Tesla unveils cheaper versions of its Model 3 and Model Y | Hacker News Reader

Tesla unveils cheaper versions of its Model 3 and Model Y

cnn.com

These cars exist purely to be a rung in the price ladder to get you to spend $5,000 more on a car with actual features. They did the same thing with the RWD Cybertruck and I don't actually believe they ever shipped any before cancelling it.

If people do end up buying these I really hope they know what they are giving up. Something as simple as "seat controls" were deemed too costly and are now driven by software on the touch screen. I used to give the "software defined car" a bit of leeway on some of the omissions / transition to screen, but these cars are the extreme and I wonder if legislators are going to allow this. For example, I checked on the Tesla Japan and Tesla Europe websites and it doesn't look like these are for sale.

I don't expect most drivers will miss the seat controls. Tesla syncs your seat settings to your profile, so the main drivers never touch the controls, just the passenger. But that's easy for me to say when I already know what driving one is like, this is yet another thing that makes Teslas and EVs intimidating to someone driving one for the first time. Otherwise it doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice for $5k. I like the glass roof but not that much.

>> "intimidating"

Seat controls should be on the seat. That's just logical.

My merc puts them as physical buttons in the shape of a seat on the arm rest. Which works better than on the seat as you can see them and don't have to grope around to find them.

What else? Should screen brightness of your phone have a physical slider somewhere by the display? Your computer fan speed?

Why would this one-and-done setting saved per driver profile and synced across yours teslas require physical controls? It’s a nice to have but clearly not a requirement.

You've probably had a "limited" amount of life experience, if you never move your driver's seat.

With touch screen controls, there's a lot of "friction" to adjust your seat, so you probably just "suffer" instead.

Can you see that if there was less "friction" to adjust your seat, you might do it more often?

Sounds like u gotta go for the variant that has it while I couldn’t care less. In other words, good choice by Tesla

this is yet another thing that makes Teslas and EVs intimidating to someone driving one for the first time

No, it’s just Teslas. Being an EV does not mean it has to have idiotic control schemes. The Ioniq 5 has sane seat controls, as one counter-example.

That's interesting. The other removed features all sound like things I would prefer not to pay for anyway: from the article on The Verge, "front and rear light bars, panoramic glass roof, power mirror folding, the second row display, and puddle lamps" - what even are "puddle lamps," I've never heard of such a thing? But moving even more ordinary, everyday functions into their already-annoying touchscreen would really irritate me.

It's not likely that I would want to buy a Tesla anyway, though; the design ethos is not for me.

Puddle lamps shine light from the bottom of the side mirrors or bottom of the doors to (if they are useful) light up where you put your feet when getting out of the car or (if they are less useful) project your car brand's logo at a much worse position in front of the open door.

Thanks! I have seen those, but didn't know the name.

So which of those features you’d pay 5k for? I’m not gonna drop 5k on a radio.

They definitely shipped some RWD cybertrucks, there was one on the lot when I bought my Y. Frankly I would have got a cybertruck if I could afford it, and the RWD version had more range and was cheaper, making it desirable in my eyes. I see no reason why moving the seat controls to a screen would deter buyers

Once Tesla went away from designing a new cheaper platform in order to go all in on AI (this was reported, everybody was against Musk on this), I lost complete confidence and sold all my stock. My investment concept was never build on AI, but advanced technology (AI driving assists is useful value add, but not a silver bullet), vertical integration and mass manufacture. Once Musk started making the argument that Self Driving was going to reduce amount of cars sold by 80% I realize that he has completely lost touch with reality. His believe in AI despite tons of evidence is his biggest weakness.

Stripping a Model Y isn't a long term plan. Its just a short term slight increase of car sales at best.

On the Y they just covered the interior of the glass roof? I mean, I see glass on the outside, but the interior looks like a standard headliner. The comparison sheet confirms no glass roof for the Y Standard.

Given there’s tons of aftermarket headliners this is not exactly crazy if you live somewhere with lots of sun. Reminds me put mine back and it’s barely spring here.

Like my rav4 LE where they left all of the lights in various places, but just used non-clear plastic covers instead of clear since my trim didn’t include those lights.

Supposedly, yes.

Theories range from the solid headliner being cheaper than the original one to the glass being made from a cheaper and possibly less sound proof material.

Nissan Leaf with slightly smaller range and functioning door handles is available at $29.999.00 [0]

[0] https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/electric-cars/leaf/specs-...

I don't understand the door handle remark. The 2026 Leaf uses flush door handles that are powered by electric motors.

While it's true that the base model Leaf is cheaper, I don't think it's available for sale in the US yet. The cheapest inventory I could find was the SV+ for $36,330.[1] I'm guessing like most car manufacturers launching an updated product, Nissan is rolling out their higher margin versions first and will release the cheaper ones after the holidays.

That said, the Leaf does seem like a competitive product. My only worry would be battery issues. Nissan has recalled almost every Leaf produced in the US from 2019-2022 because fast charging could cause battery fires.[2][3] Nissan claimed they'd issue a software update to fix the issue by November of 2024. That was updated to spring of 2025,[4] but there still hasn't been an update. I guess it's fortunate for owners that CHAdeMO chargers are so rare.

1. https://www.nissanusa.com/shopping-tools/search-inventory?mo...

2. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V700-1828.PDF

3. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2025/RCLRPT-25V655-5278.pdf

4. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCMN-24V700-2544.pdf

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tesla-cybe...

https://www.carscoops.com/2025/09/tesla-sued-over-door-handl...

CarPlay/Android Auto too!

How is CarPlay / Android Auto superior to Tesla well integrated infotainment system?

The eternal pattern of the industry is that a automanufacturer has negative interest in remaining interested in an infotainment system in a car they sold several years ago and retrofit makers provide less specifically integrated systems that win overall because developments in everything else amounts to more than the integration.

You can use almost any app, not just apps that Tesla have deemed worthy (or removed due to childish feuds, like Disney+). Podcast apps, music streaming apps, etc...

IIRC Tesla has Disney+ too, an if it doesn't, you have a Chromium browser. Of course you can't use it while driving, but passengers on the back sit should be able to use the streaming services even when the car is moving.

For podcast apps, IIRC Apple Music and for sure Spotify are supported. Still not convinced that Android Auto / CarPlay is superior, sorry.

Even if Disney+ has been restored for everyone (I don't know if it has), any app could be removed by a manchild for any reason and that's unacceptable: https://apple.news/A8If_BNgyS-mqPcq25GK-Rw

I use neither Apple Music nor Spotify and I'm not alone.

You literally have Chromium, I'm failing to see where the problem is tbh.

Sure, having a native app is better, but in any case the Netflix and Disney+ apps are nothing than a Chromium wrapped app anyways on the infotainment

Yeah this is a waste of time for sure.

These fake Tesla apps don't stay logged in. There's no Face ID or Touch ID so you have to constantly re-authenticate.

Well I have some audiobooks downloaded to my phone. The progress is saved on my phone, and because they're downloaded I don't need cell service to listen to them. I just did a 3000 km road trip with intermittent cell service, using an app on my phone via Android Auto to play my audiobook files, and was able to easily transition to hotel rooms with speakers, and different vehicles, and continue the books where they'd been paused.

How would that even work in a Tesla?

When I plug in my iPhone, the Maps is integrated with my Calendar. For example if my Calendar entries have a Location, I can simply tap on it to navigate there.

Just one example.

IIRC the same happens with Tesla. You don't even have to tap to navigate, it automatically sets the destination based on the calendar entries.

I'm saying IIRC because I never used this feature, just read about it - I don't sync my calendar (yet!)

It's not, it's just superior to what Nissan had before integrating apple carplay/android auto. It's so much nicer being able to interact with both my actual car and my phone through the screen, instead of just playing with my phone on a larger screen.

Oh yes, I'm sure it's far superior than most, if not all, standard car infotainment systems (that are known to be laggy and their UIs look like they've been built in 2008).

Have you used both Tesla and CarPlay?

At least CarPlay is pretty disappointing compared to Tesla's native functionality. The "apps" are all very trivial, mostly reduced to playback control or simple selections.

Not a Tesla owner, but I've driven it enough to appreciate.

Just one point of view- but I have used both a decent amount and I drastically prefer CarPlay.

The native apps are … fine?

Again, it’s just my particular perspective, but I really appreciate that any CarPlay vehicle has the exact apps that I set up on my phone, already configured, etc.

There’s nothing Tesla could ever really do to compete with the convenience of already having all of my accounts set up and already having exactly the apps installed that I know I want.

CarPlay and Android Auto are an insurance policy against any kind of inferior infotainment experience your automaker might provide.

If I’m buying a car I need to know that it’ll meet my needs for 10 years or longer.

If a car has CarPlay/Android Auto I know that my infotainment will evolve with the times and that nothing my automaker does can negatively impact my experience. A new phone will resolve any performance or functionality complaints I have with the system.

For one thing, I’ll point out that many Tesla (or GM) features depend on premium connectivity packages where I’m buying a cellular data package twice for no reason.

For another thing, I’ll point out that smartphone operating systems have a much better privacy policy than car operating systems.

I would much rather my car have a “dumb” CarPlay capable screen than a full blown cellular data-enabled operating system that’s tracking me and sending information to my insurance company.

And let’s not forget that CarPlay/Android Auto can integrate so much better with your life on your phone than a system like Tesla, including texts and calls including alternative calling systems like Signal, Zoom, etc. List out every Spotify competitor and see if they have a Tesla native app or not, because a lot of them don’t or only got one recently (like YouTube music).

If we want some non-scientific evidence for how much consumers want CarPlay, just look at how the Honda Prologue is outselling the Chevy Equinox EV despite being essentially the same car.

> At least CarPlay is pretty disappointing compared to Tesla's native functionality. The "apps" are all very trivial, mostly reduced to playback control or simple selections.

Huh? What Tesla phone integrations would you characterize differently than "playback control or simple selections"? And what makes them moreso?

(Narrator: They’re not cheaper.)

Wow, worse cars.

Finally that stock price will make sense.

Tesla continues to innovate and improve despite significant regulatory issues, pretty impressive.

The nature of Musk's reality distortion field is such that, which probably a joke, it is not inconceivable that this comment is serious.

this is exactly the kind of innovation Tesla investors are drooling over, sell severely outdated old cars for less money :)

What are you talking about, making a car slightly cheaper by removing features isn't innovation. Tesla might still innovate, but this clearly isn't an example.

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