My biggest surprise? They didn't show the seats folded for max cargo

[MileHighMotoring]

Of course the auto-open doors and auto-adjusting wings are awesome. But I'm pretty shocked they didn't show maximum cargo mode - all rear seats folded.

 

[sunilsf]

I think it was intentional to avoid having to directly speak to why the second row doesn't fold (especially when they made this a big deal at the prior Model X event where they showed both rows folding flat).

 

[Jeva]

it might be simply because they don't though I find that unlikely. Maybe folding seats is so common he felt it a pedestrian thing to show.

 

[EternalChampion]

I thought the new silver color looked amazing.

 

[Yggdrasill]

That's because the 2nd row seats don't fold. Seems like they expect everyone to carry their large stuff outside the car. Foldgate continues.

 

[Cyclone]

The 3rd row seats and the UI were the biggest disappointments in being left out of the demo.

 

[EternalChampion]

Also no comment on new headlights. Especially after they went through painstaking efforts to hide them for so long.

 

[Pale Rider]

The 3rd row seats and the UI were the biggest disappointments in being left out of the demo.

+1. Count me underwhelmed. I'll hang on to my reservation, and will try to see one in person ASAP. But this is not the, ahem, uber-car I hoped for.

 

[SebastianR]

Called it ;-)

I thought the event was good, large crowd of very excited people, the usual house music while everyone waited, Elon about 20 minutes late, short speech about the long wait but vehicle more awesome than ever, really worth the wait, unveiling of the new front (LED lights FTW!), demo of falcon doors (yep, they will fit your garage), no word about 2nd seat row, one by one hand-over of keys and very happy customers leaving the factory. Elon still not at Steve Jobs level of public speaking but we still love him for his slight nerdy charm.

My take: lots of happy people, shorts will try to make 2nd seat row a big issue, longs happy the wait is finally over. Now wait for glowing review of consumer reports & also for horribly wrong, misleading and disingenuous articles in WSJ & New York Times. All in all - 8/10 would watch again.

EDIT: I believe it is to show how much the thing can store / pack even without any folding. If you take a VW up! you need to fold seats just to keep a handbag in the car. The Model X is so huge, you don't need to worry about folding anything unless you want to literally want to use it as a moving truck. This shouldn't happen in daily application of the car too often...

 

[dwebb66]

I think it was intentional to avoid having to directly speak to why the second row doesn't fold (especially when they made this a big deal at the prior Model X event where they showed both rows folding flat).

Elon stated the the second row seats are the way that they are so the you can enter the third row with child safe seats installed in the second row. I know that this does not address the question about being able to carry a 4'x8' piece of plywood...

 

[Wshowell]

My biggest surprise was the fact that after seeing it, I don't think I want one. Well I do want one but not any more than I want a Model S. I'm relieved actually that I can be perfectly content to shop in the CPO Model S marketplace in the spring, keep more $$ invested and not be green with envy when I eventually see an X in the wild. Anyone else feel "meh" about tonight's launch? Like watching the iPad mini announcement.

 

[tinm]

My biggest surprise is that Tesla didn't figure out a way to hide the insightly wires that run all along the top of the windshield all the way to the rear-view mirror and prolly auto-pilot camera gear. Wow, that line looks UGLY. I mentioned this weeks/months ago, as soon as I heard the windshield was all the way up to the Falcon doors.... how would they handle the rear-view mirror cables.... it appears they handled them.... poorly.

 

[sub]

My biggest surprise was the fact that after seeing it, I don't think I want one. Well I do want one but not any more than I want a Model S. I'm relieved actually that I can be perfectly content to shop in the CPO Model S marketplace in the spring, keep more $$ invested and not be green with envy when I eventually see an X in the wild. Anyone else feel "meh" about tonight's launch? Like watching the iPad mini announcement.

I had the opposite thought, I wasn't super excited about the exterior design of the model X and figured I would look at CPO S or wait for a Model 3. However, I thought it looked very good and is very functional. I'm very happy the nose cone is gone and hope they upgrade the Model S nose. I couldn't care less about the 2nd row seats, I'll buy a trailer for $500 and tow it when necessary and be able to carry way more stuff without messing up my 100k vehicle. It's more of a stretch financially then I'm ready for but my wife watched the live steam with me and must have said 10x she wants one.

