
Black Tesla Model 3 release candidate spotted driving in Silicon Valley - prostoalex
https://www.teslarati.com/black-tesla-model-3-release-candidate-spotted-driving-silicon-valley-full-gallery/amp
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busted
Much better pictures on this article:
[http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/06/tesla-model-3-release-
can...](http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/06/tesla-model-3-release-candidate-
spied-looks-a-little-more-like/)

~~~
modeless
Wow, pictures of the dashboard! No main instrument cluster as expected. Not
sure how I'll like the speedometer being that far away from the steering
wheel. I was hoping there was a HUD hidden in the windshield but Elon's
twitter replies seem to imply that there won't be.

~~~
lj3
I don't like it at all. Personally, I want a screen that displays the speed
and the battery status directly in my line of vision, not on an LCD screen off
to the right that you can't read in direct sunlight.

~~~
rwmj
My previous car - Toyota Yaris - had an LCD speedometer in the center of the
dashboard, and it worked fine. On the Yaris there was a system of mirrors so
that the speedo was focused at infinity, thus you could look at it without
your eyes adjusting focus at all.

Edit: Picture of how that looked:
[http://s908.photobucket.com/user/406executiveHDI/media/c497e...](http://s908.photobucket.com/user/406executiveHDI/media/c497ed02.jpg.html)

~~~
leephillips
"a system of mirrors so that the speedo was focused at infinity"

This is a brilliant idea. I've never even heard of this model.

~~~
rwmj
Yes it was quite clever, and meant you could glance down very quickly to see
your speed. I don't exactly know how it worked.

Incidentally I think this may be why the LCD looks slightly blurred in the
photograph above.

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harisenbon
I saw one of these here in Portland yesterday driving home. Didn't realize it
was a Model 3, just thought I was seeing some body-mod for the Model S.

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MichailP
Anyone else bothered by front of the car? I know it because of aerodynamics,
but it just looks weird ...

~~~
stcredzero
It puts me in mind of:

[https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-
static/static/2014-03/enha...](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-
static/static/2014-03/enhanced/webdr02/25/17/enhanced-5138-1395783819-1.jpg)

[https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1d4e0HFXXXXcNapXXq6xXFXXXn/The...](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1d4e0HFXXXXcNapXXq6xXFXXXn/The-
Avengers-Captain-America-The-font-b-WINTER-b-font-font-b-SOLDIER-b-font-
Cosplay.jpg)

~~~
function_seven
YES. I had those same mental images looking at the weird front clip. I get
that a grille is not necessary, but the body panels creases are designed as if
there should be one, and they then decided to leave a blank expanse there
instead. It’s one of the ugliest front ends I’ve ever seen.

I’m not saying that a grille is necessary. Just that if you aren’t going to
put one there, then don’t demarcate a space for it.

~~~
dreamcompiler
It's also possible they're trying to maximize front trunk space.

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jordache
every single model looks the same. they really milking that singular design
language huh?

I don't think these Tesla designs will age well. The interior is already
looking like a kit car

~~~
feld
They spent years and untold amounts of money on the body design. They cannot
change it without affecting their drag coefficient and killing their max
range. The body design is part of the magic that makes the Tesla possible.

edit: drove my friend's Model S down the highway at 75mph and put down the
windows. No air entered the cabin. We sliced through the air like a hot knife
through butter. It was remarkable. Also consider that they are legislating to
get the requirement for side mirrors removed. If they replace them with
cameras they gain 7% more range.

afaik Tesla is the most aerodynamic road legal car in the USA

~~~
jordache
Well it's also because they try to make the car look as "normal" as possible.
For example, the inclusion of a useless grill in the earlier model s. If they
truly embraced the operational qualities of an electric car and rid themselves
of lineages to standard vehicles, they could have designed something that's
truly unique, true to the electric locomotion, and not end up with this random
mix of design elements with ugly result

~~~
thatwebdude
Having a smooth, grill-less front is a welcome invitation to road/rock chips.
These things are going to look like 80's Camry's with the lower price tag and
"normal" driving habits of the plebs.

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squaredpants
I find the front very fugly, not sure how I feel about the car's aesthetics
overall. As for the lack of a main instrument cluster, I'll wait and see. So
far i prefer the looks of a Hyundai Ioniq for example... If they launch a
40kWh+ version next year, it could be a real threat for the Tesla M3.

