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I "kinda' like it. Doors are very cool but I have a hard time seeing how to keep out the rain when we have our tropical summer rainstorms. Also worried that the height simply won't fit the amount of covered we have locally and/or parking in my garage. FWD is a plus, but I can only see the price being north of the Model S so I'm 99.9% certain I'm not going to change my plans in that regard.
 
The falcon doors are a solution looking for a problem IMHO. Motorizing adds weight, complexity, potential to fail, potential to hit things or trap kids' limbs.

At this stage of the game they don't need to be wasting engineering resource on making many iterations to get stuff like that to work. It's the kind of thing I would more likely expect from Fisker.
 
I am still not sure what to think of the Model X. I don't dislike it, but it does not scream "Buy Me ASAP!" to me like the Model S does. I definitely would not consider this an SUV (When I think SUV, I think Chevy Trail Blazer or Ford Explorer). I would not classify it as a crossover either, but it is closer to this category than it is to an SUV. The car that it actually reminds me the most of is the Honda Crosstour (add gull wing doors and a third row to the crosstour, and you would have essentially an ICE Model X.) I think that the Model X is actually a new class of vehicle, and cannot be compared to traditional SUV's, Crossovers, or Minivans.

As far as the doors, they are undoubtedly cool, but they make this vehicle a no-go for me due to the low overhead clearance of my garage door ( I would not be able to have both the car doors and the garage door open at the same time) They also seems to add allot of complexity to the design, and create additional failure points. I do understand why they are on the model X, however. With the low ground clearance, three rows of seating, and open center console area, all the model X would need is sliding doors, and it would be a full on mini van. Mini vans are many thing, but cool is not one of them, and since Tesla has worked hard to build an image as the "Cool car company", building a true mini van is simply not an option. The "falcon doors" are tesla's way of saying "Im as practical as a mini van, and your friends will not make fun of you for driving me"
 
looking at the skateboard with the 4WD option, I'm a bit disappointed when looking @ the front 150HP motor...I love the compact nature of the PEM/Motor inline with the back axle. It looks like they went another way up front and didn't incorporate the same compact design and instead suspended the motor higher over the axle, making it look more like a typical ICE motor placement. Does anyone have a guess about why?
 
The falcon doors are a solution looking for a problem IMHO. Motorizing adds weight, complexity, potential to fail, potential to hit things or trap kids' limbs.

At this stage of the game they don't need to be wasting engineering resource on making many iterations to get stuff like that to work. It's the kind of thing I would more likely expect from Fisker.

Very much with you here. I do like the looks... but I would much rather have "normal" doors. There are simply too many issues, like reliability, snow / rain / frozen doors issues and height clearance in garages or parking lots.
 
After looking through the photos and videos, here's my personal take on the Model X, with some questions :-



FALCON DOOR THOUGHTS :-

• I wish they have been brave and gone with full width 'falcon' door. See my mockup… But the design of the folding falcon door has the potential to cause problems.

• Do the doors rising / opening have any form of detection for obstructions ? .. are they going to power themselves into low garage ceilings, or up into remote-control garage doors? or leave a nice door impression on the car parked next to it ?

• Do the doors have some sort of automated seal that inflates to seal the door from wind noise ?

• Will the automated door have any rim sensing of obstructions around its closing edges ? I once had a very bad experience in a ford GT40 when the roof section of its suicide door nearly split my skull …

• What happens if there's rain / snow on the roof top and the falcon door tips it all into the car ? Have they designed around this problem ?

• I know that Elon mentions that the overall height of the Falcon door is no more than a raised hatch on an Audi Q7, but this could actually be more than 8ft by the looks of things.



PERFORMANCE VERSION ?

• On the gigaom video interview Elon mentions (at 4m30) that its quicker than a 911C4 but adds "it will still go zero to 60 miles an hour in about 4.4 seconds, and that’s not even the Performance model". Sounds very interesting to me ! Since the Model X is essentially a Model S platform with an additional motor, I would have thought that a 'performance' version will be seriously quick. Not sure how many soccer moms would buy that though !


Hands-on video with Tesla Cleantech News and Analysis



MODEL S - 4WD version ?

This seems logically possible given the shared platform between the Model X / S. Hmm, a Model S with 4WD from twin motors - yay :)




VIRTUAL WING MIRRORS / BULLET CAM …

• Bullet cams replacing big wing mirrors would be welcome by many car manufacturers for aerodynamic reasons amongst others, but existing regulations prevent using bullet cams and screens. However, Elon mentions that if they were used the image would be shown on "the screen". If this was on the giant central screen, this would feel very odd. They could be displayed either side of the main dash instrumentation to give a more normal L/R feel.

• A SOLUTION ? How about using a thin film bright OLED screen, placed on the area of a side window glass that the driver normally looks through to see the wing mirrors. The image displayed would show the view from the Bullet cams ... (hmmm, this seems patentable …)



THE GIANT TOUCHSCREEN ..

• I've not been anywhere near a Model S, but I am curious to know if its any more protected than a 17inch laptop screen ?

• … and will it have any controls on it that a young kid could 'play' with as you're driving ?



And finally, being a watch collector, I noticed Elon was wearing an analog watch with a big T logo on it !




I don't dislike it, but it does not scream "Buy Me ASAP!"



This kind of full width falcon door mockup would make me slap down an order today ... :-


ModelXBFDversion1.jpg
 
I'm rather baffled by all of the people concerned about the height of the doors. Do you live in munkin houses or something? The standard ceiling is 8'. I suspect people think the doors go far higher than the really do. The doors don't look to reach any higher than the height you'd need to put a tallish bag of groceries on top of the car, like a tall wine bottle or large sized cereal box.

