Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Gripes about the Beta interior

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Unlike any other auto company, you also have access to many people in the company, not just a press spokesperson. Many are engineers/tech types who might be overly enthusiastic (including Elon Musk) and not as well versed in PR as a professional. Yes they probably over sold it but in their minds, maybe their styling and drivetrain technology makes it the best car in the world even though it doesn't have enough cup holders. It's all subjective anyway.

I agree the engineering is actually key to get right from the start. Look at the Fisker Karma with the exact opposite problem (beautiful design and craftsmanship inside and out by most people's standards but sub-par delivery on the technology). Personally I'm willing to take a little hit on the interior if the tech is right and Tesla says it's working on improving it with a few add-ons after delivery. It sounds as this whole argument might be a moot point if they come up with a customizable system for the center console area that you pick as an option when you design your car (probably for general production maybe). They need to get the car delivered and working flawlessly while they work to improve the interior. I do wish they would have meet everyone's standards for this price category (and they still might) but I think they're off to a good start. Remember, the $100,000 Mercedes doesn't have nearly the part costs ($30,000 battery/engine) that the Model S does. As battery costs come down, that will likely leave Tesla more room on margins to increase quality of the interior (this is just a guess on my part of course).
 
Last edited:
Why over promise and under deliver? that is like every other car company in the world....I thought their whole mantra was to be Apple like?

The interior would be more forgivable if Tesla had not postured that this would be the best sedan in the world.
Um, by that measure they are. The iPad was the biggest tech let-down of the decade. It's useless for any actual computing and heinously overpriced for what it does. It's only really good for web browsing. iOS is a fine phone platform but doesn't do enough for a tablet. If they had built it to run OS X it would have been a home run.

But anyway, as for Elon's "best in every way" comment, I have taken anything any CEO or corporate PR/Marketing person has ever said with a grain of salt since I was a child. EVERY company in the world thinks they make the best products in their class and that clearly isn't going to be true for every person or every product. Else we would only have 1 of each kind of product. Just based on the comments here some folks think that the minimalist/open design is "better" than the current ICE conventions so in their case Model S is "best".

Based on this last beta my only problem w/ the interior are the cupholders. I'm one of those ugly Americans that likes to have a coffee or soda while driving and it looks like you have to choose between armrest and cupholder. But something could be rigged up in the negative space (is that what we're calling it?) to hold a couple cups if Tesla doesn't make one.
 
Here's my $0.02 on this.... Tesla only has 1 chance to get the mechanical bits right as this affects every buyer (EV zealot or not). The battery, drivetrain, handling characteristics, etc. I think they have been wisely focusing on this. I am confident very few people RIGHT NOW are actually cross-shopping Model S with a BMW or Audi ICE. There are enough early adopters that will buy the car based on its being an EV and having amazing performance and will forgive the interior. Then in later years (when they will be going head-to-head with ICE cars) they can very easily improve the interior based on feedback. The interior is trivial to update/change, the mechanical bits not so much. Let's also remember that Tesla is starting from scratch with things like interiors. Lotus built everything for the Roadsters. It takes time to develop the skills, team, etc to build a high-quality interior and with a few thousand under their built will be in a better position to make those improvements.

+1 My thoughts exactly. On the whole Tesla has been pretty good at not overpromising. The interior seems to be liked by some and hated by others. As a new manufacturer it would make sense to go for an incredibly simple interior and improve on it as you get more and more feedback from customers. They could slap in an ultra cool central console and when it actually is used by customers it ends up being terrible in functionality. I thank you early adopters for being the guinea pigs for the new tech, you get the privilege of being the first to get a Model S, but you also get the headache of trying brand new technology and design that will ultimately have unforseen problems.
 
Um, by that measure they are. The iPad was the biggest tech let-down of the decade. It's useless for any actual computing and heinously overpriced for what it does. It's only really good for web browsing. iOS is a fine phone platform but doesn't do enough for a tablet. If they had built it to run OS X it would have been a home run.

I know a ton of people that do "actual computing" on the Ipad, heck I have several friends who do not even touch their laptops or desktops anymore and exclusively use their Ipad. This would not be possible on any other IOS form factor device.

Tesla thinks this Model S is the best car in the world. Do you?
 