 

[Owner]

Its really geared as a more of a mini-van or large family SUV. Not for someone who cares about bringing home lumber or carrying paddle boards.

 

[Wshowell]

I had the opposite thought, I wasn't super excited about the exterior design of the model X and figured I would look at CPO S or wait for a Model 3. However, I thought it looked very good and is very functional. I'm very happy the nose cone is gone and hope they upgrade the Model S nose. I couldn't care less about the 2nd row seats, I'll buy a trailer for $500 and tow it when necessary and be able to carry way more stuff without messing up my 100k vehicle. It's more of a stretch financially then I'm ready for but my wife watched the live steam with me and must have said 10x she wants one.

I think then that Tesla may be hitting their target market with both cars. The X was supposed to be designed based on the input of moms and family oriented activities. For us, we have been there and done that already with a mini van for 8 years when the kids were little and now my wife has a fully loaded newer Honda Pilot for hauling around our teens. She has no desire to change to anything until we are empty nesters in a few years. I'm late 40's so the S is probably designed more around my wants and needs and the X is not. If I wasn't considering the S then it'd be a 5 series. So, they know what they're doing and after seeing the launch they are appealing to their target demographic(s) very well. Should bode well for TSLA.

 

[Blastphemy]

Its really geared as a more of a mini-van or large family SUV. Not for someone who cares about bringing home lumber or carrying paddle boards.

This is in no way a minivan or large family SUV. It's not even a foot taller than the Model S (4'8" for a Model S vs. 5'4" for a Model X), and it's barely 2" longer. Does the extra 5" of width make it a large SUV? Not for me.

 

[Todd Burch]

My biggest surprise is that Tesla didn't figure out a way to hide the insightly wires that run all along the top of the windshield all the way to the rear-view mirror and prolly auto-pilot camera gear. Wow, that line looks UGLY. I mentioned this weeks/months ago, as soon as I heard the windshield was all the way up to the Falcon doors.... how would they handle the rear-view mirror cables.... it appears they handled them.... poorly.

I see you're doing a little bit of armchair engineering. How would you handle it, keeping in mind cost, weight, and manufacturing concerns? Transmit all that wirelessly? It could be done, but would be a rather expensive solution that would eat into margins.

Are you saying that given the choice of having an opaque roof that goes all the way across, vs. a windshield that stretches past the top of your head (but with a thin wireway that goes straight back), you'd choose the opaque roof?

 

[cbin97]

I was ready to reserve for my wife tonight, but it seems as though I will have an easier time with my surfboards in my model S. I surf at least 3 times a week and when I go with my kids we take 4 boards (currently in a Nissan Armada) and I don't see how this is possible in an X with no folding seats and no roof rack. Going to have to go with plan b which was buy the X and get a classic car for around 10k that we use for beach.

 

[CDT]

I was ready to reserve for my wife tonight, but it seems as though I will have an easier time with my surfboards in my model S. I surf at least 3 times a week and when I go with my kids we take 4 boards (currently in a Nissan Armada) and I don't see how this is possible in an X with no folding seats and no roof rack. Going to have to go with plan b which was buy the X and get a classic car for around 10k that we use for beach.

My Model S is a great surf car except for one thing, where do you put the key fob when you paddle out? Your plan is the way to go.

 

[Larry]

Its really geared as a more of a mini-van or large family SUV. Not for someone who cares about bringing home lumber or carrying paddle boards.

Exactly! My last vehicle was large SUV-Dodge Durango. You couldn't carry plywood or 2x4x8's in the back either. This vehicle isn't made for that type of capacity and neither are the ICE SUV's. Get a pickup with an 8 foot bed if you need to haul that type of cargo. Also vehicles this size shouldn't haul more then 5000 lbs or you run into the tail wagging the dog which is obviously dangerous. Again get a pickup.