What Model 3 drivers love and hate about Tesla sedan
ONE THING hasn’t changed as Tesla has crept from high-priced luxury-car maker toward massmarket manufacturer: Elon Musk’s heavy reliance on media buzz to bring attention to his electric cars.
Nearly eight months have passed since Musk handed over the first sets of keys to Tesla’s mission-critical Model 3 sedans, and the first reviews are just coming in. That’s because the cars have been trickling off the assembly line at a much slower pace than planned, and for months the only ones able to land one in their driveway were Tesla employees, investors and close friends of the company.
Now that the Model 3 is getting into the hands of the general public, outlets including Consumer Reports, Edmunds and Strategy Analytics have taken delivery and published their impressions. Reviews among this group have generally been mixed. Driving dynamics and handling were among their consistent pros, while some of the commonly cited cons have had to do with poor build quality and problems with so many of the car’s controls being tied to its touch screen.
Several analysts have cited Model 3 reviews as a significant factor in determining where Tesla shares are headed. The investment thesis around the company hinges on its ability to boost production of the car, manufacturing it profitably and with good build quality, according to Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
The company is “well behind target” with regards to how many of the sedans it’s been making, Sacconaghi wrote in a recent report to clients. He called profitability and build quality “important wildcards” and said that failure on those two fronts “could be meaningfully detrimental to the company’s fortunes.”
Here’s a roundup of some of the first Model 3 reviewers’ impressions:
Consumer Reports gave the Model 3 a fairly positive first-drive review. While the publication’s last Model S had some issues with the fit of trim pieces, the magazine said that the Model 3’s interior felt solid and that it hadn’t yet noticed any squeaks, rattles or misalignments.
“It’s honestly more like driving a Porsche Boxster than a typical luxury sedan,” Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, said in a phone interview. “It’s really fun and engaging to drive.”
The experience for rear passengers isn’t as great. Fisher said that the Model 3’s back seats sink close to the ground and are uncomfortable.
“You are sitting so low that your knees are high up in the air and you don’t have any thigh support,” he said. — Bloomberg
You are sitting so low that your knees are high up in the air and you don’t have any thigh support. Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports