you might want to wait until the thing actually ships before you strut around declaring it the winner.
Assuming they deliver, there doesn’t seem to be anything comparable. The similarly-priced European sedans don’t come close. The base BMW 3-series is $33k for instance, but doesn’t come with even the most basic of features, like a navigation system or backup camera. American and Japanese sedans like the Taurus or Accord offer a better value but still don’t match the Model 3 in a few areas like safety or the center console. None of them offer anything comparable to even the current-gen autopilot, let alone what Tesla will have by the time the car ships.
The Model 3 offers some pretty high tech features, has great performance and handling, excellent safety, and of course comes with all the advantages (and disadvantages) of an electric. For me, it’ll be far and away the best car available at any price, but I put a high priority on a handful of features that are uniquely Tesla.
I don’t know about other states, but in California, pure electrics will get you HOV lane access (this used to be true for plug-in hybrids like the Volt, but that’s no longer true). If you’re in a state where this is true, and you commute during high-traffic times, the time savings here is liable to dominate any time lost to charging even if you go on many road trips.
I saw an article that suggested that the car as shown is not the one that will sell for $35,000, and that some of the features shown will be on a more expensive model. So I’ll be waiting to see what $35,000 actually buys you.
Update:
Over 200,000 ordered.
Linky?
Apparently, more info is trickling out. They are saying the steering will “feel like a spaceship”, which could be problematic, if you prefer to have mechanical steering but they give you a joystick and go all servo-y. If they put in armrest mechanical/hydraulic steering, I think that would be awesome, but that would be unlikely.
I don’t have a link, but I heard the same thing from someone at work, and a the suggestion that the price for the ones on show was more like $50,000. Specifically mentioned were the tires and wheels, though I can’t imagine they would make up more than a small fraction of the difference.
Sorry that I couldn’t find the link when I posted earlier, but what I saw was this article from Seeking Alpha that suggested that the premium wheels, fancy seats, premium paint job, glass roof, autopilot and AWD features wouldn’t be on the $35,000 model.
IIRC from the event, all the roofs are going to be glass roofs. Dr. Strangelove mentioned upthread that the cars on stage were AWD, though I don’t know how that information got through. As for the rest, it sounds logical, but who’s to know for sure what’s premium and what’s standard?
All I’ve seen is that it will do 0-60 in under 6 seconds, which probably means 5.9 seconds, which is slower than a $25k V6 Camry. I don’t know where you’re getting “great handling,” since nobody’s driven one, and the Model S handled, oh, fine, but then, so does a Camry. The model that people were being driven around in at the auto show was an AWD model, which means an extra motor (so it’s faster than a base model) and probably a hefty jump in price. I’ve not seen any safety ratings.
I’m not saying it won’t be the 2nd coming of Jesus Chrysler, but there’s much we don’t know at this point.
too many Tesla fans think they’ve figured out the future of the auto industry and have already picked the winner, simply because they like Tesla.
It was mentioned on the videos from the test drives. Surprisingly, they had their engineers at the wheel, so there was a decent amount of technical information from those.
We also know that the AWD premium will be less than the $5k it costs on the Model S, but exactly how much less they haven’t said.
As I mentioned, the Japanese sedans are a pretty good value. The $33k BMW 320i in comparison comes with a 180 hp engine and does 0-60 in maybe 8 seconds. Whether the Model 3 looks like a good value depends in part on your reference point.
Whether the base Model 3 is 5.1 s or 5.9 s we don’t know yet, but Tesla has been pretty aggressive in pushing fast 0-60 times, so I wouldn’t bet on the high side here. The thing about electrics is that once you have a large battery, a high power density comes almost for free.
Extremely low center of gravity and a fine degree of torque control are the main factors here. They can always apply the exact amount of torque necessary for conditions. The AWD model benefits even more here since it can apply the maximum suitable to front and back totally independently (and with instant response).
The price jump will be <$5k, which isn’t insignificant but still reasonable. And yes, they obviously haven’t actually gotten their safety ratings, but they are claiming they’ll achieve 5 stars in all categories on the NHTSA tests. They’ve lived up to similar claims for the Model S and X safety so I don’t expect them to step back from that one.
Sure, there’s still a lot of unknowns. But it’s looking pretty good so far. I was actually expecting less than what they announced for the $35k base price, and I expect that $50k will get me a very nicely optioned model.
To wrap up what we actually know.
It will be sold as a ‘Tesla Model 3’. It may get built by somebody else.
It will have 4 each wheels and doors
It will be a pure EV.
It will NOT have a grill
It will have a large chunk of glass where the roof should be (not a selling point in this boy’s opinion)
0-60 <6.00
Traditional driver, some features of automated behavior std., other optional.
Why the insane discussion of trivia which will not be known until the 1000th one rolls off the line.
The thing is turning into a www-based Rorschach Test.
There’s more:
- >215 mi range
- RWD standard
- AWD option for <$5k
- Autopilot hardware and safety features standard
- Supercharging standard (though not necessarily free)
Are you new to this thing called the Internet? This sort of thing goes on all the time. Let’s say a new film by a well-known and liked director is announced but with few details. Plenty of people are going to speculate on the content, and speculate as each cast change is announced.
Hell, we did this sort of thing even in the Ice Age, before the Internet existed.
I’d expect that the premium wheels, seats, and paint are extra. That’s basically universal for cars. The AWD will definitely be extra, but <$5k premium. The autopilot hardware will be built into all models, and autopilot safety features (auto braking, etc.) also on all models, but “self driving” will be optional (and almost certainly something you can pay for after purchase).
As Boyo Jim said, the implication from the event is that the pano roof is standard. I’d consider this only, say 80% confirmed instead of 100%, but when Musk is describing the general features of the Model 3, and in particular the comfort of rear passengers, he talks about there being a continuous piece of glass as a key feature.
It should be noted that Seeking Alpha is pretty consistently negative on Tesla, and has a short position on them. Which isn’t to say they’re wrong, but just that you should take them with the same grain of salt as you do any pro-Tesla fanboy site.
It was well into the 1930’s before all-steel roofs became standard on Fords (I don’t know about other brands, but owned 4 1929-1930 Fords) - only the coupe had all-steel - the others had wood, chicken wire, cotton ticking and rubber or vinyl coated cloth.
The issue seemed to be the forming presses being unable to handle that large a sheet of metal*.
It would be hilarious if the glass roof turn out to be an economy move.
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- the thing now called a ‘convertible top’ with bows and canvas was the original “cheap top” - you paid extra for a real, wind-and-rain-proof top.
Before Elon gets knighted there are a few things to consider.
People stood in line to pay $1000 in order to get on a list to be a beta tester for a car that won’t go into production for a year by a company without a lot of service centers and little cash reserves.
In the mean time other companies with the financial and industrial background to build cars in volume are moving ahead with their production models. Tesla HAS to make a profit on the Model 3 to survive. Companies like GM, Ford and Nissan do not. They have the cash reserves to compete on any level they choose. In this arena, GM has been actively road testing it’s version that will go on sale this year.
It’s funny how an early buyer of a Model 3 is a “beta tester,” but an early buyer of a Bolt seems to be buying a mature product.