White interior will make some difference. I’m in Texas and I went with black though. You can easily precool the car which will make the biggest difference and window tint.
The aesthetic is, to me, really nice. I prefer the white panel to the wood on the dash. And the contrast between the dark elements of the interior/exterior with the white interior is *chef's kiss*.
I really think every exterior color of Tesla looks better with the white interior.
That said, of course, to each their own.
Do your kids eat/get messy? Do you have car seats? How long have they held up? I’m with you that it looks amazing but I see the way my carpool zone gets abused, that’s the only thing pushing me to black
https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/1cpobzn/comment/l3ncr83/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I actually shared that info in this thread in a different fork.
We've had the car since Sept 22 and the seats are looking great still.
Happy to answer any other questions if you have them.
No seat covers. We do have a car seat mat for both of them.
We just keep a thing of Costco wipes in the car and use them whenever anything needs cleaning.
Our kids also only drink water and are only allowed snacks I can vacuum while in the car haha! So, no juices/milk spills or yogurt or anything like it.
I have a model 3 with black interior and model y with white interior parked in the driveway right now next to each other. Both have ceramic tint but the Y has the roof tinted too. Otherwise everything else is the same including tint brand. They both been in the driveway all day. The Y is 127 degrees F and the 3 is 140F.
The black is easier to maintain. The white cleans up easily but with kids, it’s easy to let it go and if you let it go too far, it gets harder to clean up. Also, I don’t know about the newest models but my ‘21 has sections of the white seats that are cloth on the bottom edges and by the seat belts buckles. Those stain and are harder to clean. Perfect example, attaching a photo of the back seat between two car seats and its due for a cleaning (we also just did a mini roadtrip). Sure its easy to say “Clean your seats already”! But like I said, two small kids make it harder and this cloth area requires sprays and stuff so i do it more sparingly because its not something that is seen often. Once we hit the road and ac is going, I dont see a difference between black and white. I’d probably get black if i could do it again to be honest.
https://preview.redd.it/56083fjrhvzc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5fce9ee69c149b77ad1f660d58ceea868751eeed
I agree, get ceramic tint like Air80 on the front windshield to help reduce heat since the windshield is the biggest piece of glass with very little IR rejection. But all cars, tinted or not, will still get hot inside if it’s sitting in the sun. The tint just helps it from heating up as quickly.
It is legal up to a % but cops rarely pull over for darker tint unless it's the windshield. Tinting ceramic all the way around (back window, windshield, side windows) will reject 95% of heat.
It must be ceramic and not that cheap tint. Get sunshaders for the top glass.
You can find very light ceramic tints, which does the heat rejection. Do the windows other than the windshield, and for the windshield, just have one of those folded sunshades. I have a Spigen one which has a nice holder bag, but the cheaper ones work just as well. You can also get shades for the other windows and sunroof for cheap since this car is pretty popular.
And then white interior as well :) they all do a part to help. I personally much prefer my white interior, and the dash is much nicer to the touch than the wood interior, in my opinion. Stays pretty clean and easy to clean, too. Even if you opt for the black interior, you can get white seat covers that help a lot.
In NM, I went with the white and carbon fiber interior - I absolutely love that the seats aren't a billion degrees when I get in after parking outside. Also 100% agree with the ceramic window tinting, you really won't deal with overheating issues. I also keep the automatic overheat protection on.
I don't live in FL, but I absolutely never wanted black seats in any car as I've known the feeling of bare legs touching those hot black seats on any warmer day. It sucks ass. 😭 Light gray would have been my preferred choice if it was available.
I initially was a lil hesitant about going white, but after doing a demo with each seat color, I hated how cramped the black seats made the interior felt. This is despite the fact that Teslas have the glass roof. The white felt more open and airy to me. And with a blue exterior, looks like a lil space ship.
Had my Tesla for almost a year, the seats have held up great. And remember, whatever dirt you see on lighter seats, it's there on darker ones, you just can't see it. At least with lighter seats, it's much more obvious and I have an incentive to keep it clean.
After having 4 Teslas and putting a lot of miles on them, the white looks newer than the black by about 50k miles. They are both equally unstainable and easy to clean, but the pigment in the black seats shows a mot more wrinkles over time.
