Those annoying ‘Little Things’

[PRSIST]

My wife has a 2016 Nissan Murano and it is amazing what little things you miss or just don’t consider when buying a car. Like: A/C ducts next to the front doors reflecting on the driver and passenger windows so that when looking in the side mirrors the first thing you see is the A/C duct’s reflection; or black cloth seats that get dirty really really fast; and there are others. All cars have something that annoys us after we buy them that may or may not have convinced us not to buy the car in the first place.

So to help all of us future Model 3 owner’s out, do any of you current Tesla owners have any annoying little things that you notice with your cars and would recommend that we check it out in the Model 3??

 

[RayW]

OK, I'll start:
No place to put trash
No coat hangers
No dome lights when the doors open at night
No storage in center arm rest (I've yet to figure out why it's so large, but doesn't open)
Small glove box (What else is taking up space in the dash?)
No place to mount a cell phone

 

[PRSIST]

OK, I'll start:
No place to put trash
No coat hangers
No dome lights when the doors open at night
No storage in center arm rest (I've yet to figure out why it's so large, but doesn't open)
Small glove box (What else is taking up space in the dash?)
No place to mount a cell phone

EXCELLENT...now that is what will help me and other a lot! Thanks!

 

[garsh]

I thought this was going to be a thread about kids.

 

[RayW]

EXCELLENT...now that is what will help me and other a lot! Thanks!

BTW, you forget about those annoyances after driving the car about 30-secs

 

[PRSIST]

OK, I'll start:
No place to put trash
No coat hangers
No dome lights when the doors open at night
No storage in center arm rest (I've yet to figure out why it's so large, but doesn't open)
Small glove box (What else is taking up space in the dash?)
No place to mount a cell phone

Coat hangers, dome lights, center console storage, all seems like pretty basic stuff to me. Is this on the S or X?

 

[PRSIST]

BTW, you forget about those annoyances after driving the car about 30-secs

Considering it is a Tesla I can understand that statement, but I drove a Nissan Altima on a recent trip to Chicago and the large non-padded center console had my right knee bruised in a very short time. Now that would have been an annoying little thing I would want to know about before buying that Altima.

I test drove a Model S here in Phoenix, and one thing I did notice was that the driver's door had some molding or something that I kept bumping into when I moved my left arm. I'd like to test drive it again and see if I get the same impression.

 

[RayW]

Coat hangers, dome lights, center console storage, all seems like pretty basic stuff to me. Is this on the S or X?

That's on the S.
I should clarify something. I didn't notice those "annoyances" when taking delivery because, well, I just got a shiny new Tesla. It wasn't until later I noticed those things, and then it really was of no concern. Coat hangers, trash reciprocals, coin storage, etc are expected at that price but shouldn't be a factor in your purchase... it's a Tesla thing, I guess.

 

[aronth5]

My wife has a 2016 Nissan Murano and it is amazing what little things you miss or just don’t consider when buying a car. Like: A/C ducts next to the front doors reflecting on the driver and passenger windows so that when looking in the side mirrors the first thing you see is the A/C duct’s reflection; or black cloth seats that get dirty really really fast; and there are others. All cars have something that annoys us after we buy them that may or may not have convinced us not to buy the car in the first place.

So to help all of us future Model 3 owner’s out, do any of you current Tesla owners have any annoying little things that you notice with your cars and would recommend that we check it out in the Model 3??

Well one thing you won't have to worry about is seeing the A/C duct's reflection since all evidence points to no dash vents

 

[MS16]

On the S, it's annoying that the following are missing.

Coat hooks
Grab handles
Apple CarPlay
Siri Hands Free
Hands free text messaging
Memory passenger seat
Adjustable headrests
Memory seat settings and adjustments on the door
Way points on Nav
Easily accessed Recirc button
Roll out pano roof shade
A well designed center console
BLIS system
A place to stow the tow hook
A radio that will turn off

 

[Spidy]

Needing Bluetooth for the Phone instead of just using a cable or dock.

I get the phone out of the pocket anyway and I always have Bluetooth disabled.

 

[arnis]

On the S, it's annoying that the following are missing.

