Xiaomi and Tesla Dual Car Owners: The driving experience of Model 3 is good, and the overall configuration of SU7 is higher | Letters from Car Owners

| This issue's vehicle models: Tesla Model 3, Xiaomi SU7

| This issue's car owners: Post-90s business owner, residing in Guangdong for a long time; purchased Tesla Model 3 in 2020, and Xiaomi SU7 in 2024

I've been driving my Tesla for more than 4 years, and it has accompanied me to many places. The reason for purchasing the Xiaomi SU7 is simple. I have many Xiaomi devices at home, and I was impressed by Lei Jun's product launch. So in April last year, I placed an order for the Xiaomi SU7.

After waiting for nearly half a year, I finally successfully picked up the car in September. I need to travel every day, so my Xiaomi SU7 has already covered 10,000 kilometers.

These two cars can be said to be the most popular electric vehicles at present. Many people around me have asked me, what are the differences between these two cars? I'm going to buy a car now. Should I choose Xiaomi or Tesla? I can only describe my driving experience and hope it can help everyone make a decision.

Performance and Driving: Xiaomi is more stable and suitable for daily use, while Tesla allows one to enjoy the "integration of man and vehicle"

In my opinion, the Xiaomi SU7 is a vehicle with complete configuration and suitable for daily use, while the Tesla is a "go-kart" suitable for enjoying "driving".

In terms of acceleration, the data of the Xiaomi SU7 is indeed more impressive, 2.78 seconds, which is very cool, right? But in fact, I almost always drive in the comfort mode in my daily life, and I rarely use this acceleration. Only when I just picked up the car, I would take my friends for a test drive.

In real daily driving, the throttle response, braking, and steering of the Tesla are more smooth, especially the kinetic energy recovery. After releasing the accelerator of the Xiaomi SU7, the sense of jerk is indeed more intense, and the braking feeling is not as easy to control as that of the Tesla.

Even when the kinetic energy recovery is set to the lowest, the feeling of the Tesla is also more smooth.

The Tesla is small and agile. When I'm driving alone, the Model 3 is more likely to bring me the pleasure of the "integration of man and vehicle". But this car is really like a "go-kart", with a particularly hard chassis. Crossing a speed bump is like taking off, and the noise is also louder. It is actually not very comfortable for long-distance high-speed driving or carrying passengers. The Xiaomi, because of its larger size and width, gives me a more stable feeling. When I'm not deliberately flooring the accelerator, driving it is actually like driving a BMW 5 Series or an Audi A6L, and the speed can unconsciously reach 120 km/h on the highway.

Configuration and Intelligence: Xiaomi has a complete configuration and free intelligent driving, while the only advantage of Tesla is its simplicity and convenience

Nowadays, I drive the Xiaomi SU7 more and more when I go out. An important reason is that the overall configuration of Xiaomi is more complete.

First, the Xiaomi has seat ventilation. My Tesla is an old model and does not have seat ventilation, which makes me feel stuffy and sweaty, and there will be sweat stains on the seat. I think this is not comfortable and not aesthetic.

Second, the Xiaomi has a refrigerator. If I had to pay for it as an option, I might not choose it. But the first batch ordered in April came with a refrigerator, and I'm very satisfied with this. When going out in summer, I can cool a drink. This is both emotionally and practically satisfying.

Third, the voice interaction of Xiaomi is really great. The response speed is faster than that of Tesla, the sensitivity is high, and it is also linked with my Xiaoai Speaker at home. Now, before I go out, I just shout at home to Xiaoai Classmate to help me turn on the hot air conditioning in the car. This is much more practical than Tesla.

However, I think the logic of the Xiaomi vehicle system is not very user-friendly. As we all know, the vehicle system of Tesla is simple, direct, and convenient. There is a large menu, and the air conditioning temperature can be simply clicked on the screen below.

But it's not the case with Xiaomi. For example, when I'm driving and the screen shows the air conditioning interface, it will not automatically exit and return to the home page. Moreover, when I want to adjust the direction of the air outlet of the air conditioning, the wind in the screen is white, but the background is also white, making it not easy to see clearly.

And when I just picked up the car, I couldn't find the defogging button either, and I could only turn it on through voice commands. Maybe because the voice function is so good and it can be controlled through the mobile phone or other Xiaoai Speakers, the convenience of screen operation is easily overlooked.

Then there is the intelligent driving. The high-speed NOA and urban ground NOA of Xiaomi are free, but Tesla charges for it, starting from 32,000 yuan. Free intelligent driving is naturally more attractive.

