The last couple of days my wife and I have been watching the various M3 video interior/exterior tours of and I have to say we are not terribly impressed by the car. I have to admit I am scratching my head as to some of the decisions Tesla made. Don't get me wrong some of the design features are neat, but others are questionable. I realize that Tesla is having the videos yanked out as it looks like the early deliveries are more of extended test vehicles that employees paid for, but I think the jest of the car is in place.



Things we noticed:



1. What was wrong with the standard door handles every other manufacturer uses? With one hand you pull up and the door unlatches. With Model 3 you have to do this weird push in to hinge out the door handle, and then an electric latch unlatches the door. Then once you are in an electric latch button needs to be pressed to get out. This seems overly complicated for a door. I am not looking forward to having to explain how to open a car door to every passenger that rides. We saw that in the Texas video as the guy in the back seat could not figure out to get out. God forbid I am in a car crash and once the power is cut people can't figure out how to get me out.



2. Windshield wiper control. Are my observations correct that you have to go through a couple of clicks to get to the wiper control? I noticed there is no adjustable speed, but I am going to assume that will come. Will there be auto control where it turns on when it senses rain? If it goes automatic then this is a mute point. What's so bad about a steering wheel stem with controls like every other car. I thought this works pretty well on every other car I have owned.



3. How about basic cruise control, is there adjustment for that on the steering wheel? I sure hope that is not on the screen as well.



4. Entertainment center is concerning. Ok, I get it that most people use streaming. I know my wife and I use it from our phones. I see that phone streaming is not enabled, but I will assume it will be at some point. What is so bad with AM radio? I don't buy it that the electric cars interfere with AM. I have both a Volt and a Honda Fit EV and both have AM radio that works just fine. Once again we don't use it very often, but I do travel through Highway 6, 50, and 93 in Nevada a few times a year and there is no cell service and the only choice is AM or satellite radio (which I don't have). Oh gosh am I looking at another cell phone bill for LTE service a few years down the road?



5. Lighting. Once again, was it too expensive to put the headlight control on the column. I guess I can learn to use the auto feature so maybe not a big deal. No buttons for overhead lights. Back 30 years ago the driver had to pull on the headlight control to turn on the dome... only he could do it. Then, the experience improved with buttons on the actual light fixtures so passengers could turn lights on themselves. Now we are back to one control on the touch screen. With our current cars our kids can control their own cabin lights from the rear, but that doesn't appear possible with the M3. Might sound minor to most, but with kids it is important.



6. So the speedometer is gone and now to the right. I get it that the speedometer may not be such a big deal as the position and size make it visible. There are other things typically found in front that are helpful such as cruise control, headlight brights indicator, turn signal indicators. Where is this other stuff shown? Am I going to be that dumbass driving down the road with his forgotten turn signal flashing away and brights left on because I did not have an indication in my face?



What is it with Tesla not being forthcoming with what the car has? They had a big delivery party and my assumption was the car was ready for prime-time with maybe a few bugs. From what we see from the Texas video the software seems more like it is at the alpha state. Listening to the guys in the Texas delivery video you would think that nobody really knows what exactly the car has. Is it going to have auto sensing wipers.... don't know and neither do the Tesla employees. No streaming phone audio, that might come but don't know for sure. No fm radio yet, but it is listed and should come. This car is not exactly ready for delivery to the masses yet.



I get it that some day this car might be self driving, but that is a long way away. My other cars, even the cheap ones I have owned have basic functions on the steering wheel column. In my opinion the M3 driver interface comes off as being cheap. It is not that the AM radio is such a big deal, but really how much would that have cost to add? $10? I think it is what the AM issue stands for... that is along the lines did Tesla omit AM to save me from bad quality audio because their cars are too good for it, or is it because they want to save $5? For a $50k car I would expect a better driver interface all around for the kind of money they are getting for the vehicle.



I bought a number of new cars over the years that include a 1992 Acura Integra ($9K), 1999 Honda CRV ($20K), 2001 Chevrolet Prism ($11K) (built at the Fremont factory before Tesla), 2008 Toyota Highlander ($42k), 2013 Chevrolet Volt ($31k), 2013 Honda Fit EV ($200 month), and 2016 Toyota Tacoma ($35k). 90% of our driving is all electric these days as the truck is hardly used. They have been great cars and from the price you can see that these are way cheaper than the $50k+ M3. In some ways the M3 seems like the ultimate car, and in other ways not so much. I may just watch from the sidelines and pass over my reservation until an objective reviewer to give the car a thumbs up or down. My Fit EV goes back to Honda in June so I have until then to decide on the M3. Maybe when Elan anti-sells the M3 maybe he is being quite honest.



Todd