Drive Tesla FSD 13.2.8 in 2025 Model 3

Welcome back for another episode of Behind the Wheel. This is Rob Greenlee, and I've got a special episode this week to bring you. I am at a Tesla service center on a test drive of a 2025 Model 3. So this is a, a different video for me because I usually do it, do these videos from my 2022 Model 3 Long Range. And so I wanted to just kind of give you a little bit of an experience. This is in the latest upgrade to the Full Self-Driving software stack. I believe it's the 14.0. Here, let me go in here and see if I can see what the exact software is that's in this vehicle right now. It It looks like it's 2025.14.3.1, which I believe is the same, like, operating system version that's running in my 2022 Model 3. But the Full Self-Driving Supervised software is 13.2.8, which is definitely a whole number from 12 to 13 upgrade from my Model 3s. Full Self-Driving stack. So this vehicle has Hardware 4, AI 4 capability in it, so that is definitely an upgrade now. But I told you in my last video that I was going to be test driving a brand new Model 3, so let me go ahead and put that in. The levers for turn signals and windshield wipers and stuff have been eliminated in this car, so it's all done on the screen and also on the steering wheel. So The turn signals are here, and the activation of Full Self-Driving is right here. So let me close this up. I already have a destination to go to, so let's go ahead and head there and see if it takes me to Greenwich, Connecticut, which is where I'm going. So I'm actually leaving the Tesla Service Center in Stamford, Connecticut. This is their the best kind of service center for me and where I'm located in Connecticut. So this is where I go. So it seems to be creeping along, and I don't know if you can see on the right that this is the entrance bay doors. I think we're past that now to the service center of being able to pull in and get your Tesla service. But you can see we're pulling out. I'm on the latest version of the Full Self-Driving stack, and I'm trying to see if I can turn up the speed a little bit on this. So it does have an adjustment to that I can turn up the maximum speed, which is 35 miles an hour. This is a parking lot type of a situation. So this is the first time that I've been in the latest model of the Model 3, so I was looking for a significant difference in the experience in this car. It does appear to have a little smoother ride, which I think what I'm talking about here is fairly well known in the Tesla community, but it's also one that's an upgrade. I was always hearing that this car is a lot quieter, the suspension is a little bit smoother, and it does feel that way. I have to admit, it does seem like it's definitely a smoother ride. So I'm impressed so far. So here, let me change the air conditioning in here to get it a little bit cooler. It's a little bit warm out today. Turn right to take the Interstate 95 southbound to New York City. So it's trying to take me to New York City. So we're going to get on the freeway here and drive for a few minutes. It's only about a, it's only about a 4.5-mile drive to Greenwich from where I'm at right now. So it's going to get on the freeway and seems to be pretty smooth and operates. Now I did, and you saw back there, I did have to do a to do an intervention on it in the parking lot because it was heading off in the wrong direction in the parking lot. But that's probably a fairly minor situation, so we'll see if it has a significant difference in the full self-driving kind of capability on the freeway here. So I can get in and I can adjust the speed. So let's go in here and adjust auto so it'll keep me cool. There we go. Let me turn that down a little bit. Okay, now I'm not going to boil over. So anyway, it seems to be doing terrific. And if you haven't done a test drive, so this was a— it's a little different car. It definitely feels a little bit different than my 2022 Model 3, but in some ways it feels the same. It feels a little bit more Maybe a little more polished, but mine is, is quite different from the standpoint that I have white seats, like a black and white kind of experience. So my car feels a little brighter inside of it. This one feels a little dark and a little gloomy to some degree, though I like black and I like this kind of grays and blacks, but I do the contrast of the white and the black and the grays. That's a good color contrast, and the car does feel a little bit higher end than my Model 3 does. It's not as stark. It's got this fabric kind of dashboard, which is different, and then it has that ring lighting that goes up through the dashboard and up the doors, which isn't on right now because You wouldn't be able to see it anyway because it's so bright. But the car just feels a little bit more polished, but it's still got all of the same kind of compartments that my Model 3 has. The same basics is here, so there's not a big difference that I see. And so what I'm weighing is that I, I did a purchase on my Model 3 2022, and I'm about I guess I'm like 3 and a half years into it, into the purchase, and I'm looking at if I get an upgrade and trade in my, my, my current Model 3. I don't know what the trade-in might be for that, so that's something that I'll find out a little bit later. And then also what the current financing is, what the current rebate capabilities to get the price of the vehicle down. If I can actually get my monthly payment lower than what I'm paying right now, which is in the $600+ range, if I get it down to $400 or $300 range or something like that, that would be a win for me. I don't know if that's realistic, but if you think about the rebates and the incentives that go into owning one of these cars right now. And I do know that in Congress they are throwing around a bill that will eliminate the, the EV tax credit from the IRS. But the whole thing about the tax credit, maybe a lot of people don't realize, is that you have to have enough taxable income to, to get that full credit