Dumb Question: Is the P85+ faster than the P85?

[lolachampcar]

bla bla bla bla I'm not listening to Tex (picture my fingers in my ears).

cause I know if I do, I'll end up buying another P+. I know how he works.

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

I feel like I should know this, but all of my impressions of the + thus far have been that it's a superior handler.

I've got a + loaner right now, and it indeed handles the way I expected the car would handle from the beginning. Very happy with it.

Today, I was waiting far too long to find a clear entrance into traffic. I finally decided to go in front of a truck and floor it (plenty of space, but I did need to move my rump once in traffic). I did, and floored it. The car sort of felt like an ICE with a supercharger or turbo. It accelerated, and then, maybe .8 seconds into it, the car felt like it hit a lower gear (or in an ICE, the turbo spooled up) and I felt like I was in a rocket. I've NEVER felt like that in my P85.

Once I was off the main road and on a back road, I went to replicate the feeling to see if it had just been a fluke, and sure enough, that thing FLIES!

So is there some acceleration improvement in the P+'s? Is it the wheels? Inverter? Inquiring (and jealous) minds want to know!

I would also tend to agree with the comments about it being related to a slight holding back that occurs with the traction control at launch and under hard acceleration while at speed. As a reference, I drove a loaner P85+ in the summer around the Seattle area and also had a similar experience to AnOutsider. For me it was accelerating from say around 50mph on up. From about 70 to 100mph I felt like the P85+ just had that extra push that my P85 didn't.

But as some anecdotal evidence, I now also have a P85+ and (I didn't have it before the weather turned colder around Seattle, so the sticker tires may not be helping as much in the colder temps) it doesn't seem to have that extra acceleration from about 70 to 100 that I remember experiencing in the loaner P85+.

To test it, probably I'd need to get a hold of the loaner P85+ car and drive it while timing it and then immediately time my personal P85+ car. I will say that even with the wider and sticker tires, I still can get my rears to slip right now when stomping on it. It's just a slight slip that I'm getting, but traction control is kicking in for me right now. Temps are in the mid 40's and mid 50's right now in the Seattle area. So my particular experience may indicate it is related to the wider rears and different rubber being used vs. the standard P85 tires. The colder weather is eliminating some of that advantage for me. I guess I'll have to wait until temps warm up around here to see if I still feel the same (or maybe take a roadtrip to San Francisco now that the West Coast Supercharger is basically built out!).

Also to address the issues of older vs. newer inverters etc. in the past two months I have all new gear in my car (New battery, new inverter, new drive unit and some other brand new stuff), but the car still doesn't feel like it has that push the loaner P85+ did in the summer.

 

[Denarius]

I would also tend to agree with the comments about it being related to a slight holding back that occurs with the traction control at launch and under hard acceleration while at speed. As a reference, I drove a loaner P85+ in the summer around the Seattle area and also had a similar experience to AnOutsider. For me it was accelerating from say around 50mph on up. From about 70 to 100mph I felt like the P85+ just had that extra push that my P85 didn't.

But as some anecdotal evidence, I now also have a P85+ and (I didn't have it before the weather turned colder around Seattle, so the sticker tires may not be helping as much in the colder temps) it doesn't seem to have that extra acceleration from about 70 to 100 that I remember experiencing in the loaner P85+.

To test it, probably I'd need to get a hold of the loaner P85+ car and drive it while timing it and then immediately time my personal P85+ car. I will say that even with the wider and sticker tires, I still can get my rears to slip right now when stomping on it. It's just a slight slip that I'm getting, but traction control is kicking in for me right now. Temps are in the mid 40's and mid 50's right now in the Seattle area. So my particular experience may indicate it is related to the wider rears and different rubber being used vs. the standard P85 tires. The colder weather is eliminating some of that advantage for me. I guess I'll have to wait until temps warm up around here to see if I still feel the same (or maybe take a roadtrip to San Francisco now that the West Coast Supercharger is basically built out!).

Also to address the issues of older vs. newer inverters etc. in the past two months I have all new gear in my car (New battery, new inverter, new drive unit and some other brand new stuff), but the car still doesn't feel like it has that push the loaner P85+ did in the summer.

The tires are slippery in those temperatures, as things have cooled down into the same range here I'm slipping all the time on acceleration. Previously traction control rarely kicked on.

 

[JerryNycom]

The tires are slippery in those temperatures, as things have cooled down into the same range here I'm slipping all the time on acceleration. Previously traction control rarely kicked on.

Exactly! Thought I was nuts....Lately if I punch it the tires slip and traction is blinking like crazy, and now it makes more sense that the tires are cold and not as sticky. I have a P85 with the P+ offset rears.

 

[Blathering1]

Pilot Sport 2s that I have run for years on a Maserati coupe turned into ice skates as the temp dipped towards freezing and the tires were cold. Conversely summer temps--really over 60 degrees F or so-- the tires are like glue.

Given that the Ps have the same electric motor, straight line 'stock' speeds must be a function of how active traction control is (either automatic TC or 'manual' with a talented accelerator foot). With wide, sticky PS2s on the P+, along with warm tires, traction control will shunt the power less.