Nobody ever posts when there's nothing wrong, so I just though I would. As far as I can tell, the fit & finish of my car, outside and inside, are all as perfect as my eye can detect. A few quibbles about firmware, which I hope will be addressed in future updates. But visually the car seems perfect. Feel free to add yourself to the list of people whose Model 3 is cosmetically perfect.
Congratulations! Curious, what is your VIN? And did you check for sunken hood, bulging headlights, weird panel fit around taillights, etc.?
C'mon! Let people enjoy their 3! I came back to this thread thinking, "Bet it goes negative quickly". Daniel has been a Tesla owner for years. He would know if there were problems.
I think you forgot to measure everything with a caliper. Because apparently to own a nice car, you need a caliper to make sure it's really nice.
I have not noticed anything wrong with my car. Apparently my headlights are a little buldgey but I didn't notice till I saw the thread here and went to look. I do not care. I didn't buy this car because it has the smallest panel gaps. I bought it because it's the best car I can buy.
+1000! Well said. I always thought is was a ball bearing that rolled down the gaps like a labyrinth. Some TV commercial from long ago taught me that. Must be true, I saw it on TV (that was before the truth moved to the internet). And with the magic of the Google:
Just picked up mine today and it looks great! Super happy with it! Fit and Finish is great on it. It also drives amazing, way better than my old S. Feels like a sports car. I just want to drive this thing all day!
Caliper, surely you jest. Don't you know the Model 3 key card is the proper tool as it is photogenic? It's all the rage to use it to check sunken hoods and such and it's right there given to you at delivery.
I betcha if you look carefully there are some scratches in the tires. Just run your fingers and you will feel the roughness.
Of course I jest. In my 30+ years of driving, I have never once thought about a panel gap or even heard the term before 18 months ago in relation to Tesla. If you're 3" from a car when its moving, you are doing something wrong. If your 3" from my car in the drive way, you might get shot.. jk I don't even own a gun. Or maybe I do, I wouldn't risk it..
VIN 5xxx What's a bulging headlight? What constitutes "weird panel fit"? I read that the stones at Machu Picchu are so perfectly fitted that you cannot slide a piece of paper between them. You can slide a piece of paper between the panels of my car. I guess the Incas were better engineers than Tesla. Gosh, way to burst my bubble! I don't even own a caliper. My car does require just a little more force to close the door than other cars I've owned. Is this a defect, or a feature? I'm going to call it a feature so that I can continue to be pleased with it. An electron microscope will find imperfections in anything. Since I don't own an electron microscope I'm not going to worry about that level of perfection. When I look at my car, I see nothing wrong with the fit and finish. Does a Lexus have closer tolerances? Probably. If I cannot see it, and it does not affect function or performance, then it does not matter. There's nothing wrong with my Model 3 that a firmware update can't fix.
I just want to say thank you for this thread. It's natural that unhappy people post, but that can make it difficult for us not-yet-owners to get a sense of the larger reality. Seeing positive threads is helpful.
Only thing wrong with mine at pickup was the fact that it started raining and then snowing so I only got to have it clean for a few minutes. Oh and they forgot to remove the film from my mirrors and screen.
I picked mine up yesterday and was very happy with the fit and finish. But then I noticed a huge scratch on the center display. I thought to myself "how could they let it go out like this?!" I tried to rub it and polish it out, which worked a little bit. Then I realized the screen protector was still on there.
We had this epiphany during our road trip that something didnt look just right. Same thing, screen protector still on it. Wife wanted to keep it on until we got back from our trip as she is "worried about the screen".