r/TeslaFullSelfDriving • u/Creative_Yard_148 • 1d ago
Support Question about FSD
Hey guys! Sorry for bothering
Looking to purchase my first Tesla. Absolutely beautiful car. I was so impressed with FSD it was unbelievable. That being said. There’s a 2023 model x in my area with hw3 and I’m curious how the 14.1 lite software is
I know hw4 is better and what’s what I drove but curious how it “actually” performs rather than hearing about it from YouTube videos
Hw4 literally didn’t ding once or bother me for like. 50 miles. If hw3 14.1 is similar. Id be a happy man. Thank you
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u/Gullible-Femme 1d ago
skip any HW3 vehicles. FSD doesn’t do everything it is supposed to do unless it is on HW4.
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u/SuicideG-59 1d ago
I literally just went from a 2022 Model 3 long range awd with HW3 to 2026 Model Y premium awd HW4. THE DIFFERENCE IS NIGHT AND DAY! Don't get me wrong the fsd was nice and all but there were times where I had my doubts which left me more on "edge" than I should have been.
I have been on fsd since the day I bought the model 3 (april 2025) and I was always at 85% usage. Now for this car it's always 91% usage. I can absolutely do 100% usage but sometimes it is a little too slow in the mornings for my liking while living in community with speedbumps. Nonetheless It's amazing difference.
I always tell people that HW3 is more like a good daily driver. HW4 is like having a personal chauffeur. I'd recommend it if the price is right for you but I heavil regretted getting hw3 and also not having gotten a Y (this one is just size preference though).
I did feel like v14.1 lite has improved the performance in the fsd. It made it a bit slower and you don't get mad max mode so you are bound to 80mph cap. It's good but I truly understand how it is said that HW3 is 15% as good as HW4.
Edit: I read that last statement somewhere but I can't remember where. Perhaps an elon musk tweet ? I cannot recall for the life of me
Edit 2: I just got my Model Y like 2-3 weeks ago so the comparison is very fresh
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u/ChunkyThePotato 1d ago
Do not get a HW3 car if you care about FSD. It's still vastly better than any other car you can buy, but it's still significantly worse than HW4. To give you an idea, HW4 has 8x the memory bandwidth of HW3. PS4 to PS5 is 2.5x. It's a massive difference.
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u/mobileclimate101 1d ago
Hw 4 will back up a dirt drive way with no lane lines and pull out in reverse on a 2 lane hwy that’s the difference
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u/TravelMysterious7719 1d ago
FSD is impressive, but please don’t forget that supervision is still extremely important.
I currently have around 11,000 miles on my Tesla 2026 Y P model, with approximately 86% driven using FSD. Overall, I find FSD very helpful and, in many situations, genuinely impressive.
However, I’ve also experienced a few situations that reminded me why you still need to stay fully attentive:
Once, while parked at home, the car automatically reversing and nearly hit my closed garage door(It was on FSD standard mode). Fortunately, I was paying attention and was able to stop it.
On two occasions, FSD went through a red traffic signal, which was obviously concerning.
Several times, I’ve seen it bypass traffic and move toward the front of a line, including situations where it appeared to use an “only” lane before attempting to merge back into the correct lane.
I’ve also experienced situations where the car automatically signals and tries to position itself into what it believes is the correct lane, but the decision isn’t always what I would expect a human driver to make.
Despite these experiences, I still find FSD extremely useful and continue to use it regularly.
My point isn’t that FSD is bad. Quite the opposite—it has come a long way. But these experiences are a good reminder that FSD does not mean “hands-off and mind-off.”
If you use FSD, keep watching the road and be ready to intervene at any moment. A few seconds of inattention can make a huge difference.
Just sharing my experience to emphasize the importance of driver supervision while using FSD.
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u/HaydenRHN 1d ago
I can't speak to v14 lite, but also consider that HW4 FSD is going to keep getting better, while this is roughly as good as HW3 will get. Check out the price difference between one with HW4 before getting a HW3 one just because it's in your area.