Most important features in a touring sedan

The choices seem a bit odd as they mix items that are standard even in non luxury vehicles (e.g. visors with vanity mirrors, adjustable steering wheel, cupholders+gadget compartments, which are standard in every car I know / have ever driven) just not the Model S, with items that are not even available as an option in many higher end cars as of today (e.g. park assist or climatized seats).

After initial orders from early adopters interested in a high performance, long range EV, Tesla may need to compete better with other manufacturers on feature and price in order to hit their production goals.

Beyond the EV features, Model S has a few features that are market leading (primarily the 17" display and infotainment system) - but is lacking in many of the "luxury" features present in other cars in the price range. My 6 year old LS has all of the features listed in the poll - newer vehicles have features not on the list (heads up display, night vision, 3 zone climate control, ...).

While Tesla probably doesn't need to provide all of the luxury features in order to compete - they may need to get closer - in order to ramp up to higher production volumes.

For Tesla to achieve their goal to build the best production car on the market - from the perspective of customers moving from comparably priced luxury cars - that will likely mean adding features closer to what other manufacturers are offering in their vehicles. The current Model S is a great start - will be interesting to see how quickly Tesla will start adding new features to the car - and if there will be any options for existing customers to upgrade their cars...

How about all the 'new' stuff BMWs, Mercedes, Audis and Porsches offer, e.g.

- lane assist
- speed limit recognition
- the list goes on and on

Not to mention the new gadgets which are just around the corner (see the new Mercedes S-Class coming out next year with an instant stopping air-bag under the car for emergencies).

If there is an emergency stop, I wonder what the car behind you does to you. (Probably crash, I guess)

Having said all this, I think the main concern at the moment should be build quality and quality perception in the cabin. I do not believe the 17 in display will distract from sloppy interior trim. Not more than 10 minutes.

The most important feature is getting the car out, making sure it works, and that build quality is good. I'm sure these features will be added down the line. It's just one of the 'perks' of being an early adopter I guess.

I would expect a luxury sedan to offer Blind Spot Monitoring as an option.

Several of the listed options are already available on the Model S.
Home link, telescoping steering,seat memory, and a poor man's version of cup holder.

Makes the poll not work well to suggest changes for Tesla.

At this point I would give up all the above for an AWD option in the next Model S.

mikevbf said:

At this point I would give up all the above for an AWD option in the next Model S.

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Me, too!!!!!!!

I want to remind everybody that Tesla's statement "best car in the world" is a judgement by a list of points that Elon Musk compiled back in 2009. Franz talked about these at the delivery event 22/6/12. They are rather technical/engineering and not options based.

Some posts in this thread follow the pattern "they need gadget/option XY to be the best car in the world." I am pretty sure that this will never lead to adequate results for a majority of car buyers.

SCW-Greg said:

Please limit your choices to just 3.

By keeping your choices limited we will see which are most important, and hopefully in the 2013 model we'll see an upgraded model S.

In a car aiming to be the World's best car, and at $85,ooo+ what basic features do you expect, even demand, in a *standard* base model? I think we would want all of these features and more, but at this kind of money I expect a bit more than what I get in Camry.

In my mind this car, by price point, not by size, is competing with BMW 7 series, Lexus LS models, and Mercedes S class. Don't think I'm unhappy with this car, I'm not. I think it is truly transforming the industry. I'm just looking forward to the improvements in rev two that really make it hard for anyone to say no to.

What other features do you think should be Standard?

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Hi Greg,

I'm afraid I can't respond to your poll since you haven't included any of the features that are most important to me.

Safety
Performance
Comfort
Economy
Environmentally friendly

Larry

+1 on AWD.
Yeah, I forgot that. With our road conditions in winter, I told myself to never again buy a car that didn't have AWD. Up to now that has been one of the biggest showstoppers for me on the Model S.