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Also, an FYI on the commercial side - the company may be keen to promote a progressive image on this. If the company is purchasing the car (rather than leasing) then the entire value can be written off against corporation tax in the first year (100% first year allowance). Company may also be forgiving of some degree of time creep because of the fuel cost savings.

A pretty extreme example of a heavily used/abused Tesla: https://www.tesloop.com/blog/2018/8/2/model-x-90d-300000-miles-in-two-years This vehicle gets multiple rapid charge sessions per day. After 2 years and 300000 miles the battery is at 87% capacity. That's basically worst-case-scenario. In the realistic 2-3 year lease you'd be looking at, and with more occasional rapid charging (ie you charge at home at night more slowly) then it's basically a non-issue.

No problem. Charging for the Model 3 is better than any other EV currently on the market, but not necessarily as good as it needs to be for someone doing really big mileages like you are. On an Ionity CCS charger (currently being rolled out across the UK, stations currently active at Maidstone, Milton Keynes and Sunderland) the car can charge at 200kW peak - it will add 100 miles range in about 10 minutes on such a charger. When Supercharger V3 arrives in the UK then that drops to 7 minutes (250kW peak). Over a 500 mile journey you'll need 20-30 minutes of charging (My bladder and caffeine maintenance require similar). A number of hotels do offer destination charging, but it isn't as widespread as it needs to be. It's a matter of whether the convenience is worth £300 per month out of your own pocket on BIK.

Hence my saying depending on what your requirements are. If you're regularly in excess of 300 miles per day then I can see that. Build quality is much better than many would have people believe. Early cars were somewhat shonky (I've seen an awful one), but current Model 3s are very good: https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a28008116/tesla-model-3-build-quality-bob-lutz/ Note that the author of that article is generally extremely critical of Tesla and was executive and board member at Ford, GM and Chrysler at various points. The model 3 has a similar wheelbase to the ES (ES is 5mm shorter), and a huge boot with fold-down seats. It has shorter overhangs.

Depending on what your requirements are... Tesla Model 3 ordered now should be delivered some time in September. 0% BIK from April 20, 1% in 21 and 2% in 22.

Be careful with that advice because I don't believe that it is true. One of the "benefits" of adding ethanol to petrol is that is a knock inhibitor - ie it effectively boosts the octane number of petrol, allowing it to be sold as a higher grade than if it did not have ethanol. See the Shell V power datasheet from 2013, showing that it does (or at least can - blends change throughout the year) contain ethanol: https://events.imeche.org/docs/default-source/team-info-2013/shell-v-power-product-information-2013.pdf?sfvrsn=2 High-octane fuels may in fact have MORE ethanol to boost the RON.

I had Crossclimate+ XLs on both my Volvo V70 and my Nissan Leaf (and if ever there was a car where tyre roar was critical, that was it). In both cases they rode very nicely (softer than Pirelli P7 Cinturato Blue, itself a pretty comfy tyre), and supremely quiet inside the cabin. I would have absolutely no hesitation in buying them again.

We're booked to display.

Yes - I suffixed them with Disc 1, Disc 2, but kept them in a single folder. It would easily be resolved by simply putting them in two folders, maybe I'll get around to it when getting the music into the Tesla. I caught the Dylan from my Mum. We went camping in Tintagel when I was 5 or 6, and the only two tapes I remember us having in the car were Nashville Skyline and Oh Mercy, both of which (maybe controversially among hardcore aficionados) remain among my favourites. Thea Gilmore (mentioned a few posts ago - another of my favourite artists) actually did an entire Dylan album cover, of John Wesley Harding.

Thanks. Yes, very much looking forward to the 3. I believe that it is now aboard the Triumph Ace and about to depart San Francisco.

Thanks Kaycee - that's a problem I've come across in the past, but I solved by using a program that renames the files from the tags so the filename is prefaced with the track number - that resolves the write-order issue (except in the case of multi-disc albums, if you use a single folder - it will then play the two track 1s, followed by two track 2s, etc. Did it to me on Dylan at Budokan, and RHCP Stadium Arcadium.) One annoyance I did notice today (and a failing of almost all modern streaming players, but something that the SB3 that I mentioned above could do) is that the GS doesn't do gapless playback (ie there is a pause between each file, which is noticeable on an album like Pink Floyd - The Wall where tracks run into one another).

