[modeless]

Wow, pictures of the dashboard! No main instrument cluster as expected. Not sure how I'll like the speedometer being that far away from the steering wheel. I was hoping there was a HUD hidden in the windshield but Elon's twitter replies seem to imply that there won't be.

[adventured]

It's an extremely bad design if they're sticking with it. When I first saw that with the initial promos they did, I assumed the monitor was a temporary stand-in because of how bad of an approach it was. In my opinion, people are not going to like having a large, stand-out, awkwardly placed computer monitor as the sole instrument panel. Even worse is how ugly the concept is, that it's not integrated into the design of the console / center panel area. It's jarring, out of place and requires your eyes leave the road to a much greater extent just to check basic readouts. Even now I find it hard to believe Tesla could make such an obviously bad decision, surely it's still an older test example.

The car itself already borders on ugly. The Model S is a much better looking and well designed vehicle. Throw in the monitor mistake and I wouldn't pay $20,000 for the Model 3. I'd rather wait and see what the European competitors come up with, and or wait and see if Tesla builds a better follow-on version.

The Model 3 will dramatically underwhelm on sales. Tesla will miss Musk's infamous initial sales target by a minimum of 50%.

[nixarn]

I love it and will buy it. Had the speedometer in the middle of the car on my Toyota Yaris and never had any problems with it. Lots of people wanted more buttons when the first iPhone came, but then all of that changed. Also, I think the car is beautiful but, but of course the Model S is the premium option, but it also cost 2x.

I think the Model 3 will sale crazy well.

[illegalsmile]

I think people are getting hung up on the speedometer for little reason other than it's a departure from the usual placement of the cluster. In traffic you go with the flow. With little traffic you might keep an eye on the speed but most of the times it's in an area you know so you have a good idea of what speed you need to be driving at. On the highway you set the cruise control. With Tesla eventually having fully automated driving the speedometer won't matter at all.

[lj3]

I don't like it at all. Personally, I want a screen that displays the speed and the battery status directly in my line of vision, not on an LCD screen off to the right that you can't read in direct sunlight.

[rwmj]

My previous car - Toyota Yaris - had an LCD speedometer in the center of the dashboard, and it worked fine. On the Yaris there was a system of mirrors so that the speedo was focused at infinity, thus you could look at it without your eyes adjusting focus at all.

Edit: Picture of how that looked: http://s908.photobucket.com/user/406executiveHDI/media/c497e...

[leephillips]

"a system of mirrors so that the speedo was focused at infinity"

This is a brilliant idea. I've never even heard of this model.

[rwmj]

Yes it was quite clever, and meant you could glance down very quickly to see your speed. I don't exactly know how it worked.

Incidentally I think this may be why the LCD looks slightly blurred in the photograph above.

[lj3]

Your point being? The model 3 clearly doesn't have that.

[unprepare]

Scion Xa has a dashboard in the middle, works totally fine; in fact its a little easier to see in your periphery

http://cdn.pinthiscars.com/images/scion-xa-2006-custom-wallp...

[lj3]

You're the third comment like this so far. I don't care what Scion does or does not have in the middle or otherwise. I've never owned one and most likely never will.

[unprepare]

wow, that's quite an aggressive comment - i wonder why you felt that aggression was necessary?

[lj3]

If you don't have something constructive to add to a conversation, you should stay out of it. You and the other two comments "informing" me that other car models use center mounted dashboards are at best a distraction from the conversation (the model 3) and at worst condescending.

[unprepare]

what exactly are you adding to the conversation by being hostile? less than me thats for sure. If you think im not contributing use the downvote function, thats literally what its for. Taking out your frustrations on other people is something a child would do, grow up

[secabeen]

Mini has had a center-mounted speedo for many years. It works fine.

[ianmobbs]

There's also a small screen in the Mini just in front of the steering wheel that displays speed, gas warnings, etc. I exclusively use that.

[stronglikedan]

I'm hoping that's not the final dash. I much prefer a screen mounted in the dashboard. Otherwise, it looks aftermarket to me.