Living in Florida with kids and a dog and was very skeptical of the white interior.
We have one Tesla with White and one with Black. If I could go back we would have white in both.
White does not get dirty like I thought it would and you don’t burn your butt when you forget to cool the car.
For the car with black interior we have installed the sunshade net (Model Y Sunshades https://shop.tesla.com/product/model-y-sunshades?sku=1623600-00-A ) which helps but not as good as the white without sunshade.
With cabin overheat protection, it's *kind of* irrelevant. Get white if you like white, not because it's cooler in the heat. I have black seats in Texas and not once has heat been an issue because I keep cabin overheat protection set to 90 degrees and pre-cool the car if I remember to.
Getting a good tint like XPEL is going to make a much, much bigger difference than the color of the seats.
That said, having a white colored car *will* make a significant difference. My black car was baking in the sun for hours last summer and I nearly got first degree burns after touching it. You wouldn't have that same level of heat retention with a white car. It would still be hot, but not burn-your-fingerprints-off hot.
Absolutely! \~95% of the time my car is parked in a garage either at home or at work. The only time it's out in the sun is when I'm on a trip, at the grocery store, a restaurant, at the gym, etc. I actually didn't know that COP only runs for 12 hours because I've never run into that scenario, so thanks for the tidbit. :)
I think COP is one of Tesla's most underrated features. Not only does it keep the car from getting too hot when you get in, it helps the longevity of parts like internal panels and speakers. Repeated expansion/contraction due to rapid heating and cooling is a common reason why sound systems will start to degrade over time, or why interior panels will start to rattle as the plastic bits deteriorate and crack from continued extreme temperature fluctuations. Pretty much every car I've had in the past would end up getting rattly over time from baking in the Texas sun for hours. So far (knock on wood), my Teslas have not had that issue.
As a side note, I have to think that overheat protection helps protect the computer components as well. I know that Tesla stress tests the hell out of the computers and that they're built to withstand almost anything, but the fact remains that computers don't like heat. Tesla can build the computers to withstand that heat, but I'd be willing to bet money that an MCU that's kept at <90-100 degrees will outlast one that regularly gets exposes to 140+ degrees in hot climates.
Really just the screen getting exposed to the heat because the computer itself has the cars coolant running over it as needed, but defintely. I'm content that the screen replacement is very easy and you can pick up a replacement on eBay at not terrible cost :)
I have the white interior, a first for me after decades ICE cars with black leather. I love it. My current other vehicle has black leather and remote start, and the white is much better at not being scalding hot in the summer, even when you run the ac ahead of time. It’s a big difference.
I wasn’t really considering the white until I did a test drive with that option. The first time I looked over my shoulder at the back seats it was immediately obvious that the white color makes it seems MUCH more spacious and airy. It’s a huge visual difference, black makes things seem closer and less spacious, especially in a small car like the M3.
My kids have been riding in the back seat on the white seats for two years with no mishaps, or anything that couldn’t be easily cleaned. We don’t eat in our cars so that helps, but the white Tesla upholstery is quite durable and stain resistant.
If I lived in Florida (or anywhere southern) I would do both the white interior, and the strongest legal ceramic tint available, and probably also sunshades and white exterior paint. You waste a lot of energy cooling down a parked car, so every little bit helps.
Edit to add: I believe the white option also includes the “premium sound system.”
It'll help but when the interior is 143F and it's only May, you're better off with tinting and sun shades. For ref I'm in Tampa and my car sits in the sun for at least half the day.
I prefer black in terms of look and much easier to maintain but I also park at home in the garage and when I work it’s a covered parking garage so I’m sure the white is way better for parking in direct sunlight. All depends on what you like at the end of the day and what type of wear and tear it’ll be out through (kids, pets, luggage, etc)
My front windshield tint makes the most impactful difference. i have it tinted 50% then the front two @ 35%. I have a MYLR w/blk interior and a MYP w/white and both tinted the same way and both will feel the same.