I usually drive on the viaduct more when going to work, and the Xiaomi is more labor-saving. However, Xiaomi is developing the intelligent driving system for the first year, and there is still room for improvement. Not to mention the not-so-good urban NOA, even the high-speed NOA has many bugs.

For example, on the viaduct that I often take, every time I reach that section, the Xiaomi will deviate from the lane. After reporting to the official, that section can only enable LCC now, and high-speed NOA is not supported. After that, I feel that the number of times I need to take over has also increased.

The intelligent driving of Tesla is said to be very useful abroad, but the price is honestly too expensive. Even if it can be used in China in the future, I may not necessarily buy it. So for now, it seems that domestic car companies win in intelligent driving. Although the current experience of Xiaomi is not good enough, it is free after all, and it will be better when the technology improves in the future.

Then there are some relatively minor differences. For example, the riding experience, which many people are concerned about, but I want to say that both of these are sedans, and the rear riding experience of both is very poor. I'm over 180 cm tall, and the rear seats of both cars are very cramped. But objectively speaking, the Xiaomi is larger and the front seats are more comfortable with more legroom.

| According to the official news of Xiaomi Automobile, on December 23, 2024, Xiaomi pushed the Xiaomi HyperOS 1.4.5 version, which includes multiple intelligent driving updates.

| Under the 1.4.5 version, Xiaomi's intelligent driving officially integrates the VLM Visual Language Model, improving the recognition ability in complex scenarios such as construction sections and dim small roads; at the same time, its urban pilot assistance has also been upgraded to be more intelligent, including reducing the frequency of going into the wrong lane, etc.

Battery Life: Xiaomi has a longer comprehensive battery life, while Tesla has a better power consumption level

I reside in Guangdong, where the winter temperature is not very low, and I also have a home charger, so I basically have no range anxiety.

In the case of the Xiaomi SU7 Max, with a full charge, I can drive nearly 600 kilometers if I control the accelerator pedal, and I can also drive 500 kilometers if I floor the accelerator. But because it is a ternary lithium battery, for the safety of the battery, I basically charge it to 80%, with a range of more than 400 kilometers.

The battery life of the Model 3 is less than that of the Xiaomi. In the first few years after purchasing the car, it could run 400 kilometers, and in recent years, it has gradually dropped to around 390, 380, and 370 kilometers.

The people from Tesla said that the displayed range does not represent the real range, and the real range can still be more than 400 kilometers. And in the first few years of use, the battery capacity drops more, but if it is used for a longer time, the rate of capacity drop will become slower. I don't know if this is true.

But I have observed that the power consumption of these two cars is indeed somewhat different.

For the Xiaomi, if it is parked in the garage for one night, the battery can drop by 2 - 3%. But for the Tesla, the battery drops by only 3% in a week. Later, after communicating with other car owners, I found out that the lidar of the Xiaomi seems to be working all the time at night, which may be one of the reasons why the Xiaomi loses power faster.

In fact, both are good cars. The driving experience of Tesla is better, and the natural noise and comfort are lower. The overall configuration of Xiaomi is good, the intelligent driving is free, and the car is not very expensive, so there must be some areas that are not so useful.

When I switch from driving the Xiaomi back to the Tesla, many times a sentence comes to my mind: It is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. After driving the Xiaomi for a long time, I will naturally get used to using voice to control everything in the car. When I drive the Tesla again, I find that I have to operate everything by myself.

Everyone has their own preferences! When I'm driving alone, I think the Tesla is better, but when there are passengers in the front passenger seat and the rear seats, I prefer the Xiaomi. In less than two or three years, I will replace one of the cars with an SUV.

I have also considered the question of whether to sell the Tesla Model 3 or the Xiaomi SU7. I have been driving the Tesla for many years, and I agree with the description of "stable and reliable", which is indeed more reassuring.

Ultimately, I think I will consider the retention rate, and whether the Xiaomi SU7 and the older Model 3 in a few years will have more problems.

I think people who have been using cars for many years think more or less the same. Looking good and driving well are what we think about when buying a car, but saving money and being sufficient are the most important when using a car.

「Every year, hundreds of new cars are released, and the technological iterations are dazzling. In the end, it is the products that speak. How a car performs, what kind of experience it brings to the car owner, and what kind of story it shapes, still need to be told by the car owners. 36Kr Auto has listened to a large number of car users' complaints and launched the "Car Owner's Letter" column to convey their voices. Car owners are welcome to contribute and exchange. For contributions, please contact: Coconut_cai」