CNN Money review of the Model 3 - not very flattering

[SteveG3]

not sure how many people have seen Elon’s tweet last night about adding much more functionality to voice commands ("...You will be able to do pretty much anything via voice command...") re concerns about reliance on the center screen, taking eyes off the road,

Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[voip-ninja]

After two weeks with the 3, I have to say, the screen is much more distracting and iffy to operate - when driving of course - than in the S (that I now have 5 years of experience with). And, it's not really the duration of experience. My main issues:

- Horizontal orientation and no angle towards the driver: it's not easy to move one's right hand around, hunting and pecking. When voice commands inevitably fail for navigation, as an example, when having to enter an address manually, the digits part of the keyboard is way to the bottom right. The vertical orientation, where I can move up and down without "reaching over", and the tilt towards the driver in the S are just the right setup.

- The "cute", mini-button interface: in the S, the buttons and keyboard layout are big and intuitively placed; in the 3, they are small and also relatively clustered together. It's fine for an iPad-app-like usage scenario where one would hold it to operate but, not for an automobile situation.

I'm a (slightly-older) techie and can "live" with the 3's screen and I do think the younger "masses" will take to it easily but, it's definitely not a winner and is not completely road safe.

Watch out... the people who have never sat in one let alone driven it are about to come after you with the tar and feathers.

 

[jelloslug]

I'd say that was a very fair review. Poking at the screen just so you can adjust the cruise speed or tweak a side mirror is annoying and distracting. (It is even more annoying that I can't set the cruise speed to less than the speed limit with the stalk, but that is a different issue)

I hope that eventually a few things will get mapped to the right scroll wheel.

Just how often are you moving your mirrors around?

 

[voip-ninja]

not sure how many people have seen Elon’s tweet last night about adding much more functionality to voice commands ("...You will be able to do pretty much anything via voice command...") re concerns about reliance on the center screen, taking eyes off the road,

Elon Musk on Twitter

Musk says a lot of stuff that doesn't pan out.

Based on my experience using other voice recognition systems and their abysmal ability to do something as trivial as accurately schedule a reminder or calendar item I think I'll hold off assuming that Tesla are anywhere near delivering this kind of functionality and having it actually work reliably.

 

[McRat]

I don't think the reviewer trashed it. In fact, he said what many people on this site said about putting most the controls on a touch screen. One of the problems with a touch screen, is it does not work well on bumpy roads or in heavy concentration intensive traffic, or with sun glare.
Some cars have already moved some of the controls that were originally put in the touch screen and switched (har) back to buttons and knobs for certain features. This occured after focus group testing, which I participated in a few times.

Other than less than compliant suspension (again, noted on this site), he had nothing but great things to say about the car. Well, except the initial price, but ... EVs still cost more, same for same.

Is it going to be a good first EV for lifelong ICE drivers? After some adaptation sure. And those folk with EV experience aren't going to worry as much about touch controls I think. Would a Leaf, Bolt, or Volt be easier for a new EV driver to adapt to? Probably. But you get so much more in the Model 3, that a bit of acclamation is a small price to pay for the benefits.

The review makes waiting for one even harder for me. But he did mention TURO. Hmmm... Guess I should look into that.

 

[jelloslug]

Musk says a lot of stuff that doesn't pan out.

Based on my experience using other voice recognition systems and their abysmal ability to do something as trivial as accurately schedule a reminder or calendar item I think I'll hold off assuming that Tesla are anywhere near delivering this kind of functionality and having it actually work reliably.

I have to say that after using the voice recognition system in the Model S and X, I'm impress with how well it usually works. There are some hiccups here and there but it's better than they systems I have used in them BMW and Nissan cars I have owned. The system in my wife's Toyota is not even worth mentioning, it's that bad.

 

[SteveG3]

Musk says a lot of stuff that doesn't pan out.

Based on my experience using other voice recognition systems and their abysmal ability to do something as trivial as accurately schedule a reminder or calendar item I think I'll hold off assuming that Tesla are anywhere near delivering this kind of functionality and having it actually work reliably.

If nothing else, it is an indication that they want to create a better interface. As with any future event, levels of skepticism vary. fwiw, I've never tried to use the calendar, but, I've driven Tesla's, and on the non-triviality of executing a long range EV, I'd give their execution high marks.

 

[bhzmark]

This seemed similar to the review of the iphoneX that I received from my 80 year old mother.

Indeed.

Mine is 4 days old today. Touch screen is not a problem.

owners will adapt a lot faster than reviewers who need to find something to write after being with the car a short time.

 

[McRat]

Note also that very few people with no EV experience have driven a Model 3 yet. That will come, and we will see what their feedback is.

