Tesla Model 3 engines & performance

Few cars offer up performance as easily as the Model 3 Long Range, and the car’s almost toy-like demeanour belies the magnitude of that performance.

Our test car’s recorded 0-60mph time of 4.4sec puts it just three-tenths behind the BMW i4 M50 (a car its maker charges more than £72,000 for) we tested in 2022. Costing a smidge less than £50,000, the Tesla is a comparative bargain when it comes to straight-line pace.

Many of the Model 3’s body panels (many of which are aluminium) are carried over, but the front wings have been subtly tweaked. The wheel design is also new: our car has 18in Photon rims, but you can go one size larger

Matt Saunders

Road test editor

As for overtaking proficiency, the American generally gets the better of its German rival, needing only 1.7sec to surge from 40-60mph, compared with 2.3sec for the i4 M50 (the BMW did have to contend with a slightly damp surface in fairness).

What’s refreshing about the Tesla is that, even if you slam the accelerator pedal to the floor, it doesn’t shunt itself forward in an agitated flurry of wheelspin and panicking traction-control intervention. The ramp-up of acceleration is smooth, and traction generally excellent. This is an intuitive car in which to accelerate out of bends, the efforts of both motors making short work of our car’s tested weight of 1846kg (positively flyweight next to the BMW’s 2284kg).

Braking is another matter. Stopping distances are nothing special but an ambiguous pedal feel is the main bugbear, failing to instil quite enough confidence in such a fast car. This is probably specific to the all-wheel-drive Model 3, mind. Pedal progression in the RWD version is better.