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When you rack up 40,000 miles in less than a year, you don’t just operate a car, you coexist with it. You come to know the subtle whir of the HVAC system at idle, the steering’s faint corrections on a rutted highway, the exact weight of the accelerator when merging into the chaos of Atlanta traffic.
That kind of intimacy is what a Reddit user, Winter-Caterpillar21, brought to r/TeslaLounge. His story wasn’t theory or speculation; it was lived reality after nearly a year of using a high-mileage Tesla Model 3 Long Range as a relentless commuter and road trip companion.
“I bought this car back in 2024 with 92K miles on it. With the tax incentive, it was $16,300 OTD.
I drive from Athens, Ga to ATL every day, 650 miles per week. I also took the car to many different states, along with daily use after work.
To this day, I have spent $0.00 on charging for my commute (SC for road trips) since my work and apt has free level 2 charging. $0.00 on maintenance other than new tires. ($280 for the 2 rears, yes XL).
Insure $165/m full coverage (high deductible). I use $80-$90 of PeachPass/week (free with AFV tag i85 E&W)
The car is cheap, reliable, fun, and full of creature comforts. I love remote start, Sentry mode, and most importantly to me, the assisted steering. Driving at 4:30 AM is not fun, so having AS has been a MASSIVE help. It’s saved my life many times over. The car has saved me north of $10k in fuel and Peachpass alone.
Not to mention the extremely low maintenance cost/savings.
The car’s range at 100% is 250-260 miles since I drive it like a sports car. Even after 40k miles, it still puts a smile on my face every time I hit the accelerator.
The craziest part is that you can find one now for under 13K pretty easily with the tax incentive.”
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More than $10,000 saved in fuel and tolls. For $16,300 out the door, he secured a 92,000-mile Model 3 LR and stacked on another 40,000 miles without breaking stride. The car still delivers 250–260 miles of range at a full charge despite the abuse, driven, in his words, “like a sports car.” It is difficult to find a clearer case study for how EVs can translate into real-world savings while still offering driving satisfaction.
Tesla Model 3 Benchmarks
- Continues to set benchmarks for range (up to 363 mi EPA), efficiency, and broader market impact
- RWD Long Range offers up to 363 mi EPA range and charges in ~11.7 hours at 240V; supports NACS fast charging
- Recent “Highland” facelift adds better sound insulation, quieter cabin, and significantly improved build quality
- Earns top safety ratings globally and remains one of the safest options in its class
The Reddit comments turned the post into something more communal. User thenight11 admitted they’d bought their own car for the same punishing commute. The original poster responded with the kind of good-natured encouragement that feels more like advice passed between truckers at a rest stop: “I hope it lasts you a long time and that it provides u with adult joyful tears”.
But alongside encouragement came hard-earned warnings. One commenter, GrumpyCloud93, recounted how worn suspension joints quietly destroyed a pair of front tires from the inside out, only discovered when one went flat on the interstate.
How Is The Tesla Model 3 After 100k Miles?
Another user, SureNpFine, admitted to hearing squeaks from their own front tires and suddenly felt compelled to schedule service. This kind of exchange is what gives online forums their value: not brand loyalty speeches, but roadside wisdom from people who’ve lived through breakdowns and flatbed rides.
Costs inevitably crept into the conversation. User cryptoengineer confirmed he’d had the same suspension repair, to the tune of $4,000, but not until after 100,000 miles and six years of use.
That perspective shifted the tone: yes, repairs can be expensive, but they arrive late in the game compared to the constant drip of oil changes, belts, and transmission services that define high-mileage combustion cars. For the poster still coasting at 132,000 miles in Model 3, the ledger remains clean, tires, insurance, and nothing else.
Tesla Model 3 Testimonials
- One owner said: “You plug it in at night… no detours, no pumps… still driving like new even past 200,000 miles”
- After 128,000 miles, one user reflected honestly on battery degradation, winter driving, and ownership economics
- A fresh owner called the updated Model 3 “an entirely different car,” praising service and premium feel enhancements
- Performance spec features up to 460 hp, 0–60mph in ~3 s, and a real-world range of around 305 miles.
What gives the story its weight isn’t only the math, though. It’s the testimony of a commuter leaving home at 4:30 a.m., trusting Tesla’s assisted steering to keep him alive on dark highways.
It’s the repeated emphasis that features like Sentry Mode and remote start aren’t toys but lifelines in the grind of daily use. “It’s saved my life many times over,” he wrote. Those words speak less to technology as novelty and more to technology as necessity, and they carry the authority of someone who spends more time in their car each week than many do in a month.
And that may be the most important truth buried in this thread. After 40,000 miles in 11 months, the Model 3 LR isn’t a gadget or a status symbol. It’s a trusted tool, a workhorse that happens to deliver sports-car acceleration while saving thousands in operating costs. The Reddit community’s mix of warnings, encouragement, and technical knowledge only sharpened the conclusion: high-mileage EVs can hold up under punishing use, still put a smile on their driver’s face, and prove that ownership at scale is about more than range charts, it’s about trust built one mile at a time.
Image Sources: Tesla Media Center
Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.
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Source: torquenews.com