Coat hooks
Grab handles
Apple CarPlay
Siri Hands Free
Hands free text messaging
Memory passenger seat
Adjustable headrests
Memory seat settings and adjustments on the door
Way points on Nav
Easily accessed Recirc button
Roll out pano roof shade
A well designed center console
BLIS system
A place to stow the tow hook
A radio that will turn off

Coat hooks - why not.
Grab handles - why not
Apple CarPlay - definitely Android Auto as well.
Siri Hands Free - All other voice recognition "operators" as well
Hands free text messaging - read-a-loud is definitely doable. Though speech recognition for answering also possible.
Memory passenger seat - depends. If seat servos have positional memory (expensive) then it is just a software upgrade
Adjustable headrests - Security problem. Most car manufacturers are moving away from adjustable headrests as majority
ignores correct positioning. Therefore either automatic or one-for-all solution is better.
Memory seat settings and adjustments on the door - Memory seat is available now AFAIK. Adjustments on the door makes
things too complicated. Idea of memory is that you set it and forget it. No need for buttons you use once a month.
Way points on Nav - definitely, shame that they still don't have that.
Easily accessed Recirc button - doesn't Tesla have automatic recirculation according to air quality outside (sensor?)
Roll out pano roof shade - one of the things that I have suggested like gazillion times.
A well designed center console - it's getting better
BLIS system - what about solution below? Would that work.
A place to stow the tow hook - weird, a special styrophone block is enough (trunk in the "kids footwell" compartment).
Actually, it should be mandatory as no OEM equipment in the vehicle is allowed to be "not secured".
A radio that will turn off - today that is not possible as there is no classic "radio". It has other functions that must be kept active.

BLIS. Though Tesla has some weak warning, that is definitely not appropriate.
I would suggest them "triple-level" BLIS:
Level 1: faint orange if vehicle detected and car not in autopilot (manual driving)

Level 2: blinking bright orange if vehicle detected and driver switched on turn indicator or is too close (70cm?)

Level 3: blinking bright orange with rapid beeping (optionally steering wheel torque in opposite direction) if distance
is way too close (less than 40cm) or 50-60cm without turn signal.

 

[democappy]

OK, I'll start:
No place to put trash
No coat hangers
No dome lights when the doors open at night
No storage in center arm rest (I've yet to figure out why it's so large, but doesn't open)
Small glove box (What else is taking up space in the dash?)
No place to mount a cell phone

None of these bother me, but that last one reminded me that I am still bothered by the stupid charging dock that no cell phone with a case on can fit into. That helped sell me on PUP and it turned out to be 100% worthless.

 

[democappy]

On the S, it's annoying that the following are missing.
Memory passenger seat

I didn't even know I wanted this until you mentioned it and NOW I am bothered it doesn't have it

When it is just me and my 3 year old in the car I want the passenger seat as far up as possible to prevent him from putting his feet all over the back of it, but when my wife is with us she needs to move it back. I can't tell you how many times I have had to strain to reach over from the driver seat to the controls on the far side of the passenger seat to move it up after realizing too late the seat was still back.

 

[eisbock]

Considering it is a Tesla I can understand that statement, but I drove a Nissan Altima on a recent trip to Chicago and the large non-padded center console had my right knee bruised in a very short time. Now that would have been an annoying little thing I would want to know about before buying that Altima.

I test drove a Model S here in Phoenix, and one thing I did notice was that the driver's door had some molding or something that I kept bumping into when I moved my left arm. I'd like to test drive it again and see if I get the same impression.

Well you're in for a world of hurt (to both your knee and wallet) when you sit in the Model 3 with that giant iPad sticking out into your legroom.

 

[eisbock]

On the S, it's annoying that the following are missing.

Coat hooks
Grab handles
Apple CarPlay
Siri Hands Free
Hands free text messaging
Memory passenger seat
Adjustable headrests
Memory seat settings and adjustments on the door
Way points on Nav
Easily accessed Recirc button
Roll out pano roof shade
A well designed center console
BLIS system
A place to stow the tow hook
A radio that will turn off

wow

This is shocking, especially some of the software options when this car is basically a computer on wheels.

