Hacker News Reader

Comment by sjm-yc-acct | Hacker News Reader

I wish they would hire the interior controls engineer that worked on the 8th gen. Mazda Protege. Simple, elegant, and ergonomic.

That giant iPhone in the middle of the Tesla 3 puts a crick in my neck just from looking at the pictures.

View on HN

Except everyone who owns one seems to love the interior

Have they driven a Protege? :)

To be honest I've never heard of it before your post.

The giant ipad is fine for people who don't want to drive, but for people who enjoy driving, an immersive experience is important.

I think the people who want the performance version should get a dashboard, or the option of one. I'll bet a $3000 optional dashboard would sell like hotcackes.

What’s immersive about having a bunch of dials and gauges in front of you?

I've driven the model 3 and the model S (which both present the same information).

I think the dashboard of the model S puts good information in your line of sight. In comparison, using the model 3 display seems a little like trying to use your cellphone while driving.

As to dials and guages, I'm not trying to pin it down to that. Just driving information in your line of sight.

I could also say a HUD would be cool too. I've actually spent some time in military aircraft simulators with actual hardware huds, and I can tell you that it draws you in.

But who knows, I might be one of those people bemoaning the new "iphone gadget" and it's lack of a keyboard :)

I own both. Neither one has the information really in your line of sight (nor does any other car, unless they have HUDs). You have to move your eyes in a different direction, but it’s about the same effort. It takes a minute to get used to looking diagonally instead of down, and then it’s business as usual.

Thanks, this is an interesting insight. Still, looking at aircraft with flat screen "glass cockpits" without HUD, they tend to follow the Model S pattern:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_Mustang#/media...

Critical displays and controls in front of the pilot, other controls readily accessible by feel/muscle memory. Aircraft designers tend to be very conservative due to safety, but cars involve safety considerations too--which is why I think car designers do tend to stick to standard configurations.

I’m not sure it’s comparable. There’s a lot of information you need to keep an eye on when flying. Speed, altitude, attitude, coordination, heading, position, etc. Lose track of any of those and you can get behind the airplane and crash.

In a car, you sorta need to know your speed, and that’s it. Even speed is not entirely necessary. In an ICE car you also might want to keep an eye on engine RPM, oil temperature, and other such things, but you don’t need them in an EV

If all your instruments go out in an airplane, it’s an emergency. Depending on the aircraft type and situation, it may mean certain death. If it happens in a car... I’m not convinced most drivers would even notice. Those who do would only be mildly inconvenienced at worst.

Edit: here’s an example of an airplane with side by side seating and a central instrument panel: https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/taurus/. Gliders are much more car-like in their instrumentation needs, although they still need a bit more, and losing them all is still an emergency.

I have spent a little time flying in the left seat and right seat of real single engine aircraft (although I have never been in any Tesla.) I would say it's comparable, but a matter of degree. It is true that there is a much higher workload on the a/c pilot, especially on taxiing, takeoff, and landing. Pilots rely completely on their instruments during IFR.

I have the feeling safety would be an issue if I was fumbling around for the defroster menu item in the mountains rather than having it at hand when my windshield was rapidly fogging up--in any vehicle. (Ask me about my trip to Laramie, WY last week.) Driving off a cliff would be a bad day, too. What about the battery overheating indicator? I would rather that be in front of me too in an electric car. A chime could help in this situation, but what if people where honking at you while seeing smoke coming from your vehicle?

BTW, did you notice the redundant mechanical instrument cluster in the Cessna Mustang (located above the display with the map)--another design element that increases safety if you have a primary display failure...

What battery overheating indicator?

The power meter, which is with the speedometer, has an indication if battery output is throttled. You can also feel it in the accelerator, no need to look.

Wait, the car doesn't tell you if the battery is overheating? That doesn't happen with Li-ion batteries? I heard it does in cars and airplanes and laptops...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_...

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/overheating.109238/

If the battery is physically damaged causing a runaway, the car flashes a huge warning and beeps. But that isn’t caused by ordinary events like driving up a steep hill when it’s hot out. It’s caused by accidents that significantly damage the car.

Battery failures can also be caused by manufacturing/design defects in the cells (as in the Boeing batteries) or malfunctioning components of the active cooling system in the Model 3 like fans/pumps/coolant (like the Tesla club owner).

Having a coolant temperature gauge in front of you could show you a trending problem, before the car announces to you that it is shutting down as you attempt to merge into 75 MPH traffic.

I don't think the Boeing failure would cause a runaway in a Tesla battery, nor any other electric car allowed on the road, nor in the redesigned Boeing 787 battery pack.

The Tesla club comment at the top of your link is about a Roadster, not a Model 3.

Here's a related business idea:

OEM and aftermarket activated charcoal cabin filters (not the paper kind) to remove diesel and other exhaust fumes.

I think some luxury cars have them (Porsche?) but I think the rest of us should as well. They might sell like hotcakes too.

I like driving, and I also love having a large map on the screen when I’m driving in an unfamiliar area. The extra context is very helpful.

I don't see why you can't have both.

It does have both, for me.

I'm happy to agree that we have different preferences.

Is this what you are talking about?

https://mazdasla.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Mazda-Proteg...

That's their modern one, Mazda 3 (oddly enough).

I was kind of joking with my original comment, because this was an economy car--but it actually is a nice design:

http://gtcarlot.com/data/Mazda/Protege/1999/12552040/Dashboa...

I see how it’s a joke. Looks almost exactly like an old Camry.

In all seriousness, and hopefully more constructively--there really is a lot to like about the Tesla Model 3. We have been looking for a new car for a while, and we did consider the Model 3. I just wish they had retained some more of the instrumentation/controls like the speedometer in front of the driver.

I've been thinking about this more tonight and in a way, the clean minimalistic interior design of the Model 3 is more like the Protege and the "old" Camry than other modern cars. Obviously, the Tesla also has the advantage over these cars of not having a tail-pipe.

Maybe you could do some Rasberry Pi projects to add the dials you want. One guy on reddit wanted to add an audio box to do fake engine noises. Cringe, but to each their own.

The speedometer is pretty close to in front of the driver. Nnot exactly in front, I understand that.

Keep in mind there’s a lot of misinformation out there. For example people have wrongly complained that turning on the wipers requires a bunch of interaction with menus on the screen and such. Not really. Usually they are on auto. If you really want to force an immediate wipe, there’s a dedicated hardware button for it right where you’d expect. Just an example. I could say more about it but... I’m replying to a six day old comment and maybe you already know this stuff.

I've driven a Model 3 on a couple of long drives. The screen is a complete non-issue and takes an hour or two to get used to if you've never driven a Tesla before.

It does make a few operations annoying but overall it works well and most people adapt pretty quickly.

But buy one and you will actually love it every day, says this TM3 owner.

I would probably like this one better:

https://www.stoddard.com/media/catalog/category/IMG_1365.jpg

Early 911 interior.

I am sure there will be other brands that will stick to the classic interior design for their EV's.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com