Knightshade
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying your logic isn't sound, just that there could be "some" better things in he 990 that the older design 980 doesn't have (say reliability), even if the raw power output is less than the 980.
It's certainly possible the 990 is "better" in some ways and worse in others.
But if it were as good or better for handling peak power they'd be putting them in new Ps and they're not doing so despite it being almost a full year since the 990 started showing up in non-P cars.
Then, lest us not forget, the LR AWD has a front DU. It's possible that an upgrade down the road could have the front DU "make up for" the suspected less powerful 990 DU.
I don't know that we have data yet about how much of the current $2000 upgrade was adding power to front vs. rear so it's hard to say how much overhead is left at which end (though we know the front DU is the same part in LR AWD and P)
Edit: This post today on the Tesla forum - In short, a 980 failed DU was replaced with a 990 (in a LR AWD). Could be many reasons for this (failure and swap) including cost or reliability.
" I don't think that best-of-the-lot thing was ever true. I just had my rear drive unit fail, which was the one that was supposed to be lot-sorted with extra burn in time. They replaced it with a standard read drive unit that was not specific to performance cars. I asked them about it and they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I emailed them about it and haven't received a reply. Pretty sure that wasn't completely true, although I could be wrong."
Any chance you have a link to that post? I don't see PNs listed so it sounds more like he's complaining he didn't get a 980 replacement that the parts guy "knew" was specially tested, rather than getting a 990?