Not necessarily, but strengthening the doors and the surrounding frame, and making sure everything fits together right, would add significant cost. Also, it's not a solution that's universially loved, if you look at for instance the BMW i3. If they would chose suicide doors, each door should at least open independently, and the front seat belts should be either attached to the roof or to the seats, not the doors. These issues lead me to think that suicide doors won't be found on the Model 3.
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ProphetM
Member
That seems like overkill for a small 4-door. Ingress/egress is not generally a problem. The only times I commonly see suicide doors are with half-door styles like 3-door coupes and extended cab pickups. They're supposedly going for 'normal' with the model 3 to encourage wide adoption; having the first independently opening suicide doors in the mass market in 40+ years would not be normal. Especially with the way a rear door commonly hangs over the rear wheel well. It already does that on the Model S; on the Model 3 it would be even more pronounced.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
From Elon's talk, I doubt there would be suicide doors. He said he would avoid being too adventurous on the first go in order to get the car out on time. They don't have the time to experiment like with the Model X. There will likely be massive cash burn as they prepare for launching the Model 3, so they can't really afford to do so.
There are numerous safety disadvantages to suicide doors (thus their name) and when getting out on the same side from front and rear, it is possible to get stuck if there is a car next to you. With a conventional door, if you open both front and rear doors at same time, the person in the rear can leave the car first. With suicide doors, both people would be stuck if you open both at the same time.
There are numerous safety disadvantages to suicide doors (thus their name) and when getting out on the same side from front and rear, it is possible to get stuck if there is a car next to you. With a conventional door, if you open both front and rear doors at same time, the person in the rear can leave the car first. With suicide doors, both people would be stuck if you open both at the same time.
wallet.dat
Member
That's just a Model S caricature (though not bad as far as looks go). I suspect the Model 3 will feature styling that is similar to others in the segment it will compete in.
MassModel3
Member
Suicide doors will absolutely kill mass market sales. That's a niche design. I can absolutely, 100%, guarantee that I would never buy it!
So many people expect the M3 to be virtually the same exact car as the MS but for $35,000. I agree the Model S is a great car and I would love to get one for 1/2 or 1/3 the price but there is no way Tesla can do that. Plus Elon specifically said that they would not be doing that.
That car looks great but it is virtually identical to the model S with a slightly different taillight and rear passenger window shape...
sub
Active Member
Being the current owner of an i3 (lease) I can say that suicide doors are a pain compared to normal doors. If they made them independent of each other and removed the front seat belt mount from the door that would help significantly, but still not preferred. Like I've mentioned before, make the model 3 the size of the bmw 3 series and it will be great, make it the size of the i3/leaf/egolf and I have zero interest. Due to range requirements I'm confident tesla will do the right thing.
3 series is 182", Leaf is 175", eGolf is 168" and i3 is 157". So definitely to say the i3/Leaf/eGolf is to talk about 3 totally different sized cars, but even the Leaf is really smaller than the 3 series.
Buckeye2320
Member
Buckeye2320
Member
Derek Jansen replaced Franz von Holzhausen as the head of Mazda design North America. Derek just left Mazda, maybe to come to Tesla to help work on the Model 3 Design. Derek helped develop the Mazda 3 Sedan, Hatchback and now CX-3.
EVNow
Well-Known Member
Didn't realize Golf was 7" shorter than Leaf. BTW, we shouldn't just look at the length, that can be deceiving. Sedans can be longer but with smaller vole than hatches.
jgs
Active Member
That seems quite plausible given what Elon has announced and plus, what I heard from the anonymous person at the charger next to me the other day, who claimed to have seen one of the Tesla clay Model 3 mockups. It was described as being about the same length as a Volt, styled much like a Model S, but a bit taller.
bigbear
Member
I'm guessing there's no way to know if this will seat 5. I'd love to fit my three small children in the back of this thing.
I think the chance of the Model 3 fitting five people is close to 100%. I can't see it fitting more than five people, and only four would be a big mistake.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
Entirely agree! The Model 3 will be a midsize car, not a compact or subcompact, from what I can tell.
bigbear
Member
I hope it can fit 3 booster seats. Do you think the dimensions will be revealed in March too?
MassModel3
Member
I think the Model 3 will seat 5 about the same was that a Camry seats 5 -- there will be a center seat belt and the smallest person in the group gets stuck with the middle seat. The Model S is a wide car and truly has seating for 3 in the back, but 3 average American adult males is still a tight fit. Then take maybe 5 inches off the width of the S and though the 3 may be advertised as "seats 5", realistically that's only if there's no other option available for that fifth person.
But three small children? Easy peasy. I'm sure there will be more than enough room, and with no center hump in a Tesla, all 3 seats will be equally comfortable.
