The Tesla Model 3 Killed the Rest of American Luxury

To the original story here, while I can see Tesla has stolen some market share from the lux models, I fail to see how Tesla is categorized as luxurious, at least in model 3 trim. I fail to see what is so luxurious about a bare bones interior with an iPad like device slapped in the middle of the dashboard. I guess the definition of luxury is different from what I remember.

Tbh, I wouldn’t call a 3 series or C class luxurious either, but at least they have an interior.

Go drive one. Some think that having a dash look like a piano with hundreds of buttons is luxurious…you are probably one of them. I think options and tech is luxurious…but then again, this luxurious thing is a bit subjective.

I don’t know, it’s just too expensive. My buddy got one and it was $60k when all was said and done. He could have bought an E Class with that much which is 3x the car. I also do not believe they will ever deliver a $35,000 unit. I think that was a genuine scam by Musk to get enough pre-orders to get a free loan from his fanboys to keep operations going. He did the same thing with the new Roadster. “Hey look at this cool car we’re making maybe in 3 years just put a $250k deposit down. Only selling 1000 of them. Don’t worry about the fact that we also happen to need $250 Million dollars in cash to keep running that’s just a coincidence.”

The car is for sure innovative and I hope it all works out, but the tech is just not there yet for me to actually want one. I commend them for what they are doing to make electric cars feasible as it’s obviously the way of the future, but I think their aspirations are coming 3-5 years too soon. I really think the whole house of cards will come down in the next couple years as the real automakers jump in with reasonable goals that are actually profitable. Hope I’m wrong.

Like flying first class or in basic economy - same plane, same destination but not the same experience. You can tell where the luxury would be, right? Talking strictly about the interior here.

I’m not sure where CNBC got that list, but that list doesn’t mirror what CR has on its site: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/who-makes-the-most-reliable-cars/

Had having had a POS 2003 Accord V6 (and having read that Honda reliability has only taken a dive since then), I totally believe that Audi, Mazda, and BMW make cars that are more reliable (esp over the short-term since presumably many people are leasing Audis and BMWs).

Where do you learn that? CR has generally reliably mirrored my own experience w/ various cars…

It prob is. I think “luxury” now focuses on obvious tech (meaning more screens, fewer physical buttons), which is very unluxurious to me, IMHO.

I also think the diehard Tesla fans are a unique group (people who look at their car as a gigantic smartphone, which is very diff, I imagine, from the traditional luxury-car buyer).

My personal experience. It’s anecdotal.

I agree. Interior quality and design are the biggest draws of “luxury” for me, when looking at cars. While I can appreciate the minimalist design of the model 3 interior, it really lacks in quality. When you close the doors, they sound hollow. The steering wheel looks like a PlayStation 2 controller. I don’t know if it was just my friend’s model 3, but some of the interior panels didn’t match in color (slightly different but still obvious). And the worst for me, the car creaked and rattled quite a bit while we were driving to lunch (has less than 5000 miles on it). His was a ~$55k MSRP version (before the rebates and stuff), which personally I would expect better at that price.

It might be the worlds greatest driving car…that still won’t make it “Luxurious.” Tech isn’t luxury to me. I don’t need hundreds of buttons. Fit and finish, good materials, comfy seats, and a pleasant environment would be considerations for luxury.

People who were shopping $60K cars simply went out and bought Teslas, cause it was cool. Nothing to do with quality of interior or such.

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That’s fine, but the OPs original article references “luxury.” That’s also not the first time I’ve heard references to lux when discussing a 3 either.

Personally, I just don’t see it.

The definition of luxury has changed dramatically over the years. Here in America it was a huge barge of a car with an opulent interior. But at some point marks like Cadillac decided to chase the sports sedan market and the old school land yachts evolved into luxury SUVs.

I don’t think it is controversial to suggest that Tesla has put their money into tech and batteries rather than opulent interiors. It will be interesting to see how that tradeoff works when they are confronted with more traditional brands who have high quality interiors but might be a step behind Tesla on some of the tech.

3 drives way way better then a E class.

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I know I’m late to this discussion, but, I kind of disagree with the premise of American luxury is dead when Ford sells 900k+ trucks a year that can spec upwards of low $7X,XXX.

I think the author should’ve changed her title to “I think American Luxury is dead because I don’t like what the biggest selling car type is.”

That is definitely true…but is the E luxury? The more i think about it i realize that most “luxury” cars are just premium…that’s it. The fully leaded Lexus ES i got rid of recently had nothing on the Model 3 other than ventilated seats. It was not more comfortable and was much slower. mp11477 makes a good print about quality of materials but to me plastic is plastic no matter how you cut it. Anyway, i think we need to draw the line between luxury and premium.

How does one draw a line between 2 words that only express ideas and ideals, rather than something concrete and tangible?

i think its funny you order a 60k MB and it does not even have leather .

I recall getting a JD Power survey…they tried to guilt me into doing it by enclosing either a $1 or $5 bill.

After 15 minutes, and being only about 10% through the survey, I gave up.

Did keep the bill, however!

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I’d rather have MBtex than a lot of the cheap OEM leather out there…

The split for me is as follows:

  • Regular cars (lower trimmed Accords, Camry’s, Mazda’s, Hyundai’s, etc.)
  • Regular cars with premium features (upper trimmed Accords, Camry’s, Mazda’s, etc.)
  • Entry-Level Luxury cars (Audi A4 Premium, BMW 320i, Mercedes C300, Lexus IS, etc.)
  • Premium Cars with luxury features (The newer Volvo’s, Kia K900, Genesis G80, Tesla’s, Lexus ES)
  • Base Luxury Cars (Low trimmed BMW 5 series, E-Class, Audi A6, Range Rover Discovery Sport and Evoque)
  • Luxury Cars (Well equipped BMW’s, Mercedes, Audi’s, Range Rovers, Porsche)

The thing with base luxury cars is that you still get the very comfortable ride, quiet cabin and solid build. As you start to add features such as nappa leather, the perfume dispenser, etc. you’re just getting more luxurious. However, the model 3 doesn’t have this. In it’s current base configuration, I would honestly say its a regular car with a premium feature (I’d consider its electric drive train premium at the moment). In its fully loaded configuration, I’d say its a premium car with premium features.

I’m confused abaut what you call base model 3…there is no such thing, they all come with the premium package and all its options…all 3 models, the LR and MR. You cannot buy the cloth interior without options…maybe in a few months from now.