Is Tesla trying to get minimize sales of X Long Range?

[Zaxxon]

I don't understand the 6-seat requirement on Plaid, either. We need 7 for our needs, and if they offered Plaid with 7 at current prices we'd be considering replacing our 2019 LR.

 

[AW9nineteen]

Totally agree. We have the 7 seater LR. Need the bench seat for 2 dogs. Also need fold flat for dog crates, large items, sometimes bikes.

I would have bought Plaid as 7 seater but not as 6 seater. I don’t get why people like the 6 seater. The 3rd row back seats still aren’t great - not for adults. Plus no trunk with them up. For me they would be folded down at which point I would have a large 4 seater with decent trunk and no fold flat.

We are in the same situation. Cheers

 

[houstonian]

I personally went with the LR because I could get it in either a 5 or 7 seater. The captain chairs are horrible in my opinion from a utility perspective as they cannot fold flat. Even if they cost exactly the same price, I would not get Plaid if it meant captain chairs.

Nail. Hammer. Head.

I would have opted for the Plaid but not if forced to accept the 6 seater config.

Ideally I'd like a 4 seater (read: no middle row) but between the 5 and 7, the 7 makes sense for me - and on a more general note - the functionality afforded by the 5 or 7 seems materially more than the 6 seater...but that's just me.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

Nail. Hammer. Head.

I would have opted for the Plaid but not if forced to accept the 6 seater config.

Ideally I'd like a 4 seater (read: no middle row) but between the 5 and 7, the 7 makes sense for me - and on a more general note - the functionality afforded by the 5 or 7 seems materially more than the 6 seater...but that's just me.

Totally. I don’t get the obsession with the 6 seater.

If you had 4 people plus 1 small/medium dog (or 5 people) and are going on a trip with luggage, you are pretty much screwed with the 6 seater. Opening up the 3rd row mostly eliminates the trunk.

If you have to carry a large item, screwed again.

Basically one buys an crossover/suv for utility and it’s just lost. Luckily the refreshed LR is still a very fast vehicle so performance is not all lost with the 5/7 seater LR.

 

[EbS-P]

I think they see Plaid as the flagship model. It’s not designed to be utilitarian. If you want that get a mini van. Is big and really really fast with cool doors. What is it competing with? If you want utility why are you buy a Plaid?

I agree why not offer all the seating configurations for both models. Same apply to the MYP. With car seats the 6 seater is much easier to in and out of the back seat. The rear facing base in passenger second row still gives enough space for kids to get in and out of 3rd row. The tip tilt is just two slow when in a school drop off line. Dads in big trucks are impatient enough won’t even wait long enough for the FWD to close be for the pull around me.

I would like to know how the 7 seat rear access works with a car set base in the second row center or passenger side position. But again these are rather irrelevant questions for the average Plaid owner.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

I think they see Plaid as the flagship model. It’s not designed to be utilitarian. If you want that get a mini van. Is big and really really fast with cool doors. What is it competing with? If you want utility why are you buy a Plaid?

I agree why not offer all the seating configurations for both models. Same apply to the MYP. With car seats the 6 seater is much easier to in and out of the back seat. The rear facing base in passenger second row still gives enough space for kids to get in and out of 3rd row. The tip tilt is just two slow when in a school drop off line. Dads in big trucks are impatient enough won’t even wait long enough for the FWD to close be for the pull around me.

I would like to know how the 7 seat rear access works with a car set base in the second row center or passenger side position. But again these are rather irrelevant questions for the average Plaid owner.

I think if you know you will use the 3rd row all the time then that is about the only situation the 6 seater is useful. Oh and only short trips where you aren’t hauling luggage or other things.

That to me is kind of a niche scenario. One must have 3-4 kids and you use the vehicle for hauling the kids around town, not for long trips. I personally don’t even know many people with more than 2 kids. Why would someone be accessing the 3rd row all the time?

You really lose out on the more common use cases. 5 passengers with lots of stuff in the trunk, dogs on bench seat, hauling large items with full fold flat. Some even camp in their X but that is a bit niche.

Saying that Plaid owners don’t care about utility, then why buy the X? Get the S. Faster, lighter, more range, better looking.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

I would like to know how the 7 seat rear access works with a car set base in the second row center or passenger side position. But again these are rather irrelevant questions for the average Plaid owner.

The 7 seater is a split bench seat. If the car seat is on one side then the other side could be used for access to the rear. It’s also semi-electric button to fold/slide at the same time. The slide part is manual. Not ideal but it could work.

Now if you have 2 child seats then rear access will be hard. But really is that what Tesla targeted with the Plaid? Having 2 car seats and wanting to carry a 3rd passenger on a regular basis? That doesn’t sound like the kind of customer looking for 1020hp.

 

[EbS-P]

I think if you know you will use the 3rd row all the time then that is about the only situation the 6 seater is useful. Oh and only short trips where you aren’t hauling luggage or other things.

That to me is kind of a niche scenario. One must have 3-4 kids and you use the vehicle for hauling the kids around town, not for long trips. I personally don’t even know many people with more than 2 kids. Why would someone be accessing the 3rd row all the time?

You really lose out on the more common use cases. 5 passengers with lots of stuff in the trunk, dogs on bench seat, hauling large items with full fold flat. Some even camp in their X but that is a bit niche.

Saying that Plaid owners don’t care about utility, then why buy the X? Get the S. Faster, lighter, more range, better looking.

