Cancelling my reservation

[03DSG]

I think wood is real, at least on mine (41xx)
In fact was thinking of lemon oiling it.

Only if your never going cover it with an adhesive vinyl wrap material.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Emphasis mine.

The Model 3 is hugely bigger than my old 1989 Honda Civic. The Prius is bigger than the Civic was, and the Model 3 is a lot bigger (both longer and wider) than the Prius. The size of the Model 3 is the thing I most dislike about it. It's like that old movie The Blob where the thing kept growing and growing. Cars keep getting bigger and bigger. I would really love the Model 3 to be 12 inches narrower and 24 inches shorter!

If your benchmark is the ‘89 Civic, yes, the Model 3 will seem huge. The 2011 Civic I drive has approximately the same footprint and mass as a mid-90’s Accord. Honda moved Civic and Accord a size class up, and slotted the City/Jazz/Fit in the subcompact slot formerly occupied by the Civic.

 

[AlanSqB]

I parked my Civic (8th Generation, Model year 2011) next to a Model 3 this weekend.

If you liked Civics, you’ll like the Model 3. The 3 is slightly bigger. The only fault I can find with Model 3’s design is the low bench height of the rear seats, but people who buy a car of this class for passenger hauling are mostly going to be carting around small kids.

The low dashboard is going to give a driver’s view that should be similar to, and probably better than, the expansive view from a Honda of the Mid to late 90’s. Model S is too big for me. Model 3 looks much closer to “just right” in size.

I’ve been calling my new Honda Clarity PHEV my “poor mans Model S”. It’s no Tesla, but it’s a pretty nice car. Honda is late to the game, but they’ll get there.

 

[u00mem9]

The discussion about when or if the base model SR will ever be built reminded me that the base Model X never did get built. They initially let people order the 5 seat configuration as the standard no-cost option and the non-air coil spring suspension. They never delivered a single coil spring car to my knowledge and bribed most of the order holders to upgrade with “1/2 off” offers on the air suspension or even agreeing to upgrade for no charge.

They did eventually build the 5 seat, but it was probably over a year after “launch”. I think they made some sweetheart deals on those upgrades too to get the orders moving.

 

[diamond.g]

The discussion about when or if the base model SR will ever be built reminded me that the base Model X never did get built. They initially let people order the 5 seat configuration as the standard no-cost option and the non-air coil spring suspension. They never delivered a single coil spring car to my knowledge and bribed most of the order holders to upgrade with “1/2 off” offers on the air suspension or even agreeing to upgrade for no charge.

They did eventually build the 5 seat, but it was probably over a year after “launch”. I think they made some sweetheart deals on those upgrades too to get the orders moving.

Which is probably why they are greying out the other options on the 3. So that if they do decide to make a change they don't have a bunch of folks that have selected the option be affected (let just ignore the Alcantara issue).

 

[daniel]

If your benchmark is the ‘89 Civic, yes, the Model 3 will seem huge. The 2011 Civic I drive has approximately the same footprint and mass as a mid-90’s Accord. Honda moved Civic and Accord a size class up, and slotted the City/Jazz/Fit in the subcompact slot formerly occupied by the Civic.

Well, damn. That's exactly the sort of degradation of transportation I was talking about. Why do cars have to keep getting bigger as energy use becomes more and more critical to our survival as a civilization? That little 1989 Civic was already a big car for a single person. The Zap Xebra, for all its shortcomings, which were legion, was the perfect size car for me. Even the Teslas, and even when they're run on 100% renewables, would be a lot more green if they were smaller.

If I were emperor of the world, I'd put a hefty tax on all cars by size and weight. Put a big financial disincentive on buying a bigger car than you actually need.

I do expect to love my Model 3, but at half the size it would be perfect for me.

 

[JRP3]

Realize that your opinion is the minority.

 

[dhrivnak]

Well, damn. That's exactly the sort of degradation of transportation I was talking about. Why do cars have to keep getting bigger as energy use becomes more and more critical to our survival as a civilization? That little 1989 Civic was already a big car for a single person. The Zap Xebra, for all its shortcomings, which were legion, was the perfect size car for me. Even the Teslas, and even when they're run on 100% renewables, would be a lot more green if they were smaller.

