I SPENT just two hours in the new Tesla Model 3, and had to drive it with the car’s top speed limited to a killjoy 100 kmh.

Still, I came away grudgingly impressed, and freshly reminded of the fact that, like it or not, Tesla has gone from plucky underdog to the electric car maker to beat.

The Model 3 is the car that propelled it there. It embodies both the world’s accelerating appetite for electric vehicles (EVs) and the trajectory of Tesla’s own rapid ascent – it took the American brand roughly four years to sell a million Model 3s, but just two more to put another million on the road. 

Amazingly, in a business where products get stale faster than an open packet of crackers, the Model 3 went half-a-dozen years without a major update (or even a minor one, for that matter).

In the meantime, rivals have sprouted like mushrooms all over the EV landscape, and you now have seriously good cars from China, Germany and Korea to choose from if you’ve decided that fossil fuels are for the birds.

Substantial update

Little surprise, then, that the Model 3’s update is a substantial one. In fact, half the car’s parts are new, with improvements down to its very bones, in the form of a stiffer body structure.

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You can certainly tell the Model 3 is new, from the slender new headlamps and a resculpted nose that give it a cleaner, more purposeful look. The back gets slim new taillights, but the easier giveaway is new “Tesla” lettering across the boot, in place of a badge.

The smoother face apparently makes the car more slippery through the air, as do two new wheel designs, contributing to a nice bump in range. On that subject, you have a choice of two Model 3s, with a standard range, single motor version kicking things off at S$88,650 (without Certificate Of entitlement). It can cover a claimed 513 km on a single charge, and scurries to 100 kmh in a brisk 6.1 seconds.

Then there’s the Long Range variant tested here, which adds a front motor for all wheel drive and a bigger battery, all for S$114,953.

The ballistic, Lambo-slaying Performance model has disappeared, but the Long Range is no slouch. Pin the accelerator and the Tesla returns the favour by pinning you to the seat, lungeing violently forward with a lack of noise suggesting an absence of effort.

Lots of EVs are crazy fast though, so that isn’t much of a party trick anymore. What’s notable is how much more refined the Model 3 is now. The suspension makes the ride feel downright supple, for which you can thank new springs and shock absorbers, along with new bushes and a redesigned front end geometry. Even the way the suspension carrier is bolted to the chassis is new.

Copious grip from the tyres makes hooning through corners a breeze, but the light, numb-feeling steering leaves it all feeling fairly unengaging. Instead, much of the revamp seems to have gone into making the Model 3 more refined instead of more exciting.

Tesla has bumped up the noise insulation, while the rear screen and back doors join the rest of the car in using acoustic glass, so things are noticeably more hushed on the move.

Minimalist cabin

And you would never have thought it possible, but the cabin is even more minimalist than before. Stalks for turns signals and shuttling between Park, Drive and Reverse? Gone. You’ll have to get used to new buttons on the steering wheel to indicate (though if you’re trading in a BMW, this presumably won’t be an issue).

Joining Club Tesla is still going to require plenty of re-orientation, since everything is voice or touchscreen activated, but at least you have a brighter new screen to jab at. There’s apparently a banging new sound system I didn’t try, plus ventilated front seats, while rear passengers now have their own 8-inch touchscreen to amuse themselves with.

I also didn’t try the USB-C port that can apparently push out 65 watts, enough to juice up a laptop, or the new cabin microphones that supposedly make phone conversations clearer. But I did notice the new ambient lighting and a step up in quality of the cabin materials. The Model 3 isn’t quite at Audi level of poshness inside, but it’s getting there. 

Old bugbears remain. The roof soaks up heat and then radiates it into the cabin, and you still can’t use the infotainment system with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. I still think it’s daft that you have to drop your gaze to the main screen to check your speed, too.

But despite the car’s flaws, it’s clear that if you have cars like the BMW i4, BYD Seal, Hyundai Ioniq 6 or Kia EV6 on your shopping list, leaving out the new Model 3 would be doing yourself a disservice. As a matter of fact, the same is true of combustion cars, with anything from a BMW 3 Series to the Toyota Camry now under serious threat from the Model 3.

My pick of the range is the standard range version, which I didn’t drive, but is likely to be one of the best cars of any kind for the price. Half the Model 3 is new, but its revamp is anything but half-hearted.

Tesla Model 3 Long Range Motor power/torque 443 hp, 559 Nm Battery Lithium ion, 78.4 kWh Charging time/type 4 hours (22kW, AC, estimated), 30 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (250 kW, DC, estimated) Range 629 km Top speed 201 kmh 0-100 kmhh 4.4 seconds Efficiency 14.8 kWh/100km Price S$114,953 without COE Agent Tesla Singapore Available Now