We have 5 kids. We agree that it’s an “excessive amount” to quote a colleague. The six seat covers 90% of the daily usage. 0% of road trips. A five seater could cover 80%. The keeping the minivan is a necessity. It we are on odd family. Work, daycare, church, Home Depot are all within 1 mile of our house. Costco 2, Gym is 3. Many grocery stores under 3. School is “long” trip at 11 miles round trip.

So keeping the super utilitarian ICE in my drive way probably affects my perspective.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

We have 5 kids. We agree that it’s an “excessive amount” to quote a colleague. The six seat covers 90% of the daily usage. 0% of road trips. A five seater could cover 80%. The keeping the minivan is a necessity. It we are on odd family. Work, daycare, church, Home Depot are all within 1 mile of our house. Costco 2, Gym is 3. Many grocery stores under 3. School is “long” trip at 11 miles round trip.

So keeping the super utilitarian ICE in my drive way probably affects my perspective.

So theoretically a 7 seater could hold your whole family for short trips

I didn’t ask do you have the 6 seater or 7 seater?

I think if anything Tesla should have just offered the Plaid in 5 seater only just like the Y performance. I think Tesla considers the 6 seater more luxurious but not sure if it really is besides looking maybe a little cooler. They need those armrests in the 6 seater else you have to keep your hands on your lap - and there is no place to put a bag or a phone. Some of the other high end makers put in a nice console in the middle but then that eliminates the rear access.

For the 6 seater if it could fold flat and have some flip down armrests that would make it much better.

 

[EbS-P]

So theoretically a 7 seater could hold your whole family for short trips

I didn’t ask do you have the 6 seater or 7 seater?

6 seater. The deal was to good to pass up.

 

[bmah]

I think if you know you will use the 3rd row all the time then that is about the only situation the 6 seater is useful. Oh and only short trips where you aren’t hauling luggage or other things.

That to me is kind of a niche scenario. One must have 3-4 kids and you use the vehicle for hauling the kids around town, not for long trips. I personally don’t even know many people with more than 2 kids. Why would someone be accessing the 3rd row all the time?

You really lose out on the more common use cases. 5 passengers with lots of stuff in the trunk, dogs on bench seat, hauling large items with full fold flat. Some even camp in their X but that is a bit niche.

Saying that Plaid owners don’t care about utility, then why buy the X? Get the S. Faster, lighter, more range, better looking.

Respectfully disagree, and please stop trying to invalidate use cases that aren't yours. Not everybody has the same needs as you.

Our household has 3 people (two adults, one teenager). We don't use the third row all the time in our 6-seater, but it's a significant use case. My kid has friends / teammates that need rides. We occasionally transport extended family. These are generally (but not always) fairly local trips where we don't need to carry luggage or other large objects. For long trips (so far just the three of us) we fold down the third row to make room for luggage.

Of your more common use cases (according to your post) we don't have pets, and we're not often hauling lots of things but when we do, two rows of seating for four seats works well for us. We don't haul large items. I only did this once in my S. Camping in the X is unlikely for us.

Also we've found that the third row seats are a lot more usable in the 6 seat X because there's a gap between the two second-row seats. It's more roomy / less claustrophobic, also our third row passengers often exit and egress via the center of the second row, rather than needing to slide the second row seats forward. (I acknowledge the lack of armrests, but that hasn't been a huge problem for us.)

We've found the 6 seater is right for us. I wouldn't dream of proclaiming that's the One Right Configuration, but don't think we're a "niche case" at all.

Bruce.

 

[EbS-P]

If you look at other luxury 3 row SUVs many have second row captains chairs. Maybe the discussion should be why are the non removable, mono post seats the what they chose?

Would Removable captains chairs with armrests make it to minivan like???

 

[Kan-O-Z]

Respectfully disagree, and please stop trying to invalidate use cases that aren't yours. Not everybody has the same needs as you.

Our household has 3 people (two adults, one teenager). We don't use the third row all the time in our 6-seater, but it's a significant use case. My kid has friends / teammates that need rides. We occasionally transport extended family. These are generally (but not always) fairly local trips where we don't need to carry luggage or other large objects. For long trips (so far just the three of us) we fold down the third row to make room for luggage.

Of your more common use cases (according to your post) we don't have pets, and we're not often hauling lots of things but when we do, two rows of seating for four seats works well for us. We don't haul large items. I only did this once in my S. Camping in the X is unlikely for us.

Also we've found that the third row seats are a lot more usable in the 6 seat X because there's a gap between the two second-row seats. It's more roomy / less claustrophobic, also our third row passengers often exit and egress via the center of the second row, rather than needing to slide the second row seats forward. (I acknowledge the lack of armrests, but that hasn't been a huge problem for us.)

We've found the 6 seater is right for us. I wouldn't dream of proclaiming that's the One Right Configuration, but don't think we're a "niche case" at all.

Bruce.

Thanks for that perspective. The 6 seater seems like it works well for you.

Its still easy to haul up to 5 people around town and not even have to worry about accessing the 3rd row. Agree if you have a 6th then the 6 seater is certainly nice.

I’m only annoyed because the Plaid X is almost the same price as the LR X but doesn’t offer what I think are more “usable” options.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

If you look at other luxury 3 row SUVs many have second row captains chairs. Maybe the discussion should be why are the non removable, mono post seats the what they chose?

Would Removable captains chairs with armrests make it to minivan like???

It would go a long way. I believe it is the minivan that made the captain chairs popular but minivans tend to have a much bigger bench seat in the 3rd row. Plus they all fold flat and the trunk is bigger as well.