Acura is a third tier "luxury" brand. First tier luxury brands like BMW and MB are what everyone regardless of income status aspire to.

 

now i remember seeing it - looks pretty weird and plasticky to me.

 

BMW doesn’t enjoy the prestige it had in the 90s anymore. I know I’ll get mocked for this, but I think Tesla is as much of an aspirational brand as any of the first tier brands you would name.

 

That center stack is just grotesque to me. I agree, looks cheap af. And I hate the idea of not having a shift **** and their answer to that is the ugliest part. The interior to me just looks sloppy and I don't even like the gauge cluster.

 

Tesla build quality and interior quality is trash. There is no possible way it's above BMW. Have you ever sat in a loaded 5 series? Even the New 3 series blows the quality away.

 

The lack of shifter is really annoying to me. Also that looks like a Mazda interior.

 

Take the G20 as an example. BMW encourages you to do custom order unlike everybody else. BMW also has the individual program if you want that unique touch. Say you want a purple metallic 3'er, you can have it, extended leather everywhere- check. In addition there is a vast M performance catalog with Exhaust, wheels, body kit, spoilers etc you name it. Who else offers that? Nobody! not everyone buys the mid 40k base model 3 series that your next door neighbor has. Spend some time on a BMW forum and you'll get a sense of how enthusiast there differ from all the other brands except maybe Porsche.

Someone claim these cars doesn't have an enthusiast following, that statement is blatantly false. The 3 series from inception has always had a loyal enthusiast following. There's a reason why BMW has the largest car club in America-BMW CCA, where enthusiast meets and participate in various events from autocross, club racing etc etc. Regardless of how popular the 3 series is with everybody and their mother, doesn't negate that fact.

As for prestige, BMW, Mercedes still enjoy that prestige, in fact, they both sell more cars today than any other time in history. Furthermore, they make something for everyone. Where else other than Porsche can you get a luxury car with a manual transmission today, except BMW? There are countless things that set BMW apart from everyone else just like Porsche. The M2CS for example has no competition other than Porsche, nobody else builds a small luxury track capable coupe, same for the M2C. Not audi, not Mercedes, both of whose small cars have FWD AWD set-up.

 

Tesla is first tier luxury? Not with that Fisher-Price econobox interior!

 

Yeah I'm not sure what that guy is talking about. Look at this individual M340i in Nardo. This is one of the best looking 3 series I've ever seen! The quality of car is obvious.

 

It is one of the higher quality if not highest quality interior in class at least in regards to the RDX which is similar, the plastics are soft, plenty of soft touch surfaces, real metal and wood trim. That is a poor quality picture.





Type S interior

 

That interior looks busy.

 

So when you guys see a Tesla, do you say “Ooh, a Tesla!” or do you say “Eww, a Tesla!”

 

Which Mazda? I don't see the resemblance.

 

When it comes to a Tesla 3, I say Eww. I laughed the first time I saw one, such a goofy looking ugly car and that was before even seeing that horrible interior, can't believe so many people buy them. No way I could drive something that looked like that or deal with that interior. The Tesla S looked decent when I first saw them but now I find them very plain looking too.

 

The interior is very Japanese.... I could see why he said Mazda as there is some resemblance but Mazda is way more toned down. Definitely not following the Germans and very different from the current trends of minimalism.