more than doubling the company’s public float. Analysts and short sellers had spent weeks bracing for a flood of selling, especially after the stock fell 13 percent following its first earnings report as a public company on Tuesday. Instead, shares rose 6.1 percent Thursday to close at $114.92, and by Friday they were trading near $129, up more than another 12 percent on the day.
SpaceX shorts get warned by Musk ally, echoing Tesla’s early struggles
The setup made the outcome notable. Short interest had climbed to roughly 34 percent of the float heading into earnings, among the highest of any large cap stock, with about 95 percent of available shares to borrow already on loan. CEO Elon Musk warned short sellers twice in the weeks before the lockup, writing on X that “the survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low,” then following up on the morning of earnings with “I try to warn them, but they just double down.”
When the newly unlocked shares hit the market and the selloff never showed up, some of that short position appears to have started unwinding. TipRanks reported that options activity shifted toward bullish strategies like put selling and risk reversals following the rally, with roughly $600 million in options premium trading Thursday alone. Retail buyers also stepped in during the earnings dip, according to Vanda Research.
The fundamentals behind the stock have not changed much in a week. SpaceX’s revenue nearly doubled year over year to $7.8 billion, with Starlink subscribers doubling to 12 million and the company’s AI segment growing 247 percent. What spooked investors on Tuesday was the spending side. Capital expenditures jumped to more than $18 billion for the quarter, up from $2.8 billion a year earlier, with AI investment alone rising from $749 million to $15.8 billion. Wall Street remains split on whether that spending is building infrastructure SpaceX needs or outrunning what the business can currently support, a debate Teslarati has tracked since shares first came under pressure.
None of that resolves the bigger question hanging over the stock. Thursday’s release was only the first of nine staggered lockup tranches, with roughly $800 billion worth of additional shares scheduled to become eligible through October, and Musk’s own stake stays locked until next June. If this week is any indication, the market is treating that supply as something it can absorb rather than something to fear, at least for now.
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News
The Boring Company’s newest Vegas Station has a permit quietly waiting behind it
Sahara Las Vegas opened a new Vegas Loop station, joining an exclusive two resort transit club.
Sahara Las Vegas opened a new Vegas Loop station Thursday, giving The Boring Company’s underground transit system its northernmost stop yet on the Strip. The station sits at Sahara’s Paradise Road entrance, on the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, and connects riders to the Las Vegas Convention Center, other Strip resorts on the network and, eventually, Harry Reid International Airport.
The addition makes Sahara the second resort, after Fontainebleau opened its own station in January, to get a stop built at street level rather than tucked into the property itself. Sahara now joins Westgate as the only two Strip resorts offering both a Vegas Loop station and a stop on the Las Vegas Monorail, giving guests two separate ways to get around without leaving the property.
The Boring Company just doubled its tunneling power in Nashville
The bigger news buried in Thursday’s announcement is what comes next. Boring Company has already secured its first permit to tunnel north of Sahara Avenue, extending the network beyond where it currently ends, even though permits to push the Loop toward downtown Las Vegas still haven’t been granted. Crews are also working on a two mile dual tunnel line running from Westgate to a planned station at 4744 Paradise Road, just north of Tropicana Avenue, that Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill has said the company hopes to open in time for November’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Ridership has grown alongside the buildout. The Loop moved roughly 82,000 passengers during CONEXPO in early March, a total the company highlighted on its own X account at the time, and the system has now carried more than 4 million passengers through 11 open stations since it began running in 2021. The airport connector tunnels, meant to give the Loop a direct link to Harry Reid, have slipped past their original first quarter target and remain under construction, with Boring Company director Mike Baier saying that a full opening is still a few months out.
For Sahara, the calculation is straightforward. Convention traffic drives a large share of Loop ridership, and a station at the property’s front door gives conventiongoers one more reason to book rooms on the Strip’s north end instead of closer to the convention center itself.
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The Boring Company’s newest tunnel vehicle runs on Tesla parts and no one is driving it
Elon Musk and SpaceX shrugs off the trading day Wall Street feared most
