2024 Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive review: Is the updated BYD Seal rival the best electric vehicle in Australia?

The Tesla Model 3 is the top selling mid-sized car in the country and has singlehandedly revived interest in traditional sedans that have a boot instead of a tailgate or hatch.

The Model 3’s direct EV rivals include the Polestar 2, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and BYD Seal, and it also steals some sales from the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4. You could also pop the BMW i4 into its competitor set.

But arguably its most serious rival is the Toyota Camry that was long a top seller and is much cheaper to purchase but has higher running costs.

READ MORE: Mystery solved: Exactly how much power your Tesla Model 3 and Model Y produces

The Model 3 is Tesla’s most affordable car and also provides the foundations and underpinnings for the Tesla Model Y SUV.

2024 Tesla Model 3 value

The Tesla Model 3 is available in three models – or, at least, it will soon be again available in three models. Tesla is currently selling the entry-level Rear-Wheel Drive (which we’ve tested here) and the mid-grade Long Range.

In 2024 the company has promised it will revive the flagship Model 3 Performance – with more in the way of performance extras and pace than we’ve seen previously.

The Rear-Wheel Drive is the most affordable, priced at $61,900 plus on-road costs. For that you get fake leather trim, now with perforations for added texture. There’s also a panoramic sunroof, electrically adjustable front seats, heated steering wheel, powered tailgate, an above-average sound system and heated seats front and rear. However, whereas Tesla previously offered seat heating for all five seats, the person in the centre rear misses out.

Other deletions from the standard equipment list include parking sensors because the Model 3 now relies solely on cameras for detecting objects and their distances. One of the forward-facing cameras has also been retired (there are now two instead of three) as part of an update to the external camera system.

And, of course, Tesla no longer includes a charging cable with any of its vehicles, so make sure you’ve got a home charger sorted.

New additions to the equipment artillery include front seat ventilation and an 8.0-inch touchscreen in the rear. That screen is used to adjust the ventilation but also control the infotainment, allowing those in the rear to stream video from services such as YouTube and Netflix.

There are also 18-inch wheels covered by plastic covers. Both the wheel covers and the alloy wheels have been updated with this latest model, although the changes are subtle.

The Model 3 gets a sub-standard four-year, 80,000km warranty, although Australian Consumer Law will likely cover you for many defects beyond that timeframe. The Rear-Wheel Drive also gets a separate eight-year, 160,000 battery warranty.

Inside the 2024 Tesla Model 3

A major focus for the updated Tesla Model 3 was improving the in-cabin ambience.

There are new materials on the dash and doors as well as new perforated seats that make the fake leather look a little less fake.

It’s still very much minimalist in its overall presentation – there’s no instrument cluster and it lacks the richness and attention to detail of a Mercedes-Benz or BMW – but it’s a step up on the model it replaces. The addition of a customisable material strip across the top of the dash and multi-colour ambient lighting circling the upper half of the cabin also adds depth.

None of which changes the core car, which still delivers on occupant space. Those up front have ample room in every direction and even in the rear there’s decent head and legroom.

The boot is useful and gets a 60/40 split-fold function. Plus there’s a deep binnacle beneath the floor as well as a small storage area under the bonnet, something Tesla calls the frunk (or front trunk).

One of the most controversial changes with the Model 3 has been the removal of stalks on either side of the steering wheel.

Selecting Drive or Reverse is now done via a virtual slider display that appears on the right of the main touchscreen when you press the brake. It’s easy to get used to and is backed by virtual buttons that appear on the overhead interior light panel at the front of the roof.

It pays to familiarise yourself with the new cruise control button and the wipers and high beam buttons, each of which is also in the steering wheel button cluster.

Less intuitive are the indicator buttons. As with Lamborghini and Ferrari, they’re incorporated in the steering wheel. However, they’re both off to the left, rather than on each side of the wheel. So you have to remind yourself whether to push the upper (left) or lower (right) button.

And if you’re mid-corner – such as in a roundabout trying to exit to get out – you need to find the buttons on the turned wheel, which adds to the degree of difficulty.

