James May gets personal with his Tesla Model 3 and shares the 12 things that he really doesn't like about it
Published on Mar 19, 2026 at 3:53 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Mar 19, 2026 at 3:53 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
James May is probably the only ex-Top Gear and Grand Tour guy who genuinely likes EVs, which explains why he owns a Tesla Model 3.
He’s owned EVs and FCEVs before and, being James May, he recently decided to share some complaints about his Tesla.
He listed 12 things that might surprise you.
Including a couple of things that are really ‘on brand’ with his pedantic persona.
Click the star icon next to supercarblondie.com in Google Search to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology
James May is probably the most EV-friendly ex-Top Gear and Grand Tour presenter
Jeremy Clarkson famously doesn’t like electric cars.
Hammond doesn’t mind them, but he doesn’t really love them, either.
And yet, despite being labeled as old-fashioned quite often, James May is by far the most open-minded when it comes to EVs.
May has owned more than one hydrogen car, and he’s also owned more than one Tesla.
His latest acquisition, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range, is one of his daily drivers, but he found 12 things he doesn’t particularly like about it.
As you can imagine, this being May, his complaints were very specific and quite pedantic.
For starters, as he explained in the latest video on his channel, James May’s Planet Gin, he doesn’t like the lane departure warning, mainly because it must be disabled manually every time.
He also dislikes the headlamp controls, because they require holding a finger on a button for ‘a bit too long.’
The third thing he doesn’t like – and to be fair, it’s a reasonable complaint – is the fact that the indicator buttons are placed on the steering wheel.
The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh things are related: if you want to adjust the mirror, the steering wheel, or even open the glove box or adjust the windscreen wipers, you have to do it through the touchscreen.
In addition to that, he shared his reservations about the adaptive headlights, the automatic trunk noise (which is apparently annoying), and, of course, the charging time, but that’s common with all EVs.
The eleventh thing has to do with Tesla’s limited color options, which, in his view, are also ‘boring’.
This leads us to the twelfth and final thing: not only are these paint options boring, but but they’re also apparently quite difficult to keep clean.
And everyone knows James May is obsessed with keeping his cars clean.
May and Clarkson’s garages are modest; Hammond’s is anything but
James May and Jeremy Clarkson own a few cars – and all things considered, their collections are relatively modest.
Clarkson and May probably own 10-15 cars between them, and most of them are not crazy expensive.
Nothing to sneeze at, but it’s all relative when we remember these are people who became millionaires (many times over) with two successful car shows: The Grand Tour and Top Gear.
By contrast, Hammond has a garage full of rarities.
The exact number of cars Richard Hammond owns is a bit difficult to pin down because his collection also serves as a rotating inventory for his restoration business (and the name of his new TV show), The Smallest Cog.
Even so, he still owns between 15 and 20 cars, plus a separate collection of at least 25 to 30 motorcycles.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
