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Size issues Model S

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Cobos

Model S owner since 2013
Supporting Member
Jun 22, 2007
1,571
2,954
Oslo, Norway
The new numbers listed on the website for ground clearance does make the car a lot more useable here in Oslo. Now I've got some more questions maybe someone that was at Freemont can answer.

The Model S in insanely wide, it's about a 1/2 inch wider than the Series 7 from BMW. It's also pretty long but that is more inline with more standard cars.
1. Does the Model S have any protection from dings in the parking lot from nearby doors, many cars have plastic "rail" running along the side of the doors to stop kids in the car parked next to it to jam the door into the side of your car. I haven't seen anything like that on the pictures.
2. I assume you can manually fold the mirrors flush with the car as my 1996 Civic has that option :) but some cars does this motorised and automaticly, anyone seen this?

Cobos
 
The stats look wide but the car is more like my malibu but with extra wide side mirrors. The mirrors are out on stalks. I assume they will fold back.

I agree with william, They might be measuring from mirror to mirror and the mirrors are pretty far off the body (to reduce wind noise and better aerodynamics). The Model is is wide but not crazy wide.
 
At the event in Fremont I was told by Peter Rawlinson that it did have electric mirrors which can be retracted manually as well.

Just checked out the red beta in Menlo Park: the mirrors are completely stuck; I could not push them in manually for sure. Don't know if there's an option on the touchscreen to somehow fold them in. This is a beta, of course, and things should change.
 
Just checked out the red beta in Menlo Park: the mirrors are completely stuck; I could not push them in manually for sure. Don't know if there's an option on the touchscreen to somehow fold them in. This is a beta, of course, and things should change.

Well considering the door latches don't work something like the mirrors could not be high on the list from the prototypers.
 
I might add that for the Ford Focus automaticly folded mirrors is an option, part of of a parking package. The Focus is not a high end car, so lots of stuff that before was high-end only is now options or standard on cheap compact cars.
But everyone seems to go for question 2, noone knows anything about question 1? The plastic rail to protect the sides of the car.

Cobos
 
I might add that for the Ford Focus automaticly folded mirrors is an option, part of of a parking package. The Focus is not a high end car, so lots of stuff that before was high-end only is now options or standard on cheap compact cars.
But everyone seems to go for question 2, noone knows anything about question 1? The plastic rail to protect the sides of the car.

Cobos

If that's not standard the plastic rail is always a "dealer" installed option/ after market job
 
Yes but that's the point. I completely see the reason for something that is not painted to protect the paint, but usually it looks like crap. If on the other hand a skilled designer like Franz spent time incorperating it into the actual design we might get the protection we want and still have a car that looks good. And my initial point was that considering the width wich is wider than the Audi Q7 it's going to be tight in Norwegian parking spaces (which are a lot smaller than the US ones by default) I would have to get a plastic rail.

Cobos
 
I expect the mirrors will fold in manually just like most other cars. Having them remotely fold would just be asking for malfunctions.

I don't think these are too popular in the USA (yet). Maybe more-so in other countries where narrow garages are more common (e.g.: Japan.)
 
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Having come back from Scotland recently, it's not just garages, but the crazy places people have to park. The roads there go from too narrow to much, much narrower, and parking is often along one side of the street - a few inches, especially at heights that match those goofy foreigners and their crazy-wide cars (we had a Ford Mondeo rental - normal American width, 3" too wide a number of times) makes a huge difference. You park in a wide car with mirrors that don't fold in, you're just asking for it. Having to do that manually, in a narrow street where everybody just bailed out the sidewalk side due to circumstances, seems a little more than an amenity.

(Oh, and it was shocking how much better the Mondeo was than normal American Fords.)

And I so want the panoramic view side mirrors we had. 'Americans can't handle the distortion' my ass.
 
Cobos, the width of the Model S could be seen as an advantage to the drivability and the stability of the platform. There is not much TM could to protect the "S" because of people and their carelessness. I think TM can add folding mirrors but as an option. Does anyone think the mirror design lends itself to folding mirrors? I do not think so...