One upside is that they work in tandem with the camera to have a guess at when you’d like the indicator to cancel – and it mostly does a good job. Do a slow lane change, for example, and the indicators will remain flashing for the whole lane change before cancelling once you’re fully in the new lane.

Performance and efficiency

The Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive gets a single electric motor driving the rear wheels.

But making it work is very different given there are no longer any stalks on the steering wheel.

Whereas previously you had to flick the right-hand stalk to activate Drive or Reverse, now it’s done via the central infotainment screen.

Pop your foot on the brake and an extra bar appears on the right-hand edge of the screen. It allows you to activate a virtual slider bar to select Drive or Reverse – or press the button at the top to pop the car in Park.

It works fine and is easy to get used to. There are also some additional touch pads on the roof panel near the interior lights that light up with P, R, N and D symbols as another way to select which direction you’d like to travel.

Tesla has also included an automated function, which we activated to see how it goes. The idea is it uses the cameras and some AI to determine which way it thinks you want to go. We found it fairly hit and miss (with many misses) so ended up using the slider bar more often.

Tesla doesn’t quote outputs in its marketing material, but the owner’s manual for the same car in China suggest it makes 194kW and 340Nm.

The upshot is above average acceleration, with the Model 3 RWD claimed to take 6.1 seconds to reach 100km/h.

It certainly feels close to that and also comes with excellent responses to any throttle input. Whether it’s taking off from a standstill or punching the accelerator at 60km/h the Model 3 leaps swiftly and faithfully.

You still can’t manually adjust the regenerative braking and it’s quite aggressive, so it pays to be gentle when lifting off the throttle. As with other things Tesla, it calls for a different driving style.

The addition of new tyres (with an emphasis on comfort and lowering rolling resistance) and improved aerodynamics has extended the EV driving range. The claimed WLTP range edges up from 491km to 513km, although our real-world experience suggested something like 460km.

With a circa-60kWh battery (Tesla doesn’t quote battery capacities) it makes for an impressively efficiency machine. Expect electricity use of 13-14kWh per 100km – or better if you’re driving gently and slowly

Tesla claims a WLTP range of 513km but something like 460km seemed more realistic in the real world.

Charging the 2024 Tesla Model 3

There’s something like 60kWh of battery capacity in the Model 3 (the company doesn’t state the battery capacity).

Unlike the Long Range and Performance versions of the Model 3 – each of which use a nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery chemistry – the Rear-Wheel Drive uses an LFP battery, or lithium ferrous phosphate.

LFP batteries typically have a lower energy density than NMC batteries, so they can store less electricity. But they are much cheaper to manufacture, something that helps keep the price of the cars down.

And whereas NMC batteries prefer not to be charged to 100 percent regularly – the recommendation is to charge them to 80 percent for daily driving and 100 percent only for road trips – LFP batteries can be topped up to 100 percent regularly.

However, with the new Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive, Tesla has included an upper charge limit within the touchscreen. It means you can set the maximum you want the car to charge to.

The Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive can charge at up to 11kW on an AC charger, which means a full charge in as little as six hours. If you’re using a more common 7.4kW home charger than bank on about nine hours for the full top-up – or 30 hours from a home powerpoint.

Faster DC public charging can be done at up to 170kW, which Tesla says can add 282km of range in as little as 15 minutes.

As with most other EVs the Model 3 runs a CCS combo charging cable, which allows Type 2 AC charging and the larger CCS plug for DC charging.

That means Teslas can use the public charging infrastructure for any other EVs, but you can also access the Tesla charging network, which in our experience is the most reliable out there. It also means you have a lot more charging options, which is particularly handy if you’re on a road trip.

One tip, though: Tesla doesn’t include a charging cable with the Model 3, so you’ll have to make sure you have home charging sorted before taking it home.

Ride and handling

Suspension was one of the major areas of focus for the new Tesla Model 3.

The body itself has been stiffened, which is a fairly major under-bonnet change that reaps rewards by allowing the suspension components to do the job of absorbing energy  – rather than the body flexing.

