I don’t think your BMW is as quiet as you think.
I have a top of the line custom F80 M3. If you turn off the music and listen it’s loud. Most of the wind/road noise gets drowned out by the “engine”. In the Tesla, there’s no ICE sound, so the wind noise seems louder.
That's only half right.
I also have an F80 M3 (much more fun car to drive fast, BTW), and the S55 engine noise is definitely more noticeable than that of the electric models. Duah.
However, you are significantly under-reporting the wind noise that penetrates Model 3 cabin. I don't know if that's due to glass gaps in the roof, or the nature of the glass roof itself, but Model 3 is appreciably nosier at 75+ MPH speeds than the ///M3.
Driving Model 3 at 85+ MPH is downright unpleasant and tiring, and north of 100 MPH the noise is howling. The ///M3 does not seam to suffer from significant wind-noise intrusion even north of 130+ MPH.
These observations are statistically significant for both vehicles.
To answer your original question, I wouldn’t pay more for a luxury model 3. I actually think the seats are too soft and would prefer the more fitting seats in my BMW M3 to keep me in place during spirited driving. Obviously coming from an M3 I lean more towards the performance end of the spectrum. I would pay more for those type of improvements.
Totally agree with you here.
I WOULD actually pay more $$$$ for better form-fitting, better bolstered, and more supportive
leather seats in Model 3 (Tesla should rip-off BMW M-series or Porsche 911/718 seats),
leather steering wheel, plus a HUD with an option to turn the big center screen OFF at night.
Tesla's plastic-fantastic fixation with seat/steering wheel surfaces, is misplaced.
Calling plastic "vegan weather" doesn't help things one bit. It's pure BS.
A $65K BMW 3-Series has the same interior as the base $40K BMW 3-Series [...] My point being, if you compare cars within the same "series", from any manufacturer, you're going to get the same basic quality from the base model all the way up to the performance trim. Same with Tesla, so they're not doing anything different from BMW here.
My first-hand experience with BMW trim levels is the opposite of yours.
Entry level 3-series interior is a world apart from ///M3's interior, except for the general shape of the dash, and the steering wheel stalks. Materials are different (leather vs. plastic), seats shape/support/comfort levels are different, steering wheels are different (leather vs. plastic again). Just about every surface area your body touches is of materially higher quality in an ///M3 than an 320/330i.
My observations are based on ownership of E30, E36, E46, E90, F80 cars (mostly ///M's), and the free loaners I've been getting for the duration of service appointments.
I do agree with your conclusion - Tesla is highly unlikely to offer additional interior trim variability, as they are having a hard time managing the supply chain and manufacturing complexity as-is.