 

[eisbock]

Coat hooks - why not.
Grab handles - why not
Apple CarPlay - definitely Android Auto as well.
Siri Hands Free - All other voice recognition "operators" as well
Hands free text messaging - read-a-loud is definitely doable. Though speech recognition for answering also possible.
Memory passenger seat - depends. If seat servos have positional memory (expensive) then it is just a software upgrade
Adjustable headrests - Security problem. Most car manufacturers are moving away from adjustable headrests as majority
ignores correct positioning. Therefore either automatic or one-for-all solution is better.
Memory seat settings and adjustments on the door - Memory seat is available now AFAIK. Adjustments on the door makes
things too complicated. Idea of memory is that you set it and forget it. No need for buttons you use once a month.
Way points on Nav - definitely, shame that they still don't have that.
Easily accessed Recirc button - doesn't Tesla have automatic recirculation according to air quality outside (sensor?)
Roll out pano roof shade - one of the things that I have suggested like gazillion times.
A well designed center console - it's getting better
BLIS system - what about solution below? Would that work.
A place to stow the tow hook - weird, a special styrophone block is enough (trunk in the "kids footwell" compartment).
Actually, it should be mandatory as no OEM equipment in the vehicle is allowed to be "not secured".
A radio that will turn off - today that is not possible as there is no classic "radio". It has other functions that must be kept active.

BLIS. Though Tesla has some weak warning, that is definitely not appropriate.
I would suggest them "triple-level" BLIS:
Level 1: faint orange if vehicle detected and car not in autopilot (manual driving)

Level 2: blinking bright orange if vehicle detected and driver switched on turn indicator or is too close (70cm?)

Level 3: blinking bright orange with rapid beeping (optionally steering wheel torque in opposite direction) if distance
is way too close (less than 40cm) or 50-60cm without turn signal.

I sure hope there is no blind spot warning or any of that crap. It's annoying and unnecessary when you can just adjust your mirrors to see your blind spot.

One of the things I actually like about Tesla is the lack of flashing orange lights and obnoxious warnings that you see on luxury cars. It's so clean and personally I think it's more obnoxious and gimmicky than safe. I don't want to see flashing orange in my peripherals every time I pass a car or a car passes me. I don't want my steering wheel to rumble when I cross a lane. Sometimes I'm the only guy on the road and don't feel like using my blinker when changing lanes. Or maybe I want to take the racing line around a curve to maximize fuel efficiency and minimize tire wear.

If these "features" are present, I just hope you can disable them.

 

[JeffK]

wow

This is shocking, especially some of the software options when this car is basically a computer on wheels.

Some of them are a little gimmicky and/or vendor specific. Siri hands free wouldn't help my android phone. Apple car play? no.

Voice activated stuff... nah, unless possibly if it was good enough that it recognizes specific users (the driver) like Google home supposedly does, regardless of what's on the radio.

Now for (near) future proofing will it have thunderbolt 3 ports? That is the real question.

 

[Az_Rael]

Have the non-lighted vanity mirrors on the S been listed? I tried to use them in the dark the other day like a dumba--.

My biggest beef with the S is the lack of an adjustable seat belt height. I have to use a leather seat belt cover pad to minimize the discomfort on long trips. Apparently the X has it, and I think I spotted those in the prototype 3, so hopefully that won't be a missing thing in the 3.

No dome lights when the doors open at night

Weird - mine has a dome light option. The lights come on quite bright at night when I open the doors. Maybe its part of the premium lighting package?

 

[eisbock]

OK, I'll start:
No place to put trash
No coat hangers
No dome lights when the doors open at night
No storage in center arm rest (I've yet to figure out why it's so large, but doesn't open)
Small glove box (What else is taking up space in the dash?)
No place to mount a cell phone

wtf there's no storage in the arm rest? There's all this talk about basic unalienable rights for humans, and I always thought armrest storage was one of those when it comes to cars.

You know, for a car that touts more cargo space than any other vehicle in its class, it really doesn't have a lot of space to put things.

I wonder what this means for Model 3. It will clearly have a ton of cubic footage, but will it actually be usable unless you're moving something huge like a dresser? Even then, you still wouldn't be able to use it because of the small trunk opening!