From a Tesla Model 3 Performance to an 2023 SE - A few thoughts

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SameGuy said:
What’s the ride quality like with the V1s?
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It is great, very comparable to the stock ride, you feel more but it seems to take larger bumps better than the stock suspension. I am impressed with the ride quality and glad I spent the extra $$$ on them. I know some have the ST coilovers and they are made by KW, I have not felt them but they seem like a great option too. I have always liked the KW brand and the engineering behind them so that was why I went with them.
 
azausa said:
Thanks heaps, mate. You in Aussie? Hopefully winter is not too bad there, it’s currently 3C here really down under, and that does not include the wind chill. No snow though, just frost, so will enjoy all the driving in the SE.
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Not for the past 6+ years. For the past 5+ years, we've been living in a town where during polar vortexes the temperature has been -25C on multiple occasions. In fact I've shoveled snow from my driveway in those temperatures - talk about something I never expected I'd ever be doing! :)
 
tesrivmini said:
Not for the past 6+ years. For the past 5+ years, we've been living in a town where during polar vortexes the temperature has been -25C on multiple occasions. In fact I've shoveled snow from my driveway in those temperatures - talk about something I never expected I'd ever be doing! :)
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Now, that is chilly
 
So the package last week wasn't the replacement Fitcamx.

This morning after some back and forth, they've agreed to send a replacement.

They did try and tell me that the dual camera model doesn't work with rain sensor power. I pointed out there were multiple forum members who have no trouble using the dual camera model with the rain sensor, *and* as the main unit wasn't working I'd never even tried connecting the rear camera yet.

But hey, they are sending a replacement, so hopefully it will be all good when it arrives. Plus the installation will be much easier this time :)
 
MarkSasaki said:
It is great, very comparable to the stock ride, you feel more but it seems to take larger bumps better than the stock suspension. I am impressed with the ride quality and glad I spent the extra $$$ on them. I know some have the ST coilovers and they are made by KW, I have not felt them but they seem like a great option too. I have always liked the KW brand and the engineering behind them so that was why I went with them.
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I have ST coilovers and the ride is a bit stiffer than I had expected. ST uses KW springs and the dampers are the same except the body of the KW are stainless steel while the ST are galvanized. So the ride quality should be the same.

On large bumps or dips in the road, the coilovers do a perfect job. It is the little bumps that I wish it was softer.

Back to the topic of the seat, I'm 6ft tall and have the seat at the lowest setting. I feel like I'm in the car and pretty low actually.
 
tesrivmini said:
  • The SE has more body roll.
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That is really odd. I have a friend with a m3p and the very first thing he commented on when having a go in my 2020 SE was that there was far less body roll and the suspension felt far more "sporty" (whatever that means). Now I don't own an m3p, so I have to go by what he said. I am curious that you talked about body roll. I don't notice any body roll at all at any speed you are legally allowed to travel in the city. I pump my tyres up to performance level rather than eco. I wonder if that makes a difference? There is a corner near where I live which is a 90 degree slightly dipping corner which is taken (by most cars) at around 30kph. I stick to the 60kph limit around the corner because it is fun (thank you sports seats...). No detectable body roll at this speed, and I wouldn't want to go any faster - my psychological brake pedal is screaming at this speed - which is of course why it is fun.
 
vader said:
I pump my tyres up to performance level rather than eco.
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I'm not familiar with performance-level inflation. Eco level would be higher pressure for lower rolling resistance, right? I assume the eco pressures are 38/35 psi as listed on the door jamb.
 
vader said:
That is really odd. I have a friend with a m3p and the very first thing he commented on when having a go in my 2020 SE was that there was far less body roll and the suspension felt far more "sporty" (whatever that means). Now I don't own an m3p, so I have to go by what he said. I am curious that you talked about body roll. I don't notice any body roll at all at any speed you are legally allowed to travel in the city. I pump my tyres up to performance level rather than eco. I wonder if that makes a difference? There is a corner near where I live which is a 90 degree slightly dipping corner which is taken (by most cars) at around 30kph. I stick to the 60kph limit around the corner because it is fun (thank you sports seats...). No detectable body roll at this speed, and I wouldn't want to go any faster - my psychological brake pedal is screaming at this speed - which is of course why it is fun.
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One of the benefits of forums like this is the ability to get opinions from people with different experiences and different expectations. Different people will have different definitions of how many degrees of roll it takes to constitute body roll.