In a few days time my Nissan Leaf will be sold and gone, so here's my impressions after over 18 months and 12000 miles. Mine is a 2015 24kWh Tekna (top spec) Quality, fit and finish Not great. Distinctly not great. The paint (flat white) isn't good, and there are various noticeable poor bits of panel alignment all around the vehicle. Interior materials are mostly very cheap, with some hard plastics and horrid cheap synthetic felt. However, as a workaday basic car it is fine, but any kind of premium product it certainly is not. Remember that the Leaf (even the current, facelifted 40kWh and 62kWh versions) is based on the 2004-on Nissan Tiida, a low-cost, light-weight basic C-seg hatch. Comfort Actually not bad. Seats are ok (heated front and rear, perforated "Leather") and the ride is softer than many other C-seg hatchbacks. Noise levels are ok - obviously no engine noise and they worked on the Aero and things like the windscreen wiper motor to be quiet - however, road noise is significant, and the glass in the windows is thin so sounds from the outside world aren't well insulated. Gadgets Not bad - App to turn on AC/Heating remotely, Satnav, 360deg cameras, all seats heated, LED headlamps, Bose sound system (not very good), Inrix traffic data. However, the infotainment is not very intuitive, and has some even bigger annoyances than Lexus have managed (total fail on Artist/Album handling). Drivetrain Fantastic. Significant instantaneous torque with no kickdown lag, turbolag, etc. The torque at the wheel is changing directly, immediately, in response to the position of the throttle pedal. Ultimately there's not a HUGE amount of power and you certainly feel that above 40-50mph, but up to 40 and in town, getting onto roundabouts etc then it's way more responsive and nippy than a great many ICE cars, even ones that are much more powerful. There's also no stop-start system to contend with that would make nipping out of a junction that much trickier. There's a psychological element as well, because you'd rarely bother to use full throttle, full performance in something like a ford focus 1.0 ecoboost because of the noise, harshness and lumpiness of trying to make fast gearchanges - it's a lot of effort and wearing because of the noise, whereas in the Leaf you simply put foot to the floor with greater regularity. However, this isn't that Nissan engineered an amazing EV drivetrain. They made an acceptable one - much of the benefits above are simply the nature of an EV. The Leaf is not terribly efficient; typically around 3.5-4 miles per kWh. The worst EVs are around 2.5 (Audi e-Tron), with high-performance (Tesla S, X, Jag I-Pace) around 3, up to the very efficient being 4 and better (Tesla 3, Kia e-Niro) and even heading towards 5 (Hyundai Ioniq). In terms of weight and performance and size, the Leaf should achieve better than 4, but it doesn't. Handling Remarkable, in a qualified sense. Some of the ingredients are terrible - high kerb weight (1545kg), very basic suspension design (macpherson strut front, torsion-beam rear), FWD and the aforementioned soft ride. However, the centre of gravity is very low down, and the significant parts of the mass are within the wheelbase, so it has a very low polar moment of inertia. The low centre of gravity means that despite relatively soft suspension it doesn't roll very much when cornering hard, and the weight distribution shares the loading between front and rear very well. It will grip and fling itself around a corner with suprising alacrity. No, it's by no means communicative or go-karty, but it's really very good for a a bog basic family hatchback. With good tyres on (Michelin Crossclimate+) it has a very secure, grippy feel. Range / Long Journeys Either fine or terrible, depending on how you look at it. For day-to-day use it's absolutely fine. There aren't many days when many of us drive more than 50 miles, and that's fine. Charge up at night or during the day at work and it's simply not an