too. It's not like it's a straight right off the top. So you have to be paying enough taxes to justify that tax credit, or else you're just going to get a fraction of it. So it's not a perfect rebate. State and local rebates that exist on these cars too, those tend to be a little bit more of a fixed to Arch Street. Kind of amount. So it's, it's a little bit more straightforward on that, but the actual $7,500 is a full tax credit, which is not always fully credited on your taxes. So it just depends on what your tax situation is. But, but it seems like this is a very complex kind of section of the exit off the freeway. And I can adjust the controls here. I thought it was, let's see, Dynamics. I can go to— it has Standard. I thought it also had Hurry. So I can set the car on the Full Self-Driving to take a Hurry position in driving in Full Self-Driving, which will drive a little faster speeds. It'll it'll tend to accelerate quicker, it'll tend to be a little bit more aggressive. And navigating the roadway, I've actually kept my car at the Hurry mode just so it doesn't cause disruptions that can happen sometimes because the car hesitates or doesn't make fast enough choices and decisions at the intersection. So you want to encourage it to be an assertive driver. And that's what I try and do with my Full Self-Driving. So if you haven't really experienced that before, it's been a, it's been a very smooth ride so far, I have to admit. And some of these bumps, the car, my Model 3 would actually really jerk the car a lot. It would really rock the car and it would be like a hard bang on any kind of rough spot in the road, or if there's like a hole in the road or whatever. This car kind of absorbed that much better, and it does seem like the noise, the external noise of this vehicle, is much less. So this is a 2025 Model 3. I'm not sure if this what this one is, if it's a, if it's a Long Range here, let's say, or if it's a just a Standard. I can't tell in here what it is, and in some ways it doesn't matter. Okay, it's a Model 3 Long Range, and the car has 22 miles on it. So this is a brand new vehicle, and it's a bluish color, as you can see on the screen there, a metallic blue. It's a nice car. I like it a lot. I'm not sure that I would get that kind of color on the car myself personally, but I kind of like the darker grays and gray type color. If I got another color, it'd probably be black, but I'm not sure on that. But I definitely like the white interior of this, and the white interior seems really a premium kind of experience in this car. So I think I'm probably going to call into the video and just say I've enjoyed this demo drive and I would recommend it if you've got an older Model 3 or an older Model Y. Just contact your closest Tesla service center and sign up for their demo drive so you can get out and maybe test drive a Cybertruck or test drive their newer Model Y that's out there too, and, and a Model 3, and then make your choice. So it's interesting how it's navigating this particular intersection crosswalk. It's very careful, but, and it's because there's a pedestrian here on the right. Okay, it's— so I need to take over and end this trip and I think head back to the Tesla Service Center. So yes, Service Center locations. So I need to go back to the one in Stamford. Let's see, I think it's this one. Let's see. Now turn right onto Greenwich Avenue. I think that's, I think that's where it's going here. Let's see, end trip, Tesla, Tesla, uh, service center, service center locations. Okay, here it is, 406 Commerce Road. Let's go back to that one. Yeah, that's it. So let's head back home as I return the car from my test drive. Activated the Full Self-Driving again, so we're back, heading back to where this car's home is. Thank you so much for watching this, and I'm excited to have another experience with a, with a new Tesla Model with the Hardware 4 capability. I have to be honest with you, I haven't seen a huge difference in the capability of the Full Self-Driving between the current version the 12.6.4 that I have and the current version here, that is the 13.2.8, I haven't seen a huge difference between the two. So that's a factor for my consideration. And I do know that the Hardware 4 is the hardware that's gonna get the unsupervised Full Self-Driving, but the Hardware 3, as far as I know right now, is not. So that's the big decision. In my last video, I talked about this a little bit more. So this is a good kind of comparison between my last Behind the Wheel episode where I talked about, uh, the coming unsupervised full self-driving. So in trying to get positioned where I can feel like I'm moving into the future. All right. Thank you for watching. Episode. Subscribe to my channel and check out my other videos. They'll probably be up on the screen on— I'm not sure which side they are. I believe it's on the right side, but check it out. Thank you so much. Or on the left side for you. So thanks, bye-bye. In the capability of the full self-driving between the, the, the current version the 12.6.4 that I have and the current version here that is the 13.2.8, I haven't seen a huge difference between the two. So that's a, that's a factor for my consideration, but, but I do know that the Hardware 4 is the hardware that's going to get the unsupervised Full Self-Driving., but the Hardware 3, as far as I know right now, is not. So that's the big decision. In my last video, I talked about this a little bit more. So this is a good kind of comparison between my last Behind the Wheel episode where I talked about, uh, the coming, uh, unsupervised full self-driving, um, so in trying to get transition where I can feel like I'm moving into the future. So, all right, well, thank you for watching, uh, the episode. Uh, subscribe to my channel and check out my other videos that will probably be up on the screen on— I'm not sure which side they are. I believe it's on the right side, but check it out. Thank you so much. Or on the left side for you. So thanks, bye-bye.