$35,000 Tesla Model III Is Coming In 2017

[zinfamous]

I love how all the skeptics are convinced the Model S Plaid was totally stripped bare inside and Taycan wasn't. From the pictures I've seen, it's the opposite and it's Taycan that was stripped inside and bare. I think the Taycan only had drivers seat installed and no passenger seats or door trims.

On the other hand, here's Model S Plaid on Nürburgring.

You can see it has both driver and passenger seats.

And full driver side door trim

And full passenger side door trim too.

Interior looks pretty stock to me. And even if it wasn't, stripped interior is not the reason Model S Plaid was more than 20 seconds faster than the Taycan.

since when is DNF the same as 20 seconds faster? I kid, I kid...mostly. Hey, at least it didn't catch on fire this time!

 

[Aikouka]

Ugh. I think the worst part about owning a Tesla is having to deal with the utter lack of support. For me, I live about an hour and 40 minutes from the "local" service center, and consequently, I'd prefer to talk to someone who can possibly do a bit of legwork to see if my issue can be fixed my a mobile technician instead. I've had work done by them before... it's literally so easy in that they come to you! Anyway, originally, Tesla had a support phone number, and then they added a live chat option. Well, now the live chat option is gone as well as their support number isn't really used for technical calls anymore. (It's mostly for roadside assistance and such.)

My issue is that I'm still having camera problems with my car. The cynical side of me wonders if it was a mistake accepting my car early as it likely resulted in me receiving a rushed model made to meet the end of their quarter sales goal. Either that or I just drew the short straw! Anyway, the last time I had my car worked on, they replaced the driver's side fender camera as it kept failing. I'm not sure if it's related, but I've noticed in TeslaCam videos that the left camera's output is sometimes literally half green on the bottom, and other times, it's fine.

Earlier today, I received a green warning (not sure why it was "green") that stated "Autopilot safety/convenience features unavailable" and that they might be back next drive. I think they actually came back at the end of my drive as the speed limit reappeared, and the speed limit normally disappears without Autopilot and the lights stay on all the time. Also, ever since I drove in a heavy downpour one time, I keep having issues with getting "Blindspot detection limited" warnings. This usually happens for a few days after it rains, but when I look at the B-pillar cameras, I don't see any moisture in them. (These are supposedly the problematic ones when it comes to moisture.)

Ultimately, I just want to avoid what happened last time where I dropped off the car, and the tech told me that he figured it out in a few minutes and had it repaired pretty quickly. If it's that easy, I'd prefer not spending over three hours driving to get it taken care of... especially when I shouldn't be having these issues to begin with.

 

[zinfamous]

^probably more of typical "don't by first year of new model" advice type stuff, for any manufacturer. Every big manufacturer has problems like this, and they aren't always universal. Tesla isn't unique in experiencing issues like this in their manufacturing.

Only real problem I see is that their cool, forward-thinking service model maybe isn't as convenient and useful as it appears on paper? Or, if they haven't locked down how it will work, dependability and all that, then maybe it's just not-as-advertised yet.

Hell, my brand-new GTI is currently in the ~6-7th and final year of it's current model platform, and VW still sold the manual versions with some very real and very obvious intake timing and/or coding issues, leading to stalls. Mine started stalling practically out of the lot, and I knew it was possible going in before I purchased it...and I still bought it, lol. Humans are stupid. ....and they've been working on this very same engine and drivetrain, for the most part, for 10+ years, on a now ~40+ year-old car. Things get more complicated--especially because of electronics--the problems are just more compounded and ever more specialized (expensive) to deal with.

...so far, mine hasn't stalled for ~1500 miles after ECU reset, and now just two weeks ago, NHTSA sent the formal request to VW about gathering info and responding to them about the documented problem (Started and submitted by one of the forum members over at golfmk7)...so that's cool.

 

[Aikouka]

^probably more of typical "don't by first year of new model" advice type stuff, for any manufacturer. Every big manufacturer has problems like this, and they aren't always universal. Tesla isn't unique in experiencing issues like this in their manufacturing.

Apart from the manufacturing/assembly of the Model 3 being different, the parts in question are actually the same as the ones used on later Model S and Model X cars where the parts in question are mostly the cameras and the MCU. (The Model 3 uses the same gen 2 MCU as the later S and X cars.) That's why I'd expect less of an issue with the parts but rather with the assembly... which is why I wonder if I may've had a rushed build given the circumstances. Tesla was under quite a lot of pressure to meet delivery quotas. I mean... it was enough pressure to literally pay me (with a gift card) to take the car that I was waiting for earlier.

Only real problem I see is that their cool, forward-thinking service model maybe isn't as convenient and useful as it appears on paper? Or, if they haven't locked down how it will work, dependability and all that, then maybe it's just not-as-advertised yet.

