What Car? is Britain's biggest car buyer's guide. What Car? tests each car in three key ways - on road, on track and on paper - before making the most fair and complex decisions in the business. Their reviews are the work of a team with over 40 years of car testing experience.
On road
What Car? tests cars in the UK on a pre-determined route, which includes a good combination of motorways, city roads and everything in between. Using a specific route also allows them to easily compare cars, because the tester team knows how key rivals behave on the same stretch of road.
On track
The team use the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire to scientifically evaluate all of the cars they test. They use a two-mile bowl of four-lane motorway for noise testing, a mile-long straight for acceleration and braking, and the twisty Hill Route and Inner Handling Circuit to find out how the cars behave on the limit. They also use Millbrook to test the range of electric vehicles, driving a fixed route over a mix of roads until the batteries run flat.
On paper
What Car? crunch the numbers that matter. The team of mystery shoppers haggle all day, every day to establish the discounted prices that you can achieve on any new car. They call it Target Price, and combine it with comprehensive resale values to work out the most accurate real-world running costs over three years (they also take into account the PCP finance deals that are increasingly popular in dealerships).
According to the results of the assessment, the team What car? chose Tesla Model 3 as the Large Electric Car of the Year 2020.
It’s a car that will encourage you to go electric like no other.
— What Car? (@whatcar) January 14, 2020
Our Large #ElectricCar of the Year is the #Tesla #Model3 🎉🎉🎉
Here from @Tesla is its manager for UK and Ireland, Tara Mullen!#WhatCarAwards pic.twitter.com/RWYec22Lar
What car? said, that "the amount of speed you can carry through corners is seriously impressive." "The brakes deserve a special mention, they makes it easy to slow down smoothly," they added.
"One of the biggest draws of the Model 3 is how much tech it comes with. Its optional ‘Autopilot’ self-steering and adaptive cruise control system works really well on the motorway, by automatically keeping you a set distance from the car in front as well as maintaining position in the centre of your lane. The Model 3 can even perform lane changes: just flick the indicator stalk and an array of cameras gives the all clear before you’re robotically steered across."
Source: What car?
The front seat area also feels remarkably light and airy, thanks to a combination of the tall side windows and standard panoramic glass roof.
All versions of the Model 3 come with plenty of luxuries, including climate control, adaptive cruise control, seats (heated in the front) and keyless entry via an app on your phone.
The Model 3 is one of the safest cars ever tested by Euro NCAP; it scored exceptionally well for both its ability to protect occupants in an accident and for its ability to help avoid a crash in the first place. The latter is thanks to automatic emergency braking (AEB) and blindspot monitoring featuring as standard.
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Featured image: What car?
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
