Tesla’s Improved Model 3 Is Finally on Sale in America. Here’s What You Should Know

The car that helped save Elon’s company scores a fairly sizable refresh … at least, for Tesla.

tesla model 3 2024 refresh red and black

Published January 10, 2024

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Here at Gear Patrol, we don’t cover Tesla as often as we do a lot of other carmakers. There are a number of reasons for that — one of them being a desire not to feed the beast that is the attention black hole created by a certain former Time Person of the Year — but the biggest is, simply put, that Tesla doesn’t actually reveal that many new cars. The stories around Tesla products tend to revolve around the drama surrounding them, not the actual products themselves.

Of course, when there actually are new Tesla vehicles to discuss, we’re absolutely going to talk about them. Especially when it’s a vehicle as important as the new Model 3 electric sedan, which Tesla says will become available for delivery in the U.S. starting in January or February of this year.

Wait, there’s a new Tesla Model 3?

Yes — well, somewhat new. In traditional automotive parlance, the new Model 3 would be known as a 2024 model year mid-life cycle refresh — but Tesla doesn’t do traditional automotive parlance, or traditional refresh cycles … or pretty much anything else the traditional automotive way.

This updated version — internally code-named “Project Highland” during development — isn’t a massive change over the existing version that’s become all but omnipresent on city streets across America in the last few years. It uses the same chassis and battery pack, has the same wheelbase, has a center-mounted touchscreen in lieu of conventional gauges and controls and charges up quickly and efficiently at the brand’s Superchargers.

What’s new about this new Model 3, then?

tesla model 3 2024 in gray on a road in front of a mountain — The updated Tesla Model 3. The new front fascia and headlights are the easiest way to spot the refreshed model.

The biggest change of this facelift is, well, a facelift. The 2024 Tesla Model 3 has a new front end with slimmer headlights, a sleeker hood and less of an underbite appearance; tweaks to the back include revised tail lamps. The changes in styling have shifted the car’s dimensions, albeit slightly. Compared with the old version, this new Tesla is one-tenth of an inch shorter, one inch longer and 3.3 inches wider, giving it a more aggressive stance to go with the more handsome face.

Inside, one big change is the lack of a physical shift lever or turn signal stalks; like the Model S, shuffling amongst P-R-N-D requires going into the touchscreen that controls practically every feature of the car. There’s also a second touchscreen for 2024, one located in the back for the rear seat passengers.

Tesla says the new model is more quiet, thanks to features like revised sound deadening. Should the silence grow too stifling, there’s a new 17-speaker stereo on long range models, up from 14 speakers before. Ventilated front seats are new for 2024, as is ambient lighting. The trunk is also slightly larger, growing from 19.8 cubic feet to 21.

tesla model 3 2024 interior — The interior of the facelifted Model 3.

What sort of range does the new Model 3 offer?

The new Model 3 also comes with new range estimates, at least for the long-range model; it’s now EPA-rated to go 341 miles on a charge, up from 333 previously. (However, this may be more related to recently updated federal rules meant to provide more accurate EV range estimates.) The standard-range model with the 56-kWh battery pack remains EPA-rated for 272 miles of driving.

Keep in mind two factors, though. First, Teslas have generally underperformed their EPA ranges in real-world use; Motor Trend testing found the previous Model 3 Long Range went 258 miles versus the claimed 333, and the internet is chock-full of owner anecdotes backing up findings like that. Second, the facelift includes aerodynamic tweaks that lower the coefficient of drag from 0.225 to 0.219, making the 2024 Tesla Model 3 one of the slipperiest cars on the road — a factor that could help improve range, especially on the highway.

(That said, in the same test, MT found the 2024 Model 3 LR underperformed its EPA estimate by even more than the previous version; then again, those were early build models from other markets, and software updates can make a big update when it comes to range and performance in EVs.)

How much does the new Model 3 cost?

With Tesla, that’s kind of like describing the weather: the current conditions are no guarantee of the future. Tesla prices tend to oscillate for no apparent reason (read: the whims of its mercurial CEO), so what you see on their site today may not be the same as you see tomorrow.

The base model, as of this writing, is the rear-wheel-drive standard-range version, which costs $40,640 including destination and order fee. Above that lies the long-range dual-motor all-wheel-drive Model 3, which starts at $47,630.

tesla model 3 2024 configurator — The default on the Tesla car configurator shows $33,990, but don’t fall for it: that’s with “Probable Savings,” which fudges the number by including things like the amount of money you could save on gasoline.

The Model 3 is not currently eligible for the $7,500 federal tax break for EVs — the sole model that was eligible was the Performance trim, and that’s not offered in the facelifted version yet — but we’re betting that Tesla will file for recertification very soon, assuming the new model meets the latest criteria. State-by-state incentives may be available to further lower the price, as well. (Tesla’s website is very helpful at serving up this information to help buyers figure out exactly how much they’ll have to pay, all the way down to including state sales tax.)

Why is the Model 3 so important, again?

In a nutshell, it’s the car that made Elon Musk the richest man on the planet (or one of them, depending on the week).

When the Model 3 launched back in 2016, it was effectively a make-or-break proposition for Tesla — and for a while, it seemed as though the needle was bending towards break. The Model 3 was the brand’s first mainstream model, coming in far more affordable than the luxury-market Model S and Model X, and orders came streaming in faster than the company could handle, sending the company spiraling into what Musk called “production hell.” (It got so bad, Musk even reached out to Tim Cook about selling the entire company to Apple for a song.)

But with hard work, grit and a Teflon stock price, Tesla powered through the hardship and landed the Model 3 — fixing problems as they sprung up along the way, as is the brand’s fashion. And it’s worked out well: as of 2023, the Tesla Model 3 is the best-selling EV in the world and the 12th best-selling car in America last year, with around 233,000 units being sold. Since the car was announced, $TSLA has gone from around $15 a share to $234 as of this story — and taking its CEO, who owns what Wall Street refers to as “a metric shit-ton of shares,” from a net worth of around $11 billionto a Scrooge McDuckian $212 billion as of January 2024.

Yet perhaps the Model 3’s biggest success story in the U.S. is, from a profit standpoint, its Model Y sibling. Created as, effectively, a crossover variant of the sedan, it’s become an even bigger hit than the Model 3 here, outselling even the likes of the Honda CR-V and Toyota Camry. No wonder Musk felt cocky enough to buy Twitter.