The Tesla Model 3 is the most anticipated car of the year . . . perhaps the latter half of the decade. Tesla fans have been waiting for this car since 2006, and now it?s finally here?and we’ve driven it. We drove a production Model 3 (a red one owned by Tesla?s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen) for 10 minutes around Tesla?s Fremont, California, factory, so take our limited impressions with a grain of salt.

We’ve seen the Model 3?s exterior, but once you open the Aston Martin?esque door handles with a push-pull motion and slip behind the wheel, it’s clear the inside is where the real innovation lies. There are no visible vents. Just two minimalist stalks?a shifter on the right and turn-signal/windshield-washer controls on the left?sprout from the steering column, and a giant screen dominates the center of the cockpit. Behind the steering wheel is nothing but windshield. It?s disorienting for the first few minutes, and then you never notice it again. Let your worries about the lack of an instrument cluster fade away. Holzhausen?s team has continued its war on buttons that started in the Model S, only now there?s no stalk on the wheel to move the steering column up and down, nor are there dedicated buttons for the side-view mirrors. Instead, a button press on the 15-inch touchscreen brings up a control menu, allowing the driver to adjust the mirrors and steering column from the scroll wheel and D-pad controls on the steering wheel. Each driver gets a...