"Holy cow!!" A P90D Ludicrous test drive report from a P85D owner

[Andyw2100]

Just a bit of a warning for all the P85D owners who are now sure the upgrade to ludicrous mode will be worth it: the OP's comparison review definitely sounds very promising. But let's not lose sight of the fact that he was driving a P90D with ludicrous mode. While Musk has said there will not be much of a difference between the car the OP drove, and a P85D upgraded to ludicrous, I'll be happier when we see reviews like this coming from people driving actual upgraded P85Ds.

Yes, there is definitely cause for optimism, but just keep the above in mind.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

"Holy cow!!" A P90D Ludicrous test drive report from a P85D owner

Andy, you didn't read between the lines; my agenda all along was to coax a few of the P85D owners to make up their minds about the upgrade and get it as soon as Tesla opens the doors. I can then wait till these guinea pigs report their experiences before I finally spring for it!

Seriously, yeah the 90 vs the 85 is probably a factor albeit a minor one.

 

[ArtInCT]

GG and Pete90D:
Shame on the both of you.... Shame Shame Shame..... See what you've done?
Three heaping scoops of performance, topped with the reveal of no need to push the go pedal to the limit....
Oh Oh Oh (Car 54) now you have done it....

I have to reconsider the P90DL again vs the P90D ... See what you've done?

Gasping?.... Oh Oh OHHHHH.

I gotta get a test drive on both before ordering.... that is for sure.

Shame....

Thanks for the update GG and Pete90D! U D Bes

 

[Andyw2100]

Seriously, yeah the 90 vs the 85 is probably a factor albeit a minor one.

My concern isn't just the difference in battery power, which I do understand is the only "official" difference. I am also concerned that a battery system made originally with the inconel contactors and 1500 amp fuse could conceivably behave differently from a battery system upgraded to the inconel contactors and the 1500 amp fuse. I'll be delighted if there really is no difference, or a minimal difference. I'm just suggesting that driving a 90D, built with ludicrous from the start may not be the best way to evaluate what a P85D that gets upgraded to ludicrous will drive like. Of course I also understand that right now there is no way to yet do the latter, and I certainly appreciate your write up, and Pete's cooperation in letting you drive his car. I'm optimistic too.

 

[MarcG]

Thanks for the report GG and thanks Pete for the tryout! Bummed I missed out on the fun but I really needed to be in nature for the weekend to "breathe some fresh air", literally

I'm really glad you guys had a good time (especially GG), and I'm looking forward to it as well, but I'd like to bring up a point that may not be all rosy: there is a non-insignificant difference between the 19" wheels & tires GG has on his P85D and the 21" wheels and tires Pete has on his P90D(L). There is also the age difference between the tires, as GG has had his for about 9 months and Pete about a month I believe.

I've personally experienced the difference between my P85D with 19" all-seasons and a P85D loaner with 21" summer tires. This was back in the early days when my tires were still pretty new. And as time has gone by (I have over 18,000 miles on the odo!) I've definitely felt the difference in grip (e.g. the TC light coming on when it never used to).

Not to discount the fun factor of the added 200A coming from the battery at all, but I think a better test would be comparing a recently-delivered P85D (or one with recently-replaced tires) that has 21" summer tires to Pete's, or GG's/my P85D to a P90D(L) with 19" wheels & tires as well.

Thoughts?

 

[Pete90D]

Thanks for the report GG and thanks Pete for the tryout! Bummed I missed out on the fun but I really needed to be in nature for the weekend to "breathe some fresh air", literally

I'm really glad you guys had a good time (especially GG), and I'm looking forward to it as well, but I'd like to bring up a point that may not be all rosy: there is a non-insignificant difference between the 19" wheels & tires GG has on his P85D and the 21" wheels and tires Pete has on his P90D(L). There is also the age difference between the tires, as GG has had his for about 9 months and Pete about a month I believe.

I've personally experienced the difference between my P85D with 19" all-seasons and a P85D loaner with 21" summer tires. This was back in the early days when my tires were still pretty new. And as time has gone by (I have over 18,000 miles on the odo!) I've definitely felt the difference in grip (e.g. the TC light coming on when it never used to).

Not to discount the fun factor of the added 200A coming from the battery at all, but I think a better test would be comparing a recently-delivered P85D (or one with recently-replaced tires) that has 21" summer tires to Pete's, or GG's/my P85D to a P90D(L) with 19" wheels & tires as well.

Thoughts?

