Today, a few hours before releasing their first quarter financial results, Tesla launched the highly anticipated Model 3 Performance. The new version starts at $45,490 (after applying the $7,500 Federal EV tax credit) and deliveries are scheduled to start in May.
With 510 horsepower and a top speed of 163 mph, the new Performance variant brings an improved sound system, a re-designed interior featuring more comfortable rear seats with some features coming directly from the recently revamped Model 3. Tesla also says that the new Performance model has “significantly less” road and wind noise thanks to the rear spoiler and changes to the front bumper.
“The front and rear fascias, rear diffuser and carbon fiber spoiler work together to help reduce drag and improve lift balance at high speeds”
Tesla’s most powerful Model 3 ever is now cheaper than the Model 3 Long Range after the federal tax credit. The Model 3 Performance model is the only Model 3 variant that is eligible for the government incentive.
Performance
The new Performance model comes with 20
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While the new Performance model is largely based on the recently revamped Model 3, while including design changes to the front and rear diffuser, as well as the addition of a rear spoiler. In terms of performance, the model announced today offers a 22% increase in continuous power, a 32% increase in peak power, and an additional 16% of peak torque. The Performance model now has 500 hp and includes a “performance” motor that’s unique to the Performance model.
0-60 mph in 2.9 510 hp / 741 Nm 163 mph top speed — Performance-tuned chassis Same quiet & comfortable cabin plus bespoke chassis hardware for improved stiffness and higher performance baseline.
The new Model 3 Performance is capable of going 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds, 0.2 seconds faster than the previous incarnation. It didn’t take long for Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk to comment on X stating that the Model 3 Performance is “quicker than a Porsche 911.”
Specs of the new Tesla Model 3 Performance
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Track Mode V3
The new Model 3 Performance is equipped with an updated Track Mode, v3, that features an all-new calibration for the powertrain and adaptive suspension.
Tesla's Track Mode V3
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Range
The Model 3 Performance has an EPA range of 296 miles (476km) on a single charge, an increase of 10 miles (16km) when compared to the previous version while being slightly lower than the Long Range variant.
Rear Display
As seen in the revamped version of the Model 3, Tesla is also bringing the rear 8” touchscreen with climate controls, Bluetooth connectivity and entertainment for the rear passengers. With Tesla update 2024.14, Tesla is improving the rear screen by adding trip information, time and temperature information to the top of the display.
Exterior view of the new Tesla Model 3 Performance
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All-new Adaptive Suspension
According to Tesla, the new adaptive dampening system adjusts to driver and road input in real-time. While the new Model 3 already included suspension improvements over the previous generation, the Performance model takes it one step further.
New Seats
The new model includes the new Sport Seats that we’ve seen in spy shots before. Although the new model is officially named “Performance,” the sport seats feature the Ludicrous badge. The seats include improved side and cushion bolsters to help keep you in an ideal driving position
The new Sport seats feature the Ludicrous badge
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Deliveries
The model just went up for sale a few hours ago, but orders placed minutes after the launch show an estimated delivery of May/June 2024 in the United States. In Canada, where the Model 3 Performance starts at CA $69,990, the estimated delivery is currently slated for June/July.
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Yesterday, we reported that Tesla updated their Steam integration on Model S and Model X vehicles. The update was part of their 2024 Holiday Update, but it looks like there may be more to this than a simple update.
Steam, a video game library app, makes it easy for users to buy or launch games on their computers. However, a couple of years ago, Valve, who created Steam, launched their own standalone device, the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck runs a custom OS based on Linux.
Steam Launch
When Tesla launched the redesigned Model S and Model X, Tesla introduced a dedicated gaming GPU with 16GB of RAM and touted the ability to play top-tier PC games in Tesla vehicles.
In 2022, Tesla finally launched the Steam app for the Model S and Model X as part of its 2022 Holiday Update. The Steam app runs Steam OS, the same OS as the Steam Deck in a virtual environment.
However, earlier this year, Tesla stopped including the GPU and Steam (Beta) in their vehicles, and we haven’t seen any updates to the Steam in quite some time. In fact, we thought Tesla was axing their gaming-on-the-go dreams.
SteamOS Update
The Steam app, which is still in Beta, is getting an interesting update for the Model S and Model X vehicles with the discrete GPU.
