The automotive press still doesn't like the falcon wing doors.
2016 Tesla Model X - Instrumented Test
2016 Tesla Model X - Instrumented Test
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swesson
Member
I wonder how much the press coverage and the public awareness would be diminished if not for the 'silly doors'?
Mark Z
Active Member
Those thin eco-friendly water bottles don't have the strength to stop a door. An arm does.
Silly review.
Silly review.
Hind sight being 20-20, don't you think that the design team would trade the gull wing doors for other leapfrog technology?
Heads up Display perhaps?
Don't get me wrong, I happen to like the gull wing doors. I don't think that they are simply "cool". That they are, but I do think they are practical as well. I can open these doors and walk into my car when parked 12 inches from another car. I couldn't do that in any other car without doing my gymnast impersonation.
Heads up Display perhaps?
Don't get me wrong, I happen to like the gull wing doors. I don't think that they are simply "cool". That they are, but I do think they are practical as well. I can open these doors and walk into my car when parked 12 inches from another car. I couldn't do that in any other car without doing my gymnast impersonation.
heysteveh
Member
Quote from Car and Driver article regarding falcon wing doors:
"Mostly you just want doors to open easily, quickly, and provide a large-enough portal to let you into the cabin. Fully open, the Falcon Wing door provides a large entry, but it’s still easy to smack your head on the tip of the wing. There’s a wait, too. The Falcon Wing doors take five and a half seconds to open—six to close—and occasionally the sensors halt their progress, even when there’s nothing in the way."
I used to sell new Chrysler minivans back in the day. In fact, I still own one w/o the power sliding doors or power rear hatch door. When the minivans first came out with these power options, many of the same things were said. Yet today they are almost considered a must-have for a new minivan purchase. This despite the fact that manual sliding doors and manual closing hatch doors are quicker and easier to open/close (which doesn't necessarily imply more convenient). In fact, if you go way back, I wonder what Car and Driver would have said the first time they reviewed a car with power windows, or other such innovations? I can hear the Car and Driver quote now: "Mostly, you just want windows to open easily and quickly... why push a button and wait 3 or 4 seconds when you can roll it down by hand in half that time?"
"Mostly you just want doors to open easily, quickly, and provide a large-enough portal to let you into the cabin. Fully open, the Falcon Wing door provides a large entry, but it’s still easy to smack your head on the tip of the wing. There’s a wait, too. The Falcon Wing doors take five and a half seconds to open—six to close—and occasionally the sensors halt their progress, even when there’s nothing in the way."
I used to sell new Chrysler minivans back in the day. In fact, I still own one w/o the power sliding doors or power rear hatch door. When the minivans first came out with these power options, many of the same things were said. Yet today they are almost considered a must-have for a new minivan purchase. This despite the fact that manual sliding doors and manual closing hatch doors are quicker and easier to open/close (which doesn't necessarily imply more convenient). In fact, if you go way back, I wonder what Car and Driver would have said the first time they reviewed a car with power windows, or other such innovations? I can hear the Car and Driver quote now: "Mostly, you just want windows to open easily and quickly... why push a button and wait 3 or 4 seconds when you can roll it down by hand in half that time?"
I don't really understand the criticism of C&D. Their record of prognostication is impeccable. For instance, "automatic transmissions are great for Granny in her Chevy PowerGlide but they'll never work for enthusiasts." OK, it was Sports Cars Illustrated back then in 1964. 'Course the Corvette had an auto at the beginning in 1953 but...
Honestly, we should all accept that Tesla makes mistakes. We also must accept that it is easy to go too far ahead of a market. I have mixed feelings about the falcon wings, but then Imhave no children and am not a fan of SUV's so who am I to judge?
Seems like almost everyone who's taken delivery of an X is the last couple of months loves them.
Honestly, we should all accept that Tesla makes mistakes. We also must accept that it is easy to go too far ahead of a market. I have mixed feelings about the falcon wings, but then Imhave no children and am not a fan of SUV's so who am I to judge?
Seems like almost everyone who's taken delivery of an X is the last couple of months loves them.
goneskiian
Active Member
How tall are they that they are hitting their heads on the FWD's? Seriously. There's at least 3 or more inches above my 6'2" noggin when they're fully open.