In some situations yes this will make a difference. GG did lose traction in his car on the 0-60 and I could feel it and hear it, but that's where you feel the difference less anyway.

However, at 30+ this isn't likely to happen in our cars, some yes, but not ours unless tires/weather are bad. At 60+ tires and weather would have to be pretty bad for it to happen.

Going from 40ish down to 30ish and then flooring it, you can tell a big difference in the two cars.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Yes, what Pete said. I was telling Marc this on PM:

I could genuinely tell the difference through the go pedal: my car seemed like it was "out of gas" when I pushed the pedal at those speeds but, Pete's kept going and going.

My car's sensation was more akin to the speed-limited loaners (not sure if you've experienced that) where the speed's limited to 80 mph and when you press the go pedal at that speed, it's an "empty feeling" with a lack of power. Not sure I'm able to describe this right...

 

[tstafford]

If we get to a point after the still theoretical upgrade that we are debating about tire wear, tire size, 85 vs. 90 and such I will be thrilled. All I want is a legit 3.0 range 0-60 and a solid pull in the car in the 30-50, 50-70, 70-90 ranges. I'm willing to pay for that. (Kind'a though I already did, but so be it).

 

[kirkbauer]

I'm a newish P85D owner (almost 3 months) and just drove the P90DL. It is definitely a new level of awesome. I felt the difference was greatest in the 30mph to 60mph range, although it was a dealer car so I couldn't get above 70.

 

[jpet]

Question for Pete... When I drive my P85D hard & fast, power gets fairly quickly restricted to 240 kW. Have you experienced this yet with your P90DL?
Even if it pulls a lot better than a P85D at higher speeds, the party needs to continue for a while to be really of any use when driving e.g. on the autobahn or on a track.
I'm quite curious if the fuse also helps in this department. If systems get overheated as quickly as in a P85D, this is a key element to consider when deciding to upgrade to Ludicrous.

 

[Pete90D]

Question for Pete... When I drive my P85D hard & fast, power gets fairly quickly restricted to 240 kW. Have you experienced this yet with your P90DL?
Even if it pulls a lot better than a P85D at higher speeds, the party needs to continue for a while to be really of any use when driving e.g. on the autobahn or on a track.
I'm quite curious if the fuse also helps in this department. If systems get overheated as quickly as in a P85D, this is a key element to consider when deciding to upgrade to Ludicrous.

I haven't spent a lot of time doing long drives with hard and fast driving yet. Although there are some drives that could be in that bucket I was doing a mix of cornering and mountains and not max acceleration runs. Sometime next week I'll go for a long drive with it using a lot of power and I'll record the data to show how it reacts afterwards to flooring it.

 

[Pete90D]

Do you think you can test the cornering at 1 G statement as well?

"most people have no idea what that feels like."

1.11G

That took some effort. I was able to get 0.94 and 0.97 without making tires howl. 1.11 started to get to the point where traction was getting close to giving, but I could have probably pushed it a little further.

I've driven a lot of twisty roads, but I never measured the G forces. This was interesting. Turns that have made people uncomfortable were only around 0.6G.

For some context, driving at 35mph, and turning immediately 90 degrees right onto another road was only 0.74G

- - - Updated - - -

Question for Pete... When I drive my P85D hard & fast, power gets fairly quickly restricted to 240 kW. Have you experienced this yet with your P90DL?
Even if it pulls a lot better than a P85D at higher speeds, the party needs to continue for a while to be really of any use when driving e.g. on the autobahn or on a track.
I'm quite curious if the fuse also helps in this department. If systems get overheated as quickly as in a P85D, this is a key element to consider when deciding to upgrade to Ludicrous.

At 51% SOC, after driving 60.5mi @ 470wh/mi average... 0-60 was 3.0s, 0-90 was 6.6s

 

[jpet]

At 51% SOC, after driving 60.5mi @ 470wh/mi average... 0-60 was 3.0s, 0-90 was 6.6s

Did you get power restricted at some point doing your G tests?

The metrics are different since I'm in Europe so I'll translate them but here is a screenshot from what I got during the last 10 laps I drove on a race track 2 weeks ago. As of the second lap power was continuously restricted to 240 kW. Average consumption was 1057.13 Wh/mi (652 Wh/km) over 31 miles (50 km). The track had a lot of turns so speed varied between 35 and 100 mph.

 

[Pete90D]

Did you get power restricted at some point doing your G tests?

