Let's not forget impossibly advanced German car user interfaces, such as trackpad to gesture individual characters to spell a word!

For reference: https://youtu.be/_aV91djgwEc

I'm astonished this made it to production. Red tape and bureaucracy means nobody is willing to push back against a feature that is bad and potentially dangerous (maybe not any more dangerous than touchscreens though).

> maybe not any more dangerous than touchscreens though

Maybe not any more dangerous than fancy lane control marketed as full self driving...

In my experience working for a US subsidiary of a Japanese company, there's very little "push back" by underlings. That's simply not part of the culture.

As for peers, rather than underlings, the key word is consensus. Which is only achieved after endless months of interminable meetings during the day and interminable socializing during the evening. Maybe they finally reach consensus because they're worn out by all the discussion?

I hate touchscreens on the dash of moving cars. This interface is (perhaps?) worse, since the guy was making mistakes even in a stopped vehicle. But it would be interesting to try to use the interface while moving. One's hand is probably more stable down low, resting on the console, rather than extended out in space reaching for a touchscreen?

Either way, the interface is much worse than physical buttons on a console or dash.

Acura is German, not Japanese, you're not replying to the correct comment, I think.

Also, Acura's trackpad or whatever just needs a cursor. I wonder why they didn't think of that.

My 2018 Audi has the same braindead touchpad interface. It's completely unusable.

Ah, damn. I wonder if they've changed something recently. I saw that more recent Audi models seem to have a 2 screen UI (driver console and central screen).

Acura is luxury division of Honda, and headquartered both from the Japan and USA

Damn, I can't edit my comment. I meant that Acura is Japanese, not German. I wrote the comment the other way around :-(

Regarding headquarters, true, but it's still a division of Honda, which most people would consider a Japanese company.

Now compare 0-60 and infotainment systems.

Is premium how fast the car goes, or how many paint colors it comes in? Different people have different requirements.

You are likely paying over 100k to get a car as fast as a model 3.

Premium sedan, not sports car. E classes do not and have never competed on 0-60 times

“Premium Sedan” includes a lot of things. BMW certainly classifies driving performance as part of that. As does Lexus. Mercedes has it’s own performance models.

Now if you wanted to argue that the Tesla Model 3/Y aren’t “Luxury Sedans”, I think you have a point. Not so much for the reasons you list, but because the ride is harsher than the Mercedes. But then, some BMWs have a similar ride so it’s hard to say.

Premium sedan has nothing to do with 0-100 km/h times. Those don't differ between segments.

What Model 3 lacks is quality interior and options.

>You are likely paying over 100k to get a car as fast as a model 3.

Define fast

I believe they are talking about 0-60 times.

Model 3 Performance in Track mode is #12 in this list[0]. The least you can pay for this version is $55k.

#13 is a Jaguar XE SV Project at $188k

#11 is a Bentley Bentayga at $160,000

#10 is an Acura NSX at $157,000

[0] https://www.motortrend.com/news/quickest-cars-motortrend-201...

> Now compare 0-60

What is this, kindergarten?

It's still not a premium car.

Premium is defined by price, not your desired feature set.

I think most people define premium by the build quality, interior design, options etc. But if you want to only define it by price, then the model 3 is definitely not in the premium segment. It's a very cheap car... So much so that I know a few people that literally joke at a white model 3 company lease as "your consulting job must suck"

FWIW, I drove a BMW 328i for 20 years. Paid $39,000 for it. Put 230,000 miles on it. I loved that car dearly.

I replaced it with a Model 3 and put 70,000 miles on it so far. Paid $49,000 for it, which is in the mid-point of what you'd pay for a new 328i. It's even more fun to drive, with operating costs at about 1/4 the BMW.

The model 3 looks like a $25,000 car when you buy it new though, and that's my problem with it.

I agree. Among other things, it's not shaped like other cars. I found the nose off-putting when I first saw the prototypes, and I was really skeptical about the display and mounting in the center of the cabin.

In all sincerity, after reading through the comments, it seems to me that the folks making negative claims are picking specific things they don't like, or relating what they've heard about the car. I expect that if they spent a week driving it in place of their current pony, they'd change their opinion. The overall experience is better than any other car I've driven.

Also, there are for sure people who simply don't care about the driving experience itself and see cars as nothing more than transportation. For them, I also can see the a Tesla would have much less appeal.

25k cars don’t have the sound system nor performance nor screens of a 3. Let’s sit side by side with a civic and compare...

So you're defining premium cars by the things that everyone hates about those cars, other than build quality.

The German car companies will nickle and dime you to death with options, they have terrible interiors/user interfaces, etc. Granted I wish the model 3 had cooled seats but meh.

Even a model S doesn't count with that logic.

They did patent a system for heating and cooling seats[1], so I suspect that will come eventually.

[1] https://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?PageNum=0&docid=20190291613&ID...

Compared to a luxury German car I think the model 3 has far worse isolation, more plastic and vibrations, fake leather, much less seat options in terms of adjustments, often misaligned panels. All OK for the mid range car that it is, but I was responding to Tesla calling it the best selling premium car.

'More plastic and vibrations...' Please be more specific. More plastic than the BMW or Mercedes?

And what parts are vibrating? Do you mean making an audible sound? Or the car is shimmying?

The rich get after market effects.

It's in the same price bucket. If in your opinion is not a premium sedan, it's all more impressive.

> Model 3 is a premium sedan ?

I'm with you. It's certainly a premium price, but (IMHO) it really shouldn't be considered "premium" on overall build quality or accoutrements.

There are few repairs needed so parts don't matter ;-) More seriously I do hope that there can be third party access to shop manuals and repairs though.