If I were emperor of the world, I'd put a hefty tax on all cars by size and weight. Put a big financial disincentive on buying a bigger car than you actually need.

I do expect to love my Model 3, but at half the size it would be perfect for me.

The sad thing is we do the opposite as only vehicles with a GVRW of 6,800 lbs or more qualify for a nice accelerated depreciation. So if you are say a pizza store owner you git a much bigger tax break if you buy a Surban over a Prius.

 

[daniel]

Realize that your opinion is the minority.

I'm not sure, but I don't think I've ever held a majority opinion in my life.

 

[Dr. J]

If I were emperor of the world, I'd put a hefty tax on all cars by size and weight. Put a big financial disincentive on buying a bigger car than you actually need.

Yeah, we do it the opposite way here: Section 179 Vehicle List: Deductions For Heavy Vehicles
"This is a potentially enormous deduction for business people who purchase heavy SUVs and similar vehicles for their business."
Absolute silliness.

Edit: @dhrivnak beat me to it!

 

[jelloslug]

Emphasis mine.

The Model 3 is hugely bigger than my old 1989 Honda Civic. The Prius is bigger than the Civic was, and the Model 3 is a lot bigger (both longer and wider) than the Prius. The size of the Model 3 is the thing I most dislike about it. It's like that old movie The Blob where the thing kept growing and growing. Cars keep getting bigger and bigger. I would really love the Model 3 to be 12 inches narrower and 24 inches shorter!

That has to be the silliest thing I have read in a long time.

 

[Dr. J]

That has to be the silliest thing I have read in a long time.

Not if you lived through it.

 

[jelloslug]

Not if you lived through it.

I did.

 

[daniel]

I almost didn't get the Model 3 because of its size. We'll see how well I adapt to it. First drive later this morning after my cardio. Yes, cardio is more important even than my first drive in my new Model 3.

 

[DR61]

I almost didn't get the Model 3 because of its size.

I love small cars also (see avatar of driving in my 1961 Mini Cooper, 10' long). Today a combination of crash standards and footprint required to get a long range battery in the floorpan make smaller long-range electric cars a problem. It will be interesting to see what the upcoming electric Mini gets in terms of range.

 

[ℬête Noire]

I love small cars also (see avatar of driving in my 1961 Mini Cooper, 10' long). Today a combination of crash standards and footprint required to get a long range battery in the floorpan make smaller long-range electric cars a problem. It will be interesting to see what the upcoming electric Mini gets in terms of range.

The Porsche E is supposed to use a sculpted battery, rather than just uniform thickness all the way through the pack, to carve out more foot room in the back seat. That seems a logical evolution that'll we'll see used to fit enough battery into smaller frame vehicles. I don't know if there are thermal management trade-offs that come with double stacking rather than just simple skateboard, likely are, but in the end it's probably something that can be engineered around.

 

[JRP3]

Tesla S and X, and the Chevy Bolt, already have double stacked sections, so no, not a big deal.

 

[ChrisH]

We will see how I feel about the model 3 size once I actually see one. The S is definitely too big for me to want to drive. The 3 is about 14 inches longer than my previous vehicle and 4 inches longer than our CRV. I think it is the same width as the CRV and 3 inches wider than my previous vehicle.

 

[internalaudit]

Same sentiments here David. With three potential drivers, the PUP is almost a mandatory requirement thanks to the sole 15" tablet to tweak any settings and that alone + EAP (I only want the TACC and nothing else) is another $10k. Wouldn't mind if Tesla does improve the build quality in the succeeding batches but if it's just so so, what's the point of BEV adoption when it might not even last longer than our Honda and Toyota ICEVs.

From the lexusenthusiasts forum, it seems Lexus will really delivery a BEV with solid state batteries by 2021. I know it's a long wait but it's not like I'm getting a BEV for free anyway, it is going to cost some serious coin but I'd like to have a sporty AWD BEV. There's BMW too though I wonder if they had their own diesel defeat device. MB has already been caught with software cheating.

 

[daniel]

First drive today. There were a few things I'll need to study the manual about, a few thinks I think were mistakes, and a couple of bugs. But overall and un sum, I LOVE IT!!! I'm going to post in the First Drive Reviews thread to avoid derailing this one.