Are the news Ds finally quiet (no front motor noise)?

[Firewired]

I have a 12/14 delivered P85D. I have always heard a slight whine with light acceleration which is louder with heave acceleration. I did notice that if I turn off range mode after reading the above, there is still a audible noise but a lot of the high pitch part of the whine is markedly diminished. I had always assumed the slight whine was normal. I have never driven anyone else's Tesla, there is no local service, so even when I have had the car serviced you get a rental car, as there are no loaners.

 

[demundus]

I have an 85D loaner, probably a 2014 I need to go look. I don't own a dual so reading these threads I thought you all were crazy... turns out, my loaner WHINES! I'm sure I'd get used to it, but I can hear it, and all I could do was laugh as I drove off the service center lot for the day.

Hah.

 

[jasonjax]

My 2015 85D has an awesome sounding "whine" when I floor it .... sounds like a **gasp** motor pitched whine ... I love it. Otherwise it is almost entirely silent.

Maybe it is the modulation of the speed controller, but whatever it is I really like the way it sounds under heavy acceleration.

 

[StaceyS]

Here's an unhelpful post: I love my P85. I never appreciated how quiet it was until I drove a D...

Of course, I think even though I can hear the front motor of a D, its still tremendously quieter and smoother than any ICE I've been in. Posts with the terms "significantly noiser" and "very annoying" I just don't get, unless its determined that there's actually something really mechanically wrong with the car. Sort of "Princess and the Pea" scenario...

Ok, I'll shut up and slink off back to my RWD world...

 

[liuping]

Here's an unhelpful post: I love my P85. I never appreciated how quiet it was until I drove a D...

Of course, I think even though I can hear the front motor of a D, its still tremendously quieter and smoother than any ICE I've been in. Posts with the terms "significantly noiser" and "very annoying" I just don't get, unless its determined that there's actually something really mechanically wrong with the car. Sort of "Princess and the Pea" scenario...

Ok, I'll shut up and slink off back to my RWD world...

The constant whine when I have Range Mode is enable is definitely not quiter than any higher end ICE car. It's a high pitched whine you can hear over the stereo, unless you have it turn way up. it's a constant whine even at low speeds (20MPH).

It is very annoying. Fortunately, the work around of turning off Range Mode work for me, but I total sympathize with people who have it full time. Tesla needs to figure out a real fix for the problem. It is not a minor issue, you can just ignore.

 

[Muzzman1]

The constant whine when I have Range Mode is enable is definitely not quiter than any higher end ICE car. It's a high pitched whine you can hear over the stereo, unless you have it turn way up. it's a constant whine even at low speeds (20MPH).

It is very annoying. Fortunately, the work around of turning off Range Mode work for me, but I total sympathize with people who have it full time. Tesla needs to figure out a real fix for the problem. It is not a minor issue, you can just ignore.

@Liuping I'm right there with you! I just picked up my 85D and the front motor sounds like a poorly grounded radio amplifier that has a high pitched whine at 15-45mph cruising speeds. When I disable Range mode it goes away. It's so annoying it's maddening.
I had my cars both in a service center today swapping the wheels, and mentioned it in passing. They indicated they heard nothing out of the ordinary.
I have to completely disagree! I have another appt in a couple weeks to get my dual chargers installed, at which point I will take the service manager for a ride to demonstrate as I do not feel the noise my car is exhibiting is normal or acceptable.

 

[Terra117]

I definitely hear some motor whine from the front of my 90D. Nothing really intrusive - I kinda like it!

Nothing intrusive. More like warp drive.

I don't know if I'd like it to be completely silent.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Close to a year in now with my D and I rarely notice the front drive motor. Only under certain conditions is it noticeable - certain speeds and rates of acceleration. I rented a RWD Model S this summer and did note that it was quieter, but only slightly so. Tire noise is a far greater contributor to cabin noise than the front motor.

 

[svp6]

The front motor does not bother me, but it grew a little bit louder over 10k miles (especially at highway speed). It is surprising though how the Mercedes S-class feels more quiet even if it has a V8 beast. Maybe on next gen cars?

 

[liuping]

Close to a year in now with my D and I rarely notice the front drive motor. Only under certain conditions is it noticeable - certain speeds and rates of acceleration. I rented a RWD Model S this summer and did note that it was quieter, but only slightly so. Tire noise is a far greater contributor to cabin noise than the front motor.

On the cars with the full time whine (not just under acceration), at slower speeds (10-40MPH) the front motor whine, is much more noticeable that tire noise when range mode is on.

 

[Muzzman1]

On the cars with the full time whine (not just under acceration), at slower speeds (10-40MPH) the front motor whine, is much more noticeable that tire noise when range mode is on.

+1 @liuping! 100% accurate. Between 10-40mph is sounds like a poorly installed Stereo amplifier. I do not think that it's ok. I'm coming from a Rear Drive MS, and I also have a P85D that does not exhibit that sound, so in a couple weeks when I get my 2nd charger installed I plan to take a tech with me to demonstrate.

 

[pdq]

I took delivery of a P90D in late September and within a month or so was back at the service center as the car was making a whining noise almost constantly to one degree or another, I took one of their techs for a ride, he heard it and said it was normal.

With 5,000 miles on the car I took it in to have the tires rotated and a couple of repairs made and they gave me a S60 with 16,000 miles on it as a loaner car. Amazing -- zero noise from the motor.

I rarely play the radio, so the noise is annoying.

 

[Ames]

I took delivery of a P90D in late September and within a month or so was back at the service center as the car was making a whining noise almost constantly to one degree or another, I took one of their techs for a ride, he heard it and said it was normal.

With 5,000 miles on the car I took it in to have the tires rotated and a couple of repairs made and they gave me a S60 with 16,000 miles on it as a loaner car. Amazing -- zero noise from the motor.

I rarely play the radio, so the noise is annoying.

Admittedly I haven't had much time with my P90D (3 days) but I noticed a distant whine from the front motors when in Range mode, and without Range Mode no significant noise at all. The Range Mode noise is kind of cool.

 

[dirkhh]

I took delivery of a P90D in late September and within a month or so was back at the service center as the car was making a whining noise almost constantly to one degree or another, I took one of their techs for a ride, he heard it and said it was normal.

With 5,000 miles on the car I took it in to have the tires rotated and a couple of repairs made and they gave me a S60 with 16,000 miles on it as a loaner car. Amazing -- zero noise from the motor.

I rarely play the radio, so the noise is annoying.

I'd push back with the SC staff. I had the front motor of my P85D replaced because of a really distracting whine. The first time I took it in they were saying "yeah, this is about normal". I then got to drive with a friend in their 85D and it was SO. MUCH. QUIETER.
So I took an audio recording with my phone, driving the same brief loop in both cars and played that to the SC staff. They agreed that this was not acceptable. A month later (took a while to get the parts back then) I had a new front motor. And while the car is definitely still louder than my 60 was, it's MUCH improved.

 

[Lee Tsui]

Yeah totally love mine too! Reminds me of a Manga called Akira where the street bikes are racing through the city. I'm in NEO TOKYO!

I can hear both my motors and I love it. The starship-electric whine is too cool and it's what a powerful, electric platform is supposed to sound like. I know there is a segment of the market that prefers a soundless EV experience, but that's just so sterile to me.

Of course, I'm only talking about the sexy electric whine/whirr that accompanies the application of power or regen. The high-pitch chirping noise is just fail. The intermittent on/off torque sleep noise is also mostly fail.

- K

 

[Richg]

+1. Love the sound of the future.