 

[SteveG3]

After two weeks with the 3, I have to say, the screen is much more distracting and iffy to operate - when driving of course - than in the S (that I now have 5 years of experience with). And, it's not really the duration of experience. My main issues:

- Horizontal orientation and no angle towards the driver: it's not easy to move one's right hand around, hunting and pecking. When voice commands inevitably fail for navigation, as an example, when having to enter an address manually, the digits part of the keyboard is way to the bottom right. The vertical orientation, where I can move up and down without "reaching over", and the tilt towards the driver in the S are just the right setup.

- The "cute", mini-button interface: in the S, the buttons and keyboard layout are big and intuitively placed; in the 3, they are small and also relatively clustered together. It's fine for an iPad-app-like usage scenario where one would hold it to operate but, not for an automobile situation.

I'm a (slightly-older) techie and can "live" with the 3's screen and I do think the younger "masses" will take to it easily but, it's definitely not a winner and is not completely road safe.

I really suspect the screen would be quite a bit more helpful if the sizing of different areas on the screen were much more dynamic. That is, as you touch the area of a given functionality- audio, climate, autopilot- and the visual display of that function enlarges considerably on the screen until a few seconds after the last input.

I was thinking about this originally in terms of the relative size of the NAV screen, and the AP UI. I would think it's better to have the AP be the largest portion of the screen most of the time rather than the NAV. The NAV appears to be something like 70% of the screen... I really only want it that large when I'm within a few minutes of a new instruction for the route. If I want the NAV to be large at any other point while I'm driving, the system could be set up so I can tap anywhere on the NAV area, and it enlarges to 70%, until I double tap on the AP, and it returns to 70% of the screen. Something similar could be done with tapping the audio, climate, etc., areas, with the AP UI always kept at a useful size.

This is all from someone who has not driven a 3... I wonder whether gg and others who've driven the car think this would be helpful. Of course, if they nail the voice commands, this may be a moot point, except for the AP... I doubt that AP changes via voice command would be as safe and effective as inputs via touchscreen or scrollwheel.

 

[Az_Rael]

Just how often are you moving your mirrors around?

Weirdly, quite a bit right now. I think the mirrors aren't returning from the reverse positioning consistently, so I often find them tilted down farther than I would like. I am about to reset the reverse mirror to my normal driving mirror position to alleviate the issue.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

I think it's reasonable to expect that not everyone will appreciate Tesla's implementation. Since that seems to be his only gripe (though it seemed to color his broader opinion) I'd say you simply have to chalk it up to personal inclination.

 

[cybergates]

After two weeks with the 3, I have to say, the screen is much more distracting and iffy to operate - when driving of course - than in the S (that I now have 5 years of experience with). And, it's not really the duration of experience. My main issues:

- Horizontal orientation and no angle towards the driver: it's not easy to move one's right hand around, hunting and pecking. When voice commands inevitably fail for navigation, as an example, when having to enter an address manually, the digits part of the keyboard is way to the bottom right. The vertical orientation, where I can move up and down without "reaching over", and the tilt towards the driver in the S are just the right setup.

- The "cute", mini-button interface: in the S, the buttons and keyboard layout are big and intuitively placed; in the 3, they are small and also relatively clustered together. It's fine for an iPad-app-like usage scenario where one would hold it to operate but, not for an automobile situation.

I'm a (slightly-older) techie and can "live" with the 3's screen and I do think the younger "masses" will take to it easily but, it's definitely not a winner and is not completely road safe.

those seem to be my concerns from having watched the videos - I haven't test driven one. if you had to do it again would you buy another 3 or another S/X (since you already own a S)?

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I really suspect the screen would be quite a bit more helpful if the sizing of different areas on the screen were much more dynamic. That is, as you touch the area of a given functionality- audio, climate, autopilot- and the visual display of that function enlarges considerably on the screen until a few seconds after the last input.

I was thinking about this originally in terms of the relative size of the NAV screen, and the AP UI. I would think it's better to have the AP be the largest portion of the screen most of the time rather than the NAV. The NAV appears to be something like 70% of the screen... I really only want it that large when I'm within a few minutes of a new instruction for the route. If I want the NAV to be large at any other point while I'm driving, the system could be set up so I can tap anywhere on the NAV area, and it enlarges to 70%, until I double tap on the AP, and it returns to 70% of the screen. Something similar could be done with tapping the audio, climate, etc., areas, with the AP UI always kept at a useful size.

This is all from someone who has not driven a 3... I wonder whether gg and others who've driven the car think this would be helpful. Of course, if they nail the voice commands, this may be a moot point, except for the AP... I doubt that AP changes via voice command would be as safe and effective as inputs via touchscreen or scrollwheel.

