I think it's more of a "relative" to certain cars.
I could compare it to a miata that is ~2300lbs. But that's not really relevant then, is it? A Jeep Wrangler is basically a truck - so I don't think that's a good comparison.
Compared to other "compact executive cars" (as its class states) it's close to the competition.
Well, I mention it only because I get the comment a lot and my last car was a (two door) Wrangler. You could compare it to trucks, but it's just not perceived as a particularly heavy vehicle even relative to normal cars.
The vibe I've got from talking to people is that they think the Model 3 (or Teslas in general) are significantly heavy relative to normal consumer vehicles. It's pretty surprising to them that even a 2 door Jeep Wrangler is actually heavier.
I think most people would be surprised just at how heavy a Jeep Wrangler is to begin with. Without even comparison, most of the 2-doors don't look like they'd be that heavy.
Same with my 1-series. It's obscenely heavy for how small it is.
I could compare it to a miata that is ~2300lbs. But that's not really relevant then, is it? A Jeep Wrangler is basically a truck - so I don't think that's a good comparison.
Compared to other "compact executive cars" (as its class states) it's close to the competition.