When will Tesla update Model 3 interior?

[stcptl]

Tesla has recently attempted to address the criticism of its Model S and X interiors with a thorough refresh.

I, as many others, find the interior of the Model 3 (and Y) to be too stark and not befitting a luxury/premium vehicle. For comparison, below is the photo of the comparable Mercedes C-Class’ new interior.

When will Tesla update the Model 3 interior?

 

[jjrandorin]

Its NOT a "luxury / premium vehicle", thats the mistake people make. They are not going back to that interior (they simplified X and S). Any updates will not be to add dials and gauges. It might be to add a HUD or an even bigger screen, or a screen that swivels from the factory or something.

A model 3 is a 25k car with a 20k Battery. Its not a "luxury" car, even if the price makes people think it is. I love mine for what it is, but a luxury car it is not (coming from almost 20 years of BMW ownership).

 

[Watts_Up]

Since the battery and powertrain are the most important components of an EV,
any not essential luxury items will not be added to the base models,
such as the Model 3 and the Model Y, to keep the price down.

May be you prefer cars offering a laundry list of expensive options,
to compensate for mediocre performance and range.

But the Tesla approach is to provide the same car interiors for all the versions,
so the basic RWD and the flaship Performance are identical.

 

[stcptl]

Since the battery and powertrain are the most important components of an EV,
any not essential luxury items will not be added to the base models,
such as the Model 3 and the Model Y, to keep the price down.

May be you prefer cars offering a laundry list of expensive options,
to compensate for mediocre performance and range.

But the Tesla approach is to provide the same car interiors for all the versions,
so the basic RWD and the flaship Performance are identical.

Actually, some of the new competitors offer better range and some even better performance than Tesla eg Lucid Air

While Model 3 and Y are the entry level models, they are still pricey compared to mainstream vehicles and are comparably priced to entry level luxury cars. So in that regard, they ARE premium vehicles. I think Tesla just hasn’t gotten there yet with the massive multi-year ramp up that is ongoing. With falling battery costs and increasing competition over the coming years, more needs to be offered to stay competitive.

I don’t necessarily want dials and gauges but instead premium finishes and materials such stitched (vegan) leather doortops and dash, clever use of ambient lighting, higher quality metals, woods, accents etc. An instrument cluster and HUD (how expensive is it to put in an extra small screen?) Additional features such as messaging seats with greater adjustability, more sound deadening etc would be nice too.

 

[alexgr]

Its NOT a "luxury / premium vehicle", thats the mistake people make. They are not going back to that interior (they simplified X and S). Any updates will not be to add dials and gauges. It might be to add a HUD or an even bigger screen, or a screen that swivels from the factory or something.

A model 3 is a 25k car with a 20k Battery. Its not a "luxury" car, even if the price makes people think it is. I love mine for what it is, but a luxury car it is not (coming from almost 20 years of BMW ownership).

Model 3 IS a luxury car by functionality and performance. For an ordinary luxury car, the Model 3 lacks natural leather and natural wood everywhere, and the massage my a$$ function. Model 3 is just another kind of luxury.

 

[alexgr]

messaging seats with greater adjustability,

Yes, Facebook in my a$$, now I know what's missing!!!

 

[Watts_Up]

The only "luxury" options for which I would be very interested in, is the adaptive air suspension for the 3 and Y.
There was a lot of talk about it, in particular Sandy Munroe mentioned that he found the bolting locations.

Even Elon Musk talked about it, but currently it seems that there are no plans for it,
may be to better differentiate the S and the Y.

 

[stcptl]

While not everyone wants “luxury” and such features but many do. The current 3 and Y interiors would be okay in a $25,000 car.
In a couple of years once every upmarket automaker has competitive small EV sedans/crossovers at similar prices to Tesla and we’re past the backlog/pent up Tesla demand, Tesla will surely need to up the Model 3 and Y game if it wants to be one of the biggest automakers.

 

[mike224jb]

Tesla has built a brand around making minimalist interiors (along with their battery tech, etc). They’re not going to change the brand. If you want more “luxury” options, they offer the higher end model S and X.

 

[jjrandorin]

While not everyone wants “luxury” and such features but many do. The current 3 and Y interiors would be okay in a $25,000 car.
In a couple of years once every upmarket automaker has competitive small EV sedans/crossovers at similar prices to Tesla and we’re past the backlog/pent up Tesla demand, Tesla will surely need to up the Model 3 and Y game if it wants to be one of the biggest automakers.

Btw, I didnt vote in your poll because, you put forth a C class interior and asked when tesla would "get to that" and there was no choice in the poll for "never, for that type interior".

