# Model 3 displayed at Goodwood festival



## Scuffers (Jun 8, 2017)

Having spent over a year looking at info on the 3, finally got to see a 3 in the metal @ goodwood this week, the first time a 3 has come to the UK.

Did not get to take too many pictures as I spent my time looking round the car's interior etc.

Seen all the great pictures of them since launch, but it's impossible to tell just what the seats, fit and finish etc are like from a picture, how good are the plastics? how comfortable are the seats? how much head/leg room? what's the visibility like?.....

well, in my (short!) experience of it, I was relieved with what I saw/felt, the fit/finish was good, the front seats are supportive and well contoured, (I would like more side support being fussy) and the range of adjustment although not massive, seems to be in the right window, I could easily get the seat into a comfortable position leaving the pedals and steering wheel comfortable whilst leaving good headroom.

Having set the front seat, I then got in the back, having been used to European 4 door cars like the Audi A4, this is where they start to get tight for space, I'm not a giant (~5'10) however, in an A4 with the front seat set for me, there is not much leg room left in the rear (from memory, only around 4-5"), with this new 3, seems more like ~12" - a massive improvement. Now the bad bit, the rear seat itself was somewhat 'flat' as in your sitting on it rather than in it, this is not only less than great from a comfort perspective, but also means your sitting pretty high up, and whilst it's not short on headroom, I would have liked to be a bit lower as my eye-line is approaching the top of the door window top - one of the Tesla staff did say this was the 'old' rear seat and the 'new' one is more sculptured, (so why bring an 'Old' car??), so I can only hope he was correct and the new one is improved - this is not a show-stopper for me, just less than ideal, especially as I said I'm no giant.

Steering wheel feels OK, although the finish of the 'spokes' looks a bit cheap, not sure if it's just the colour or surface, just looks a bit cheap, that said, it's feels OK and the controls work just fine.

The Tesla guy was keen to show off the ventilation - and I can see why, forget the gimmick factor, it actually works really well at moving air without blasting you from one/two directions (like most cars), this translates to a higher air volume without the same noise/velocity of traditional vents.

Did not get the time to dissect the rest of the interior, although I saw nothing that looked out of place, the boot (trunk) space is excellent and the opening is not stupidly restrictive, the 'frunk' is not huge, but I can see it being perfectly practical and useful.

I would have loved to have a lot more time to play with the car, but I appreciate getting the chance to see an actual car.

My takeaway from all this, i'm still patiently waiting with my my reservation - LR 4WD please!


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## Beagle (May 10, 2018)

Car Guy heaven is a good choice of places to show off the car. (Although I have never been to the Festival, I have made the trek to the Revival twice.) The revised seats started about VIN 18K, and we have about 20K; they are much improved. It is interesting that Tesla makes "running improvements", not just software updates. In my opinion, the most important upgrade is the ride quality. (Changed about VIN 2K.) It went from harsh/giggly to firm/solid BMW/Audi like. When they start putting the steering wheel on the wrong side, you will enjoy the car.


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## Jayc (May 19, 2016)

Scuffers said:


> Having spent over a year looking at info on the 3, finally got to see a 3 in the metal @ goodwood this week, the first time a 3 has come to the UK.
> 
> Did not get to take too many pictures as I spent my time looking round the car's interior etc.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the write-up. Apparently UK showrooms will get static display cars around September this year and test drive cars after December so things are definitely happening.


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## Gavyne (Jul 7, 2018)

Once you get to test drive it, that's when the magic happens. Thanks for the review, I saw on twitter there were good feedback from UK at the festival.


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