It's a California car for California weather. You are not going to want doors like that if you live anywhere where it will rain a lot or is cold. By the time those doors have opened on a cold, wet winters day, all the passengers and/or seats will be soaking wet. Back to the Future 2 was on the other day and the rain scene showed either Doc Brown or Marty sat in the DeLorean with the drivers door open and water was just pouring onto their lap. I'm just curious what will happen if the car roof is covered in rain when the doors are open - does it all just pour off nicely into the drain channels or spash and bounce into the car? And the same again with snow! If the X had an option without those doors, it might sell. But otherwise it's a car for CA and warm places only.
Not wanting to sound one sided ... I HAVE actually just read recently where there IS a real issue with the FWD's. Imagine this ... your garage door is CLOSED (with your model X inside). You then open the FWD's (say to remove groceries). If you raise the GARAGE door, it may hit the FWD's (presume FWD's are higher than garage door travel). Some modern garage doors stop if they detect the extra tension. Older ones? Not so much. With that hand wringer in mind, there IS already a person who has concocted a fix. (s)He added an extra sensor to the garage door, so that if the FWD's are open ... it'll only open far enough to NOT hit the FDW's. whew !!! crisis averted (ok you have to never mind the fact that the FWD's are programmable to 'only' open a limited amount, in low garage door openings ... it's still a cool 'fix') As for FWD's allowing rain inside? Consider this somewhat entertaining video, showing how far the base of the doors reach outward to avoid incoming rain (obviously made around last christmas). Is it really possible that FWD's would or would not let in any more rain water than any other car? Haven't yet heard any owners complaining ... and boy ... Tesla owners will definitely complain if/when (rightly so) there are minor issues. .
Let's ask people from somewhere that's a little wetter than a southern state? Or colder, or snowier, or maybe all three. Believe me, when it's cold and wet and horrible, you only open the door a little as you need to and climb quickly inside. By the time you've waited for the FWD's to open, your seats will be all wet or covered in snow. Not a problem in areas where it doesn't often rain heavily, but a royal pita in places where it does. The proof is in the pudding and it will be curious to see owners feedback once the car is fully released.
Only sport cars should have gull wing doors, they are pointless on an SUV. Lets face it, this SUV is pretty boring looking in real life, I guess the doors were given as a boost to its very ordinary looks.
i think we can all see that elon made a mistake. i think he fessed up to it. it is what it is, lesson learned. gull wing doors are cool, but they are a solution waiting for a problem. saw my first one today, sharp looking vehicle. it wasn't raining.
Sharp looking? What is sharp looking about it? Range Rover, Lexus NX, Volvo XC are sharp looking SUV's.
Last time it rained, and I opened my Miata's door, some water dripped out of the seal onto the seat. Clearly conventional doors aren't workable either. (OK, OK, I admit, it has frameless windows, so not 100% conventional.) (And what I actually need to do is just replace the seals, because they're worn out.) But, really, this sounds like much ado being made about nothing. The Falcon Wing Doors have had their manufacturing issues, yes, but ultimately, Tesla's strategy with their first and second generation products was to make halo cars first to make EVs cool, then make something mass market. Falcon Wing Doors are a perfect example of a halo car feature, where minivan-style sliding doors would not have been cool.
Attention grabbing, and more functional for certain customers. Pretentious is expecting taxpayers to build your infrastructure for you
Eyes of the beholder, innit? I saw my first one in person a few weeks ago and found sharp to be an apt descriptor.
I'd wish you to own one someday, only that would be awful mean-spirited, speaking from experience. That's why Consumer Reports damned them so frequently over the years. Extremely low reliability .
I am aware that Range Rovers are unreliable, I would never own one, but they are elegant. Now if you want a real off road vehicle the Jeep Wrangler can't be beat, not the most reliable but at least they are cheap to fix.
