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To be honest, the Tesla interior leaves me cold. It feels corporate, like being in a nice chair driving a 17" laptop to work. Feels soulless to me. I really

To be honest, the Tesla interior leaves me cold. It feels corporate, like being in a nice chair driving a 17" laptop to work. Feels soulless to me. I really hate touch screens and have opted personally for a similarly expensive car with lots of switches and dials that I don't have to look at to make sure I'm on the right one. (Mini Clubman, with basically every option, literally months before they added a touchscreen entertainment system)

jdhn 7y ago
While I agree with you about the interior looking rather spartan and the superiority of physical dials and knobs, one nice thing about the Tesla touchscreen is that things are laid out in a somewhat intuitive feature. I had the experience of sitting in a few other cars at the pricepoint (BMW 3 series, and a Mercedes C class), and the infotainment systems in there were way behind. Mercedes uses a touchpad along with a touchscreen for navigation, while the BMW uses a dial along with the touchscreen. I much preferred the Tesla touchscreen only to their weird physical/virtual button hybrid systems.
- peapicker 7y ago
  I can't disagree, most of the other touchscreen UIs in cars are worse. I fear I'm going to start sounding like the cranky old man when it's time for the next car after this one whining for a more tactile UI. :)
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- usaphp 7y ago
  > while the BMW uses a dial along with the touchscreen I have a Bmw with both, and I never use a touchscreen, using the idrive joystick is so much easier than reaching for a touchscreen
  - peapicker 7y ago
    It is great, same system exists in my Mini with a pre-touchscreen and I use it with Spotify all the time. I love it to pieces. (edit: Yes, I know Mini is owned by BMW and that is why the same (literally) tech is in my car.)
    - usaphp 7y ago
      I believe mini is owned by Bmw, a lot of the stuff is borrowed from Bmw
bryanlarsen 7y ago
It's nice to see somebody taking risks in interior design; it's definitely not for everybody but it's nice to see a design that doesn't feel like they're trying to copy German luxury cars. Of course I don't want companies innovating on design at the expense of safety but it does appear that Tesla has a fairly well thought out set of physical controls. Is it enough? Good question.
olah_1 7y ago
Mini has historically had the most amazingly satisfying physical switches/knobs/dials. I mean, the Start switch is fantastic [0]. But unfortunately, it looks like their newer models are now adding a touchscreen :( [0]: https://external-preview.redd.it/DQgq34IMDr2WUwv-x1_X-JVsjgeJX3ofWnGkfGmEIF0.jpg?auto=webp&s=eb475744c02a1f812c1d68e943fb40fb276d7554 https://external-preview.redd.it/DQgq34IMDr2WUwv-x1_X-JVsjge...
SEJeff 7y ago
Yeah that's an entirely fair critique (I mentioned the Audi and Mercedes interiors being way nicer in a followup in this thread). I'm ok with a more spartan interior as driving is just so much more enjoyable. The regenerative breaking takes some real getting used to, but once you've gotten used to it and you do 1 pedal highway driving (assuming you're not using auto-pilot) it is just so much less work. Most of the real fanciness in the Tesla is around making driving more enjoyable. I got the Model 3 AWD LR (not the performance model) and know I can out accelerate virtually ever other non-Tesla on the road. If someone wants to be a jerk and cut me off it is pretty much impossible unless they're in a super car (or another Tesla). Not being a gear head or car fanatic it just gives me more options when driving. That is worth a simpler interior. I was also fine with the crappy interior of my 2011 Ford Fiesta however, so we have different tastes. The Porsche Taycan is the first electric car that seems to start to compete with a Tesla. The soon to be released Volkswagen ID.3 also looks like a pretty solid Model 3 competitor. The future holds a lot of options in this space, so you don't have to drive a Tesla to enjoy the all torque all the time driving of an electric drivetrain.
- peapicker 7y ago
  I also do one-pedal highway driving... and that is my other use case problem with Tesla (that I originally chose not to bring up as it takes me out of the category of potential buyers). I live in Colorado; my highway driving includes driving 400-500 miles over mountain passes sometimes in the winter down to parts of New Mexico. I have all-wheel and an 8-speed sport transmission; so the Mini eats mountains for breakfast, doesn't drink its fuel supply extra fast when it's 0F in the snow over mountain passes, and doesn't need me to spend time recharging somewhere in the unpleasant cold. Highway speeds (85mph), I can go 400+ miles before refueling.
  - SEJeff 7y ago
    To each their own. That's the beauty of choice! The range is certainly less in the cold, but it is manageable. We drove from Chicago to Kentucky (~385 miles) when it was subzero or so last winter and stopped at the same place we normally do south of Indianapolis to charge and eat dinner. Do you drive straight through 400-500 miles or do you stop to eat and take a restroom break? I live in Chicago and know of this cold you speak of, but not so much of mountains. I don't think EVs are for everyone, or will be capable of every use case for a few years, but they certainly are incredible for the right use cases. Most of the country is blanketed by superchargers and there are in fact 14 of them along the highways in CO (checked via https://supercharge.info https://supercharge.info) and 9 in NM. You can watch Netflix while charging in the warmth of your car if you choose (It is called Theater Mode). If Elon is to be believed, and you should always take what he says with a grain of salt, Tesla will have 400 mile range vehicles by the end of next year. The use cases Tesla are bad for are dwindling quite quickly.
frebord 7y ago
> like being in a nice chair driving a 17" laptop to work This is the kind of content I'm looking for lol :)
wil421 7y ago
Last year I took a ride in a 4-5 year old Model S. I loved everything about the car except the interior. It was very drab, parts of the interior were hard where it should be soft, and the carbon fiber accents did not look as great as cars half the price. It was very plain, not quite Toyota plain but I felt it was missing something. For Porsche money the Model S should be on point. All the above critiques would be fine on a Model 3. I hope the recent Model S’s have improved.

