By Design: Tesla Model S

[kevincwelch]

+1 on that. Model S looks good, but not a head-turner.

You know, I think it is.

I distinctly remember this from my test drive in DC. Lots of traffic and stop signs. Lots of pedestrians and automobile riders were turning heads.

 

[vfx]

This weekend we were sitting on a suburban LA street in a Model S fiddling with all the new screen gadgets. Three late-teens on bicycles rode up and stopped at the three year old Roadster parked in front of the S. They smiled as the talked about it and rode off. They never glanced at the three day young sparkling red S behind it.

It's a sedan.

 

[kevincwelch]

This weekend we were sitting on a suburban LA street in a Model S fiddling with all the new screen gadgets. Three late-teens on bicycles rode up and stopped at the three year old Roadster parked in front of the S. They smiled as the talked about it and rode off. They never glanced at the three day young sparkling red S behind it.

It's a sedan.

Youth is wasted on the young.

 

[dsm363]

I like the looks of the Model S. It isn't as eye catching as the Roadster of some other exotic but rather good looking.

 

[kendallpb]

Meh. I like or love most everything about how the Model S looks. But then, when I look at the cars that car aficionados seem to like the looks of . . . frequently I find them fugly (what's up with that ugly Lexus grille in the pic above?! yipes!). Clearly, tastes vary a lot. Where some see pedestrian, I see elegant.

The only purely visual parts I'm not sold on are 1. the nose (? above grille; below hood), though it looks kinda futuristic to me, and 2. the headrests, though they're probably not wildly different from my Miata, which never bothered me.

Anyway, from the inside the most important things are what I can see, not what others see, and the only place that falls short is rear window visibility. I don't need gawkers (though it sounds like I'll get them, heh) and I'm not buying the car for looks--though I like the looks a lot, that's just icing on the cake! ;-)

 

[jerry33]

Anyway, from the inside the most important things are what I can see, not what others see, and the only place that falls short is rear window visibility.

My thought is that this has as much to do with an optical illusion as anything else. A lot of folks complain about the hatchback Prius' rear visibility, but when I first got the Prius I took a few cones and placed them at the limits of visibility, then I parked the sedan in the same place and the actual visible area was the same except for straight back where the hatchback Prius was far superior due to the square trunk on the sedan and the silly spoiler.

 

[Thumper]

The design criteria for Franz were pretty daunting and often in conflict with each other. 1. Must be very aerodynamic. 2. Must establish the design language for an entire new car company who's life depends on the success of the design. 3. Must not be off-puttingly odd. 4. Must be usable. 5. Must be manufacturable. 6. Must be attractive. The Motor Trend reviewer is just looking at aesthetics. I say Franz hit a nice shot right past the short stop, all the way to the fence for in in park homer.

 

[Nikoli]

Meh. I like or love most everything about how the Model S looks. But then, when I look at the cars that car aficionados seem to like the looks of . . . frequently I find them fugly (what's up with that ugly Lexus grille in the pic above?! yipes!). Clearly, tastes vary a lot. Where some see pedestrian, I see elegant.

The only purely visual parts I'm not sold on are 1. the nose (? above grille; below hood), though it looks kinda futuristic to me, and 2. the headrests, though they're probably not wildly different from my Miata, which never bothered me.

Anyway, from the inside the most important things are what I can see, not what others see, and the only place that falls short is rear window visibility. I don't need gawkers (though it sounds like I'll get them, heh) and I'm not buying the car for looks--though I like the looks a lot, that's just icing on the cake! ;-)

Yeah, Lexus have some of the ugliest cars ever made. I just don't get them at all. About the only Toyota/Lexus I've ever liked is the Mark II Supra, still want one.
(we have an older Tundra though, and it's great. Not pretty, but a great truck)
Wait...what were we talking about again?

 

[vfx]

The design criteria for Franz were pretty daunting and often in conflict with each other. 1. Must be very aerodynamic. 2. Must establish the design language for an entire new car company who's life depends on the success of the design. 3. Must not be off-puttingly odd. 4. Must be usable. 5. Must be manufacturable. 6. Must be attractive. The Motor Trend reviewer is just looking at aesthetics. I say Franz hit a nice shot right past the short stop, all the way to the fence for in in park homer.

I too am very very impressed.

I was talking to a Tesla employee who said that they were happy that the real world aerodynamics testing exceeded their expectations. Pretty much the best production car of all time. (apparently the EV1 would not do as well in today's wind tunnels) Point here is that Franz was a bit miffed that he had sacrificed some design choices for a slipperier car.

 

[jerry33]

(apparently the EV1 would not do as well in today's wind tunnels)

In the EV1 era and before most car manufacturers didn't measure the drag underneath the car, just the shape of the body shell.

 

[brianman]

This is akin to pointing out all the 'subjective' flaws on a football team that eventually wins the Super Bowl.

To be fair, objective flaws as well.

Your larger point stands though: the totality of the entire package is the important comparison. If perfect in all facets is the bar, you'll spend a lot of your life depressed.

 

[Jesuis]

I have a 2013 green/grey S P85+ with 21" grey wheels. I think the car is very sexy, yet understated. People who don't know about Teslas are attracted to it, even as sedans and coupes of different heritages are starting to look more alike. There are only a couple of Teslas that I've heard of in this area, though I've never seen one on the road. Those who have heard of it are very excited to see one!

The first thing that will happen to me is that I will impale an arm on the knife blade corner of the open door. I also get a draft from the teeny triangle of a static window. There should have been a heated steering wheel available by now.

The lack of a real console is crazy, and the add-on is still not available. So one may pay for a yacht floor and then want a place where they can actually reach their beverage without cramping, so they need another cupholder. Then there is no convenient place for those little objects like a charger cord or pen. What is a fan to do but want the console that matches the car instead of the kind of cheap-looking aftermarket offering?

If one can make an automatic trunk opener, why not allow the frunk similar treatment? Palo Alto People should visit the east coast where there is an emerging market. We can't comfortably place our hands on the frunk for a good part of the year.

Otherwise the car is very exciting to drive. Not sure if there will be more driver fatigue on a long trip because it doesn't coast. The creep function is helpful at slow speeds. I've been concerned that drivers behind me won't have enough rear light warning when I'm slowing down, so I feel the need to tap the brakes.

The huge tablet control panel is great but can be very distracting until memorized. I still have a more quality feel in my BMW or the Audi S7 I passed up for the Tesla! The S is another of my children, and I still love it despite these minor issues.