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Tesla Model 3 Test Drive: Car Has Bite and Simple Interior (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader shares a WSJ article: A first peek inside Tesla's new Model 3 compact car revealed a starker, cozier interior than the more spacious and luxurious Model S. But as the sedan sped off, the experience felt similar. On Friday, the Silicon Valley auto maker showed off details of the all-electric sedan's interior for the first time (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternative source), allowing brief test rides with a roughly 10-minute spin around the factory. The Model 3 represents a milestone for Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has long wanted to create an electric car for the masses. He's betting the new vehicle can help fuel massive growth for his 14-year-old company, projecting Tesla will produce a half-million cars next year, after delivering about 76,000 Model S sedans and Model X sport-utility vehicles last year. The Model 3's exterior was revealed in March last year, but details about the interior have been scarce. The $35,000 sedan is noticeably bare bones inside -- gone are the displays and instrument panel behind the steering wheel and the numerous switches and buttons found in the cockpit of traditional cars. Instead, the Model 3 makes greater use of a video screen in the center dash that controls most of the car's functions.
Why would you have a grille opening in a car that doesn't need an air intake? Besides, these wannabe-mouths are usually ugly. I miss the 80ies, back then they tried to hide these for aerodynamic reasons.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Does anyone else find it ironic that the most popular car on Slashdot is also the most difficult to hot rod?
Not at all. Many people even engineers and tinkered sometimes just prefer something well made that does not need to be touched or modified.
Mind you there are plenty of people hacking at Telsas. It's just a different skill set.
The interior designer they poached from Volvo clearly hasn't had time to improve anything yet. Since he was only hired 6 months ago, this design pre-dates him, and you can tell. It's terrible.
All the display is to the side - so you have to look sidways and down to find out anything about the vehicle, even its speed. That means you are not looking at the road for longer.
The display is high gloss - so you have to look through reflections and highlights to read the screen, it is not shaded from outside light at all. That means you are not looking at the road for longer and get more eyestrain.
Trying to adjust any functions of the car without tactile feedback means you have to not only look to find what to press, but look to confirm the action happened correctly - so you spend longer looking at the controls and less at the road.
It looks like an ergonomic failure and an unpleasant car to drive which reduces safety by increasing driver distraction.
I don't even know if the seats are any good; the Model S seats certainly aren't.
Then there is "unlock via app". So, what happens if your phone and the car are not online to the Internet? The Model S app-unlock is via the Internet, not any short range connection like Bluetooth. Let alone if your phone gets r00ted and the app key is stolen. There's a backup physical key - but if I have to remember to carry the physical key all the time what is the point of app-unlock anyway? They might as well implement having a key you have to have near the car for more reliable unlocking and better security - like every other car manufacturer. This is just more Internet of Shit Things (that spy on you).
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
I'm not blind in that eye, but there's a damned good reason why important gauges are put right in front of the driver...
It's a car for people who hate driving. You can tell whether a car is for people who like driving by where they put the tachometer. If it's centered in the cluster, it's a driver's car. If it's off center, but still behind the wheel, it's a sporty car. If it's smaller than the speedometer, it's probably a diesel pickup. If it's hard to find, it's irrelevant. And if it's missing, then the car was designed for your grandmother. Of course, EVs don't really need tachos, do they? But they should have one anyway.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
> created by a nerd
Elon Musk is a cult leader like Steve Jobs, not a nerd. Please turn over your geek card.
Stick yours up your ass & light it on fire.
Musk programmed & sold a video game when he was 12 & has a B. Sc. degree in Physics. Jobs needed Wozniak to build him a circuit board that could play Pong so he could get a job at Atari.
Of course, EVs don't really need tachos, do they? But they should have one anyway.
A tachometer doesn't make any sense on an EV. But the equivalent, a kW meter, does. I rather like having one on my Model S. (I also like having a gauge cluster right behind the steering wheel, and the center screen being in an enclosed mount. Worried that the "detached" screen on the Model 3 is going to break too easily.)
Lol, it's you! I was wondering what sort of idiot must be out there (but which I had never encountered before) who automakers were catering to when putting fake grilles on cars that didn't need them.
So, apart from that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?