2016.5 Model S vs new Model 3

[David_Cary]

2019 M3 and 2015 70D owner here.

I prefer the 3 on long roadtrips - despite paying for supercharging - and for short trips. Also alone trips.
S is better roadtrip car (if supercharging not needed). S fits more stuff. S better ride.

As far as interior - pluses and minuses of each but I don't have a real center console (not sure about 2016.5) so the overall balance goes to the 3.

-- I think each person has a different need for space (hatch)
-- Each person has a different roadtrip pattern
-- Each person drives differently - prefer a tighter and rough suspension vs a cruiser.
-- Each person has a different tolerance to car size. I prefer smaller myself which is a benefit on short drives particularly.

 

[jelloslug]

• My late 2016 S had cupholders and rear USB.
• Premium seats came out in late 2016. The rear seat was upgraded in mid-2017 but can be installed in a 2016.
• With MCU2 hardware upgrade for $1500, the 2016.5 can have 4 camera Sentry mode and all Tesla Arcade and Tesla theater functionality. These upgrades give it the same MCU computing functionality as a late 2020 Model S.

Source: We've owned two 2016 Model S and two 2017 Model S.


The S had an alcantara dash in 2016 and early 2017

It was optional and my Model S has it. It was part of the PUP.

 

[Wratran]

Base on aesthetics...model 3 look truncated and short...just bad body flow design

 

[jpk195]

I just ordered my pre-owned 2016.5 S last Saturday (will be selling my 3), so of course have been reading reviews and looking at pictures in the meantime.

There are a lot of smaller options and features that my S is coming with that I think I will really like that my 3 doesn't have. Aside from the obvious ones like air suspension and the 2nd display, looking forward to the Silver paint (no longer available on the 3), sunroof, Alcantara headliner + dash, steering headlights, power lift gate, bio-weapon defense, and grey (off-white) seats ("next-generation" which were apparently made by Recaro).

I think about Tesla as part car, part smart-phone. I expect the Model S wins for me in the "car" column for everything except the handling on solo drives. We'll see how AP1 goes, but I've been happy with base autopilot on my 3 and it was big discount in price over full self driving.

 

[designrs]

Why was Silver discontinued on the Model 3? Some say that it was the best color.

Power lift gate seems trivial, but I really miss this feature on my Model 3. I also have a small scratch on top of my trunk, undoubtedly from closing it manually.

 

[jpk195]

Why was Silver discontinued on the Model 3? Some say that it was the best color.

This happened fairly early on - this config had a relatively small number of reservations, IIRC. There were spreadsheets tracking VINs, order dates, delivery dates, etc. and I think silver wasn’t popular for some reason.

Seems like Tesla chose to remove it to simplify the process.

 

[jelloslug]

Why was Silver discontinued on the Model 3? Some say that it was the best color.

Power lift gate seems trivial, but I really miss this feature on my Model 3. I also have a small scratch on top of my trunk, undoubtedly from closing it manually.

It was discontinued across all modes. It was one of the less popular colors and Tesla was looking to improve paint shop throughput by reducing the number of colors.

 

[FatherTo1]

Virtually every surface in the S is hard plastic with a bit of leather or polyurethane glued to it. Almost all the interior panels on the 3 has some kind of padding to it to improve the feel of them.

Maybe on the older Ses. Between the choices in this thread, I would choose the newer Model 3. That said, our 2019 Raven S has virtually every surface padded. I didn’t care for the old Alcantara-style dash and am glad they replaced it with a more modern stitched leather appearance. The only hard surfaces on our S are the faux wood panels and the lower half of the doors near the speakers. The rest of the doors, top and bottom of dash, sides of the center console are padded. Overall, there’s more soft touch/padded surfaces than not.

When I test drove the Y, I immediately felt the cost-cutting all around. I like the Y for what it is and the target segment, but it definitely felt like a downgrade from our Raven S in terms of materials, noise, ride quality. The entire Tesla lineup is appealing to me and serves specific needs and audiences. It is just a matter of what features matter more to the buyer.

 

[jelloslug]

Maybe on the older Ses. Between the choices in this thread, I would choose the newer Model 3. That said, our 2019 Raven S has virtually every surface padded. I didn’t care for the old Alcantara-style dash and am glad they replaced it with a more modern stitched leather appearance. The only hard surfaces on our S are the faux wood panels and the lower half of the doors near the speakers. The rest of the doors, top and bottom of dash, sides of the center console are padded. Overall, there’s more soft touch/padded surfaces than not.

When I test drove the Y, I immediately felt the cost-cutting all around. I like the Y for what it is and the target segment, but it definitely felt like a downgrade from our Raven S in terms of materials, noise, ride quality. The entire Tesla lineup is appealing to me and serves specific needs and audiences. It is just a matter of what features matter more to the buyer.

Well, the OP asked about a 16.5 Model S, not a brands new one.