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New dimensions of the Model S

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Cobos

Model S owner since 2013
Supporting Member
Jun 22, 2007
1,571
2,954
Oslo, Norway
Is it just me or did someone shrink the Model S?

I just found the old FAQ page from Tesla which has these bits of information:
"Will Model S fit in my garage?

Model S has approximately the following dimensions:
Overall length 16’4" (4973 mm)
Overall height 4’8" (1426 mm)
Overall width with mirrors 7’2" (2189 mm)
Ground Clearance 4.46" (113 mm)"

The new data seems to be:

Overall length 16’ 3.9" (4976 mm)
Overall height 4’8.5" (1435 mm)
Overall width with mirrors 6'5.3'' (1963 mm)
Ground Clearance 6.1" (155 mm)"

Well it seems the width which I thought was problematic has been shrunk, the height and length are mostly a wash and the old ground clearance which was very bad at 113mm is now a better 155 and probably with even more room with air suspension.

This is a change which IS for the good.

Cobos
 
The length went up in metric and down in imperial... only the American cars have shrunk. :tongue:

Width with mirrors is down a lot. Shrunk the mirrors, or the car?

I do like the ground clearance better. Probably reflects the air suspension, which will lower the car at highway speeds.
 
Agreed! It appears that this slimming was achieved by tucking the side mirrors in tighter. They now add a few inches or so to the width (eyeballing the picture), whereas on competing models, there's a bigger amount: 8.6 inches on the A6. With the new dimension, the Model S is slimmer that the BMW 5, Audi A6, and MB E sedan by a good margin (82.4", 82.1", and 81.5", respectively, vs. 77.3").

Assuming, of course, that the 77.3" includes the mirrors, as it appears on the Options page.

The interior specs compare well with the German competition; the "stand out" flaw is the rear head-room, which people noted during the test drives in Fremont. On the other hand, front leg-room is best in class, and the head room much better than most. I wonder if the head-room was measured with the pano roof or the solid?

InteriorSpecs.JPG
 
The luggage area is lot bigger for the Model S, but for us European customers anyone that wants luggage area will of course compare to the station wagon version of the A6, MB E and 5XX, they all seem to be unavailable in the US except the E350 wagon.

Cobos
 
The luggage area is lot bigger for the Model S, but for us European customers anyone that wants luggage area will of course compare to the station wagon version of the A6, MB E and 5XX, they all seem to be unavailable in the US except the E350 wagon.
No, all three wagons are available in the US. I think there are a lot of people who would like good luggage space without the ungainly bulk of a wagon, however; while the Model S isn't as capacious as my wife's BMW 5 wagon, the extra trunk space is more than welcome.
 
Assuming, of course, that the 77.3" includes the mirrors, as it appears on the Options page.

So the model S has supposedly gone from being the widest in its class to being the slimmest?
Seems very strange, I strongly suspect that number is not including mirrors despite what the options page may indicate.
Compare to a BMW 3 series for example, which is 79.5"/2013mm wide including mirrors.
 
Yea, I'm happy with the new dimensions. They car seems to have sleeked back a little more towards the prototype. I love the prototype, wasn't enamored of the alpha, and the beta seems like a good fusion of the two. They were all minor visual changes each time, but they added up and I'm pretty happy with the end result.
 
Maybe, the picture at the top of the options page looks like the fenders are a few inches extended from the cabin, so the mirrors mounted on the cabin don't really extend out much beyond the widest point of the body.
The picture ** looks ** like that, but it is perspective distortion. I thought the same thing too but owners have confirmed the mirrors are much wider than the flanks. The plan view gives a much better feel for the real relative dimensions.
 
This is an old thread but for anyone stumbling on it anew, the car is 77.3" wide with the mirrors folded and 86.2" with them extended. I haven't measured but that's been on the specs page of their website for quite a while. Just to prevent confusion. . .