The bit about snow I can understand. I'm sure rain just runs off through rain gutters, same as opening the trunk/hatchback.

The doors make access really nice. I liked how people could stand up and walk out. That'd be very convenient for anyone older that stooping or scooching along the back seats to get in and out would be painful. I don' t really like it that much, but there are very few SUVish things I do like. I dislike SUVs in general. My wife's Acura RDX looks pretty good, but that just brings it to "meh" status on looks for me so "meh" is probably as good as my reaction would ever be to an SUV.
 
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I'm rather baffled by all of the people concerned about the height of the doors. Do you live in munkin houses or something? The standard ceiling is 8'. I suspect people think the doors go far higher than the really do. The doors don't reach any higher than the height you'd need to put a tallish bag of groceries on top of the car, like a tall wine bottle or large sized cereal box.

The bit about snow I can understand. I'm sure rain just runs off through rain gutters, same as opening the trunk/hatchback.
I think it's a legitimate concern. I have a garage with a nice tall roof, but can tell you that I think those doors would hit the garage door opener where it hangs down--if it misses them it won't be by much. And while I can open the hatch without hitting my garage door (which is lower than the ceiling), it also is a close call. But it has the advantage that i can control how fast and h ow far that hatch goes up and can stop it if it's going to hit (as when I'm in an unfamiliar garage).

Anyway, I don't think, on average, the doors would be a big issue in real life for most people. That said, I think it wil be something that people will say "That won't work for me" and walk away from the car without much further consideration. it's not like you can take it home and try it out for a week or so to see if it works for you. Add to that the fact that there's no easy way to attach a roof rack/cargo box, bike rack to the roof and I think you're going to have a lot of people look at it and say"that doesn't offer me what I want out of an SUV".
 
PERFORMANCE VERSION ?

• On the gigaom video interview Elon mentions (at 4m30) that its quicker than a 911C4 but adds "it will still go zero to 60 miles an hour in about 4.4 seconds, and that’s not even the Performance model". Sounds very interesting to me ! Since the Model X is essentially a Model S platform with an additional motor, I would have thought that a 'performance' version will be seriously quick. Not sure how many soccer moms would buy that though !

I am pretty sure that Tesla is maxing out the instantaneous current draw from the batteries to get 4.4 in the S and X. I don't think any amount of motor HP is going to get any better. Only a larger battery, or different chemistry will get them further.
 
I like the idea of non-traditional doors, the wide unobstructed opening seems really practical. I would, however, have preferred doors that slide up, rather than fold up. Imagine a regular mini-van's sliding door function, only going up and over the car. Not sure if that makes sense or is feasible, but that would have helped with the issue of height and rain.
 
I missed two things that I flew out to hear in person. 1] the price. 2] the range. Was I distracted by something, or did Elon simply leave these details out?

MotorTrend had this about range:

Given the Model X's greater CdxA, it'll have between 10 to 12 percent less driving range, meaning between about 214 to 267 miles, depending on the battery you've got.

Read more: Tesla Model X Prototype Preview Ride - Motor Trend


Not sure if that is based on their own calculations or if they got it from someone.
 
I'm rather baffled by all of the people concerned about the height of the doors. Do you live in munkin houses or something? The standard ceiling is 8'. I suspect people think the doors go far higher than the really do. The doors don't look to reach any higher than the height you'd need to put a tallish bag of groceries on top of the car, like a tall wine bottle or large sized cereal box.
The problem is really with garage door openers than the ceiling itself. Our garage is taller than 8' - but the garage door opener hangs down to the level just above (?) the opened door. I suspect almost all garages are that way.

Infact, it looks like even in Elon's garage the door would have hit the opener if it was not in the middle of the car. In 2 car garages with a single door, the opener would be in the middle of the garage and the wing will hit it if it is below 7' 6".
 
The problem is really with garage door openers than the ceiling itself. Our garage is taller than 8' - but the garage door opener hangs down to the level just above (?) the opened door. I suspect almost all garages are that way.

Infact, it looks like even in Elon's garage the door would have hit the opener if it was not in the middle of the car. In 2 car garages with a single door, the opener would be in the middle of the garage and the wing will hit it if it is below 7' 6".

My garage ceiling is 8' 6". The lowest part of the door mechanism is the guide bracket in the center of the door which comes down to 6' 11", but otherwise the door itself is 7' 2" from the floor across the whole width. Surprisingly, the tailgate of my wife's Mountaineer opens to 6' 6" at the highest point.
 
How many of you have tried to sit in the 3rd row in a regular minivan?
It is usually difficult to get in and out of and you force the mid-size children to go back there. If you need to seat more than 5 people, this is a huge step forward. You sacrifice roof racks, but I personally have dealt with the annoying 3rd row many many times, but have only once or twice dealt with a roof rack. For my bicycles I greatly prefer a hitch mounted bike rack. I don't care about the roof rack.

I am eager to see one in person.
 
Some misc. thoughts about the X:
Steering wheel apears to have touchscreen type controls for volume, track skip, and calling. That doesn't seem very intuitive for an application where you shouldn't be looking down to see what you're pressing. Coolness getting in the way of good humaninterface design I think.
The center console is an armrest transitioning into a bucket between the seats. Better than what we've seen so far on the S, but I'd still prefer to have cup holders and other storage for small things there instead. Would be good for throwing a purse or whatever though.