Well, yeah.. I think it's easier to forgive issues if they don't cause much of a hassle. I think what makes it a bit irritating is that Tesla's Mobile Service option really fits that bill as it's incredibly convenient. However, it's just incredibly awkward to even try to use it. I'm pretty sure that what I have to do is go schedule an appointment on my app, and apparently, a Tesla person will review it and recommend it to Mobile Service instead? This whole thing is probably far, far less of a big deal if you live in an area with a good Tesla presence such as southern California or a very large city (i.e. the only service center is close to you), but I just don't want to schedule an appointment that I'd really rather not have to be on the book for.

Hell, my brand-new GTI is currently in the ~6-7th and final year of it's current model platform, and VW still sold the manual versions with some very real and very obvious intake timing and/or coding issues, leading to stalls.

Sounds very German of them.

Things get more complicated--especially because of electronics--the problems are just more compounded and ever more specialized (expensive) to deal with.

I wonder if it will help when we finally modernize other aspects of cars? (i.e. going from CAN bus to Ethernet) Or perhaps going electric can help remove a lot of the required electronics? (Of course, you're adding more for the electrical propulsion too.)

 

[ponyo]

Service is the biggest problem for Tesla. From what I've read, it's pretty much impossible to contact Tesla service on the phone and if you do, they just transfer you or hang up on you. Their poor/lack of service and communication reminds me of Google. But if Tesla is to succeed, they need to become more like Apple and Amazon when it comes to customer service. Superior service sells products and gives you free advertisement. Since Tesla doesn't advertise, they need positive word of mouth advertisement from Tesla owners. But if Tesla service is so bad, who's going to recommend Tesla to their family, friends, and strangers?

Poor customer service is my biggest fear with Tesla and something they desperately need to fix if they want to become major player.

 

[bigi]

^no it ain't.

There are plenty of very happy owners that have received proper and timely service. There are some that did not and obviously bitch about it.

This will improve with time for sure. Tesla is scaling up like nobody has ever done especially in manufacturing.

The 'service problems' have been blown out of proportion for sure. Look, they have grown a lot with help from nobody. They still can't produce enough to fulfill sales. This is just the beginning. Model Y, Tesla Pickup, Tesla Semi and Tesla Roadster are still the future.

It will get squared eventually.

 

[zinfamous]

Service is the biggest problem for Tesla. From what I've read, it's pretty much impossible to contact Tesla service on the phone and if you do, they just transfer you or hang up on you. Their poor/lack of service and communication reminds me of Google. But if Tesla is to succeed, they need to become more like Apple and Amazon when it comes to customer service. Superior service sells products and gives you free advertisement. Since Tesla doesn't advertise, they need positive word of mouth advertisement from Tesla owners. But if Tesla service is so bad, who's going to recommend Tesla to their family, friends, and strangers?

Poor customer service is my biggest fear with Tesla and something they desperately need to fix if they want to become major player.

I'm honestly more interested in everything Tesla represents beyond their cars. While cool, this will continue to be their most difficult sector to remain competitive in...consumer-facing, anyway. I think this division will eventually be successful, but maybe as a fleet contractor for Lyft/Uber/Whatever automated transport service on a subscription basis, and of course the big shipping companies. ....but at the same time, I think that's going to be the overall paradigm shift for car-based transport, anyway. ...so that very well could mean they do end up with the majority or lions-share of the primary transportation market.

Maybe.

I see them succeeding best and being very awesome with their home products and if this car thing becomes too expensive, licensing and/or building their battery tech for the industry.

 

[Aikouka]

^no it ain't.

There are plenty of very happy owners that have received proper and timely service. There are some that did not and obviously bitch about it.

This will improve with time for sure. Tesla is scaling up like nobody has ever done especially in manufacturing.

The 'service problems' have been blown out of proportion for sure. Look, they have grown a lot with help from nobody. They still can't produce enough to fulfill sales. This is just the beginning. Model Y, Tesla Pickup, Tesla Semi and Tesla Roadster are still the future.

It will get squared eventually.

It's not an issue with timely service. I talk about the issue above, and @ponyo talks about it too. It's pretty much impossible to just talk to someone in service about your vehicle.

In regard to things having "been blown out of proportion", I think you might be referencing some of the complaints made about part shortages or wait time on parts. That's not what we're talking about though. Just getting to talk to someone is a real hassle with Tesla. Personally, I don't want to be on the hook to have to drive nearly two hours this coming Monday when I could do a tiny bit of legwork with a technical advisor to see if a Mobile Service tech could perform the work instead.

