We were in this boat last year. My first new and "nicest" car was a 2011 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI. I've wanted an electric car for ages and figured I'd be waiting for the Model 3 for a few more years.
Then Tesla announced their Certified Pre-Owned program. We started looking and comparing CPO to new. We ended up getting a CPO 2013 P85 with every option available except for the winter package and the back jump seat.
I've had lower spec loaners, and they are still very nice cars, and there are options that our car has that are really not necessary.
However, here are the things I'd suggest you get, even if you go for the base model:
1) Navigation. Whatever package the navigation is in, I'd recommend getting it. That center screen is great for maps, and if you don't get the navigation, the map is software limited to show you where you are, and where your destination is, but no way to connect the two together. Its very frustrating. I really wouldn't recommend getting the navigation package in any other car, but the center display and the dash display integration for navigation is the best I've seen or experienced. Its a huge improvement over your smartphone, which was what I had always used in the past, just because it was just as good, or better than any of the in-car packages I'd experienced.
2) Get the heated steering wheel. Our car doesn't have it, and it is a super nice feature.
3) Not an issue if you're buying new, but if you're considering buying CPO or used, and you drive in remote areas often (we do), get the twin chargers. Its not often that you'll come across 240v supplies higher than 50 amps, but when you do, its really nice to be able to take advantage of that with the dual chargers. New cars are capable of charging to 72amps, so it doesn't matter.
I wouldn't have an issue with buying a base model car, except for one thing: One of the big reasons we bought CPO is because of where we live: We're fairly remote, and we drive to even more remote places as part of our work, so the 85 kwh battery was a minimum for us. Buying a new 85 compared to a CPO car was pretty much a wash, even with the tax credit figured in, so we took the difference and bought a highly optioned CPO car.