~~~
jordache
The Chevy Bolt is already a much more cohesive design and looks better than
the Tesla's jelly bean Taurus slippery slope.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=jelly+bean+taurus](https://www.google.com/search?q=jelly+bean+taurus)

~~~
Shivetya
I am still surprised Tesla led with a sedan instead of a small CUV. The CUV
craze is in full force and it would be a much better packaging. I know there
is a rumored "Y" model coming which might be the 3 on a CUV platform.

We don't know what version of the 3 we are seeing here, is this loaded or
stripped? I am really really curious how much content is lost to meet the 35k
price point or if they will even bother trying to meet it.

Still a good looking sedan from certain angles. I am quite happy with my Volt
and like the REX option I get because I still don't feel BEV even with 200
mile range are a full alternative for a single car family. As a commuter and
within range day trips sure. Planning around SC, took the lesson my friend
gave me to heart. Just no.

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mickrussom
I heard on Bloomberg tv / news that Tesla has a target price for the Model 3
in the high 50's/low 60s. So they start in the high 30s and have upgrades that
can double the price.

I find it unfortunate that there are this many upgrades. I wish they made an
efficient model with a decent array of base features (eg, self driving stuff)
without relying heavily on upgrades to get margin.

I hope Tesla comes out with a car in the 30s that is more or less feature
complete (luxury upgrades like wood panels, Corinthian leather, etc are fine
but tech should be there in base).

The other thing that seems unfortunate is the cost per kwh causes a lot of
overlap with hybrid vehicles in terms of cost per mile. To me the holy grail
is 100% battery 100% self-driving cars which will reduce smog and particulate
pollution and increase air quality and reduce deaths per mile - we need to get
there ASAP - but 60k cars DOES NOT HELP get us there faster and I really feel
rats like PG&E are really monopolies gouging us on electricity prices
terribly. .

Cost per mile kwh/price of gas / mileage:
[https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/fsev/costs.pdf](https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/fsev/costs.pdf)

~~~
extrapickles
They have said[0] that a reasonably optioned Model 3 will cost ~$42k; so not a
unreasonable amount more than the ~$35k base price. I wouldn't be surprised if
a fully loaded Model 3 would cost the same as a base Model S though.

[0]:
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/715934657720639488](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/715934657720639488)

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username223
URL should be changed to remove "/amp" at the end.

~~~
modeless
Why? I think the amp version of the page is better. It loads faster and has
less irrelevant crap.

~~~
WiseWeasel
Because not everyone is on mobile, and the non-amp version displays more
images without needing to drill down into various gallery widgets.

~~~
modeless
I'm not on mobile and prefer the amp version. It displays larger images
without needing to drill down into various gallery widgets.

~~~
Dylan16807
You must be getting served a different version of the site than me. I'm
getting slightly larger main images on non-amp, on top of there being more
images.

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gambiting
I'm very disappointed - it looks way bigger than I expected. I was
anticipating something the size of an European hatchback, say a golf. This
looks slightly smaller than the model S and if I dare to say it.....it's just
ugly? The front is hideous, looks slightly like a porsche front, but without
any bits that make Porsche look good, and the back looks like it can't quite
decide what it wants to be. Then seen from the side you have the very very low
front, hump in the middle, and then a back that doesn't really taper off in an
attractive way. Not really a fan of the looks to be honest, but the size is a
dealbreaker here(for me).

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chrisper
Hopefully they will be able to deliver on quality [1]. The bad quality control
at the high price is why I dislike Tesla cars. Maybe once they fix that they
will convince me. Right now I find the lucid air more interesting.

1 [http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/04/tesla-owner-
finds-t...](http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/04/tesla-owner-finds-torn-
pillar-freshly-delivered-model-s/)

~~~
ww520
Not sure whether they have implemented the Toyota system where anyone can stop
the production line to fix a problem. With their rush to fulfill production,
quality might suffer initially.

~~~
aeharding
They have a ramp up period [1], so I'm pretty sure they expect production
issues. All car manufacturers have problems with the first ones of a new model
rolling out of the factory, and I don't think it'll be any different with
Tesla.

[1] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-27/tesla-
mod...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-27/tesla-model-3-ramp-
up-aims-to-crush-bmw-and-mercedes)

------
samuraibunny
Doesn't look as nice as the Model S, but Tesla I'll still let you take my
money.

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sbarre
I saw a white one in downtown Toronto last week, so they're definitely out
there..

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bischofs
This should drive the stock price up another $200.

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notadoc
Looks nice

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spectistcles
I like some weird looking cars, but this thing is just an ugly sedan

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itchyjunk
I think I see what some people mean about Musk fandom. A "sighting" link on
the first page. How is this different than tabloid celebrity citing?

That being said, I hope model 3 does good and they meet their dead lines more
or less. Mostly because of how unnecessarily some news outlets were about
Tesla from the start and especially around modle 3.

~~~
tbabb
> How is this different than tabloid celebrity citing?

How is it even similar? One is about shallow celebrity worship, and this is
about new, upcoming technology. Would a leak of any other anticipated
technology (Apple product, game console, VR kit, etc etc) get a different
reception?

If it were a selfie with Elon Musk then you'd have a point, but it's not, and
it seems clearly on-topic to me.

~~~
itchyjunk
This is about the worship of a new upcoming technology. What does this article
add? specifications? details about dates? change log? Some guy driving and
taking pictures which is possibly unsafe if anything. What exactly about this
new, upcoming technology am I supposed to learn from this article?

I am equally excited about tech, but this article is not tech news. It's
excitement about spotting something in the street.

~~~
throwaway287391
Besides the new look, there is new technical information in the article, for
example:

> However, what’s most striking from the photos is the addition of two new
> sensors that are rear-quarter facing and presumably new Autopilot 2.o
> cameras. If true, this would bring the total number of Autopilot 2.0 cameras
> from 8 to 10.

This info should certainly interest you if you were competing with Tesla.
Maybe "regular people" shouldn't care about having this information early, but
wanting as much information as soon as possible about things you're interested
in is human nature.

