Old View on New Things

How car journalist did it, to the Tesla Model 3

Hey buddy, how are you. Today was a strange morning, isn’t it? Oh, we are live?!

How many times do you need to open the glove box Mat!” yeah out of context, but hear me out.

I was watching a car review, of a Tesla model 3 Performance by Mat from Carwow. And he did use the opening of the glove box, as an example of how not great the all buttons on display are.

From when I can remember, I was getting pissed about it.

1. Opening glove box

As a former User Experience Designer those use cases didn’t make sense to me. (See how I bumped my credibility here?)

No really, auto journalists. I know that your way of reviewing the care is a bit different, you want to try everything, but you don’t go to the glove box that often in real life to annoy you. I don’t remember going there at all.

So the need for 2 tap interaction on the display 2 to open it, is okay! Here is another one.

2. Setting up the mirror

This one broad me so much pain. There was so much buzzing around that thing.

“You need to use those mobs, and how stupid it is.” No! No! No! Jesus, please, no!

Those wheel nipples are a work of genius from a designer point of view. You can change the interaction they are doing based upon the situation. Take listening to music, scroll and the sound is up. Take setting up the distance in autopilot. It’s always the same simple knob. One knob to rule them all!

And now the Journalists come: “Look how complicated it is to setup the mirror. You need to go display, and mirrors and now to turn the knobs.” You know the meme of face slap. Yeah, it fits here.

How often do you use setting up the mirrors? I get that you do it pretty often, every time you sit on a new journalist car. But in your own car, how often do you do it? I do it once. At the first ride.

And upon that one interaction you say: “This sucks. It doesn’t have the mirror adjusting there. Why do they complicate things so much.” Oh. Hold me back.

“Oh, but Luke. What about someone else using the car, wouldn’t they be lost?”

Well. Let’s say there are two of you driving the car. You and your ex-wife. Because you’ve set it up when you were still together, now she can just click on her drivers profile, you didn’t delete, yet, and everything seats, mirrors, fricking setting all over the system inside the car are adjusted! You do it once at the start and then.

See the genius? You don’t need to get angry over the temperature, and stuff. It’s all set up. See the unthoughtfulness of this argument?

You can even change the seats in a way, that when she opens it, it would be totally close to the wheel. What a beautiful way to share the residual resentment?

Now another contagions-i point. Just to be more precise, not all the journalist, but some of them. Matt didn’t talk about this point that much.

3. Opening car by card

This one pissed me of the most probably. The amount of: “What if I lost it” “Look how confusing it is where to put it, on a B pillar?” The amount of presented confusion they went into based on the breaking scenario.

“Yeah, I can open the car without anything just having a phone in my pocket and it happens by itself, but what if I run out of battery?” Then you are dumm. What you would like to hear? You probably can’t live without that thing either way?!

Now in this miniscule example, I just portray, with inherent low probability of happening, you get to use the key card. See how much time am I using just to describe it? How useless the review is when you go to those scenarios. Unless it’s ultimate survival reviews. That would be cool. Seeing when the usual stuff breaks.

The card works like this. You take the card, put it on a b pillar, and then put it onto a center console, it wakes the car up, and you can put the card back to your pocket.

Now, what the journalist said: “And look, how it slips when you accelerate. How annoying is this.” showing the credit card like, sliding on a panel underneath the elbow. Oh fuck, you are right. That’s annoying, but not because of the slipping.

“YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE THE CARD THERE ANYMORE!”

There I did it. I used the all caps. The first time in my writing career. I am still considering putting it away.

If I remember correctly in some cases it even wrote: “Now you can put the card away,” with a small animation.

Just ahh.

And because of this, small probability assumption based scenario, you go and show the car as it sucks.

I saw this pattern repeat again and again. Some Journalist I got more respect, when they got to a car with open mind, and a more common sense use cases. Yeah, they went through the survival scenarios, noted it, but then they moved to important parts again.

The user interface inside this car was genius. At the time revolutionary. I even wrote an article about it in the past, that I haven’t posted because I was too anxious to do so in 2017. What if I would be mistaken. Career is over. I can’t express the emotions as they are. And now, look inside all other luxury car interiors. Do you see a pattern? More like Model 3?

Listen I am not here to say what is your taste. You maybe like button. But if you take something, new, something uncharted, and march towards it, with your old framework, of how car should be, bashing it all over. It hurts my wanting to show you the genius of it. I can’t, I am behind the computer! How stupid is that?

Yeah, some people may experience a learning curve at the start. But you get a relationship with him. A strange one. It’s like my mom finally getting a smartphone, and like conquering it. It gives the phone a bit of personality. Something you have achieved. And most importantly, from time to time, there are those “Aha” moments.

No really, if you do this job, Car journalist one, and you make changing the mirrors, as an everyday action or use case upon which you “punish” the car then I don’t respect you. (You probably don’t care.)

Making from a reserve key a biggie. Spending a minute or what 5 percent of the video on it. How many times were you talking about not great designs of reserve keys? Huh? Running out of batteries on a normal car key?

As if only Tesla had those problems. It was again and again. And missing out on the real troubles.

I wanted to write: “Please journalist, make your use cases that you judge the car more on the usual folks, not you” but I would be hypocrite. I liked the stupid ones like on Top gear. But at least you know they are preposterous, while in this case you take it as a serious review!

Last rant

“Look at the panel alignment” The fuck is wrong with you? Where are your priorities when picking the car. Safety or good panels? I should stop watching the reviews.

Every fucking video, there was this thing floating around about misaligned panels gaps. Every reviewer went to this hole created by I don’t know who.

I don’t know about you, but in my land the important parts about car are:

• Does it work?
• Is it fun?
• Would you survive in a James Bond movie?

Those are the priorities. Other than that. “Who gives a fuck about panel gaps” Unless it’s functional, and water gets in.

I see what this article looks, and tonally sounds like. I am whining and judging a lot. But, I can’t, I don’t have the hearth seeing it again and again. Two years after. Even in general, looking at what are the knobs good for?

Have you seen a guy using it thoughtlessly at a highway, in a really easy way?

If you are designer of the Tesla Model 3 interior I don’t envy you. I know that in the design circles there is a saying: “User is always right” or you shouldn’t judge but observe.

But if you get a user on usability testing, a minor side use cases, and upon that, judge the overall car. You’ve made a mistake.