# SR+ First Drive Thoughts



## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

TLDR synopsis: Lack of streaming music and other features on the lower priced car makes a difference, read the last paragraph for more.....

Yesterday I helped a lady take delivery of her SR+ Model 3. She doesn't like to drive at freeway speeds anymore and wanted someone to help her get it from the delivery center, near Phoenix, back home which is near Tucson. The drive was a little over 100 miles so I had a good chance to experience the car and wanted to share some differences that I noticed.

I think it's been pointed out here before but the window sticker plainly said "Standard Range". I thought that was strange, so I asked the delivery specialist about it. He said "It's a Standard Range Premium Plus" and on the sticker under options it did say "Premium Plus". I wish I had taken a pic but didn't think about it and I didn't see anything that actually had the range number printed. Not a big deal but it just seemed strange that they didn't want to call it SR+ right on the there.

The other big differences were in the firmware. The car was running the exact same version as mine (2019.8.5 3aaa23d) but quite a few features were obviously missing. No satellite imaging on the map, no traffic, no streaming music at all, no homelink, no internet browser. When you swipe up for music you only have Radio and Phone. Touch the map and only the charging symbol appears on the lower right corner so you can select that to find the closest charging station.

The car still had the basic alarm, sentry mode, pin to drive, and all other features available in the menu so that was nice. I was kind of surprised it would still fold the mirrors based on location, that seemed like it would be more of a premium feature.

She did order basic Autopilot and it finished calibrating after about 5 miles. Worked great but no Nav on Autopilot or automatic lane change. I still feel this is one of the best options, on any car, at any price, available today.

The steering wheel also seemed to have leather with slightly more of a matte finish and the black plastic on the 3 spokes was not gloss but more of a matte finish as well. Not sure if this is on all the newer Model 3's or just the standard range. It did not feel quite as upscale on one hand but I also preferred the look of the matte plastic to the piano finish, at least on the wheel.

Overall the car drove great, had plenty of acceleration, and the fit and finish was excellent. Even the panel gaps at the A pillar and front quarter panel were absolutely spot on perfect and I was very impressed.

My impression after spending a few hours driving the car, well, lets just say I feel the extra money I spent on my was well worth it! I really missed the satellite map image, streaming music, and all the other features mentioned above. It makes the car seem like more of a "Budget Version" of the "Perfect Electric Car" if that makes sense. Still a great car for the money and if you didn't see one with all the software turned on you'd never know you were missing anything. I wonder if at some point Tesla will offer to upgrade these features at a cost?

[mod edit for clarity]


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

I don't know what a "Standard Range Premium Plus" is vs. a "Standard Range Plus", but it's not a "Mid Range". The real ( original) MR has satellite maps, streaming music, browser, and all the other features associated with the full premium package.

The SR+ has a partial premium package, which is missing the features you cited. However, I've never heard of an SR Premium Plus before or what features may or may not come with it.


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## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

BluestarE3 said:


> I don't know what a "Standard Range Premium Plus" is vs. a "Standard Range Plus", but it's not a "Mid Range". The real ( original) MR has satellite maps, streaming music, browser, and all the other features associated with the full premium package.
> 
> The SR+ has a partial premium package, which is missing the features you cited. However, I've never heard of an SR Premium Plus before or what features may or may not come with it.


Okay, that's good info. I'm at the point that I really don't know all the different versions and options. She ordered the car less than a month ago and with the constant changes Tesla has been making with configurations I can't keep up.


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

3V Pilot said:


> Okay, that's good info. I'm at the point that I really don't know all the different versions and options. She ordered the car less than a month ago and with the constant changes Tesla has been making with configurations I can't keep up.


She may well had intended to buy a Mid-Range, but that was right at the cusp of when the MR was discontinued (mid-March) and she may have been steered to getting an SR+ in its place.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

The MR hasn't been available for awhile. Since you were seeing limited features, like streaming music, it was definitely a SR or SR+. The MR had these features. A simple check of the range would have been a great indicator.


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## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

Okay, it's starting to make more sense to me know. She had called it a "Mid Range" but it does only have 240 miles of range, not 260. So I guess it is actually the "Standard Range Plus" version. I guess I should have known better and not just taken someone at their word. With all the changes and different configs out there now I think it's an easy assumption for people to call the standard range plus a "mid-range" car. Sorry for the confusion on my part!


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