Yeah, I'm no Apple fan by any stretch, but the iPad definitely pushed tablet computing forward. Email, web, apps (like tapatalk, Engadget, News Readers etc) -- my day begins and ends with my iPad and allows me to be untethered from my PC for a good chunk of my non-work computing.

(sent from an iPad)
 
I know a ton of people that do "actual computing" on the Ipad, heck I have several friends who do not even touch their laptops or desktops anymore and exclusively use their Ipad. This would not be possible on any other IOS form factor device.

Tesla thinks this Model S is the best car in the world. Do you?
You're making my point for me. For MY job I cannot use an iPad. I need to be able to have multiple windows at the same time (multiple powerpoint presos, multiple spreadsheets), I need to be able to serial in to network devices. I have heard there's a serial dongle for the iPad but I have the same problem in that I need to cut and paste bits of config into the device so I need to have a saved txt file open and the serial console at the same time. This can't be done on an iPad so for what I would call "actual computing" an iPad won't work.

So to turn it around, would you say the iPad is the best tablet in the world? You might say yes but I would say no. I would prefer a tablet that I can have multiple windows open. For that functionality I am willing to pay a price in terms of size and battery life.

Any complex system like a computer or car is a compromise. There's no such thing as the "best" car because different people need their cars to do different things and people have different priorities on what's important to them. That's why there are so many different ones out there.

I completely understand how you can feel underwhelmed by Model S's interior when it is such an expensive car. My hope is that when my wife and I finally get to drive one nothing else will matter and we must have one. That's what happened w/ the Roadster. My wife was massively against the Roadster. It's hard to get in and out of, there are few creature comforts, the baby can't ride in it, there's no storage.... But once she drove it she had to have it. Perhaps we are lucky in that my 2006 Corvette was the most "luxurious" car we've ever owned - my wife currently drives a diesel Jeep Liberty so compared to that the Model S interior is quite nice.

So to come back around to my earlier post, I expect the interior to improve over time (as it did w/ the Roadster IMO) so if you're unhappy w/ the current version wait a couple years.
 
You're making my point for me. For MY job I cannot use an iPad. I need to be able to have multiple windows at the same time (multiple powerpoint presos, multiple spreadsheets), I need to be able to serial in to network devices. I have heard there's a serial dongle for the iPad but I have the same problem in that I need to cut and paste bits of config into the device so I need to have a saved txt file open and the serial console at the same time. This can't be done on an iPad so for what I would call "actual computing" an iPad won't work.

So to turn it around, would you say the iPad is the best tablet in the world? You might say yes but I would say no. I would prefer a windows tablet as I can have multiple windows open. But for that functionality I pay a price in terms of size and battery life.

Any complex system like a computer or car is a compromise. There's no such thing as the "best" car because different people need their cars to do different things and people have different priorities on what's important to them. That's why there are so many different ones out there.

I completely understand how you can feel underwhelmed by Model S's interior when it is such an expensive car. My hope is that when my wife and I finally get to drive one nothing else will matter and we must have one. That's what happened w/ the Roadster. My wife was massively against the Roadster. It's hard to get in and out of, there are few creature comforts, the baby can't ride in it, there's no storage.... But once she drove it she had to have it. Perhaps we are lucky in that my 2006 Corvette was the most "luxurious" car we've ever owned - my wife currently drives a diesel Jeep Liberty so compared to that the Model S interior is quite nice.

I understand that for some people it might be the "nicest" they have ever owned, but we actually can compare the interior to other cars in its class.

Is the Model S interior better than the Mercedes E-Class or S-Class, BMW 5-7 Series, Audi A6-A8 etc?

Are you saying it is? In order to be the best in the world it has to have the complete package...If you say the interior is better than any of these cars then it is a moot point. Compare the interior of a 100k car to the Model S' and if you think the Model S has a better interior (dash layout, luxury/sportiness, room, storage etc), and if you believe it is indeed better then that is great. For the vast majority of people the interior of the Model S is not even comparable to that of a 35k car let alone a 100k car.
 
Lets not forget - the Model S is a $50,000 car - it becomes much more expensive basically because of the battery packs. When you look at the $100,000 Mercedes, their engines have increased incrementally and the interiors have improved dramatically, whereas in the Tesla virtually all the money goes into the increased battery size. Tesla is a small company - it can't begin to compete with the big car companies on the interior - Tesla, at this stage in its life cycle is operating on the old Henry Ford maxim - " you can have any color you want as long as it is black." And that is fine by me.
 