In my case I was directly comparing, in relative terms, my specific M3P that was my daily driver (as much as it could be during lockdowns, etc) for 2.5 years, against my specific SE. I'd never driven an SE (or any BMW Mini) prior to driving out of the dealership in mine, and it was one of my initial observations that the SE has more body roll - I still feel that way, but as some else mentioned in another thread, like torque steer it just adds to the old school hot hatch feeling. Is the body roll significant and does it detract from my enjoyment of driving the SE, no and not at all! Tesla's have a lot of variance from vehicle to vehicle, maybe your friends M3P and mine did feel different to drive. But again, I was giving my opinion, not a categoric fact.

insightman said:
I'm not familiar with performance-level inflation. Eco level would be higher pressure for lower rolling resistance, right? I assume the eco pressures are 38/35 psi as listed on the door jamb.
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I'm not sure what is meant by that either. But you are exactly right, best economy would be achieved by using higher pressures for exactly that reason. "Performance" would be lower than "Eco", so as to (slightly) increase the size of the contact patch. If @vader thinks "Performance" is a higher pressure than "Eco", then I would have to disagree with those definitions.
 
tesrivmini said:
  • Tellingly, I never took the M3P out for a Sunday morning windy road drive.
  • The SE was good fun on the windy roads
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I’ve got a Model 3 LR which will be staying, but the reason we went for the mini as our second car is as you describe above. I love a Sunday morning drive in a car that makes me smile in the twisties. For all its strengths, the Tesla isn’t that, but the mini at half the price is.
 
It isn't a performance model, but my the ride in wife's M3 feels like an big boaty Cadillac (a fast one), after driving my SE. The suspension is noticeably more plush, compared to the stiff SE's.
 
I always thought the ride in the model 3 (18 inch wheels, non-performance) was pretty good. Not at the level of a 3 series on the whole, but better on our crappy US roads.
 
When I say performance, I mean 32psi rear, 35 front. From memory, The standard "eco" setting is 39 rear and 42 front. This makes the tyre "harder" with a smaller contact patch, and hence decreases the rolling resistance. It makes for a bouncier ride, and maybe contributes to body roll. In "performance" mode - ie. not eco mode - I get very little if any torque steer, and nice neutral handling with very little body roll (if any). Like most things, 2 cars of the same type can be very different, so no real problem. I was just surprised that the MINI had body roll, as mine doesn't.

So long as you enjoy your SE, then it doesn't matter at all. I hope you enjoy it for many years to come. It is great to hear the experiences of others, especially if they can compare/contrast to different cars. It would be a boring world if we were all the same :)
 
vader said:
When I say performance, I mean 32psi rear, 35 front. From memory, The standard "eco" setting is 39 rear and 42 front. This makes the tyre "harder" with a smaller contact patch, and hence decreases the rolling resistance. It makes for a bouncier ride, and maybe contributes to body roll. In "performance" mode - ie. not eco mode - I get very little if any torque steer, and nice neutral handling with very little body roll (if any). Like most things, 2 cars of the same type can be very different, so no real problem. I was just surprised that the MINI had body roll, as mine doesn't.

So long as you enjoy your SE, then it doesn't matter at all. I hope you enjoy it for many years to come. It is great to hear the experiences of others, especially if they can compare/contrast to different cars. It would be a boring world if we were all the same :)
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Ah right, so at 32/35, you're referring to the recommended pressures for your 16's.

I run the recommended 35/38 psi for my 17's. As I said in the OP, I drive it in sport exclusively, so of course I'm not running "eco" pressures ;)

I discovered firsthand when we moved from AU to the States that cars can be setup very differently between markets. Before we moved I had an S3 Sportback (8SV) and over here initially we had an S3 Sedan of the same model year. The differences in the suspension settings, exhaust sound, and especially steering, were surprisingly large - I'm not suggesting it's necessarily the same thing here, or to the same degree.
 
tesrivmini said:
it was one of my initial observations that the SE has more body roll - I still feel that way, but as some else mentioned in another thread, like torque steer it just adds to the old school hot hatch feeling
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I wonder if it's the "go-kart" handling you're noticing. Doesn't the SE have a shorter wheelbase than the Model 3? MINIs by design really let you feel every maneuver, so compared to other cars I think it is fair to say there's more body roll. However, compared to other MINIs I personally think the SE has much less body roll.
 
Puppethead said:
I wonder if it's the "go-kart" handling you're noticing. Doesn't the SE have a shorter wheelbase than the Model 3? MINIs by design really let you feel every maneuver, so compared to other cars I think it is fair to say there's more body roll. However, compared to other MINIs I personally think the SE has much less body roll.
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Yes, the M3P wheelbase is about 36% larger than the SE's. But obviously that's just one of many differences: track widths, suspension, weight, tire sizes, etc.

As I say, it's just my personal opinion of my direct comparison between my M3P and my SE - lots of "my"s there to indicate it's a very specific opinion, which doesn't apply if any of those variables are changed :)
 
tesrivmini said:
Ah right, so at 32/35, you're referring to the recommended pressures for your 16's.
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I've got the 17 inch with goodyear eagle asym 3 - which came with the car. The 35/38 is recommended if you have 4 people in the car, but 32/35 is for 1 or 2 people. Mine is the first gen (2020) model SE. I also approve of your colour choice - mine is also a BRG with white roof/caps and traditional stripes :)
 
vader said:
I've got the 17 inch with goodyear eagle asym 3 - which came with the car. The 35/38 is recommended if you have 4 people in the car, but 32/35 is for 1 or 2 people. Mine is the first gen (2020) model SE. I also approve of your colour choice - mine is also a BRG with white roof/caps and traditional stripes :)
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Ah right, gotcha.

Haha, well when I think Mini, that’s always been the colour scheme that springs to mind - so it made configuring it easy!
 
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