Combined with new suspension bushes and dampers, it makes for a markedly different car on the road.

Tesla has chosen frequency selective dampers (FSD), which are still fairly rare in new cars but have made a big impact on the cars they’re fitted to. It means the shock absorbers can adjust their damping force depending on the frequency of the bump they’re driving over. A short, sharp jolt, for example, might get a lower damping force to help absorb the shock. But for gentler bumps and speed humps it may stiffen things slightly to maintain body control and reduce body movement.

The big take-out is that they work – very well.

The new Model 3 is a very different beast to the previous model, which nailed the athleticism side of the dynamic equation but was also a touch stiff-legged.

The new model is borderline supple and more convincingly smothers bumps. There’s also a noticeably quieter cabin as a result of efforts to reduce wind and road noise.

It’s a massive step up in maturity and one that doesn’t dilute the fun-to-drive factor that has long defined the Model 3.

There’s still super direct steering and the Model 3 has a fun factor that makes it an easy companion.

One downside is the change in tyres. Ours was riding on the 18-inch tyres that are still supplied by Michelin. But instead of the sticky Pilot Sport 4s they’ve switched to e-Primacy, which have more of an emphasis on comfort; those tyres are also the reason the claimed top speed has dropped from 225km/h to 201km/h, something unlikely to cause Aussie owners any angst.

Party tricks

There’s no shortage of gimmicky software extras with a Tesla.

Want to leave your dog in the car on a hot day? Activate dog mode for air-con while parked.

Keen for a toasty night by the fire? Camp mode shows a crackling fire on the screen.

Want to play games? There’s a plethora of arcade fun built into the screen.

The Model 3 can even do a dance and light show to music.

Yep, it’s as much as tech device as it is a car.

How safe is the 2024 Tesla Model 3

The Tesla Model 3 has typically performed very well in independent crash tests around the world.

It comes with dual front airbags, side chest airbags up front and head-protecting curtain airbags down each side.

But a bit has changed with this latest model.

As with the Model Y, the Model 3 now gets a pedestrian warning system that emits a hum when the car is travelling at low speeds. It uses speakers – one in the front and one in the rear – and the front speaker also acts as the horn (allowing for some cheeky cost cutting).

Around 2022 Tesla stopped using forward-facing radar for its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems, instead relying solely on cameras.

The updated Model 3 continues with that philosophy, but the camera hardware is new. Instead of three forward-facing cameras there are now two.

Tesla says it’s stepped up the side impact protection with this latest model, too. There are new doors with hooks at their base to slot into a groove in the door sill, with the aim of better holding the door in place.

There’s also blind spot monitoring and mild self-steering.

The new Model 3 gets a camera facing the occupants, something Tesla says will eventually be used for occupant presence detection to alert of a child (or other people) in the car when parked. It’ll be rolled out via an over-the-air software update.

Despite cameras all around, the Model 3 still doesn’t have rear cross traffic alert, to warn of cars approaching from either side when reversing.

2024 Tesla Model 3: The verdict

The new Tesla Model 3 follows a familiar formula focused on tech and easy electric motoring but addresses some of the issues of the original.

The quieter, more composed driving manners top that list and transforms the Model 3 into a car that’s far easier to live with.

We’re not sold on the buttons-on-the-steering-wheel indicators, but the other tech updates have hit the mark.

Throw in the more sophisticated cabin and the Model 3 better lives up to its premium price tag.

All of which cements the Tesla Model 3 as the benchmark in the $60-70K bracket.

Tesla Model 3 specifications

Price: $61,900 plus on-road costs

Basics: EV, 5 seats, 4 doors, sedan, RWD

Range: 513km (WLTP)

Battery capacity: 60kWh (approx.)

Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km

Energy consumption: 13.2kWh/100km

Motors: 1 rear 194kW/340Nm

AC charging: 11kW, Type 2 plug

DC charging: 170kW, CCS combo plug

0-100km/h: 6.1 seconds