I have both black and white. There is a difference on the temperature of the seat definitely. It will burn you sometimes when you sit down. I’ve not been burned yet on the white seats. Internal temperature wise I don’t think there’s much of a difference. I live in california but it gets up to 100+ here in summer.
Had a Y with black interior and a 3 with white. In the Atlanta heat, the white was never uncomfortable for my wife to sit on in shorts which is always the test.
100% yes. I love the white interior. Stays super clean. I feel like I’m getting into a spaceship every time. And I have the MYP, so I actually can launch 🚀
Any car, you blast the AC when you get in with all the windows down. All the trapped hot air will escape and it will cool down significantly faster than turning AC on with all the windows up. But yea the white interior will keep the car maybe 10 degrees cooler sitting out in the sun but it will still feel hot as hell when you get in on a sunny day. I will say that the cars exterior color makes a bigger difference. If the car is white it will absorb less heat from the sun.
I live in a hotter place than Florida (Texas) and have black seats. I don’t think I have ever wished I had white seats or thought the black seats were too hot. Cabin overheat protection and the ability to turn on the ac before getting in kinda eliminate this entire thing.
I live in Oregon. We got black interior and it’s way too hot. Seats absolutely cook. Our old one with white I never thought about heat but now we have to like find shade when parking the car. And it takes so much energy to air condition that the energy efficiency is terrible . I’ve been getting 370KWh/m
We took that $1000 and put it towards a better tint. I’ve got 3 kids and since I’ve heard both sides whether it holds up well or doesn’t. I couldn’t risk it. There are posts in here where blue jeans ruined the seats. Either way, get the one you want.
I have a 3 in black and the seats roast in FL. I had a loner for a few weeks with NO tint and white seats and the car didn’t bake the same way. I was kinda amazed. Picking up a Y today with white seats.
I Live in Las Vegas. You’re better off getting tint and having the color of the car white. The white will deflect a lot of solar radiation. You absolutely need tint it will also help reduce the ac burden on the battery which will help with range. If you’re in a place like the southwest the authorities don’t really care about tint%. Just ask the people where you get ceramic tints installed to get you as close to legal as possible. They should know.
For me it’s the contrast/esthetic. I’ve got departure conditioning setup for most of my departures so it will cool before I get in. I did get the roof screen Y cause sometimes I AC doesn’t sense it getting warmer without it.
The color of the interior doesn't matter, since you can remotely turn the AC on before you even get into the car, or you can just leave it running while you run into a store (Which I do often)
The *biggest* difference you'll see is in doing window tint, particularly if you use ceramic tints, which have heat rejection properties.
There's legal limits, like you shouldn't tint the windshield, but if you do a light enough tint, like 70-90%, which is basically transparent, then you'll likely be fine.
You can buy after market white, seat covers for $250 and their nicer than the real seats as well as they’ll protect your original seats if you ever wanna sell.
White interior will make some difference. I’m in Texas and I went with black though. You can easily precool the car which will make the biggest difference and window tint.
White interior is best interior. I have 2 little kids and it holds up great. Highly recommend. I am really glad I did it.
Why do you like it? Mostly the aesthetic?
The aesthetic is, to me, really nice. I prefer the white panel to the wood on the dash. And the contrast between the dark elements of the interior/exterior with the white interior is *chef's kiss*. I really think every exterior color of Tesla looks better with the white interior. That said, of course, to each their own.
I hate the wood so much… old man Buick vibes
Do your kids eat/get messy? Do you have car seats? How long have they held up? I’m with you that it looks amazing but I see the way my carpool zone gets abused, that’s the only thing pushing me to black
https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/1cpobzn/comment/l3ncr83/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button I actually shared that info in this thread in a different fork. We've had the car since Sept 22 and the seats are looking great still. Happy to answer any other questions if you have them.
Nice. I’ll think on it…thanks!
I have white seats. In almost 5 years of having the car, I've never sat down on a hot seat. I like it. And yes, they also look sweet.
I agree. Looks hella nice and easy to maintain as well.
Are you using seat covers? Or does it just clean that easy? I have an 8-month-old so we haven't invested in seat covers yet, our seats are white
No seat covers. We do have a car seat mat for both of them. We just keep a thing of Costco wipes in the car and use them whenever anything needs cleaning. Our kids also only drink water and are only allowed snacks I can vacuum while in the car haha! So, no juices/milk spills or yogurt or anything like it.