jdhn 7y ago

While I agree with you about the interior looking rather spartan and the superiority of physical dials and knobs, one nice thing about the Tesla touchscreen is that things are laid out in a somewhat intuitive feature. I had the experience of sitting in a few other cars at the pricepoint (BMW 3 series, and a Mercedes C class), and the infotainment systems in there were way behind. Mercedes uses a touchpad along with a touchscreen for navigation, while the BMW uses a dial along with the touchscreen. I much preferred the Tesla touchscreen only to their weird physical/virtual button hybrid systems.

peapicker 7y ago
I can't disagree, most of the other touchscreen UIs in cars are worse. I fear I'm going to start sounding like the cranky old man when it's time for the next car after this one whining for a more tactile UI. :)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
usaphp 7y ago
> while the BMW uses a dial along with the touchscreen I have a Bmw with both, and I never use a touchscreen, using the idrive joystick is so much easier than reaching for a touchscreen
- peapicker 7y ago
  It is great, same system exists in my Mini with a pre-touchscreen and I use it with Spotify all the time. I love it to pieces. (edit: Yes, I know Mini is owned by BMW and that is why the same (literally) tech is in my car.)
  - usaphp 7y ago
    I believe mini is owned by Bmw, a lot of the stuff is borrowed from Bmw

bryanlarsen 7y ago

It's nice to see somebody taking risks in interior design; it's definitely not for everybody but it's nice to see a design that doesn't feel like they're trying to copy German luxury cars. Of course I don't want companies innovating on design at the expense of safety but it does appear that Tesla has a fairly well thought out set of physical controls. Is it enough? Good question.

olah_1 7y ago

Mini has historically had the most amazingly satisfying physical switches/knobs/dials. I mean, the Start switch is fantastic [0]. But unfortunately, it looks like their newer models are now adding a touchscreen :( [0]: https://external-preview.redd.it/DQgq34IMDr2WUwv-x1_X-JVsjgeJX3ofWnGkfGmEIF0.jpg?auto=webp&s=eb475744c02a1f812c1d68e943fb40fb276d7554 https://external-preview.redd.it/DQgq34IMDr2WUwv-x1_X-JVsjge...

SEJeff 7y ago

Yeah that's an entirely fair critique (I mentioned the Audi and Mercedes interiors being way nicer in a followup in this thread). I'm ok with a more spartan interior as driving is just so much more enjoyable. The regenerative breaking takes some real getting used to, but once you've gotten used to it and you do 1 pedal highway driving (assuming you're not using auto-pilot) it is just so much less work. Most of the real fanciness in the Tesla is around making driving more enjoyable. I got the Model 3 AWD LR (not the performance model) and know I can out accelerate virtually ever other non-Tesla on the road. If someone wants to be a jerk and cut me off it is pretty much impossible unless they're in a super car (or another Tesla). Not being a gear head or car fanatic it just gives me more options when driving. That is worth a simpler interior. I was also fine with the crappy interior of my 2011 Ford Fiesta however, so we have different tastes. The Porsche Taycan is the first electric car that seems to start to compete with a Tesla. The soon to be released Volkswagen ID.3 also looks like a pretty solid Model 3 competitor. The future holds a lot of options in this space, so you don't have to drive a Tesla to enjoy the all torque all the time driving of an electric drivetrain.

peapicker 7y ago
I also do one-pedal highway driving... and that is my other use case problem with Tesla (that I originally chose not to bring up as it takes me out of the category of potential buyers). I live in Colorado; my highway driving includes driving 400-500 miles over mountain passes sometimes in the winter down to parts of New Mexico. I have all-wheel and an 8-speed sport transmission; so the Mini eats mountains for breakfast, doesn't drink its fuel supply extra fast when it's 0F in the snow over mountain passes, and doesn't need me to spend time recharging somewhere in the unpleasant cold. Highway speeds (85mph), I can go 400+ miles before refueling.
- SEJeff 7y ago
  To each their own. That's the beauty of choice! The range is certainly less in the cold, but it is manageable. We drove from Chicago to Kentucky (~385 miles) when it was subzero or so last winter and stopped at the same place we normally do south of Indianapolis to charge and eat dinner. Do you drive straight through 400-500 miles or do you stop to eat and take a restroom break? I live in Chicago and know of this cold you speak of, but not so much of mountains. I don't think EVs are for everyone, or will be capable of every use case for a few years, but they certainly are incredible for the right use cases. Most of the country is blanketed by superchargers and there are in fact 14 of them along the highways in CO (checked via https://supercharge.info https://supercharge.info) and 9 in NM. You can watch Netflix while charging in the warmth of your car if you choose (It is called Theater Mode). If Elon is to be believed, and you should always take what he says with a grain of salt, Tesla will have 400 mile range vehicles by the end of next year. The use cases Tesla are bad for are dwindling quite quickly.

frebord 7y ago

> like being in a nice chair driving a 17" laptop to work This is the kind of content I'm looking for lol :)

wil421 7y ago

Last year I took a ride in a 4-5 year old Model S. I loved everything about the car except the interior. It was very drab, parts of the interior were hard where it should be soft, and the carbon fiber accents did not look as great as cars half the price. It was very plain, not quite Toyota plain but I felt it was missing something. For Porsche money the Model S should be on point. All the above critiques would be fine on a Model 3. I hope the recent Model S’s have improved.