Tesla Model 3 owners are sharing more info on model as deliveries increase

If the past is anything to go by, we expect it might be some time before Tesla has any Model 3 electric cars for us to review. The company's order books are overflowing, and in the past we've seen that any production capacity is prioritized for paying customers rather than the press. But as Model 3s start finding their way into the hands of customers who aren't Tesla employees, plenty more details about the hotly anticipated car are becoming public, thanks to owners at the Model 3 Owners Club.

Members of the club complied a list of over 80 different features of the car they're curious about, including questions about how the car operates (does the card unlock all the doors, where does the UI show you that your turn signals are active), physical aspects of the car (what does the tow hitch attachment look like, how much stuff can you fit in the front and rear cargo areas), and subjective details (how aggressive is the energy regeneration, does that wood trim cause glare).

At least two members of the club have received delivery of their cars, and unlike Tesla employees and special friends of the company who have cars, they appear to be under no requirement to keep this info quiet. So far, we've learned a few interesting facts. For instance, the windshield wipers are turned on and off by a stalk like just about every other car on the market, but changing the speed (slow/fast/intermittent) is handled by a menu on the touchscreen. The stalk also does double duty turning on the headlights, and there are no rain sensors for the wipers.

Still under development

The touchscreen UI really is the only way to interact with every other function, according to owners, even the rear air vents are controlled from up front (although there are USB ports in the back). Rear seat passengers also won't get seat heaters from what we gather—unless Tesla plans to activate them in a later software update—and the steering wheel is not heated either.

The two buttons on the steering wheel do not appear to be user-configurable. Instead, the left button primarily deals with audio functions (scroll up and down for volume, left and right to change track) while the other one is for adjusting the mirrors and steering wheel position while in those menus in the UI. Additionally it appears that as of now, there's no way to tab through a different part of the UI without taking your hands off the steering wheel.

Many of us had assumed that the controls on the wheel would allow the driver to interact with the car's different menus without taking a hand off the wheel, and it's disappointing to hear that this isn't the case. The problem is compounded in this case due to the fact that one needs to interact with a touchscreen that may preclude building up muscle memory, and as of now even changing cruise control speed requires the touchscreen. Human factors are definitely Tesla's weak point compared to the clever engineering that goes into the powertrain, and we hope that some attention is paid to this in a future software update.

Future software updates will also be necessary to add features to the infotainment system, which currently doesn't have the ability to stream FM radio or browse the internet yet. And at least one person is a little sad that there's no physical AM radio, although we can't say we're terribly surprised given that it's 2017 and not 1957.

We do expect that by the time we get to test a Model 3, much of this information will be out of date, but if you've been lucky enough to take delivery of your car already, please let us know how it is in the comments.