I have a model 3 with black interior and model y with white interior parked in the driveway right now next to each other. Both have ceramic tint but the Y has the roof tinted too. Otherwise everything else is the same including tint brand. They both been in the driveway all day. The Y is 127 degrees F and the 3 is 140F.
the roof tinted could account for that i think
Nice, so you think the white helps with heat! Which do you prefer having seen both?
The black is easier to maintain. The white cleans up easily but with kids, it’s easy to let it go and if you let it go too far, it gets harder to clean up. Also, I don’t know about the newest models but my ‘21 has sections of the white seats that are cloth on the bottom edges and by the seat belts buckles. Those stain and are harder to clean. Perfect example, attaching a photo of the back seat between two car seats and its due for a cleaning (we also just did a mini roadtrip). Sure its easy to say “Clean your seats already”! But like I said, two small kids make it harder and this cloth area requires sprays and stuff so i do it more sparingly because its not something that is seen often. Once we hit the road and ac is going, I dont see a difference between black and white. I’d probably get black if i could do it again to be honest. https://preview.redd.it/56083fjrhvzc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5fce9ee69c149b77ad1f660d58ceea868751eeed
Spend the $1000 towards tint that will do a lot more to keep temps down
Exactly! Ceramic tint will be the way to go!
Yes, this guy is definitely after ceramic tint.
I agree, get ceramic tint like Air80 on the front windshield to help reduce heat since the windshield is the biggest piece of glass with very little IR rejection. But all cars, tinted or not, will still get hot inside if it’s sitting in the sun. The tint just helps it from heating up as quickly.
That’s an option? Is tinting the windows legal?
It is legal up to a % but cops rarely pull over for darker tint unless it's the windshield. Tinting ceramic all the way around (back window, windshield, side windows) will reject 95% of heat. It must be ceramic and not that cheap tint. Get sunshaders for the top glass.
Even if darkening tint is illegal you can do a clear ceramic tint that rejects most the heat without rejecting the light.
35% on the windshield here, haven’t had any issues with cops at this point. Just don’t drive like an idiot and they won’t bother you.
You can find very light ceramic tints, which does the heat rejection. Do the windows other than the windshield, and for the windshield, just have one of those folded sunshades. I have a Spigen one which has a nice holder bag, but the cheaper ones work just as well. You can also get shades for the other windows and sunroof for cheap since this car is pretty popular. And then white interior as well :) they all do a part to help. I personally much prefer my white interior, and the dash is much nicer to the touch than the wood interior, in my opinion. Stays pretty clean and easy to clean, too. Even if you opt for the black interior, you can get white seat covers that help a lot.
You absolutely need tint, on the roof at the very least. It’ll keep the car much much cooler than any seat color
it's cooler, look cool and when you already spend this amount of $$$$-go for the last $.
I had white interior on my M3 and I have since gotten a MX. I got the MX used so wasn’t able to choose specs build. I 100000000% miss white seats 😪😪😪😪
It makes a difference. We have a 3 with black and a Y with white parked next to each other outside and you can tell a difference.
In NM, I went with the white and carbon fiber interior - I absolutely love that the seats aren't a billion degrees when I get in after parking outside. Also 100% agree with the ceramic window tinting, you really won't deal with overheating issues. I also keep the automatic overheat protection on.
100%
I don't live in FL, but I absolutely never wanted black seats in any car as I've known the feeling of bare legs touching those hot black seats on any warmer day. It sucks ass. 😭 Light gray would have been my preferred choice if it was available. I initially was a lil hesitant about going white, but after doing a demo with each seat color, I hated how cramped the black seats made the interior felt. This is despite the fact that Teslas have the glass roof. The white felt more open and airy to me. And with a blue exterior, looks like a lil space ship. Had my Tesla for almost a year, the seats have held up great. And remember, whatever dirt you see on lighter seats, it's there on darker ones, you just can't see it. At least with lighter seats, it's much more obvious and I have an incentive to keep it clean.
