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Having never had the fortune to get near a Tesla, I'm only regurgitating what others have said with a knowledge of physics.
The model S had fantastic occupant safety. You can pile 8 of them on top of each other before the roof of the bottom one caves in. I expect the same for the Model 3.
Prototype photos of the model 3 are a very minimalist design - not unlike the original iPhone. It'll be wildly criticized but eventually people will get used to it and rave about its simplicity. I expect all the 'connected' features of the S will carry through to the 3, and so will a lot of the other features (panoramic sunroof, air suspension etc) abit in the form of Porsche-priced add-ons.
The Model S has both loved and hated by performance enthusiasts. It's utterly useless in a Motorkhana. It lacks feel on the track and weighs twice as much as the next car, but it gets very reasonable numbers because it has unmatched acceleration, awesome brakes and a very low center of gravity.
But in traffic, being able to accelerate at a ludicrous rate, never be in the wrong gear, stop quickly, and have almost zero body roll is more important than being able to feel when you're 9/10ths of the limit. The other problem is the Model S is actually a very big car, apparently it's like parking a boat.
I'm excited about the model 3 for one reason - Elon has said ludicrous mode will be available in the Model 3. It logically follows that soon after the initial release we'll get an AWD version - which means a car with poor driver feedback but unmatched acceleration, fantastic breaking, low CoG and low body roll in a small and cheap package. My best analogy is that it'll be like what it was like to step into a WRX in 1994.
Compared with the Legacy RS, the WRX boasted cheap plastic trim, a harsh ride, basic equipment levels, loads of turbo lag and enough room that you could get comfortable if you were less than 5 ft tall. But, they accelerated like a rocket, handled like they were on rails, and gave you E46 M3 like connectivity to the road.
It's like when you get one of our cars and do a big single-turbo conversion to put out 600rwhp - there's turbo lag, but even when it's slow it's bloody fast just because of the raw power.
I haven't put a deposit down, but this is the first car I'm considering buying new. But yeah, I'm waiting for a 'D' version with ludicrous mode before I join the queue.
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