Are you saying it is? In order to be the best in the world it has to have the complete package...If you say the interior is better than any of these cars then it is a moot point. Compare the interior of a 100k car to the Model S' and if you think the Model S has a better interior (dash layout, luxury/sportiness, room, storage etc), and if you believe it is indeed better then that is great. For the vast majority of people the interior of the Model S is not even comparable to that of a 35k car let alone a 100k car.

I don't know about that. The nicest and roomiest car I ever had (interior) was my Volvo S80 I owned for 10 years. It was about $35,000. If nicest means cup holders and storage areas then yes, it was nicer than the Model S but the material didn't seem as nice and certainly didn't have the cool 17" touchscreen or mobile phone app to heat and cool the car remotely. We still haven't seen a production version and whatever options GerogeB was talking about too.

I understand the Model S interior may not be the 'best in the world' or in its class. I think we have to stop beating on that comment from Elon and Tesla as they we being boastful and proud of what they were doing it seems. It appears they may have delivered in every other category except the interior storage aspect but that can be corrected over time much more easily than a bad powertrain or battery system.


Lets not forget - the Model S is a $50,000 car - it becomes much more expensive basically because of the battery packs. When you look at the $100,000 Mercedes, their engines have increased incrementally and the interiors have improved dramatically, whereas in the Tesla virtually all the money goes into the increased battery size. Tesla is a small company - it can't begin to compete with the big car companies on the interior - Tesla, at this stage in its life cycle is operating on the old Henry Ford maxim - " you can have any color you want as long as it is black." And that is fine by me.

Exactly. I've tried to say that a few times but not as well. As battery prices go down, the interior will likely climb the ladder in quality as margins improve.
 
Why over promise and under deliver? that is like every other car company in the world....I thought their whole mantra was to be Apple like?

The interior would be more forgivable if Tesla had not postured that this would be the best sedan in the world.

I honestly don't care that they promised this to be the best sedan. That's not why I'm disappointed with the interior. I'm disappointed because it's not commensurate with the cost. The fact is, there are cars that are the furthest thing from the best sedan that have better quality and far more functional interiors. So my expectations are not based on their lofty promises, but are based on common needs and experience with cars in the same class.

I tend to agree with strider's comment that the Model S's earlier buyers are not cross-shopping against ICE's in the same price range. I for one am not in the market for just any new car. I honestly have no need for the Model S. I have a perfectly fine car that is 5 years old and has just 30k miles on it. If I for whatever reason decide not to make good on my reservation I will simply be content with the car I have. However, as the Model S start hitting the roadways, people will begin taking notice. In very short order you're going to have people not only intrigued by the idea of a luxury EV, but people who are legitimately shopping for a new car of any kind and will naturally be comparing all aspects (interior included) of the Model S against other cars in the same class.
 
I honestly don't care that they promised this to be the best sedan. That's not why I'm disappointed with the interior. I'm disappointed because it's not commensurate with the cost. The fact is, there are cars that are the furthest thing from the best sedan that have better quality and far more functional interiors. So my expectations are not based on their lofty promises, but are based on common needs and experience with cars in the same class.

I tend to agree with strider's comment that the Model S's earlier buyers are not cross-shopping against ICE's in the same price range. I for one am not in the market for just any new car. I honestly have no need for the Model S. I have a perfectly fine car that is 5 years old and has just 30k miles on it. If I for whatever reason decide not to make good on my reservation I will simply be content with the car I have. However, as the Model S start hitting the roadways, people will begin taking notice. In very short order you're going to have people not only intrigued by the idea of a luxury EV, but people who are legitimately shopping for a new car of any kind and will naturally be comparing all aspects (interior included) of the Model S against other cars in the same class.

Tesla will probably have about a few years of reservations to get through from EV interested buyers and have time to make corrections to the interior hopefully and expand their appeal.
 
Are you saying it is? In order to be the best in the world it has to have the complete package...If you say the interior is better than any of these cars then it is a moot point. Compare the interior of a 100k car to the Model S' and if you think the Model S has a better interior (dash layout, luxury/sportiness, room, storage etc), and if you believe it is indeed better then that is great. For the vast majority of people the interior of the Model S is not even comparable to that of a 35k car let alone a 100k car.
To me, what the Model S interior lacks in interior luxury is made up for in other areas. I have to believe you feel the same way since you bought a Roadster and not an SL55 (or whatever the equivalent price/performance MB is). The MB has a much nicer interior than the Roadster yet you bought a Roadster (heck you bought more than one!). So I guess I'm puzzled why you gave Tesla a pass on the Roadster interior yet are holding on the Model S? Is it truly just because of Elon's claim to be the best? If I held every CEO to every promise they've ever made there's not a single product on the market I'd be able to buy. CEO's are salespeople and so their comments must be discounted.