Spot on, Steve. A dynamic UI like that would make the best use of the real estate for the most pertinent task at that moment and make the task super easy to achieve while still offering the flexibility to switch up. And, yes, the AP display (for me, blind spot obstacle indication really) would be more useful if it can be given a more prominent size and location as, most of the time, it's hidden behind my right arm as I hold the wheel.

That's the power of a touchscreen as this could all be achieved with a software update. I'll write something up along these lines for Tesla as feedback.

those seem to be my concerns from having watched the videos - I haven't test driven one. if you had to do it again would you buy another 3 or another S/X (since you already own a S)?

Yes, as a second vehicle, I'd still buy the 3, for many reasons other than the touchscreen (cue my own thread ). And, more importantly, my wife loves it!

 

[SteveG3]

Spot on, Steve. A dynamic UI like that would make the best use of the real estate for the most pertinent task at that moment and make the task super easy to achieve while still offering the flexibility to switch up. And, yes, the AP display (for me, blind spot obstacle indication really) would be more useful if it can be given a more prominent size and location as, most of the time, it's hidden behind my right arm as I hold the wheel.

That's the power of a touchscreen as this could all be achieved with a software update. I'll write something up along these lines for Tesla as feedback.



Yes, as a second vehicle, I'd still buy the 3, for many reasons other than the touchscreen (cue my own thread ). And, more importantly, my wife loves it!

Helpful to hear back from your real world experience. I hope Tesla still has an open channel for those getting these early cars, like they did with the employee vehicles the first few months.

 

[jimmyjohn]

“They're dinosaurs. They're extinct and don't know it. One day they'll be discovered by a future archaeologist.“

The Time Machine (2002)

 

[azred]

When Tesla actually produces the “affordable” $35,000 car, we’ll see if skeptics are more positive. But a $56,000 car like the one they reviewed hardly qualifies. I understand the need to make money but am a little surprised that months after the first cars rolled off the production line, we have no idea when the affordable versions will appear.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

“They're dinosaurs. They're extinct and don't know it. One day they'll be discovered by a future archaeologist.“

The Time Machine (2002)

 

[MotoEvCA]

The first time anyone drove a car with a manual transmission, they undoubtedly stalled the thing repeatedly. Does that mean the car is annoying? I have a feeling this author would say, "well no, duh, you have to learn how to drive a stick." Well, guess what Peter, maybe you need to learn how to use the touchscreen as well.

He beat the horse dead asking for old fashioned buttons, which obviously misses the entire point, and didn't bother learning the variety of functions the steering wheel buttons provide. In between that and arrogantly assuming that he knows how the general populace would feel about the car, I'm just hopeful he still had enough time left in the day to yell at a few clouds and tell the neighbor kids to get off his lawn.

I Think You May Be Missing The Point - Change For the Sake of Change
There are best practices for the placement of controls in automobiles (exotics, bespoke notwithstanding). Tesla moving to a single interface and removing almost all switches is expecting the consumer to forego decades of evolving standards and adopt the new Tesla standard (i.e. go to the screen and learn the new placement of functions).

Game-Ending approach? No

It means relying on muscle memory becomes more difficult. Many will say that's only because the car is new and you will readjust BUT BUT if you have multiple cars things get a bit more complicated.

The Model 3 is the outlier when it comes to interface standards.

I am tech-aware and will have zero problems adjusting and using it. HOWEVER, when you now want to sell a volume product to the 'mainstream public' you are going to get people complaining more often.

Example: Go to Amazon.com and read product reviews. Many many folks deride a product and speak with such confidence about what does not work but I have found most of it stems from the customer not wanting to read a manual and WANTING IT TO JUST WORK.

Ask anyone who designs things for the mass market and they will describe the 'dumbing-down' process they have to perform.

 

[smorgasbord]

Yeah, wouldn't it be much better to have a button for each thing, like this:

which is just part of this cockpit:

?

I think not.

The cruise control is a good example. How many people know how to use all that the cruise control in their car provides? Resume versus Set is often confusing, for instance, not to mention that people sometimes don't know the difference between Off versus Cancel. I found the upthread example of tweaking the set speed while driving interesting, because the real "fix" isn't making changing the set speed easier, it's making the car's decision to accelerate to that speed smarter. Besides, Model 3's UI puts the +/- buttons right next to the speed readout, so it's not like it's hard to do. Certainly easier than remembering to first turn Cruise On in the first place, like many other cars require.

We own a Model 3, and every time we drive it, we not only get more comfortable with the controls, we appreciate them more. For the most part anyway.