Tesla Model 3 Highland first drive: Refined, and with no stalks!

The word refined is often used in car reviews to describe high quality products. After spending 24 hours with the Tesla Model 3 Highland refresh, “refined” sums up my thoughts on this vehicle. The refreshed Model 3 has over 50% new parts compared to the outgoing model, and they combine to make this a cohesive and significant update.

For comparison, I’m using my own 2019 Tesla Model 3 that was built in the Fremont factory in California. To understand the impact Tesla’s continuous updates over the past four years have had on the vehicle, I also test drove a current Shanghai built 2023 Model 3 rear-wheel drive immediately after returning the Highland Model 3. 

I had expected a new 2023 model to feel half way between my 2019 model and the Highland refresh, but was surprised when it drove remarkably similar to my older car in terms of ride, noise and comfort levels.

From this I drew two conclusions. Firstly, my 2019 Model 3 is holding up remarkably well after more than four years, which is great. Secondly, Tesla obviously required a more significant overhaul of the vehicle to noticeably raise the bar with the Model 3.

There are too many changes in the Highland refresh to list them all, so I picked three areas that stood out to me as the most impactful. Other areas I could have expanded on are the sleeker exterior design, improved aerodynamics, safety updates, longer range and connectivity improvements.

Comfortable and squishy interior

The Highland Model 3 includes a raft of interior updates that make it more comfortable and luxurious to sit in. I find the seats on my Model 3 very comfortable already, including on long road trips where I’ve driven for several hours or more. On hot days they can be a bit sweaty though, especially on your lower back.

The refreshed seats are even more comfortable, with additional side and thigh support. After spending a whole morning driving I felt no discomfort at all. The perforated seats with ventilation should also help prevent sweaty backs on those hot days. 

Moving on from the seats, Tesla has almost eliminated hard surfaces from the cabin with the exception of the centre console lid and steering wheel buttons. Everything else you touch apart from the touchscreen is soft and squishy including the entire dash, console surrounds and door liners. 

Even the bottom of the door bins are lined with soft carpet so metal drink bottles or other items placed in there won’t rattle around so much. Stepping back into the 2023 model, the hard plastic dash and door liners on the white interior feel cheap and tacky in comparison.

Supremely quiet cabin

Removal of hard plastics and surfaces from the interior has no doubt helped reduce noise levels inside the Model 3 cabin. The Highland refresh is also fitted with acoustic double-paned glass all around rather than just the front windows previously. Improved aerodynamics also play a part in reducing wind noise as well as increasing range.

Together these updates make the new Model 3 supremely quiet even when cruising down the motorway or on bumpier back roads. There is very little wind noise and only a small amount of road noise, aided by the Hankook Ion Evo tyres which are designed specifically for electric vehicles.

To help illustrate just how quiet the cabin is, I could barely hear oncoming cars passing on a single lane two-way 100 km/h road. In contrast, back in the 2023 model on Sydney roads, the surrounding traffic was easily heard even at city speeds.

Improved ride and handling

I have read reviews criticising the current Model 3 ride quality and I can understand where they are coming from. Tesla EVs have always been known for their straight line acceleration, but not necessarily their cornering ability and handling in general.

Suspension on the Highland refresh Model 3 includes softer springs and smarter dampers and the difference was clear immediately. The car no longer crashes over sharp bumps and it feels much more balanced and calm taking corners at speed.

During normal city driving the improved suspension adds to the serenity of the comfortable and quiet cabin described above. I also noticed the steering in the new model is less direct as it takes more than two full turns lock to lock. 

No stalks

The lack of stalks on the Highland refresh Model 3 is the most controversial update, so I was keen to try this change in person. After my time with the car, I’m potentially going out on a limb by saying I actually enjoyed it. 

Yes, I found myself glancing down at the wheel when indicating with the steering wheel buttons for the first hour or so. After that it started to become muscle memory as I was thinking “bottom left, top right” which makes sense as that’s the direction you’re about to turn the wheel.

Using the indicator buttons was also much easier when driving with your hands in the 9 and 3 o’clock position, which I’ve grown accustomed to after taking driving courses in the past. With your hands in this position I found the indicator buttons were just a thumb twiddle away and you can keep your hands on the wheel without issue.

Activating autopilot by pressing on the right-hand scroll wheel also became easy. I do not recommend the single click autopilot activation setting because this means the car disables cruise control altogether and slows down when you indicate to change lanes. With the double click setting, it drops back to traffic aware cruise control when indicating.

Changing gears by swiping up and down on the side of the screen was fairly intuitive and I found three point turns and parking were OK.

It would take longer to get used to this than the indicator buttons as you don’t change gears as often. The car also goes into park when you take your seat belt off when stopped, or you can tap the top corner of the screen.

Objectively, I can understand the lack of stalks is going to be a big change for some people, especially if you are coming from a more traditional car with stalks and a regular dash in front of the wheel.

If no stalks might be a dealbreaker for you, I would recommend taking more than a single short test drive as this isn’t enough time to properly experience the new interface.

A couple of small downsides

Apart from getting used to the steering wheel buttons, I came across a couple of other small downsides with the Highland Model 3. Firstly, I experienced many false proximity alerts while driving at low speed. For example, the car would often beep and warn me to stop while taking off at traffic lights or pulling away from being parked at the kerb.

In the image above you can see the Highland Model 3 detects the whole kerb as an object, whereas my car only detects taller objects approaching the corners of the car. I wondered whether this was due to Tesla’s switch to relying on vision rather than ultrasonic sensors for object detection. 

This seems to be the case as current models being shipped to Australia are still fitted with ultrasonic sensors, and the issue was not present on the 2023 Model 3 I drove either. Hopefully Tesla can improve or eliminate this problem with future software updates.

Another minor issue was the indicator sound and autopilot chimes were super loud on the Highland Model 3. In hindsight I believe this was probably because “Joe Mode,” which reduces the volume of these sounds was not enabled, but unfortunately I was unable to go back and confirm on the vehicle.

Conclusions

Overall I was impressed with the Highland Model 3 refresh and it brings a significant update to the ageing Model 3. This update keeps the Model 3 competitive with newer electric sedans such as the BYD Seal, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and 2024 Polestar 2 refresh.

The lack of stalks or the Tesla brand in general may not be for everyone, but there is a lot to like about this car if you can get past those points. I would recommend at least taking a test drive before dismissing the lack of stalks as a dealbreaker.

If you are considering a new electric vehicle in this price range, the entry level rear-wheel drive for $61,900 plus on-road costs is great value considering the entire package. For $10,000 more the long-range all-wheel drive Model 3 adds a second electric motor to the front axle and boosts WLTP driving range from 513 km to 629 km.