Yesterday I spent time in the Tesla Model 3’s passenger’s seat for the first time. Not only that, I rode in the rear seat for a couple of short stints and that normally wouldn’t be a story, but it is, and here’s why.

The infotainment screen has been completely renewed. There are new menus, and a new look. Across the bottom, fixed virtual buttons have been rearranged. there are climate controls for either front seat, and 3 dots to access menu options (instead of the previous up arrow )

1:

The new Model 3 updates now present a picture of the side of the car. The smallish live video is presented at the bottom of the driver’s display. That’s not exactly newsworthy. Lots of brands do that.

The problem with Model 3 is that the driver’s display is the righthand side (in righthand drive models) of the centre screen. The landscape tablet is large, but the driving data is only a small portion of the precious real estate. Since there are no other driver displays, this is important data. Sadly, the pictures appears over the top of the lane graphic showing the car’s position.

With hands on the steering wheel at 9 and 3 o’clock, that section of the screen is hard to see. The only way to view it is to move your left hand. The side view live video is a new feature, but you need to be able to place it where you can see it.

Model 3 will auto-lane-change when auto-pilot is active.

This Week: 2022 Škoda Kamiq VS Jeep Compass: Which Will Win? Full REVIEW

Help Support Gay Car Boys Subscribe to our Youtube Channel 

ABOVE: Tesla model 3

2:

Many features have shifted menus and/or positions. There are more options at the bottom of the screen.

3:

After 1.5 hours, the front passenger’s seat felt mighty hard. I found myself shifting to try to get comfortable. In order to get the rear passenger’s feet under the front seat, the front seat has to be raised up somewhat. The low roof makes getting in difficult. I am almost 6’ but the reason I hadn’t noticed it before was the front seat was lower.

The news in the rear seat is worse as the roof is even lower. While there is plenty of knee space, you have to get in first. The rear seat was always difficult to get in and out of.

4:

This is a small but amusing point. Model 3 identifies traffic lights and their colour. As we said previously, it saw a set of portable lights being towed by a work van at 110kph as actual traffic lights. It also sees overhead arrows in tunnels as traffic lights, misidentifying those as normal traffic lights.

5:

Several times during the trip, the driver noticed that either the heated steering wheel or heated driver’s seat came on. I suspect the rear passenger was fiddling with his Tesla app. The rear passenger is one of the owners whose phone is able to access features. Although he denied it, I suspect mischief.

6:

Unrelated to the car itself, Tesla has a policy on what you do with your car after you buy it. One buyer reported that he had received a note from Tesla saying that his recent sale violated their resale policy and that any current Tesla orders would be cancelled and he would no longer be able to order any future tesla models.

No other details were available.

Let’s finish on a positive note:

One of the “easter eggs” is a dance where the windows open and close, as does the boot. Lights flash and the words “TESLA TESLA” are projected from the headlights. If there is a wall in front, you can clearly see the brand’s name displayed in large letters..

Other GayCarBoys EV Stories:

Discover more from Gay Car Boys

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.