Model 3 Aesthetics

[pdk42]

I love my white Model 3, despite its little niggles. However, I'm still undecided whether I really like the styling/aesthetics of the body. From some angles, it looks quite ugly IMHO. I find this to be especially true of the view from the front, esp if you are a little higher than the car. Somehow, the low bonnet line and the design of the lights makes it look somewhat out-of-proportion. I think the rear view looks great, and the side view is pretty good too - it's just that frontal view.

Thoughts?

 

[Talllbloke]

A small part of the reason I bought the model 3 rather than holding out for an electric car from an established brand was the way it looks: all the other EVs on or coming to the market look like petrol cars that have been converted to electric, the Tesla looks like it was designed as an electric car. Both things true I guess, and the look of the bonnet part is what gives it that 'future electric' look....Small, low, no vents. I like it!

 

[Flatchat]

I love my white Model 3, despite its little niggles. However, I'm still undecided whether I really like the styling/aesthetics of the body. From some angles, it looks quite ugly IMHO. I find this to be especially true of the view from the front, esp if you are a little higher than the car. Somehow, the low bonnet line and the design of the lights makes it look somewhat out-of-proportion. I think the rear view looks great, and the side view is pretty good too - it's just that frontal view.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that I agree with all of that !

I'm not much of a fan of the styling, particularly the front end which doesn't look right at all IMO but I used to own an i3 so clearly don't give a crap about the aesthetics of my cars

 

[Adopado]

I love the overall look of the car but if I had to pick out some points I would say that the front has become a favourite view though I do see that when the front is seen from above it changes the proportions ... anyway given my own deficiencies in the height department I would usually need to stand on some steps to see that! The rear view is fine but I find it to be average ... rather similar to some other saloons with nothing notable to like or dislike.

 

[AnthonyLR]

I think it's gorgeous

 

[Dasher]

Well, it's all very subjective, of course, but I think that the lines are lovely, the proportions beautiful and it's a very neat and tidy design. But then I'm in love!

 

[pow216]

I absolutely love the front, but think the rear could somehow be a little better

 

[Generator]

The looks are... challenging. I can accept that some of this is probably down to the different architecture of an EV and the need for the ‘skateboard’ ( the 5 slab of batteries under the floor), some is undoubtedly due to the need for aero efficiency to increase range, but I suspect the lions share of the fugly in all Tesla’s comes from one source. Franz Von Holzhausen.

If I’ve read it right he’s the pen behind the looks, but his CV prior to Tesla is hardly bursting with lookers. The VW beetle relaunch? Gopping. The Pontiac Solstice? Pass the eye bleach. Every single car he’s turned his quill to is a bit of a munter. The model 3 has a couple of nice-ish details and you do get used to it, but there is a certain bulkiness about the rear three quarter that I just can’t get over. This will not go down as one of the classics.

Still, it’s better than Chris Bangle’s efforts when he was at BMW.

 

[robert997]

The looks are... challenging. I can accept that some of this is probably down to the different architecture of an EV and the need for the ‘skateboard’ ( the 5 slab of batteries under the floor), some is undoubtedly due to the need for aero efficiency to increase range, but I suspect the lions share of the fugly in all Tesla’s comes from one source. Franz Von Holzhausen.

If I’ve read it right he’s the pen behind the looks, but his CV prior to Tesla is hardly bursting with lookers. The VW beetle relaunch? Gopping. The Pontiac Solstice? Pass the eye bleach. Every single car he’s turned his quill to is a bit of a munter. The model 3 has a couple of nice-ish details and you do get used to it, but there is a certain bulkiness about the rear three quarter that I just can’t get over. This will not go down as one of the classics.

Still, it’s better than Chris Bangle’s efforts when he was at BMW.

Very well said !

 

[Artiste]

Personally I think the M3 looks decidedly insipid. But I didn’t buy it for its looks.

 

[stonecoldrmw]

Porsche Panamera lookalike from the front

 

[Generator]

View attachment 524116 View attachment 524117
Porsche Panamera lookalike from the front

With that bizarrely reverse angled front bumper line, it’s always reminded me of an Amphicar.

 

[EVMeister]

With that bizarrely reverse angled front bumper line, it’s always reminded me of an Amphicar.
View attachment 524129

You must be old.

I really like the look of the Model 3. I'm a Millennial and haven't grown up with some of the cars discussed here. I always appreciated cars becoming more streamlined-looking over the years and less "boxy". To me the Model 3 has a sleekness that's far more appealing than others in its class. But looks are entirely subjective, I totally get why some wouldn't like it. I don't really love the look in photos, but like it in real life.

 

[Generator]

You must be old.

Not really, most Amphicars had been reduced to rust by the time I was born, but a car that you can drive down a river is pretty memorable.

 

[nightowl]

I've got mixed feelings on its shape. It's fairly distinctive. Looks odd when you just see its nose alongside other parked cars.

But then I didn't buy it to be a display piece

 

[DangerMouse]

It is a thing of beauty. The performance especially looks stunning from all angles...apart from the front. Hoping a stick on front number plate makes it look a little more classy...

 

[Generator]

It is a thing of beauty. The performance especially looks stunning from all angles...apart from the front. Hoping a stick on front number plate makes it look a little more classy...

The front is a bit of an oddity. I will be trying a stick on plate myself as Tesla’s plate in plate holder on plate mount on bumper solution is quite frankly hideous. Yes it makes it easier to just slide a plate on when it comes to delivery, but it’s ugly and a waste of materials.

My main issue with the front is that weird bumper line. Without the upturned reverse slope it would look really quite nice. It’s almost as though they designed the car and decided it looked a bit to derivative and so carved a beak out the bumper just to make a styling cue without really thinking it through. It doesn’t fit, and it doesn’t flow with the rest of the design. Imagine it without the beak, and it looks a lot more cohesive, but possibly also a lot more Jaguar.

The rear quarters issues start at the wing mirrors and in the way they decided upon a raked belt line (very stylish) but didn’t know how to finish it off. It continues up over the rear doors, by which time it’s become way to high, and makes the rear quarter look slab sided and ungainly. The roofline at the rear appears to high, and the joining of the roof, belt line and rear end together is a bit of a mess. If the belt line had been a degree or so less raked and the roof line a touch lower, we’d have a far more pleasing proportionality to the rear wheel arch area, better rear visibility, less visual mass and bulk hanging over the rear axle (more in keeping with the rather more svelte front arch area), and an altogether nicer looking design. As it is the rear end looks stunted and unfinished, in much the same way as early Audi A3 cabrios or those E36 based BMW 3 series compacts.

 

[phillcom3]

I love my white Model 3, despite its little niggles. However, I'm still undecided whether I really like the styling/aesthetics of the body. From some angles, it looks quite ugly IMHO. I find this to be especially true of the view from the front, esp if you are a little higher than the car. Somehow, the low bonnet line and the design of the lights makes it look somewhat out-of-proportion. I think the rear view looks great, and the side view is pretty good too - it's just that frontal view.

Thoughts?

I think you are wrong every time I step into the carpark and there's a porch near or next to me is toll think my model 3 is the better looking of the two. I see it from anywhere and the curviture is so distinctive. It dosnt look like just any other car out there which even porcsches are starting to do especialy the trucks

 

[SimonT]

I quite like it. I agree it looks better without the front number plate but I imagine most cars would.

The chrome, especially on the black, doesn’t look that great.