Finally, a true test for P90DL vs P85D vs P85+

[luvnMyTS]

Green Car Reports tested all three cars back to back to back. See article link below.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100718_drag-strip-test-of-top-tesla...

Kind of surprised that the $10,000 Ludicrous option only adds 3/10ths to the 1/4 mile and just 2 MPH. I thought the whole point to the Ludicrous model was that it carried it's power band longer. The complaint about the P85D was that it was all hole shot power only, then petered out up top. Ludicrous was supposed to fix that and, per Tesla, result in a 10.90 1/4 mile time. According to this test, not even close. 11.7 for the P85D and 11.4 for the P90DL that is just 2 miles per hour faster in the 1/4 mile.

Now I have to question whether that option is worth the extra $10,000. 8/10ths of a second is significant. 3/10ths, other than at the drag strip, not much of a difference???

It's just the first true test with real world numbers, so maybe the next one will produce better results. Motor Trend says they tested the P90DL and got 2.6 0-60 MPH???? One of them is certainly off somewhere. I don't believe I've seen anyone post a video of a 0-60 time under 3.1 seconds (that didn't include the 1 foot rollout, which reduces times by approximately 3/10ths)? Note: Motor Trend uses a 1 foot roll out in their testing as well. So their 2.6 would really be a 2.9. Not bad, but again, haven't seen anyone come close to duplicating that yet.

 

[Adrian]

Tesla is holding back the L with software. What MotorTrend tested was a "delimited" car of sorts, to put it in simple terms. Tesla is probably waiting to confirm that their million mile drivetrain is actually capable of their goals before unleashing the power of those insane forces they claim it to be capable of to the general public to test out and break stuff with. The smart-fuse is also brand new and is probably programmed with lots of leniency to avoid tripping it accidentally, and will be further tweaked towards its limits and refined with software updates.

 

[jpet]

I strongly believe this is the main reason the Ludicrous upgrade for the P85D is being delayed. The software that should unleash the full power of the Ludicrous hardware is not ready and it would be a nightmare for Tesla to have people pay for an upgrade that adds only peanuts to the P85Ds Insane performance.

 

[Caligula]

What MotorTrend tested was a "delimited" car of sorts, to put it in simple terms.

*citation required.

 

[electrish]

I completely agree that we need proof for the claim that Tesla is currently holding back the Ludicrous mode.

This is the major obstacle for me to order the Ludicrous upgrade and I am sure many others are in the same boat.

 

[Caligula]

FWIW, I was reading that the owner of the car MT tested belongs to an average forum member, and isn't a special vehicle hand picked by Tesla Motors. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe said individual has even posted about it here and on the official forums.

 

[stopcrazypp]

FWIW, I was reading that the owner of the car MT tested belongs to an average forum member, and isn't a special vehicle hand picked by Tesla Motors. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe said individual has even posted about it here and on the official forums.

Citation please. AFAIK, Motortrend practically never tests an owner car when they can get a press car.

 

[Matias]

I have been reading this thread

Dragtimes P90D Ludicrous 0-60mph and 0-100mph video - Page 39

which deals with missing P85DL performance and I haven't seen any post from MT car owner.

 

[luvnMyTS]

I completely agree that we need proof for the claim that Tesla is currently holding back the Ludicrous mode.

This is the major obstacle for me to order the Ludicrous upgrade and I am sure many others are in the same boat.

I agree. I wanted to see test results before forking out any money. As of right now, no way it's worth $10,000 based on the results I've seen, not only in this test, but others as well. On the other hand, when Ludicrous was first announced, Tesla stated they would start upgrading P85D's in a few weeks. The fact that we are now months beyond the announcement and I have yet to hear of a single P85D being upgraded tells me that they're clearly not ready to do it. While that could simply be that they haven't trained the Service Center techs yet, I tend to think it's more likely that they're still perfecting the whole system. Clearly the Ludicrous mode doesn't perform as advertised....YET. Musk probably needed an influx of cash to boost financial reports. Figured he'll get the hardware installed and sort out the details through software later. Kind of like all the people that paid for Auto-Pilot over a year ago and got nothing until a couple of weeks ago.

Tesla has a way of separating us from our cash, then making us wait to get what we paid for. Model X is another perfect example of that.

 

[Laserbrain]

Motor Trend says they tested the P90DL and got 2.6 0-60 MPH????

Maybe Motor Tend is now using a 2-foot rollout. This could be a common standard in some secret undergroud racing settings.

 

[Dzanda]

No offense intended. But why is there so much focus on acceleration? The S isn't intended for the track or drag strip; it's transportation.

Personally, my priority is for Tesla to make sure that the drive units are more reliable in lieu of a few tenths of a second. When I'm able to afford an S, I'll probably forego the "P" in favor of getting all the options (except for the rear facing seats).

Different strokes for different folks, eh?

 

[AWDtsla]

No offense intended. But why is there so much focus on acceleration? The S isn't intended for the track or drag strip; it's transportation.

Personally, my priority is for Tesla to make sure that the drive units are more reliable in lieu of a few tenths of a second. When I'm able to afford an S, I'll probably forego the "P" in favor of getting all the options (except for the rear facing seats).