But to answer your question, I put the most weight in driving/handling characteristics. If those hold up to my expectations when I finally get to drive Model S I will forgive anything short of getting rained on while driving (and heck I even forgave that in the Roadster) and Model S will be the "best" car for me. Yes, I am an early adopter and because I hate the way ICE's drive (endless gear changes, takes forever between pedal down and power, they stink, etc) I am not your average premium sedan buyer. But the whole point of my original post is that based on reservation numbers there are likely enough of me to handle their first year of production which would give them time to continue to update the interior and offer it as a 1.5 version. you act like this is their one and only chance to succeed or fail w/ Model S and I say that when it comes to the interior, that's simply not true. Early Adopters will overlook the interior and they'll update between now and when they need to compete head-to-head for customers.
 
Tesla will probably have about a few years of reservations to get through from EV interested buyers and have time to make corrections to the interior hopefully and expand their appeal.

A few years? Not a chance. If they operate the Fremont plant at full capacity, they'll have far more cars than demand for them as early as next year. While "EV interested buyers" are going to be the bulk of their initial sales, think of all the sales they might otherwise have from people simply looking for a high-end luxury car. They need to attract these buyers, and if people's reactions to the interior is less than favorable it doesn't bode well for Tesla. We're all EV enthusiasts and Tesla loyalists, so are willing to overlook these shortcomings. The average person will likely not.
 
I would think they could get into 2014 which is what I should have said. Of course people who don't care at all that it's an EV probably wouldn't look at Tesla at this point anyway. There has to be some attraction to the fact it's an EV. It shouldn't take Tesla a year or two to add a few cup holders to the interior.
 
Tesla will probably have about a few years of reservations to get through from EV interested buyers and have time to make corrections to the interior hopefully and expand their appeal.

I don't know if they'll get YEARS of reservations before they have to start looking to expand their appeal. I think they have maybe to the end of 2013. I just don't see, and I hope I'm wrong, there being that many EV enthusiasts to push reservations into 2014. They need to start looking at appealing to a broader market sooner rather than later.
 
I would think they could get into 2014 which is what I should have said. Of course people who don't care at all that it's an EV probably wouldn't look at Tesla at this point anyway. There has to be some attraction to the fact it's an EV. It shouldn't take Tesla a year or two to add a few cup holders to the interior.

Well they plan to produce 20,000 cars annually, with 5,000 - 7,000 being produced this year. As of now, there are roughly 10,000 reservation holders which puts us to the first quarter of 2013. It's still a tall order for them sell 20,000 cars in 2013. Consider that just 2,000 Roadsters were ever sold. That the Chevy Volt sold less than 7,500 cars in its first year, 2011. And that it took a few years for Tesla to even reach 10,000 reservations for the Model S. I don't think they can hit 20,000 in 2013 without appealing to a broader audience.
 
Good point. They're already saying they are sold out until March 2013 and that's without any advertising and zero cars out on the road for people to ask about. None of my friends or people at work had ever heard of Tesla until I got the Roadster and started driving it around. Once they got a ride in it, a few of them were sold on the idea of an EV but have no interest in a small sports car. I don't think the interior is as atrocious as some people seem to think it is so it shouldn't turn off the entire general public. With a few small modifications (easily doable in a year) they should address many of the problems some people have such as a place to put change, better arm rest, more cup holders...etc

I'm not sure they'll hit 20,000 cars in 2013 either. I agree they definitely need to appeal to a broader audience and with a few modifications to the interior I think a lot of people's concerns would be addressed.
 
I keep hearing that the Model S interior is not comparable even to a $X dollar car, but have yet to hear a convincing objective argument of why. Are you guys talking simply about fit and finish (something that will surely be different in a Release Candidate car)? Or is it stuff that may be more final (like design, material choices, or just storage)?