issue, not a bother. Long Journeys can even be ok - I've used it a few times to go to my mother's house (160 miles from my home), and my best run only had 21 minutes of charging time (of which I'd have stopped for 10 to pee and get a coffee in my ICE vehicles anyway). However, that was having a bunch of things go right. When the weather is bad or if a charging point is offline or whatever things can rapidly get more tedious. Ultimately long journeys in it ARE possible, but at some point you'll get bored. However, consider the typical middle-class 2-car family. Do BOTH cars need to be able to do long journeys? Or does the family have a big family car/SUV for that stuff, and a smaller hatchback that just gets used for school run, shops, commute, etc? The Leaf is an ideal and brilliant second car, where the range limitations are simply a non-event. Running costs / TCO Outstanding. Utterly insanely cheap to run. Fuel costs are 3p/mile from domestic supply (12p/kWh), 2p/mile on E7 (or my workplace charger), and there are still quite a number of free-to-use chargers (my local supermarket has a 50kW rapid charger that is free). No tax of course, and servicing is a non-event. There's no oil, filter, transmission, cam belt, plugs, etc - hundreds of pounds per year on consumables that simply go away. Depreciation is the absolute kicker though - After more than 18 months and 12000 miles I've sold the car to a trader for only £350 less than I paid for it. Total cost of ownership excluding insurance has been around £900 (£350 depreciation, £400 tyres (£460, sold old partworns for £60), £150 electricity), working out to 7.5p/mile - or half what most cars cost to fuel alone. Random stuff All of the steering wheel buttons are mounted on top of the large floating piece that sounds the horn. Usually not a problem, but the cruise control button requires a firm enough press that the horn beeps when you turn it on. Tekna spec has 17" wheels with an uncommon tyre size (215/50R17). These tyres are literally twice the price of those fitted to the Acenta spec (205/55 R16) (Full set of Crossclimate+ cost me £460 on offer from Costco. A friend got a full set of Primacy 4 from costco for his Leaf Acenta for £231) Reliability Never let me down as such, but did start making a clicking/cracking noise. Known issue with driveshafts needing splines lubricating and bolts tightened. Performed under warranty. Overall The Leaf has fulfilled the role for which we bought it brilliantly. That role was as a second car, to cover the repetitive, day-to-day commutes that were costing a fortune in diesel (at the time). I pushed it further in making long journeys simply because of the novelty, and the cost savings (£70 of diesel saved on a single round-trip to my mother's house, for a "cost" of about 45 minutes extra journey time - more than most people earn after tax), and learned a few lessons along the way. I don't think it would be a good "only car". A friend of mine has one as his only car (he's had it 6 years, since new and covered 70k+ in it) and it's lead to frustrations at times (but never enough to even think for a second about changing back). As I said before, a brilliant second car. The ease with which you can jump in and drive without worrying about the impact of short journeys on engine wear, instant cabin heat (and preheat from timer or app), etc is great for popping to the shops or nipping over to a friend's house. Ultimately perhaps it's telling that the reason I'm getting rid is because it whetted my appetite for a better EV, and I cashed in the Leaf before depreciation takes a turn (which I think it will next year as the e208, Corsa-e, Mini Cooper SE, Honda e and VW ID3 begin to hit the market). I've ordered a Tesla 3. Would I buy one again, as a second car? Probably not at current pricing. Pricing has been a bit silly of late, and they've held up well but I think we're in a period of over-valuation. At similar pricing I'd have a Kia Soul EV over a Leaf.