FWIW, I dont consider a BMW 3 series as a "luxury" car at least not till you get to "the real M3", nor do I consider a C class a luxury car. Its car by a company that makes luxury cars, but its (to me) not a luxury car, and people on those forums (mercedes and BMW) would also tell you a C class isnt a "luxury" car, nor a 3 Series.

Mercedes luxury starts at E class, and BMW Luxury starts at 5 series (for example), at least to me (and to people who buy those brands, except for those who can only get the entry level one).

Fun fact ( I have shared this before). I have known my BMW service advisor for over a decade, through multiple lease cycles etc. The cars come with free maintenance for 3 years so once a year you take them in for free. Anyway, over lunch one day we chatted, and he told me "you wanna know the PICKIEST customers we get for service here (bmw dealership)? Its not the M3-4-5-6 owners, nor the X5 owners (no X7 existed then). Its the person who buys the 320 and wants to act like we should be kissing their $@%@% because they own a BMW. They complain the most, by far".

I get that this sounds snobbish, and its not intended to be so, just put forth my opinion on the market for this car. Its a very high performance mass market vehicle. There isnt much "luxury" about it, except for the battery and tech. It will likely stay that way for the forseeable future. If you define luxury in this space as the battery and tech, then its a luxury car. If you define it by fancy interior options, etc, it isnt (nor is it actually built to those standards), and it likely wont ever be that.

 

[stcptl]

Tesla has built a brand around making minimalist interiors (along with their battery tech, etc). They’re not going to change the brand. If you want more “luxury” options, they offer the higher end model S and X.

Well even in that price range, there are more premium options. The Taycan, Lucid Air, Mercedes EQS etc.

Upstarts innovate by bettering incumbents on certain product/service characteristics. But eventually, the competition catches up and people start looking elsewhere if you don’t measure up across most characteristics. ~5 - 10 years from now, many/most people who want the best EV, will not necessarily go to the Model S over the comparably priced Mercedes EQS or Audi A8 electric or Taycan or Lucid etc unlessTesla ups their game on all product/service traits.

 

[stcptl]

Btw, I didnt vote in your poll because, you put forth a C class interior and asked when tesla would "get to that" and there was no choice in the poll for "never, for that type interior".

FWIW, I dont consider a BMW 3 series as a "luxury" car at least not till you get to "the real M3", nor do I consider a C class a luxury car. Its car by a company that makes luxury cars, but its (to me) not a luxury car, and people on those forums (mercedes and BMW) would also tell you a C class isnt a "luxury" car, nor a 3 Series.

Mercedes luxury starts at E class, and BMW Luxury starts at 5 series (for example), at least to me (and to people who buy those brands, except for those who can only get the entry level one).

Fun fact ( I have shared this before). I have known my BMW service advisor for over a decade, through multiple lease cycles etc. The cars come with free maintenance for 3 years so once a year you take them in for free. Anyway, over lunch one day we chatted, and he told me "you wanna know the PICKIEST customers we get for service here (bmw dealership)? Its not the M3-4-5-6 owners, nor the X5 owners (no X7 existed then). Its the person who buys the 320 and wants to act like we should be kissing their $@%@% because they own a BMW. They complain the most, by far".

I get that this sounds snobbish, and its not intended to be so, just put forth my opinion on the market for this car. Its a very high performance mass market vehicle. There isnt much "luxury" about it, except for the battery and tech. It will likely stay that way for the forseeable future. If you define luxury in this space as the battery and tech, then its a luxury car. If you define it by fancy interior options, etc, it isnt (nor is it actually built to those standards), and it likely wont ever be that.

I understand why one may not consider C Class luxury. BMW 3 even less so. But look at the new C-Class. On many objective measures, it is orders of magnitude more premium and luxurious than the Model 3. I’m not talking about it’s design, but rather the build quality, quality and choice of materials as well as comfort and convenience features. Audi’s new design language is more minimalist for example but mostly you hear people praise their interior quality.

 

[jjrandorin]

I understand why one may not consider C Class luxury. BMW 3 even less so. But look at the new C-Class. On many objective measures, it is orders of magnitude more premium and luxurious than the Model 3. I’m not talking about it’s design, but rather the build quality, quality and choice of materials as well as comfort and convenience features. Audi’s new design language is more minimalist for example but mostly you hear people praise their interior quality.

its definitely more luxury than a model 3, and will almost assuredly remain so. Mercedes customers, in general, prefer luxury (actual luxury). Thats likely why you picked that in your pic vs BMW (whose drivers, in general terms, tend to prefer performance). This is why BMW is getting absolutely KILLED in this space right now, because a tesla model 3 drives at least as well as a typical 3 series, and is also faster.

