Doors, Doors, Doors.
It may have escaped the reader's notice that the Model X has some interesting doors. To state it mildly, I've been apprehensive about the falcon wing doors since I placed my reservation. Over the years, I've said that I ordered the X in spite of the doors. Still, I wanted to give them a fair shot when the X arrived. I didn't want to be the little kid who makes a face before he tries his food. Now, I've tried the food. And I must say, it's not my cup of tea.
My first experience with the falcon wing doors was at delivery. They appeared to work well enough, and we drove the car home. Upon arriving in the garage, I tested the door sensors and
the doors opened admirably. However, the passenger side door wouldn't close all the way. I had to force it closed, run a bunch of override procedures, and finally got it to operate properly. Not long after that, the driver's side
falcon wing door started to droop closed whenever open (aka the "sinking falcon"). This was the final item that forced us to drop the X off at the Service Center for those couple of weeks and slew of repairs.
Now that I have the car back, the driver's side door opens and stays open, but it makes a loud TWANG midway through the opening. Both doors make a popping sound when they close. I usually have to make some excuse if I'm showing them to people.
These are all fixable issues, but they speak to the complicated nature of the doors, and the potential for longer term warranty issues. Those aside, there are also problems with functionality.
We are your typical family of four. Two kids, past the toddler stage, who buckle themselves into boosters. The falcon wing doors are often touted as being helpful for parents trying to buckle their kids into seats, so this doesn't really apply much to us (except on occasion when the belt is twisted or some other complication exists). They also are meant to allow easy ingress/egress to the 3rd row. I mentioned before that we have a 6-seat configuration and kids usually just climb through the middle. So as far as the benefits of the doors, our family doesn't realize those. We do get to partake in the drawbacks, though.
There is a tricky spot outside of the car just inside of the open front door. This exists on both sides, but I'll describe it from the driver's side since that's where I typically encounter it. Imagine being parked next to another car or obstruction - in a parking lot, for instance. You or your child open the falcon wing door, and you open the driver's side door. You plan to walk forward, toward the nose of the car, so typically you'd step back toward the opened traditional back door, close yours, and wait for your child. However, stepping back outside of the envelope of the front door means you're in the way of a closing falcon wing door. So you have to have this conversation with the rear seat passenger about when to close the door. Usually in my family that manifests as me saying "I'll get it after we walk away." It's an interaction that isn't a huge deal when the passenger is your kid, but if it's an adult, it seems like an unnecessary addition to the driver/passenger relationship.
There are times when I think front suicide doors would make a better partner with those doors. You'd have the hinge on the same side as the falcon wing door, and getting out of the car you'd never be in the way of the closing falcon wing. But the last thing we need is more craziness.
Other annoyances - my kids are a little afraid of them closing. They'll often hit the button and run to get away from the closing door (again, "I'll get it!"). My daughter cannot open the door because it's too difficult for her 6 year old hand to press the door handle. When opening the door, you have to push, then step back, if you have room, or step forward to the front of the door. Hopefully you don't have the driver's side door open at the same time, or you'll find yourself in that tricky spot again. I'm still not fully comfortable with the door swing clearing neighboring objects, though I imagine that'll come in time. The doors attract a lot of attention, something I don't really desire.
So that's my take on the falcon wing doors. I almost always make a comment about them when I'm showing the car. "I wish it didn't. But it does. Here are the things the car does well, though."
Oh, but what about those automated front doors? Well, I don't use auto-present since the doors themselves don't have proximity sensors in them. I don't want to ding a neighboring car for some added convenience. Stopping the doors when they are in the process of opening is always a little weird. They have a setting to which they want to open, based on the falcon wing door sensor. You have to grab and hold the door if you don't want it to open that much. It's not a struggle, but it's weird to fight the door. Auto-close is nice. I like being able to open my wife's door with the touchscreen when I'm picking her up. There are some benefits to the motors on the front doors, but I'm currently in a neutral position on them. I definitely have a negative outlook on auto-present for now, since I've heard about the doors hitting other people's vehicles.
I might as well mention the liftgate. The Model X is a tall vehicle. The liftgate is larger than that of the Model S, and the spoiler is generally deployed (for those of us with an active spoiler) when it opens. Clearance isn't great indoors. I have it set to stop at a safe height, but anytime I'm outdoors, I wind up manually pushing it all the way open. This compares unfavorably to our Odyssey, whose tailgate could open fully in the garage, allowing incredible access to the rear cargo area. Hopefully Tesla will begin to use the roof mounted proximity sensor to make this more variable in future firmware.
Conclusion on Doors
It's probably clear I'd prefer standard doors front and back on the Model X. Well, too bad for me because the Model X has falcon wing doors. I'm adapting but I don't think I'll ever like or love them. If I were someone who carried adults or large children in the third row and had a 7-seat configuration, I may feel differently. Also, those who buckle three infants across in a 7-seat configuration may also find some benefits to the doors. However, I have to think that the majority of use cases aren't those.
There is one thing that I think the falcon wing doors made possible, though.. and that's the next post.
