I took my own advise, searched for a life image, did a very sloppy job of cutting out the back wheel and inserting it over and over again. It seems like the Model 3 is something like 7 back tires, or 185.5" if you assume the wheels diameter is 26.5", not account for my sloppy cutting job and the slight angle the car might be standing from out point of view. I also rotated the wheel by 90 degree, because the boundaries were easier to make out bottom to top, than left to right, but both ways there is an additional error, since the wheel becomes more elliptical once there is pressure on it. If I'd had to guess, I'd say its somewhere around 180", but this is far from perfect...
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I took the best high-resolution image from the side I could find and tried 3 different methods:
1. For an upper limit on the length, assume that the wheelbase is the same as that of the MS--it is unlikely to be longer. Ratioing the wheelbase to the total length gives this upper limit as 179 inches.
2. Sedans in this class tend to have closely similar heights just over 56 inches (we assume no air suspension concerns). If we assume that M3 will have the same height as MS, or 56.5 inches. Ratioing length to height in the picture gives a length of 174 inches.
3. Trying the usual measurement from wheel size: the display models were confirmed to have 20" wheels. As someone here pointed out, this is the bead diameter, so we have to add ~1 inch to get the actually observed outside wheel diameter. This gives a length of 165 inches, but it is subject to small measurement errors because one is scaling by a fairly large amount.
There are some slight parallax worries, since all of these measurements involve comparing something on the near side of the car to something along the centerline of the car. I'm guessing that these won't change things by more than an inch or so. And I tend to think that the 2nd measurement, using the roof height, is likely to be the closest, because we are comparing two fairly large dimensions, so measurement errors are minimized. Even if the roof height were to differ from our calculation by +/- 1 inch, the length would be 174 +/- 3 inches.
If this is roughly right, this is a relief to me. We are a 1 car family, and my wife has stated quite strongly that she wouldn't want a car that is more than a small amount longer than our current Nissan Leaf (175 inches).
1. For an upper limit on the length, assume that the wheelbase is the same as that of the MS--it is unlikely to be longer. Ratioing the wheelbase to the total length gives this upper limit as 179 inches.
2. Sedans in this class tend to have closely similar heights just over 56 inches (we assume no air suspension concerns). If we assume that M3 will have the same height as MS, or 56.5 inches. Ratioing length to height in the picture gives a length of 174 inches.
3. Trying the usual measurement from wheel size: the display models were confirmed to have 20" wheels. As someone here pointed out, this is the bead diameter, so we have to add ~1 inch to get the actually observed outside wheel diameter. This gives a length of 165 inches, but it is subject to small measurement errors because one is scaling by a fairly large amount.
There are some slight parallax worries, since all of these measurements involve comparing something on the near side of the car to something along the centerline of the car. I'm guessing that these won't change things by more than an inch or so. And I tend to think that the 2nd measurement, using the roof height, is likely to be the closest, because we are comparing two fairly large dimensions, so measurement errors are minimized. Even if the roof height were to differ from our calculation by +/- 1 inch, the length would be 174 +/- 3 inches.
If this is roughly right, this is a relief to me. We are a 1 car family, and my wife has stated quite strongly that she wouldn't want a car that is more than a small amount longer than our current Nissan Leaf (175 inches).
Breezy
Member
Here's a rough comparison with the Bolt. For the Model 3 I get
Length 182 in
Height 57 in
Wheelbase 124 in
The length and height numbers are reasonable, but a 124-in wheelbase seems too long.
Elon probably won't give us dimensions. They will likely change somewhat for production.
Length 182 in
Height 57 in
Wheelbase 124 in
The length and height numbers are reasonable, but a 124-in wheelbase seems too long.
Elon probably won't give us dimensions. They will likely change somewhat for production.
Here's a rough comparison with the Bolt. For the Model 3 I get
Length 182 in
Height 57 in
Wheelbase 124 in
The length and height numbers are reasonable, but a 124-in wheelbase seems too long.
Elon probably won't give us dimensions. They will likely change somewhat for production.
This looks very realistic, more realistic than a smaller version. And I don't think we should read too much into the wheelbase thing, wheelbases can be scaled, but height not so much. And it would make sense that the Model 3 has a very long wheelbase, since they actively tried to make the interior as roomy as possible.
But again, we should use the life footages, those on the website are photoshopped into oblivion, so they might not have the same proportions.
amb3rgris
Member
Thanks to all the folks contributing to this thread. I consider this exercise part of the fun that I get for my US@1k (like buying a lottery ticket gives me the "right" to imagine what I would do with US$100 million 
).
While the exact dimensions look to be difficult to suss out, it appears that the wheelbase:total length ratio can be reasonably nailed down. I show it to be about wheelbase = 0.68 x total length.
So, if the M3 matches the BMW 3, or Audi A4 length of 182 inches, that would result in a wheelbase of 123.76 inches.
While matching the 111 inch wheelbase gives a total length of 163 inches.
I really don't think the Tesla M3 will approach the BMW 7 series sedan wheelbase (126 inches), or exceed the MS wheelbase by 8 inches (116 inches). We know that the M3 has the front passenger area moved forward, and the car obviously has very short front and rear overhangs. So I do believe that a shorter length is much more plausible than a very-out-of-comparison wheelbase.
).While the exact dimensions look to be difficult to suss out, it appears that the wheelbase:total length ratio can be reasonably nailed down. I show it to be about wheelbase = 0.68 x total length.
