Have a week to decide - 75 or 75D?!

[uniqueusername]

Hi all

Super excited to have just ordered a Model S 75 this afternoon (midnight silver/premium//autopilot/white/dark ash/sunroof/19" grey wheels), but I can't make up my mind if I want to pony up the extra cash for the D variant.

Seems there's a negligible difference in straight line speed/performance and as I live just outside of London (Weybridge, Surrey) I'm unlikely to ever really NEED 4WD.

So I guess I'd just end up with marginally better handling for my £5k extra (or whatever it is). Or is it a big difference in handling?

Obviously if budget wasn't an issue I wouldn't be buying a 75/75D... but I can spend an extra £5k if it's worth it, but my gut feeling is that it isn't - especially as I'm not really a driving enthusiast per se (I just love technology!).

Keen to hear your thoughts as I'm new to the world of Tesla!

Thanks,

James

 

[boaterva]

Is this an inventory car? Because I thought they were gone from custom orders for a while. Congrats on ordering and welcome! As for the 'need' for AWD, as you say, you probably don't need one for the 'weather' where you are. There is a slightly better handling factor and performance from AWD. And a little better range from the shift in using the other motor for highway. But it's not a major deal, as there are many 'non-D's around that people love. I'll let others compare and contrast more.

 

[uniqueusername]

Nope, it's a custom order. It's actually a 75D that's currently on my order and my understanding is that I have a week to change it. But the sales guy didn't say anything about not being able to do order a 75. What makes you think they're gone from custom orders? I'm not 100% but I think it was on the configurator earlier.

 

[scottm]

Get slightly more range on the D variant too, if that's important to you. The 75D is very close to my 85 RWD for range.


The RWD cars handle fine even in adverse snow / ice conditions... and I've never had a better handling car on dry roads too.

You might want to consider that "less is more" ... in the longer term, there are fewer parts on non-D cars so less to possibly go wrong. Matters more when you're off warranty although drive train is protected 8 years unlimited miles on either variant. There are more "wear" components on AWD with the axles and CV joints etc.. which may not be covered.

 

[boaterva]

Nope, it's a custom order. It's actually a 75D that's currently on my order and my understanding is that I have a week to change it. But the sales guy didn't say anything about not being able to do order a 75. What makes you think they're gone from custom orders? I'm not 100% but I think it was on the configurator earlier.

It's not on the configurator in the USA..... is it still there in the UK?

I believe it was a month or more ago people got emails to 'hurry if you wanted one' here?

Edit, yep you can do it still there! Just changed the website to UK, and it's still there!

 

[MrRandyB]

I see it for the US

 

[uniqueusername]

Strange - here's what I'm seeing on the UK website... 6 mile difference in range isn't worth £4,700! The range is up about 40 miles on what you found on the US website too. Confused... But also happy - as it looks like I have good options!

 

[MrRandyB]

 

[uniqueusername]

All of the ranges are larger on the UK website? Didn't know UK miles were shorter than US miles! ;-p

 

[boaterva]

All of the ranges are larger on the UK website? Didn't know UK miles were shorter than US miles! ;-p

No but the testing is different.... ( I was going to make a kilometer joke, but it got lost somewhere.... )

 

[Carl]

Not sure what the price difference is in the UK between S75 and S100D but on the European continent it's 32,000 EUR. Whatever your budget, that price difference only makes sense if you are road tripping a lot (and even a hell of a lot!), otherwise you'll be making a lot of money by choosing a 75 and charging half an hour more on road trips

RWD vs. AWD: RWD has a more fun feeling (imho), makes less noise, and the difference is range is negligible. For sure a bit less good in going uphill on snow, but my previous 85 RWD (on winter tires) was impressively good at that also (and winter tires are far more important than AWD). I'm actually looking forward to the 'new' 85 RWD Model S (or an S75 which is a software-locked S85, which maybe you'll be lucky enough to get*), and I might trade in my S85D for just that.

* given that such a 75 would charge as fast as an 85 on road trips (where you never charge over 80% or so), there is (imho) no significant advantage of having an 85 over a software limited 75 (except for the first leg of the trip, for which you charged at home @100%, but that would only reduce your travel time by a few minutes...)

 

[uniqueusername]

Hmm, all sound advice, thanks.

Leaning towards the non-D version I think.

Gotta dash - being nagged to go to bed and I need to keep my wife in a good mood for when she finds out how much cash a I just dropped on a car! Ha!

Thanks again

 

[RDoc]

Obviously it depends on you taste in cars. Having a D and having driven the RWD version, the D has significantly better handling. Much better balanced is how I'd describe it.

IMHO it's not a small difference, but how a car feels is important to me, so that's my personal opinion only.

 

[voltronhb]

I chose the 75d when I purchased the model S. After driving about 12k miles in socal, the main benefit is more even tire wear, redundancy in drive units (I had a degraded rear unit but could still drive), and quicker acceleration. The negatives for me were the cost and front wheel noise. I didn't think the additional traction helped for my environment. Overall, I value these benefits as negligible to me.

If I purchased again, the 75 would have been a great option and I would use the money for xPel and new wheels.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I have a 75D and got a loaner 75 during service last week, so can make a comparison.

75 is slightly quieter. Front feels a bit floaty so handling didn't feel quite as tight. Slightly weaker acceleration.

All differences were very minor, and if you'd only ever driven one or the other you'd be quite happy with either.

 

[uniqueusername]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the comments. I'm gonna go with the 75 I think, based on this:

1 - A quieter ride has some appeal to me (which is main reason I didn't go for 21" wheels)
1 - It's still WAY faster than the Mercedes I'm driving now!
2 - I've never had a 4WD car anyway
3 - I'll very, very rarely be driving in snow/hills/whatever
5 - the range improvement is so negligible it's not worth factoring in.
6 - Our family can go on a pretty nice holiday for £4,700!

Roll on November (delivery day)!

 

[scottm]

Smart!

 

[boaterva]

Sounds like a good decision for you and yours, enjoy the car and report back!

 

[Darmie]

I went for the 75 myself. I wanted to afford such a great car but cut cost to keep my payments reasonable. Besides, I'm looking forward to a fun rear wheel drive car similar to the old 2001 SS camaro from years ago. I may need to invest in a second floor jack to make for easy tire rotation though.

 

[SM18]

It's a big difference in handling. The AWD Teslas almost never experience tire slip. Pretty sure there is also better passing power at higher speeds with the two motor version. More efficient/better range too.