Tesla Model 3 Reveal Event - 7/29/2017

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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Model 3 is coming tomorrow and there's more we don't know about it than we do.

Live stream the event here tomorrow: https://www.tesla.com

Is anyone else nerding out about this as much as I am? I've got low expectations but I'm expecting some sort of beat. Either it has much more range than was expected, it's faster or has some other kind of game changing feature. In stock form this is a fully autonomous car as soon as the software is released and assuming you pay to unlock the option.

Personally I'd like to see at least 250 miles of range and support for faster supercharging than the existing network.
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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I thought the same thing but then I realized it makes no difference. One day I decided to see how much of a pain in the ass it was to view my center display versus the upper left corner of my touch screen which would be equivalent to where you're looking on the 3.

Objectively the touch screen required less effort to view than the instrument cluster and took my eyes off the road for a shorter amount of time. Would I want to give the instrument cluster up? No, but it wouldn't stop my from buying the car. In a perfect world there would be no instrument panel and just a heads up display but they've confirmed there won't be a HUD.
 

Gone_2022

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Sep 4, 2013
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Unfortunately for me it is a deal breaker. I feel it made the car look incomplete on the inside or kinda cheap.

I will have to step up to a model S now so I guess Tesla actually wins and got exactly what they wanted because they would prefer it that way
 

Chet Donnelly

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Unfortunately for me it is a deal breaker. I feel it made the car look incomplete on the inside or kinda cheap.

I will have to step up to a model S now so I guess Tesla actually wins and got exactly what they wanted because they would prefer it that way

There has to be some give and takes for a car of this caliber, with this kind of technology to hit this price range.

I do think there should be a HUD to make up for this, but like other Teslas, overall for the price range it is the best value!
 

sickmint79

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Mar 2, 2008
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No just a normal dash/screen in front of the driver. The 3 does not have that, only a center screen. So to see anything/ do anything you have to look down and to your right. Think of how the Saturn ion used to be but a digital dash.

Freaking dumb

tesla-model-s-95d-dashboard.jpg


i haven't driven one. i assumed you could configure whatever you wanted on this screen or there was a version that showed normal stuff. unless a HUD is available/standard, it does seem stupid if i'd have to look down and to the side to see something like a speedo, at least that should be in the normal place. that's not the case? do they provide a reason for this??
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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tesla-model-s-95d-dashboard.jpg


i haven't driven one. i assumed you could configure whatever you wanted on this screen or there was a version that showed normal stuff. unless a HUD is available/standard, it does seem stupid if i'd have to look down and to the side to see something like a speedo, at least that should be in the normal place. that's not the case? do they provide a reason for this??

You're posting a picture of an S which does have a traditional instrument cluster. Here's a picture of the 3's interior so far as we have seen it.

nYwmKyJ.jpg


Here's one of the original show car's instrument cluster:

Tesla-Model-3-Dashboard-Touchscreen.jpg


You can see how it has the speed in the upper left. To the left of the speed is the cruise control indicator and to the right is the autopilot indicator.

I think part of the reason people are having an issue here is perhaps because they haven't driven a Model S or other electric car for a period of time. People are used to traditional instrument clusters having a fuel gauge, temperature gauge, tach, a large speedometer, etc. The Model S has none of this. The only pertinent info on the instrument cluster is speed. That's honestly it. Other than that there's a visualization of what Autopilot sees around the car and other extra stuff I can put there but nothing of need. If you look at the picture above you can see that with the touch screen rotated and lifted up in the dash, as a matter of physical placement the speed is probably being displayed only 6 - 8" to the right of where it would have otherwise been. So people trying to equate this to an old Saturn or a Mini are being a bit disingenuous.

teslatap_instrument_concept1.jpg


To be quite honest, at least in the Model S, it would be more convenient to have that information in the upper left hand corner of the touch screen because it's less distracting and requires less effort to look there than it does to focus on the cluster behind my steering wheel. I do think Elon is right in that once people start using it they likely won't care. It's a big leap to take though and a heads up display combined with elimination of the instrument cluster would have probably been a much easier transition for most to swallow versus telling people they're not going to miss an integral part of basically every vehicle since the beginning of time.
 

sickmint79

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i'm with lastls1 i really don't like that. even though i'm focusing on the road, speeding, not given a fawk about the law, pacing traffic, etc. i still feel like i look really quite often at muh speeds. it would be annoying to tilt head or focus eyes to the side like that all the time. really don't like that.
 