Seems like many other reviews C&D is looking for something to complain about and the doors are the only thing they make up something about.
Seems like many other reviews C&D is looking for something to complain about and the doors are the only thing they make up something about.
The C&D review is somewhat reasonable except for their Falcon Wing obsession. The idea that people are going to hit their head on the lower edge of the doors when open is overblow: you have to be over 6'4" to hit your head. People that tall generally are pretty aware of obstacles at that height, they've had to deal with them their entire adult life.
I recall that Elon's brother Kimball is around 6'4" and he has an X.
I recall that Elon's brother Kimball is around 6'4" and he has an X.
This is something I've been wondering about...so you can park 12 inches from another car and get into the rear through the FWD. But what good is that if you still have to use traditional doors in the front to get in and out of the driver's seat?
DuplexDianne
Member
I've heard that some people use Summon to deal with this situation...
I thought this was a positive (even rave) review except the complaints that the FWDs are too slow and "silly".
Ironically, C&D had similar complaints about the automatic sliding doors Honda introduced on the 1999 Odyssey van:
The power-sliding side doors seemed perpetually behind the eight ball. Wrote copy chief Maki: "One has to push the remote key fob's buttons deliberately, and there's a delay before the door opens or closes, during which you think the door isn't reacting, so you push again, which confuses it entirely." The door buttons on the fob don't override the locks, either, making you push two different buttons -- again, deliberately -- when approaching a locked Odyssey to open the doors.
1999 Honda Odyssey EX - Long-Term Road Test
fengshui
Member
The FWD also solve a problem, traditional doors would mean either zero access to the rear seats, or very wide swing. A sliding door would rise above the rear, and look very strange when open. All minivans with sliding doors stay much higher than the X in the rears. They do solve a couple of problems, even as they add new ones (where to connect those seat belts to the frame...)
It would certainly be a better review if the author included how the Falcon Wing doors work for a family with child seats.
Based on the positive feedback from owners with small children I suspect the reviewer wouldn't refer to the doors as silly if he/she had small children themselves.
Based on the positive feedback from owners with small children I suspect the reviewer wouldn't refer to the doors as silly if he/she had small children themselves.
Can't see how the FWDs are anything other than a win.
From a design perspective they give the car soul. They are what every car company wishes they could have done, instead they just parade cool technology in prototypes but are then too cowardly or cheap to mass produce it.
From a utility perspective if you are single, who cares about the 5 second wait? You won't open them often anyway. If you have kids (I have 3) it is useful as F*** and my back thanks Elon because I'm not bending over and contorting myself anymore like I did with the buick. And my kids love the doors maybe even more than me.
What would Car and Driver be excited to see? The whole industry has been giving us the same gruel for 30 years with different sheet metal, more speakers, vented seats, and fancier headlights. Tesla just disrupted everything in a major way and brought us alien-like tech decades before BMW or GM ever would.
These people have no clue.
From a design perspective they give the car soul. They are what every car company wishes they could have done, instead they just parade cool technology in prototypes but are then too cowardly or cheap to mass produce it.
From a utility perspective if you are single, who cares about the 5 second wait? You won't open them often anyway. If you have kids (I have 3) it is useful as F*** and my back thanks Elon because I'm not bending over and contorting myself anymore like I did with the buick. And my kids love the doors maybe even more than me.
What would Car and Driver be excited to see? The whole industry has been giving us the same gruel for 30 years with different sheet metal, more speakers, vented seats, and fancier headlights. Tesla just disrupted everything in a major way and brought us alien-like tech decades before BMW or GM ever would.
These people have no clue.
How tall are they that they are hitting their heads on the FWD's? Seriously. There's at least 3 or more inches above my 6'2" noggin when they're fully open.
Seems like many other reviews C&D is looking for something to complain about and the doors are the only thing they make up something about.
Maybe if you pull up to a curb that is 6 inches to 8 inches high it could be a problem since that would mean a sub 6 footer could hit their head? Just brainstorming
ccutrer
Active Member
That's a tall curb. And it's about time you short people feel the pain of being tall
Doesn't Summon makes the utility of close quarters opening of the falcon doors redundant?
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