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Comment by nradov | Hacker News Reader

Most car buyers don't actually want minimalistic interiors.

I know it's personal preference but I think a good number of people don't know they will be fine without 15 buttons on the steering wheel or 10 different buttons for climate control. I haven't missed any of that moving to a Model 3.

Most of them would rather have buttons on their doors to control the things that have been controlled that way for generations, though. You shouldn't have to hunt through a menu to lock a door.

Why do you have to manually lock a car door? I’ve never pressed the lock/unlock icon on the screen in 4 years of driving my Model 3.

But by the way, you don’t have to hunt thru a menu for it, the lock status icon is pressable and it’s always on the home screen.

Lock and unlock is like start and stop buttons. Almost totally extraneous and easily inferred 99% of the time.

> Why do you have to manually lock a car door? I’ve never pressed the lock/unlock icon on the screen in 4 years of driving my Model 3.

Conveniently accessible manual door lock/unlock mechanisms become non-negotiable the moment your software-based power-dependent interface becomes inoperable, especially if that's during some emergent crisis like say a giant lithium battery letting the smoke out.

This isn't just some hypothetical:

https://stealthoptional.com/news/tesla-driver-trapped-in-bur...

An emergency is a valid concern and I believe all cars, regardless of Tesla, that feature electronic (fancy) doors also feature physical escape latches. In the Model 3 you can pull up on a handle on the door to force the door open without the power required to first roll down the window to clear the weather seal this will also unlock the door as well.

From your own linked article:

> Juhta criticized the emergency protocol for Tesla’s electric cars, saying that it isn’t intuitive enough.

Which is kinda ironic to me considering anytime a new rider is in my car I make sure to tell them about pressing the small button to open the door because they seem to find that escape latch on their own and often think it's just a regular open door latch.

> Which is kinda ironic to me considering anytime a new rider is in my car I make sure to tell them about pressing the small button to open the door because they seem to find that escape latch on their own and often think it's just a regular open door latch.

Is it the same in the Model Y from the article as your Model 3?

It is, but the manual latch isn't on the door at all in the back seat, so passengers are unlikely to mix it up there.

Some people like black overstuffed couches. Some people like Danish modern.

Last time I went car shopping, I saw a digital speedometer which irritated me for some reason so I rejected that model from further consideration.

I take it you're not shopping for new cars then? the cheapest new car I'm aware of that has analog gauges is a porsche.

btw I have the same preference, just letting you know you are in for a disappointment.

You just haven't looked cheap enough. For example, the Fiat Panda [1] the Nissan leaf [2] and the Kymco VSR-125 [3] all have analog speedometers.

[1] https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/fiat/panda [2] https://www.parkers.co.uk/nissan/leaf/review/interior/ [3] https://www.kymco.co.uk/scooters-and-motorcycles-range/125cc...

Seems to be a market difference? Of the three cheapest cars I could think of in my local market (Honda Civic, Kia Picanto, and Nissan Micra), only the Honda Civic has a digital speedometer.

Of course some do. The point is the vast majority do NOT want the interior of a Tesla.

They want everything in the same darn place that 99% of cars have it, with physical switches to be able to change things so you can just feel what you are doing without taking your eyes off the road.

Most people see the interior of a Tesla as a complete gimmick.

I trust HN's opinion on many things, but definitely not on their opinion of what the vast majority of people think is fashionable. HN is solidly "overstuffed black leather couch" in their fashion sense.

I would say the other way round. Hacker News feels like a Danish modern crowd. Personally I am all for minimalism but Teslas are plain ugly.

I consider myself to be minimalist/modern in my choices, and in my opinion the Tesla is a garbage nightmare that took all of the complexity away from physical buttons and just shoved into a hard to navigate touchscreen menu with poor visual placement. I guess that makes me an overstuffed black leather couch type in your opinion.

I think a lot of car manufacturers have gone the path of no physical switches and it's becoming irritating. You shouldn't have to navigate screens to adjust your hvac while driving.

VW admitted it was a mistake and will go back to physical buttons with next gen of their models.

This move gives me hope that by the time an EV is practical in my corner of the world it'll be less annoying, too : )

their sales indicate otherwise

No they don't. We have the small rich population that want a new fancy toy. I've seen it with everyone I know that has a Telsa. "Oh look how geeky I am, this is so neat I have a big screen!".

That is the insane minority.

I know you’re coming back in a few minutes to cite your sources. Excited to see the results of this survey!

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