Chet Donnelly

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The masses are always resistant to change. Elon and Co have been, and will continue to push the boundaries on what we know and "experience" as the usual car/driving experience.

There is no doubt other auto manufacturers will all be replicating this interior style within the next decade.
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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i'm with lastls1 i really don't like that. even though i'm focusing on the road, speeding, not given a fawk about the law, pacing traffic, etc. i still feel like i look really quite often at muh speeds. it would be annoying to tilt head or focus eyes to the side like that all the time. really don't like that.

You wouldn't be tilting your head or changing focus. That's what I think is giving people this sense of rage. They think they're going to have to move their head or look somewhere drastically different. On my S I can keep my head perfectly still and either look down at my instrument cluster or (without moving my head) I can look at the top left of my touchscreen and it's no worse; just different. My touchscreen is also further right and down from where it will be on the 3.

Looking at the picture of the 3, the actual speed will likely be just a few inches to the right of where it would have otherwise been. Put differently, if we got into a car with a traditional gauge cluster and the speedometer was on the left side of the cluster and then we got into another car and it was on the right side, we wouldn't notice the difference at all and indeed many cars are different in this respect. As far as your eyes go, this will be no bigger difference than that kind of change... I suspect. Maybe I'm wrong. None of us have sat in one but in my little experiment not only did I not care but I actually found the touchscreen to be ever so slightly less of a distraction to look at.
 

Gone_2022

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Sep 4, 2013
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While that large screen is cool, it just feels like an afterthought in the model 3 if that truly is how the production model will look. Honestly it looks like it was just placed there with a small bracket by a teenager...... vs flush and inside the dash like the model S.

Idk maybe I just had my hopes set way too high. I'll watch tonight but Musk has said that is what production will look like.

If so I'm extremely disappointed. Too the point id consider the Chevy bolt over this
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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Interesting to hear the responses from those not in the Tesla bubble.

I too am not crazy about the interior but I'd for sure take it over a Bolt/ Volt both of which have nice looking though really economy feeling interiors.

I guess we'll see what the feedback is pretty soon. I'm cautiously optimistic.
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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Yeah, a heads up display would have been a great compromise. When I see people praising instrument clusters like Audi's new one...

Audi-A4-B9-2015-de-327-600x375.jpg


... I can't help but to question what the real benefit is other than it looking cool. Essentially they just moved the center display over to the instrument cluster when in reality, it's no more convenient for me to look at a map in the instrument cluster than it is in the center display. The best display has always been the heads up. You could eliminate the need for an instrument cluster altogether.

The heads up display in my 535D was huge and projected actual images. So as I'd approach an intersection a map would pop up in the windshield showing me what lane I should be in. Other info like my speed and the current speed limit would also be displayed there. I really feel like it's a missed opportunity on Tesla's part not to at least have a heads up display.
 

Stink Star

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I just want every vehicle infotainment system to work as flawlessly as an iPad. If they can sell an entire iPad for $650 there’s no reason for auto manufacturers to sell navigation as a $1500 option. The Tesla screen works pretty good and processes pretty damn fast but still isn’t at iPad smoothness. And they are the best in a vehicle so far.
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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It's mind bottling to me that in 5 years no other manufacturer has even approached the ease of use of Tesla's touchscreen. In my wife's one year old BMW I still have to go through the old Navigation>Enter New Destination > Enter Zip code > Enter Street > Enter Street Number. With the Tesla you just say it. I say "drive home" and it drives me home. Otherwise I just tell it an address in one sentence and it's always right. I don't understand how it's always right. I won't even use the nav on the i3 because it takes so long. It's easier just to use my phone.
 
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