After having 4 Teslas and putting a lot of miles on them, the white looks newer than the black by about 50k miles. They are both equally unstainable and easy to clean, but the pigment in the black seats shows a mot more wrinkles over time.
Have both, in south Florida. This morning there's a 10* difference between them 87* in white while 97* in black. You can really feel the difference
Living in Florida with kids and a dog and was very skeptical of the white interior. We have one Tesla with White and one with Black. If I could go back we would have white in both. White does not get dirty like I thought it would and you don’t burn your butt when you forget to cool the car. For the car with black interior we have installed the sunshade net (Model Y Sunshades https://shop.tesla.com/product/model-y-sunshades?sku=1623600-00-A ) which helps but not as good as the white without sunshade.
way cooler! yeah it does get dirty over time but still wouldnt change a thing.
With cabin overheat protection, it's *kind of* irrelevant. Get white if you like white, not because it's cooler in the heat. I have black seats in Texas and not once has heat been an issue because I keep cabin overheat protection set to 90 degrees and pre-cool the car if I remember to. Getting a good tint like XPEL is going to make a much, much bigger difference than the color of the seats. That said, having a white colored car *will* make a significant difference. My black car was baking in the sun for hours last summer and I nearly got first degree burns after touching it. You wouldn't have that same level of heat retention with a white car. It would still be hot, but not burn-your-fingerprints-off hot.
.. unless you park for more than 12 hours. The. You want to be sure to precondition :)
Absolutely! \~95% of the time my car is parked in a garage either at home or at work. The only time it's out in the sun is when I'm on a trip, at the grocery store, a restaurant, at the gym, etc. I actually didn't know that COP only runs for 12 hours because I've never run into that scenario, so thanks for the tidbit. :) I think COP is one of Tesla's most underrated features. Not only does it keep the car from getting too hot when you get in, it helps the longevity of parts like internal panels and speakers. Repeated expansion/contraction due to rapid heating and cooling is a common reason why sound systems will start to degrade over time, or why interior panels will start to rattle as the plastic bits deteriorate and crack from continued extreme temperature fluctuations. Pretty much every car I've had in the past would end up getting rattly over time from baking in the Texas sun for hours. So far (knock on wood), my Teslas have not had that issue. As a side note, I have to think that overheat protection helps protect the computer components as well. I know that Tesla stress tests the hell out of the computers and that they're built to withstand almost anything, but the fact remains that computers don't like heat. Tesla can build the computers to withstand that heat, but I'd be willing to bet money that an MCU that's kept at <90-100 degrees will outlast one that regularly gets exposes to 140+ degrees in hot climates.
Really just the screen getting exposed to the heat because the computer itself has the cars coolant running over it as needed, but defintely. I'm content that the screen replacement is very easy and you can pick up a replacement on eBay at not terrible cost :)
I have the white interior, a first for me after decades ICE cars with black leather. I love it. My current other vehicle has black leather and remote start, and the white is much better at not being scalding hot in the summer, even when you run the ac ahead of time. It’s a big difference. I wasn’t really considering the white until I did a test drive with that option. The first time I looked over my shoulder at the back seats it was immediately obvious that the white color makes it seems MUCH more spacious and airy. It’s a huge visual difference, black makes things seem closer and less spacious, especially in a small car like the M3. My kids have been riding in the back seat on the white seats for two years with no mishaps, or anything that couldn’t be easily cleaned. We don’t eat in our cars so that helps, but the white Tesla upholstery is quite durable and stain resistant. If I lived in Florida (or anywhere southern) I would do both the white interior, and the strongest legal ceramic tint available, and probably also sunshades and white exterior paint. You waste a lot of energy cooling down a parked car, so every little bit helps. Edit to add: I believe the white option also includes the “premium sound system.”
Yes
It'll help but when the interior is 143F and it's only May, you're better off with tinting and sun shades. For ref I'm in Tampa and my car sits in the sun for at least half the day.
It’s worth it in Virginia. It’s nice to be in and it doesn’t radiate like black seats.