BTW I saw your other thread asking about differences between 2018 and 2021 model 3s. I dont have direct experience, but because I said "yes" when the site owners asked me if I would help out moderating here, I see "most" threads in the model 3 subforum. Its my opinion, based on posts here, that the general consensus would be the new one is "a little" quieter due to the double glazed windows, but not a huge marked difference.

The new performance version had worse performance when it was cold than the 2018s (like mine), but that seems to have been resolved.

New ones have a heat pump, so heating the vehicle does not sap quite as much range as it did previously (resistive heat vs heat pump). There are still tons of complaints about build quality, but some of those are a self fulfilling prophecy as forum posts make many people take long checklists combing over looking for stuff.

With that being said, I dont think the build quality is appreciably different than previous. Some model 3s are built better than others, you kind of have to hope to get lucky.

Dont buy one expecting it to be markedly different from a build quality perspective than what you had.

 

[Rachmaninov]

its definitely more luxury than a model 3, and will almost assuredly remain so. Mercedes customers, in general, prefer luxury (actual luxury). Thats likely why you picked that in your pic vs BMW (whose drivers, in general terms, tend to prefer performance). This is why BMW is getting absolutely KILLED in this space right now, because a tesla model 3 drives at least as well as a typical 3 series, and is also faster.

BTW I saw your other thread asking about differences between 2018 and 2021 model 3s. I dont have direct experience, but because I said "yes" when the site owners asked me if I would help out moderating here, I see "most" threads in the model 3 subforum. Its my opinion, based on posts here, that the general consensus would be the new one is "a little" quieter due to the double glazed windows, but not a huge marked difference.

The new performance version had worse performance when it was cold than the 2018s (like mine), but that seems to have been resolved.

New ones have a heat pump, so heating the vehicle does not sap quite as much range as it did previously (resistive heat vs heat pump). There are still tons of complaints about build quality, but some of those are a self fulfilling prophecy as forum posts make many people take long checklists combing over looking for stuff.

With that being said, I dont think the build quality is appreciably different than previous. Some model 3s are built better than others, you kind of have to hope to get lucky.

Dont buy one expecting it to be markedly different from a build quality perspective than what you had.

Hopefully the new TX factory will improve overall build quality. Looking forward to the new batteries also!

 

[dmurphy]

On the whole, I (as usual) agree with @jjrandorin here. Model 3 is not, and won’t be, a luxury car. Maybe a “premium” car (maybe), but not luxury.

My previous several cars were Cadillacs. Nice interiors, plush, classy. Refined. Model 3’s interior is none of those. It’s adequate and functional. Seats are comfy for me, so that’s a plus.

Yet, somehow, I can’t imagine driving a Cadillac anymore.

What matters to me has changed. I’m happy to make the trade off for what my 3 (and X) bring to the table.

That said, I don’t like that C class interior. At all. It’s ugly as sin. I’d hate every second of owning that mess. Of course, that’s my opinion, but when I’m buying a car, that’s the only one that matters.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

I also find that some people tend to conflate luxury with having lots of dials/gauges/vents and tons of trim, different textures all over.

In that Merc photo above, there's: shiny carbon fiber, smooth leather, perforated leather, textured leather (and in both orange and black), there's flat silver trim, but also a big band of glossy silver - then there's flat black plastic but also some kind of super glossy black plastic right around a touch area (i.e., fingerprint magnet ...). even the speaker grills have some kind of psychedelic pattern.

Materials, fit and finish, interior comfort features, etc., those are things I consider in the context of luxury, and Tesla could use some improvements in those areas.

 

[Unclepaul]

Many cars offer the perception of luxury. They design in solid clunking doors, design elements, leather with fancy stitches and lots of buttons.

Tesla offers a different type of luxury. They offer minimalist design, lower center of gravity, one speed transmission, fewer visits to the repair/maintenance shop, Zero Emissions, no dangerous and smelly exhaust, silent running etc.

 

[stcptl]

I agree with the above posters that the C-Class interior is not to everyone’s taste. New Audis have more restrained, minimalist interiors.

 

[ThePlankeEye]

The model 3 is over a decade ahead of the competition with regard to the interior. This is the kind of interior a designer wants, but the old companies they worm for don’t have the guts to do.

 

[ArchEtech]

Depends on your definition of luxury. No the model 3 isn’t a $200,000 Porsche, and I had one, but it looks and feels high end. I get compliments on the white interior all the time. Seats are comfortable, and I like the super simple design. Carpets aren’t anything special, and you could go a bit more premium with the plastic bits, but the model 3 is far and way better than a typical 40-50k sedan in my opinion.

I really like the new simplified model S interior, but I actually prefer not having a dash screen and just one center screen. Now a floating holographic HUD would be perfect.