So, if the M3 matches the BMW 3, or Audi A4 length of 182 inches, that would result in a wheelbase of 123.76 inches.
While matching the 111 inch wheelbase gives a total length of 163 inches.
I really don't think the Tesla M3 will approach the BMW 7 series sedan wheelbase (126 inches), or exceed the MS wheelbase by 8 inches (116 inches). We know that the M3 has the front passenger area moved forward, and the car obviously has very short front and rear overhangs. So I do believe that a shorter length is much more plausible than a very-out-of-comparison wheelbase.
Steven Loyens
Member
Does anybody know of the dimensions of the Model III?
I'd like to find out it's width, length, hight and the size of the wheels.
As the garages here in Europe are not that big it may be handy to already have a idea.
I'd like to find out it's width, length, hight and the size of the wheels.
As the garages here in Europe are not that big it may be handy to already have a idea.
amb3rgris
Member
6 pages of posts and I think the short answer is:
"No"
Longer answer: Tesla hasn't provided that level of specific information, probably because the M3 that was shown is their reveal prototype. It is definitely not the final car, so that information doesn't actually exist (in a public way) yet.
However, internet forums are fun and prone to meandering trips down rabbit holes. I recommend reading through the posts to see how people are trying to guess the dimensions of the prototype car. For me, at least, it gives a starting point on how to think about the general size I am expecting.
Again, keeping in mind that even we had the car and a tape measure, this is not the final version, so things will change. Although I don't imagine the exterior will change too much (trunk opening maybe bigger? front end design change to match recent Model S update?). The interior, I imagine will change quite a bit.
It's also fun to look at the Model S and Model X initial reveal prototypes, and how they changed into the final production versions.
Speculation is fun, but we'll all have to wait probably until late 2017 to get detailed info about the actual car we reserved.
I'm not quite sure how you can say "we're close on our guesses" since the guesses on this thread range from about 167" to 184". Your guess is decidedly on the high end of the various estimates people have come up with.
amb3rgris
Member
I dunno. I still think it doesn't help tesla to put out a specific number for any dimension. Even if they change it by 1 or 2 inches, I imagine there would be a disproportionate kerfuffle.
So if the final design isn't ready until 2017, i think Tesla will wait to publish numbers until then.
And to show how fluid this is, I'm actually in the <180" camp (closer to 160 than 180), as I think a total length of 182" would mean a crazy long wheel base.
arjay
member
Snowdog
Member
People who saw it in person seem to report something about the size of a Mazda 3 sedan, Which is closer to 182".
Going by wheel measurement scaling. Most of seem to be coming in around 114" WB, ~170" length. A full foot shorter.
If it were nearly a full foot shorter than Mazda 3/Corrolla/Civic, I would think people who saw it in person would have been talking about how small it was.
I think we are drifting until we get more info.
Going by wheel measurement scaling. Most of seem to be coming in around 114" WB, ~170" length. A full foot shorter.
If it were nearly a full foot shorter than Mazda 3/Corrolla/Civic, I would think people who saw it in person would have been talking about how small it was.
I think we are drifting until we get more info.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
The people may have been fooled by the short overhangs however. Basically wheelbase may be similar or even longer, but overall length might not be.
Snowdog
Member
I went back and measured(again) using the Silver press image. I straightened it and did a few measurements then averaged:
Front Wheel Visible diameter: 149.5 pixels
Rear Wheel Visible diameter: 146.5 pixels
WB: 790.5 pixels
Length: 1169.5 pixels.
Most information places the wheels as 20" Alloys. With a Visible Diameter of at least 21" and less than 22".
Averaging the front/rear wheel diameter: 148 pixels
21" 112" WB, 165.9" L
21.5" 114.8" WB, 169.9" L
22" 117.5" WB, 173.8" L
It really does seem like it will have a big WB on a fairly short car.
Front Wheel Visible diameter: 149.5 pixels
Rear Wheel Visible diameter: 146.5 pixels
WB: 790.5 pixels
Length: 1169.5 pixels.
Most information places the wheels as 20" Alloys. With a Visible Diameter of at least 21" and less than 22".
Averaging the front/rear wheel diameter: 148 pixels
21" 112" WB, 165.9" L
21.5" 114.8" WB, 169.9" L
22" 117.5" WB, 173.8" L
It really does seem like it will have a big WB on a fairly short car.
I did a comparison using this Youtube video. Model 3 drove through the same scene where Model S was only a few seconds before, and the camera did not change positions. Since the video was digitally zoomed in later, I could match up the background building details pretty accurately with a prior scene when MS was in the same place.
M3 wheelbase seems to be a few inches shorter than MS.
Overlapped. Note: due to lens distortion at the extreme left edge of the image when zoomed out, the MS nose appears slightly stretched.
M3 wheelbase seems to be a few inches shorter than MS.
Overlapped. Note: due to lens distortion at the extreme left edge of the image when zoomed out, the MS nose appears slightly stretched.
The source of the drawing is this YouTube video. Seems fairly accurate based on the live shot comparison above.
Actually I don't think this is the case. Because the side of the car is not flat but rather curves away from you (especially at the front), perspective makes the overhangs look shorter than they are. When I take a side picture of the Model S and do exactly the same exercise as people have been doing with the Model 3 I calculate that the Model S must have a wheelbase of 125".
It just shows the sorts of errors you can get trying to do this off of pictures.
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