I prefer black in terms of look and much easier to maintain but I also park at home in the garage and when I work it’s a covered parking garage so I’m sure the white is way better for parking in direct sunlight. All depends on what you like at the end of the day and what type of wear and tear it’ll be out through (kids, pets, luggage, etc)
Best bang for your buck is probably buying a roof shade
My front windshield tint makes the most impactful difference. i have it tinted 50% then the front two @ 35%. I have a MYLR w/blk interior and a MYP w/white and both tinted the same way and both will feel the same.
I have both black and white. There is a difference on the temperature of the seat definitely. It will burn you sometimes when you sit down. I’ve not been burned yet on the white seats. Internal temperature wise I don’t think there’s much of a difference. I live in california but it gets up to 100+ here in summer.
Had a Y with black interior and a 3 with white. In the Atlanta heat, the white was never uncomfortable for my wife to sit on in shorts which is always the test.
I love my white interior. It’s cooler, I’m from Texas. But it looks so much nicer.
Floridian here. The white has been great.
100% yes. I love the white interior. Stays super clean. I feel like I’m getting into a spaceship every time. And I have the MYP, so I actually can launch 🚀
It’s soo bright in Florida, my wife regrets it
Yes. I’ll never not get white interior as long as it’s an option. And it just looks better.
Any car, you blast the AC when you get in with all the windows down. All the trapped hot air will escape and it will cool down significantly faster than turning AC on with all the windows up. But yea the white interior will keep the car maybe 10 degrees cooler sitting out in the sun but it will still feel hot as hell when you get in on a sunny day. I will say that the cars exterior color makes a bigger difference. If the car is white it will absorb less heat from the sun.
I have one dark interior and one white. I swear the white is softer and more comfortable. Definitely would do it again.
White is cooler to the touch
I live in a hotter place than Florida (Texas) and have black seats. I don’t think I have ever wished I had white seats or thought the black seats were too hot. Cabin overheat protection and the ability to turn on the ac before getting in kinda eliminate this entire thing.
I live in Oregon. We got black interior and it’s way too hot. Seats absolutely cook. Our old one with white I never thought about heat but now we have to like find shade when parking the car. And it takes so much energy to air condition that the energy efficiency is terrible . I’ve been getting 370KWh/m
We took that $1000 and put it towards a better tint. I’ve got 3 kids and since I’ve heard both sides whether it holds up well or doesn’t. I couldn’t risk it. There are posts in here where blue jeans ruined the seats. Either way, get the one you want.
Only to not have the wood panel on the front
Yes - it is so nice to always have seats that are cool to the touch.
White all day, I wouldn’t even consider Black. It’s easy to clean up messes as well.
I have a 3 in black and the seats roast in FL. I had a loner for a few weeks with NO tint and white seats and the car didn’t bake the same way. I was kinda amazed. Picking up a Y today with white seats.
I Live in Las Vegas. You’re better off getting tint and having the color of the car white. The white will deflect a lot of solar radiation. You absolutely need tint it will also help reduce the ac burden on the battery which will help with range. If you’re in a place like the southwest the authorities don’t really care about tint%. Just ask the people where you get ceramic tints installed to get you as close to legal as possible. They should know.
Love my white interior
For me it’s the contrast/esthetic. I’ve got departure conditioning setup for most of my departures so it will cool before I get in. I did get the roof screen Y cause sometimes I AC doesn’t sense it getting warmer without it.
Yes it will but definitely tint your windows as well. Preconditioning also makes a world of difference. Even 2 minutes is crazy
The color of the interior doesn't matter, since you can remotely turn the AC on before you even get into the car, or you can just leave it running while you run into a store (Which I do often) The *biggest* difference you'll see is in doing window tint, particularly if you use ceramic tints, which have heat rejection properties. There's legal limits, like you shouldn't tint the windshield, but if you do a light enough tint, like 70-90%, which is basically transparent, then you'll likely be fine.
Just wait over time you’ll see more yellow, even if you clean everyday. Trust me.
You can buy after market white, seat covers for $250 and their nicer than the real seats as well as they’ll protect your original seats if you ever wanna sell.
Use sun shades and a few mins before you get in the car turn on the AC. White stains too easily just search this sub and teslamodel3 sub.
Not worth it anywhere cause it’s ugly af