I know, but it quite often doesn't pick up the commands like "Yes" or "Play". Then there's the 5 second pause while it tries to figure out whether you said "Yes" - it's this long pause that makes it feel especially clunky. I think the best use for it is to get into something, like this morning I used "Play Artist Pink Floyd" and then use the mouse to select album/track. It can get you past the annoying secondary screen/primary screen muckabout you have to do otherwise.

Thanks for that - that works, useful tip! First time it's ever understood me! However, it's still not brilliant. This is how that went: "Play Artist Thea Gilmore" <wait 5 seconds> "Play Artist Thea Gilmore. Was this correct?" "Yes" <wait 5 seconds> "There are multiple albums. Please select one from list" "Fourth" <wait 5 seconds> "There are multiple tracks. Please select one from list" "Play" <wait 5 seconds> "Pardon?" "Play" <wait 5 seconds> *starts playing* It's still extremely slow and cumbersome. I'll experiment some more, as I'll probably drive the GS a bit more in the next week or two (my Leaf is going away on Saturday, and who knows when my Tesla will arrive...). Simplicity in UI design has been lost in many places sadly. Tesla seem to have done the best job in a car system (there's generally only one place to find anything, everything is placed logically and there are some shortcuts that are very quickly learned (eg you don't have to tap the volume up/down icons on the screen - just swipe across them (or use the steering wheel roller)). However, one of the greatest UIs I ever used for dealing with the artist/album "problem" was the Slim Devices Squeezebox 3: This was the early days of streaming audio, with the SB3 released in 2005 (long before people were thinking about using tablets or phones to control such things, since there were no tablets or smartphones), and the control logic was beautiful in its simplicity and effectiveness. It started with a long list of artists, through which you could jump with the number keys (remember the old way of texting, where each number had 3 letters on?), tap right to go into a list of albums, tap right to go into the list of songs, or just hit play on any of those levels. The display could be set with big enough text to read from across the room (unlike its successor, the Squeezebox Touch - I found the Touch UI significantly worse than the SB3 UI), and with a little practice you could be at your desired track within seconds. So to go back to the above example, on the SB3 I'd have hit 8 (for "T"), down arrow a few times to Thea Gilmore, right arrow, 4 (for "H" - Harpo's Ghost, name of the album), Play.

Tried it - no, there's no remote close function.

We're out on this one sadly - I have to take my Leaf to its buyer.

Tbh haven't tried that I can recall I lovedthat feature on my Honda accord tourer, and was irritated that my v70 didn't do it. Got out of the habit, so didn't even think to try.

Our GS450h premier does the same thing, with the menu appearing from start up. Very annoying.

Yup - brick acid on the wheels. Takes everything off them (including the paint).

Fair point, although if I were doing a deep clean like that then I'd be feeding those too.

rayaans - thanks for the recommend. The AG has been hanging around for a few years (in fact, I've two partly used bottles of different ages - the older one is much more effective, so I think it got toned down over the years). I wouldn't buy it again, just what I'm using up. Washing up liquid can actually be a good "shampoo" under certain circumstances. The problem with it is that it will strip off any wax/etc that you currently have on the car - not what you want for a weekly wash, but if you're about to decontaminate/clay/polish then it's actually pretty ideal from that point of view! Use it as a "strip off and start again" shampoo, but not as a regular.

I recently decontaminated my white nissan Leaf (which has the most peculiarly "sticky" paint - even with sealant and wax on, stuff sticks to it in ways that I've not had with any other car - I guess because it's a flat colour, and not a metallic with clearcoat). I was wishing for Trix, because working it over with sonax flugrostentferner and AG tar remover was somewhat tedious. I think Trix sounds like a great product and when I need some new product for this that's what I'll get. @J Henderson definitely agree. Clay ONLY precedes polish. If you're not going to to polish, do not clay.

I found the the clay mitt, although very quick and easy to use compared to regular clay, can very quickly give significant marring. I'd recommend Bilt Hamber clay also.

Immediate check - are your wheel nuts all correctly tight? If it doesn't feel right and you don't feel 100% confident then DEFINITELY ask the dealer to check it over and make sure they test it.

I have a tendency of equipping cars with crossclimates and then selling the car shortly after. However, I love them. Absolutely agree with your assessment. On our Volvo V70 the car became much better behaved with better grip and traction, and it was a bit quieter. The quietness was very noticeable on the Leaf with its absence of engine noise (and lesser noise insulation). Combined with the low CoG and polar moment of that vehicle it felt very sure-footed with the crossclimates. In snow they were distinctly better than other tyres I've had, and although maybe not as good as a full on winter tyre, they're ideal for the 2-3 days a year that we might have snow in this country. The GS450h and the Model 3 will burn be getting Crossclimates when the time comes.