The metrics are different since I'm in Europe so I'll translate them but here is a screenshot from what I got during the last 10 laps I drove on a race track 2 weeks ago. As of the second lap power was continuously restricted to 240 kW. Average consumption was 1057.13 Wh/mi (652 Wh/km) over 31 miles (50 km). The track had a lot of turns so speed varied between 35 and 100 mph.

I've only ever been power restricted when I got to a low SOC (somewhere<20%)

Yeah the track is going to be a bit different. Not sure I could really replicate that on US roads without tickets.

 

[jpet]

I've only ever been power restricted when I got to a low SOC (somewhere<20%)

Mine quickly gets restricted when driving at speeds of around 90 to 100 mph and then pushing the pedal to the metal. You have to be lucky to be able to reach max speed without getting restricted. And to be honest, I have not yet been able to reach 155 mph because of the power restriction. Acceleration slows down significantly if restricted to 240 kW.

Yeah the track is going to be a bit different. Not sure I could really replicate that on US roads without tickets.

You are definitely in the ticket zone when you test at those speeds. We can do it legally on the autobahn in Germany. I'm pretty sure that if the P90DL does not get restricted that fast, it will have more success in Germany.

 

[AWDtsla]

You are definitely in the ticket zone when you test at those speeds. We can do it legally on the autobahn in Germany. I'm pretty sure that if the P90DL does not get restricted that fast, it will have more success in Germany.

That's not ticket zone, that's spend the night in jail zone around here.

- - - Updated - - -

1.11G

That took some effort. I was able to get 0.94 and 0.97 without making tires howl. 1.11 started to get to the point where traction was getting close to giving, but I could have probably pushed it a little further.

I usually get called a maniac around 0.5G. Normal people think they're about to die getting close to 1G. 1.11G is fantastic for what is really a GT car. Tesla really needs to play up the handling more.

 

[Super_Popular]

I drove a P90DL today and it was amazing. It's smoother under acceleration than a P85D and the power keeps going past 30 mph unlike the PD. Not sure it's worth the $139K price tag but in two years when they are down to $90K it will be so worth it.

 

[Rafik]

Thoughts on this video?

Something seems amiss in this video. I can't imagine the difference between the two being THAT significant. The cars should have been running about neck and neck for at least the first couple seconds all thing being equal i.e. SOC, both drivers hit pedal with equal force. P90 did get off the line a split second before the P85D, though it was almost negligible. P85D also had after market wheels which could have hurt rather than help.

The motor tones were different i.e. P90D sounded like it was going full throttle while the P85D didn't, though the camera's were mounted in different positions.

 

[Pete90D]

Thoughts on this video?

Something seems amiss in this video. I can't imagine the difference between the two being THAT significant. The cars should have been running about neck and neck for at least the first couple seconds all thing being equal i.e. SOC, both drivers hit pedal with equal force. P90 did get off the line a split second before the P85D, though it was almost negligible. P85D also had after market wheels which could have hurt rather than help.

The motor tones were different i.e. P90D sounded like it was going full throttle while the P85D didn't, though the camera's were mounted in different positions.

The P90D did get a little jump on the P85D, but it hits 30 so quickly that they wouldn't be head to head for that long. Best run I had was 1.25s to 30mph, which was achieved in 30ft... roughly the width of a two lane road. Like I've hit 30 before I get to the crosswalk line on the other side of an intersection. So I'm not hugely surprised by the gap so early on... the Model S is ~16ft long so in 2 car lengths you'd be at 30 and then it just pulls.

I didn't record 0-100, but I did get 0-90 in 6.6s on a run that was about .1s slower than my best. In this thread, 0-60/30-50/50-70 comparitive times for 70D/85D/P85D, the P85D took 5.8 to go from 50-100, so there's clearly a good improvement in the acceleration to high speeds and I think that helped here.

 

[darthy001]

Thoughts on this video?

Something seems amiss in this video. I can't imagine the difference between the two being THAT significant. The cars should have been running about neck and neck for at least the first couple seconds all thing being equal i.e. SOC, both drivers hit pedal with equal force. P90 did get off the line a split second before the P85D, though it was almost negligible. P85D also had after market wheels which could have hurt rather than help.

The motor tones were different i.e. P90D sounded like it was going full throttle while the P85D didn't, though the camera's were mounted in different positions.

Looked very similar to the P85 vs the P85D to me. Not the major difference referenced in this thread.

That video makes me not really want the upgrade to be honest. At least at the current pricetag..