Also, if you want to know a real humdinger of a problem... when you schedule an appointment, they have you select options that relate to what your problem is. I forget which ones I selected, but it was things like "automation", "rattling", etc. The "rattling" is because one time, when trying to get in the car with an umbrella and trying to not get water all over the center screen (was going to put the umbrella in the passenger's side footwell), I brushed up too hard against the trim and pulled it out. In an attempt to put it back, the spring for the seatbelt adjuster came off and there didn't seem to be an obvious mounting point for it. So... now my seatbelt adjuster button rattles often... right in my ear. Also, the little piece that allows you to push down on the charge cover flap fell off, so I can no longer open the flap by pushing down on it.

Anyway... I'm getting off the point... the problem is that the box where they allow you to describe your situation only allows maybe... 1000 characters? They ask you to describe each checked item and provide pictures (if possible), but it's not possible to provide good information. Anyone that has done diagnostics knows that it's good to have plentiful and pertinent information. I was only able to provide enough for the blindspot failure post-rainfall. So, why is the darn box so small if you're allowed to check so many things? Why not provide a box for each checked item?

 

[zinfamous]

^that's the same with Amazon. You have to navigate various pages from your order, to account page, to whatthehellever, tiny text and links that you have to sift through, to figure out how and how to call...and of course they really just want you to do online chat first. ...which usually works for me, but again you have to jump many hoops just to open the chat window and complain about an order.

It's purposefully obtuse and while I have had my issues resolved, eventually, I would never label Amazon customer service as "great" or even "good."

 

[Aikouka]

^that's the same with Amazon. You have to navigate various pages from your order, to account page, to whatthehellever, tiny text and links that you have to sift through, to figure out how and how to call...and of course they really just want you to do online chat first. ...which usually works for me, but again you have to jump many hoops just to open the chat window and complain about an order.

It's purposefully obtuse and while I have had my issues resolved, eventually, I would never label Amazon customer service as "great" or even "good."

I've certainly experienced some of the same annoyances with Amazon's support, but the nice part is that their live chat is usually just as good as the phone support. That's what makes it different than Tesla. Tesla's chat didn't seem to have the capability to look at logs, or at least that's what I recall them telling me. That meant that they normally weren't a huge help for any issue that proved to be a bit troublesome. For example, when I was having my camera problems the first time, they always had me try to do a full restart on the car. When I picked it up from my eventual service appointment, the service technician told me that he found the issue pretty quickly. This makes me wonder if a mobile tech might have been able to fix it if someone was able to check my logs. Also, it'd be great if I could check the logs. I know your average user isn't trained in that sort of stuff, and while I don't have Tesla training, I'm quite used to dealing with system logs and lookin' for funny business.

One other awkward part about Tesla's service is that they aren't open on weekends at all. This means I have to take around four to five hours out of my work day just to take my car up there. That's really why I just want to talk to someone who can see if my issue is repairable by a mobile tech. If I absolutely have to take it in, that's fine, but it'd be very nice to avoid that. Although, just to note, it's really the distance that I have to travel. I don't mind dropping off a car at a local dealer for work and getting a rental -- that's an hour of my time at the most.

There was a bit of an awkward situation the last time. I got a notification on my phone about my car's service being done, but I kind of missed an important part of that notification about picking it up "on the next business day". This was a Saturday, and I went there to get the car only to find out that the service center was closed and only the storefront was open. Fortunately, someone -- the tech that worked with the car -- was there and was able to get me my car. Got a bit too excited to get my car back!

 

[ponyo]

https://www.tesla.com/blog/introducing-software-version-10-0

Software Version 10 is out now and Tesla owners should be getting it soon if not already. It has new features like Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, and Spotify. And more arcade games and Caraoke so you can sing on road trip. And for FSD owners, there's Smart Summon beta where you can summon your car to come to you in parking lots and other places. I'm curious how well the summon will actually work in busy parking lots. I'm sure there's going to be plenty of videos where people leave their dogs in the car while in Dog Mode and then using Smart Summon to move the car in the parking lot as they exit the building or shopping center to make it seem like the dog is driving. And lot of Jedi mind force trick videos with summon. Parking lots are going to get even crazier now.

 

[JEDI]

https://www.tesla.com/blog/introducing-software-version-10-0

Software Version 10 is out now

my fear of mass OTA updates:
I can see sometime in the future, some malicious hacker will spoof an update and screw up stuff.

 

[Aikouka]

https://www.tesla.com/blog/introducing-software-version-10-0

Software Version 10 is out now and Tesla owners should be getting it soon if not already. It has new features like Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, and Spotify. And more arcade games and Caraoke so you can sing on road trip. And for FSD owners, there's Smart Summon beta where you can summon your car to come to you in parking lots and other places. I'm curious how well the summon will actually work in busy parking lots. I'm sure there's going to be plenty of videos where people leave their dogs in the car while in Dog Mode and then using Smart Summon to move the car in the parking lot as they exit the building or shopping center to make it seem like the dog is driving. And lot of Jedi mind force trick videos with summon. Parking lots are going to get even crazier now.