Personally having compared to pictures of the interior with cars of different price ranges. The only big differences I noticed was that the Model S had way less buttons and other busy details and no center console or door pockets. But I don't take those as any indication of price ranges, but rather just design decisions by Tesla.

I can't tell material difference without being in person, but from what I hear, it has improved significantly since the previous Betas.

And keep in mind that all the different prices of Model S have essentially the same interior, except for the $1500 option that adds Nappa leather, more seat adjustments, heated seats, and two extra Decor options (Banana Leaf and Lacewood). The Performance model adds contrast piping, Alcantara Accents/Bolsters, and the Carbon Fiber Decor option. Signature adds perforated leather and Signature White leather option. This was made very clear when the options page was released, so I'm not sure where anyone got the indication that there were any other differences in the interior between the different price ranges.
 
Lets not forget - the Model S is a $50,000 car - it becomes much more expensive basically because of the battery packs. When you look at the $100,000 Mercedes, their engines have increased incrementally and the interiors have improved dramatically, whereas in the Tesla virtually all the money goes into the increased battery size. Tesla is a small company - it can't begin to compete with the big car companies on the interior - Tesla, at this stage in its life cycle is operating on the old Henry Ford maxim - " you can have any color you want as long as it is black." And that is fine by me.

Hi John,

Nicely put.

I feel that as a start-up company Tesla realizes that its most important overarching priority is to get the cars into production as promised. I don't know whether Tesla can provide more intelligent and pleasing interiors than the competition and remain competitive. However, what I am sure of, regardless of profitability considerations, there's simply no time left to redesign the interior and stay on schedule.

On a positive note I believe that there is reason to believe that Tesla is doing everything that they can to move the redesign of the console out of the critical path of July deliveries. The following posting suggests that a field retrofit of the console may be in the works.

Open Center Console

Larry
 
To me, what the Model S interior lacks in interior luxury is made up for in other areas. I have to believe you feel the same way since you bought a Roadster and not an SL55 (or whatever the equivalent price/performance MB is). The MB has a much nicer interior than the Roadster yet you bought a Roadster (heck you bought more than one!). So I guess I'm puzzled why you gave Tesla a pass on the Roadster interior yet are holding on the Model S? Is it truly just because of Elon's claim to be the best? If I held every CEO to every promise they've ever made there's not a single product on the market I'd be able to buy. CEO's are salespeople and so their comments must be discounted.

But to answer your question, I put the most weight in driving/handling characteristics. If those hold up to my expectations when I finally get to drive Model S I will forgive anything short of getting rained on while driving (and heck I even forgave that in the Roadster) and Model S will be the "best" car for me. Yes, I am an early adopter and because I hate the way ICE's drive (endless gear changes, takes forever between pedal down and power, they stink, etc) I am not your average premium sedan buyer. But the whole point of my original post is that based on reservation numbers there are likely enough of me to handle their first year of production which would give them time to continue to update the interior and offer it as a 1.5 version. you act like this is their one and only chance to succeed or fail w/ Model S and I say that when it comes to the interior, that's simply not true. Early Adopters will overlook the interior and they'll update between now and when they need to compete head-to-head for customers.

I am a model s Sig holder and I will still go through with my order, but that is not the point I am trying to make here.

I gave Tesla a pass on the roadster because they were working within the Lotus framework, from the get-go they were stuck with Lotus' chassis design (I feel they did a very good job with the Roadster even though they were severely limited by the Lotus Chassis). With the roadster we all knew the limitations of the car on the first test drive (no storage, poor egress/ingress, rough ride etc) all this is expected. I love the Roadster and I will always have them in my garage. It is a good commuter car IMO.

With the Model S there is no excuse, fine maybe for the 57k models the interior may be passable but at 100k? for the higher end models the interior has to be upgraded more so than what it is now. Heck if Tesla tells me wait a few more months and we will get it right, I would be more than happy to wait.

Look at the Fisker Karma, if Fisker had gotten it right initially, there would be a whole different stigma attached to the brand. Tesla cannot afford to put out the 1.0 model then completely revamp the interior and then say "gee guys thank you for being early adopters but we had to change the interior ta ta." That will diminish the brand. If they have a plan, might as well be honest and tell the public that you can buy the Model S in its current form now or in a few months we are going to improve the interior and then you can defer until that point. I will feel pretty bad if I get my Sig and then a year later the interior is completely redone. My faith in Tesla will be tarnished, and I am sure I am not alone here.