Those vehicles received an update to SteamOS 3.6 - the same version of SteamOS that runs on the Steam Deck. While nothing has visually changed, there’s a long list of performance optimizations under the hood to get things running smoother.
Comparing Steam Deck to Tesla Vehicles
Let’s take a look at the Steam Deck - according to Valve, its onboard Zen4 CPU and GPU combined push a total of 2 TFlops of data, which is fairly respectable, but much lower than today’s home consoles. The Steam Deck is capable of 720p gaming fairly seamlessly on low-to-medium settings on the go and is also built on the AMD platform.
AMD-equipped Teslas, including the Model 3 and Model Y, are packing an older Zen+ (Zen 1.5) APU (processor with a combined CPU and GPU). AMD claims that the V1000 - the same embedded chip as on AMD Tesla vehicles (YE1807C3T4MFB), brings up to 3.6 TFLops of processing power with it, including 4K encoding and decoding with the integrated GPU on board.
While that’s not enough for 4K gaming or comparable to a full-blown console or desktop GPU, that’s enough raw horsepower for light gaming and is currently more powerful than the Steam Deck.
The Model S and Model X’s GPU brings that up to about 10TFlops of power - comparable to modern consoles like the Xbox Series X at 12 TFlops.
Steam Gaming for All Vehicles?
The fact that Tesla is updating SteamOS even though the feature is no longer available in any new vehicles could indicate that Tesla is not only bringing Steam back to Teslas but that it’s going to play a much bigger role.
While SteamOS is run in a virtual environment on top of Tesla’s own OS, we could see Tesla bring SteamOS to all of its current vehicles, including the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck. Steam in these vehicles would likely support any game that’s capable of running on the Steam Deck.
We think this Steam update, which includes performance improvements and a variety of fixes, has quietly passed under most people’s radars. This could be a very exciting update for those who enjoy gaming, especially for those who love to do it in their Tesla.
As part of Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla included two awesome new features - Weather at Destination and the long-awaited Weather Radar Overlay. These two features are big upgrades built upon the weather feature that was added in update 2024.26. The original weather feature added an hourly forecast, as well as the chance of precipitation, UV index, Air Quality Index, and other data.
However, this update also added some smaller weather touches, such as the vehicle alerting you if the weather at the destination will be drastically different from the current weather.
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Weather At Destination
When you’re navigating to a destination and viewing the full navigation direction list, the text under the arrival time will show you the expected weather next to your destination. You can also tap this, and the full weather pop-up will show up, showing your destination's full set of weather information.
Note the weather under the arrival time
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You can also tap the weather icon at the top of the interface at any time and tap Destination to switch between the weather at your current location and the weather at your destination.
You’re probably considering that the weather at your destination doesn’t matter when you’re three hours away - but that’s all taken into account by the trip planner. It will add in both charge time and travel time and show you the weather at your destination at your expected arrival time.
And if the weather is drastically different or inclement, such as rain or snow, while you’ve got sunshine and rainbows - the weather will be shown above the destination ETA for a few moments before it tucks itself away.
Tesla also recently introduced a new voice command. Asking, “What’s the weather?” or something similar will now bring up Tesla’s weather popup.
The weather pop-up above the ETA
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One limitation, though—if you’re planning a long road trip that is more than a day of driving, the weather at destination feature won’t be available until you get closer.
Weather Radar Overlay
As part of the improvements to weather, Tesla has also added a radar overlay for precipitation. You can access the new radar overlay by tapping the map and then tapping the weather icon on the right side of the map. It’ll bring up a radar overlay centered on your vehicle. It’ll animate through the radar data over the last 3 hours so that you can see the direction of the storm, but you can also pause it at any point.
You’re able to scroll around in this view and see the weather anywhere, even if you zoom out. It also works while you’re driving, although it can be a little confusing if you’re trying to pay attention to the navigation system. If you like to have Points of Interest enabled on your map, the weather overlay will hide POIs except for Charging POIs.
Requirements / Data
Unfortunately, you’ll need Premium Connectivity for any of the weather features to work, and being on WiFi or using a hotspot will not be enough to get the data to show up. The data, including the weather radar, is provided by The Weather Channel.
As for supported models, weather and weather at destination are available on all vehicles except for the 2012-2020 Model S and Model X. The weather radar has more strict requirements and requires the newer AMD Ryzen-powered infotainment center available on the 2021+ Model S and Model X and more recent Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
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