KuroNekko wrote:murcod wrote:That's one low SUV, it looks like it would struggle to get over speed humps! Let alone anything resembling an unsealed road.
Teslas have air suspensions. They can rise and lower according to speed or conditions.
sx4rocious wrote:I've been following the developement of the X for the last few months. I love the look and the gull wings are awesome. It's really a heck of a design the way they open even in a garage. I love pretty much everything about it aside from the price. I'm intrigued about the III. Have you found any leaked pictures or anything yet? I read about it on Tesla's sight a bit, but I didn't see pictures when I was there. When you consider my car payment, fuel costs, and the like, buying a $35k Tesla almost sounds affordable...
I think the doors are also neat, but I'd actually not want them. Here's why:
It makes the car useless for carrying much of anything on the roof. This door design eliminates the possibility of a cargo carrier, bike rack, snowboard rack, etc.
It's also a problem in garages. The pictured garage has an unusually high ceiling. That's not the case in most garages, especially public parking garages. I can tell you that this Model X would most likely not be able to fully open its "falcon doors" in my work garage given the height clearance this car requires.
There are no official released images of the Model III. I've only seen renders or artist depictions. This is one of them:
I could be wrong, and probably am, but bear with me a moment because I believe you may have solved your own problem in the first comment: Teslas have air suspensions.
It appears in the photo that the Model X "squats" considerably with the air suspension in full droop. Judging by the positions of the light switches on the back wall, and the door knob on the side wall, the ceiling of the garage in the photo may not be as high as you think. Granted, there could be a great deal of photographical trickery involved, but I don't see anything personally to make me think it couldn't fit in a reasonably "normal" garage. Maybe not all public parking facilities, but residential garages nonetheless.
Secondly, It appears in the really cool animation on the Tesla website, that the doors contain what appears to be a hinge along the top where door meets roof, thus seperating it from traditional Gullwing doors. I don't understand much about engineering, however, it appears this hinge would actually allow the door to "swing out" more than up when necessary, like in a parking facility with lower-than-average ceilings. This may provide quite the catch 22, given most parking structures allow less-than-adequate room to open the doors of even a compact car fully.
As far as roof mounting versatility goes, some need it, some don't. I actually own a roof rack for my SX4, and honestly have never used it. It's been on the car for over a year, and it was an accessory that I desparately thought I needed at the time. Turns out, it functions as nothing more than a cool looking way to waste fuel. The only other use I've found for it is a sticker holder... (they really do add HP you know!)
Lastly, I think given the extreme attention to detail and functionality Tesla has put into their designs, I wouldn't think the "falcon wing" design wouldn't have made it into production if the target demographic (upper-middle class eco-conscience suburbanites) couldn't park one in their eco-friendly sqeeky clean (biodgradeable cleaning agents only!!) garages. Personally, I'm intrigued by the design. I'd like to see it in person as I think the entire vehicle is simply breathtaking. Sure, it's very much along the same line as Audi, BMW, and, Volvo crossover counterparts, but the Falcon doors really set it apart. I don't particularly like crossover SUV's (I'll never admit my SX4 is a crossover SUV!) but I really do find this particular one to tickle my fancy! Let's just hope I'm right about the doors fitting in the garage. THAT WOULD BE EMBARASSING!