I've heard that you can upload a video to YouTube with a link to your Plex client and gain access to Plex that way too. I'm not sure if you can also just go to the browser and navigate to Plex.tv, which works for any externally accessible Plex server (you have to log in).

Unfortunately, I don't have the update just yet, but I'm curious to see if Smart Summon is any better than how a friend (in the Early Access Program) described it to me.

 

[KMFJD]

So Porsche unveiled their Taycan. Car looks nice and is typical Porsche expensive. But the range is disappointing. Taycan Turbo and Taycan Turbo S have 200 miles and 193 miles of range. Another Tesla killer released with subpar range like the E-Tron and the iPace. I guess there is more to it than just putting motor with battery when making EV.

very nice

 

[Aikouka]

I got the V10 upgrade today. I learned that I am still bad at Cuphead... I am terrible at "Caraoke"... and I am glad that we finally have Spotify.

Although, it is a little weird to use Spotify. So, Slacker is still the default streaming option and is what you get if you choose the "Streaming" option. However, all the way on the right is the Spotify link. It appears that the search option will always search what is currently playing. For example, I had Caraoke playing and Spotify visible on the screen. When I did a search, it searched under Caraoke not Spotify. However, once I played a song on Spotify, the search then searched Spotify. This probably isn't a big deal for most, but I've never set up playlists or anything on Spotify... so I didn't have anything to play.

Oh, and unlike Slacker, you have to pay for Spotify premium to use it. (You can pay for Slacker too.)

EDIT:

Oh, and the sneaky method of accessing Plex through YouTube works. So, unlike Netflix and Hulu, which appear to have apps, YouTube opens in a browser-like window. So, if you create your own video and simply put a link to Plex's site in it, you can click on the link and go to Plex. I hit "Launch", logged in, and boom... there was Plex. It is a little wonky to navigate the web-based UI with the touch screen, but it does seem to work just fine.

 

[Kaido]

Smart Summon accident...I wonder how this is gonna play out with insurance:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1177761095332896774

 

[Kaido]

I got the V10 upgrade today. I learned that I am still bad at Cuphead... I am terrible at "Caraoke"... and I am glad that we finally have Spotify.

Although, it is a little weird to use Spotify. So, Slacker is still the default streaming option and is what you get if you choose the "Streaming" option. However, all the way on the right is the Spotify link. It appears that the search option will always search what is currently playing. For example, I had Caraoke playing and Spotify visible on the screen. When I did a search, it searched under Caraoke not Spotify. However, once I played a song on Spotify, the search then searched Spotify. This probably isn't a big deal for most, but I've never set up playlists or anything on Spotify... so I didn't have anything to play.

Oh, and unlike Slacker, you have to pay for Spotify premium to use it. (You can pay for Slacker too.)

EDIT:

Oh, and the sneaky method of accessing Plex through YouTube works. So, unlike Netflix and Hulu, which appear to have apps, YouTube opens in a browser-like window. So, if you create your own video and simply put a link to Plex's site in it, you can click on the link and go to Plex. I hit "Launch", logged in, and boom... there was Plex. It is a little wonky to navigate the web-based UI with the touch screen, but it does seem to work just fine.

As much as I love Tesla, I'm not giving up my Apple CarPlay lol

 

[ponyo]

Smart Summon accident might settle 50/50 since it's on private property or the Lexus pays 100%. But it's wild we're having conversation about accident with driverless car with another human driver! On a driverless car that ordinary people own and is mass produced! Waymo and Uber driverless cars don't really count since normal people don't own those cars.

BTW, that accident probably wouldn't have happened if both cars were driverless cars. It's humans that cause accidents.

Tesla is going to get so much publicity from this Smart Summon feature/party trick. People will go crazy over this, good and bad, and Tesla sales are going to explode. And Smart Summon along with Autopilot is going to get so much better from all this data and machine learning. This is how the system learns. I'm ok with the legal risks that will surely follow if it means the system learns faster and brings the future that much closer. Tesla is bringing the future whether we or Tesla is ready or not. So exciting!

 

[ponyo]

Tesla needs to incorporate horn button so if you spot a car backing up to your driverless Tesla or people suddenly jumping out in front or back of your car, you can manually honk. Or program the car to honk. And maybe have a split screen or PIP on your phone of car camera display so you can also see.

 

[Kaido]

This guy's Model 3 ran into his garage:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1177773811497721856

 

[Kaido]

Oh boy

https://twitter.com/x/status/1177749574976462848

 

[Kaido]

They just keep rolling in!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1177671831181918208

 

[Kaido]

A little trouble on a gravel driveway

https://twitter.com/x/status/1177788043585097729

 

[Kaido]

Destroy all humans

 

[zinfamous]

why are these idiots trying this stuff in busy, public parking lots? This is ridicuous. Get in your car and drive it, assholes.

I wonder what the owners in the other cars think about being test data points for idiots and their RC toys?