Different strokes for different folks, eh?

They're going to need to meet the advertised numbers or there is going to be a problem, given that people are paying $10-$30k more for the performance model with zero other features.

 

[Matias]

No offense intended. But why is there so much focus on acceleration? The S isn't intended for the track or drag strip; it's transportation.

Personally, my priority is for Tesla to make sure that the drive units are more reliable in lieu of a few tenths of a second. When I'm able to afford an S, I'll probably forego the "P" in favor of getting all the options (except for the rear facing seats).

Different strokes for different folks, eh?

Well, Tesle is selling P90DL on the sole promise of certain acceleration. So I find it reasonable that people expect to get that promise fulfilled.

 

[Dzanda]

Well, Tesle is selling P90DL on the sole promise of certain acceleration. So I find it reasonable that people expect to get that promise fulfilled.

Understood! Customers are certainly entitled to get what they pay for!

I wasn't clear...I wasn't asking why customers were focused on acceleration; I was asking why Tesla is! It seems to me that they would do better to attend to quality and reliability instead of extreme performance. Once those qualities are locked in, then go for performance.

This discussion brings a question to mind: are Tesla S sales driven by performance oriented buyers?

 

[tstafford]

I strongly believe this is the main reason the Ludicrous upgrade for the P85D is being delayed. The software that should unleash the full power of the Ludicrous hardware is not ready and it would be a nightmare for Tesla to have people pay for an upgrade that adds only peanuts to the P85Ds Insane performance.

Makes sense. They can't release the P85D upgrade in two stages. People would freak.

 

[supratachophobia]

Did anyone notice that the 1/8th and 1/4 mile trap speeds were both 5mph fit the P85/P85D race? Did that mean after 1/8 the D ceases to pull away and their above 80mph acceleration is the same?

 

[Matias]

Understood! Customers are certainly entitled to get what they pay for!

I wasn't clear...I wasn't asking why customers were focused on acceleration; I was asking why Tesla is! It seems to me that they would do better to attend to quality and reliability instead of extreme performance. Once those qualities are locked in, then go for performance.

This discussion brings a question to mind: are Tesla S sales driven by performance oriented buyers?

Tesla needs sales. They believe, that acceleration sells better than reliability. To me the claim, that Elon doesn't care about stock price, is not true. He seems to be ready to pull every stunt for quarterly sales. Even if they don't hold in the long run.

 

[luvnMyTS]

No offense intended. But why is there so much focus on acceleration? The S isn't intended for the track or drag strip; it's transportation.

Personally, my priority is for Tesla to make sure that the drive units are more reliable in lieu of a few tenths of a second. When I'm able to afford an S, I'll probably forego the "P" in favor of getting all the options (except for the rear facing seats).

Different strokes for different folks, eh?

Understood! Customers are certainly entitled to get what they pay for!

I wasn't clear...I wasn't asking why customers were focused on acceleration; I was asking why Tesla is! It seems to me that they would do better to attend to quality and reliability instead of extreme performance. Once those qualities are locked in, then go for performance.

This discussion brings a question to mind: are Tesla S sales driven by performance oriented buyers?

Kind of an ignorant statement. Why is anyone concerned about acceleration. If someone just wants "transportation", they can go buy a $15,000 car. Why do people buy Ferrari's, Lambo's, Porsche's, etc?? Because they want to. If someone wanted a Tesla just for "transportation", then they can buy the 70D. But if you're spending $140,000 for a P90D instead of $75,000 for a 70D, then for that $65,000, you damn good and well want to get what you paid for!!! In this case, based on Tesla's statements, buy a P90DL and you get a 2.8 0-60 and 10.9 1/4 mile car. People buy the P90DL over the 70D BECAUSE THEY WANT THE ACCELERATION! Quite simple. And, Tesla is only focused on acceleration on the "Performance" models because that's what people want. Otherwise, no point in producing a "performance" model of the same car. Same with Mercedes AMG division or BMW's M division, etc..

 

[jpet]

Did anyone notice that the 1/8th and 1/4 mile trap speeds were both 5mph fit the P85/P85D race? Did that mean after 1/8 the D ceases to pull away and their above 80mph acceleration is the same?

That's exactly what I experienced on the race track when doing laps for a day. Once we started running at speed (and I mean above 75 mph), my P85D was not faster than a P85. Once we started running at speeds above 100 mph I was constantly power limited (yellow dotted line).

- - - Updated - - -

Tesla needs sales. They believe, that acceleration sells better than reliability. To me the claim, that Elon doesn't care about stock price, is not true. He seems to be ready to pull every stunt for quarterly sales. Even if they don't hold in the long run.

I think this has to do with the price tag of the Model S. They have to compete in a price segment where performance is an important factor. If you really want to take market in that segment, you should strive to have the best performance. Tesla beats (almost) everything off the line but still has some work to do at higher speed. The current lineup is not yet able to compete with the German brands on the autobahn.

 

[Caligula]

Citation please. AFAIK, Motortrend practically never tests an owner car when they can get a press car.

My apologies. I remembered incorrectly, and the poster was referring to the DragTimes test, not the MT one.

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