Model X Mule Sightings

[Lyon]

Yea I'm loving it. Just the plastic over the wheel well isn't turning my crank.

Agreed. I don't know why companies insist that makes the vehicle look rugged. It just looks cheap, IMO. It's not a Jeep Wrangler, just give me a painted fender.

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The tow hitch would not show anyway; they will use a recessed receiver just like the Mercedes SUVs (which means it does not protrude outside the surface of the bumper fascia). What we did at Mercedes was to install a fascia which looks like there is no hitch; when you want the hitch, you pop out a panel and bolt the receiver to the actual bumper (which is steel or thick aluminum and acts as a sub-frame). The hitch itself slides into the receiver (which has a square cross-section) and is locked in place with a pin.

My Yukon Denali has the same system. You can definitely see the edges of the plastic panel that pops off. It's a little odd there isn't one on this vehicle. Maybe Tesla really will only instal hitches when optioned.

 

[goneskiian]

Wow, you guys are really setting yourselves up for disappointment. What you see is the final car. Tesla does not have the resources to maintain a separate fleet of secret Model Xs with a completely different design. That's not how things work.

Oh well, at least you'll be surprised a little bit when the interior is revealed

+1 Trev Page.

I agree we're seeing the production X here. Can't wait to see the inside. And the lights! ;-)

 

[hockeythug]

It's almost as if they're plasti-dipping the lights in body color and then just scraping off the amount they need to have the legally required lights peeking through. They all seem to have something on the lights.

Not going to rule it out with the rumors of a painted nose cone.

 

[vandacca]

Agreed. I don't know why companies insist that makes the vehicle look rugged. It just looks cheap, IMO. It's not a Jeep Wrangler, just give me a painted fender.

I think that after a few years, your "painted fender" will look really bad with a lot of chips in it. The plastic will wear better IMHO and will look better (after a few years) than a chipped painted fender.

 

[NigelM]

Probably not fitted with the option- the bumper isn't camo'd and you cant see any evidence of a cutout.

This was one of FlatSix911' photos from yesterday:

 

[Lyon]

I think that after a few years, your "painted fender" will look really bad with a lot of chips in it. The plastic will wear better IMHO and will look better (after a few years) than a chipped painted fender.

I've actually had both and, after a few years, generally prefer the paint. The black plastic tends to bleach a little in the sun and ends up sort of a dark grey. That's what happened to the LR3 at least. The painted fenders on my Model S are almost three years old and still look great. Even Land Rover switched to painted with the LR3 and LR4.

 

[Larken]

Wow, you guys are really setting yourselves up for disappointment. What you see is the final car. Tesla does not have the resources to maintain a separate fleet of secret Model Xs with a completely different design. That's not how things work.

Oh well, at least you'll be surprised a little bit when the interior is revealed

I don't mean that it will be a totally different car design wise, sorry if I was unclear. I just think that the we'll see a nicer looking car than the mules as I think that TM has been covering up the mules with what not, to the point of them almost looking as whales. I think/hope TM can produce something a little more eye catching. But what do I know about car manufacturing, I can be totally wrong and I'm not going to be disappointed regardless as I'm a big supporter of TM and I can't wait until this multi year Model X saga is over and see TM focus on the Model 3.

 

[Saghost]

View attachment 91260

Okay, those are new tail-lights. Overall, very nice.

Agree on both points. The new taillights showed up in a video a day or two ago, with almost no detail - the turn signal at the rear was pretty clearly a single horizontal bar that I thought was amber in the video.
Walter

 

[Merrill]

Do not like the plastic fender well edging, hard to keep looking good and does eventually fade. Also on a car costing 90k+ I think it cheapens the total look. Will wait to see the real thing.

 

[Lyon]

Probably not fitted with the option- the bumper isn't camo'd and you cant see any evidence of a cutout.

Perhaps it slots up into the underside of the bumper like my old LR3. This was not a great set up as it limited tongue weight to 500lbs.

 

[mzpolo]

The silence from several forum members is deafening, too busy driving their X's.

Sorry, I am not allowed to post while driving. I will give y'all a better write up "soon".

 

[Lyon]

Found no Instagram via Reddit.

https://instagram.com/p/6lSXyBkjRb/

 

[Hugh Mannity]

The silence from several forum members is deafening, too busy driving their X's.

we all wish!

 

[Saghost]

Found no Instagram via Reddit.

View attachment 91273

https://instagram.com/p/6lSXyBkjRb/

Older car, with Model S lights. But any X pic is a good pic (as long as it isn't repeated 20 times... )

 

[EVenthusiast]

Agree on both points. The new taillights showed up in a video a day or two ago, with almost no detail - the turn signal at the rear was pretty clearly a single horizontal bar that I thought was amber in the video.
Walter

they probably just disabled most of the LEDs to hide any patterns/shape/LED layout.

 

[Electricfan]

Looking at the side view of the car, the windows in particular, was anybody else reminded of the flying sub?

 

[Yuri_G]

Totally. This company does not have the resources to conduct a fake prototype parade. IMO, this IS the car. I don't get the taillights.... one bar of red lights? Something is out of kilter here...

The taillights and headlights still have camo over them. Seems like the cutouts are just big enough to let a legal amount of light through.

 

[MartinAustin]

The taillights and headlights still have camo over them. Seems like the cutouts are just big enough to let a legal amount of light through.

My theory on the brake lights...

1) If you press the brake pedal, you get the full brake light display.
2) if you, the driver, are not pressing the brake pedal, the car is then legally allowed to do some subset of the full brake light, and they have implemented a "braking gauge" type of technique to allow small amounts of regen to translate to a small amount of brake light. It will better inform the drivers that are behind you.

 

[scottf200]

My theory on the brake lights...

1) If you press the brake pedal, you get the full brake light display.
2) if you, the driver, are not pressing the brake pedal, the car is then legally allowed to do some subset of the full brake light, and they have implemented a "braking gauge" type of technique to allow small amounts of regen to translate to a small amount of brake light. It will better inform the drivers that are behind you.

Some legal restrictions there. This post has links to various regulations.

via: Brake Light Actuation

 

[Nosken]

This evening I was parked next to a heavily camouflaged Black Model X-Notice the flat black spray painted panels below the beltline.