I live in S. Florida, about zero percent chance to drive in snow, rwd right?

[Olle]

im wanting leather, auto pilot and probably updated battery or possibly performance but by Elon's tweets it seems awd will have priority. I drive around 15 miles a day at most, speed of charge won't be a concern to me. It may not be an option like on the S 90d and p90d as the current upgraded options from the 70 , but any other reason to want awd that I have not thought about?

I grew up in Sweden, most people there didn't have AWD despite lots of snow. Braking and turning are the main problems in snow, none of which AWD will help with. Winter tires is the solution. AWD and summer tires is snow is the most dangerous combination.
AWD in a Tesla IMHO is best for accelerating out of sharp corners on dry roads. Did it when I tried the P85D, never had that much fun in any RWD car.

Sounds counter intuitive but I imagine you will hear the same from anyone who has lived in snowy countries for any length of time.

 

[cjtylr]

Central Florida here; will probably opt for the AWD version. Hate spinning tires on wet roads in my current car.

 

[Caligula]

Dual motor pros:
-Faster acceleration in all but 100% optimal traction conditions.
-Better range.
-Drive unit failure redundancy (one dies and you can still drive on the second).

Dual motor con:
-Initial cost.

Cliffs Notes: AWD > RWD

 

[Snowdog]

This guy drives to remote steep winter locations in his 2WD Model S:

No need for AWD whatsoever, but I guess if you want to stoplight race people in the rain, it could be handy.

But very far from necessary.

 

[ibdb]

I think I may be slightly confused about the differences between RWD and AWD for Teslas. Doesn't going to AWD on a Model S add a significant amount of performance (torque, HP, etc.) by going to dual-motors? I could have sworn I've seen people posting the specs of the single RWD motor vs. the dual-motor AWD. I live in Florida too, and I was thinking about AWD strictly for the performance (plus potentially getting my car sooner). But that was thinking there was a significant difference between the two...

You can flip between the 70 and 70D here: Model S | Tesla Motors

 

[kort677]

the "feel" and handling plus some added efficiencies of the AWD make the AWD IMHO a better choice over the RWD. I don't know if the RWD is discontinued but I would guess that the RWD cars will be eliminated at some point.
because the heavy rains in FLA and for added resale value I would opt for the AWD.

 

[Socom]

It might not be a bad idea either way. I'm sure you will do just fine with a set of good all season tires and RWD, but AWD has its advantages as well.

 

[cfsaxNY]

I have a P85D and find the duel motors to vastly improve my driving during heavy rain, that we have here in Sarasota. Also, I believe the duel motors have more range and performance. I'm glad I chose the "D'

How could dual motors achieve more range? I would assume they draw double the current effectively depleting the battery in half the time.

 

[Jason Bourne]

I think I may be slightly confused about the differences between RWD and AWD for Teslas. Doesn't going to AWD on a Model S add a significant amount of performance (torque, HP, etc.) by going to dual-motors? I could have sworn I've seen people posting the specs of the single RWD motor vs. the dual-motor AWD. I live in Florida too, and I was thinking about AWD strictly for the performance (plus potentially getting my car sooner). But that was thinking there was a significant difference between the two...

My sense is that the additional performance in an AWD Tesla is because there are two motors performing the work instead of one; vs 4 wheels pushing instead of 2. It can be said that a Tesla with dual-motors has more horsepower than one with a single motor. But it is not a fair comparison to ICEs with AWD because they all still have the same single engine. Just a barely educated guess, though.

 

[cfsaxNY]

Central Florida here; will probably opt for the AWD version. Hate spinning tires on wet roads in my current car.

I thought it was traction control that prevents wheel spin. Does the RWD have traction control?

 

[Socom]

How could dual motors achieve more range? I would assume they draw double the current effectively depleting the battery in half the time.

This is achievable by distributing the work across two motors which would require less amperage than putting all of the weight on one motor to get the car moving.

 

[Jason Bourne]

I live in Canada, have RWD and the car for 2 years, 3 winters...AWD is not necessary unless you get a lot of snow!

Are you saying that you drive a RWD Tesla in Canada safely and confidently? Do you use Winter tires? What kind of road conditions are typical for your area? Powdery dry snow? Wet snow? How much accumulation of such? Do you get significant slush or ice?

 

[Jason Bourne]

I grew up in Sweden, most people there didn't have AWD despite lots of snow. Braking and turning are the main problems in snow, none of which AWD will help with. Winter tires is the solution. AWD and summer tires is snow is the most dangerous combination.

Do the people in Sweden who don't have AWD, have FWD or RWD?

 

[Snowdog]

How could dual motors achieve more range? I would assume they draw double the current effectively depleting the battery in half the time.

IIRC the two motors have their peak efficiency curves out of sync.

Tesla then shunts more power to which ever motor is in the better part of it's efficiency curve.

So the system as a whole spends more time at a higher efficiency, than a single motor can.

 

[Snowdog]

Do the people in Sweden who don't have AWD, have FWD or RWD?

There is a whole thread about FWD vs RWD in snow here:
Bolt has FWD and Model 3 does not.

FWIW, I drive a Miata year round in Eastern Canadian winters (Snow, slush, ice storms...).

It's more sure footed than any FWD car I have owned. RWD gets a bad rap mostly from nitwits who try driving on summer tires in the winter (as most RWD cars have summer tires stock).

Put winter tires on a RWD car, and the same attributes than make RWD superior for performance driving on pavement, make them superior for driving in the snow (vs FWD).

Great AWD system like Teslas, would naturally be better though.

 

[geoffreak]

I'm from Dallas, TX and I will be opting for AWD. Like other posters, I love how it handles in all conditions. There just isn't anything that can cause traction loss. I currently drive a Subaru and really don't want a non-AWD car anymore. I don't really care about a larger frunk that may come with RWD as I rarely carry much of anything in my car other than people.

 

[RAM_Eh]

Are you saying that you drive a RWD Tesla in Canada safely and confidently? Do you use Winter tires? What kind of road conditions are typical for your area? Powdery dry snow? Wet snow? How much accumulation of such? Do you get significant slush or ice?

Absolutely. In 2013 when I first got the car, snow tires were back order and didn't receive them till Feb. We went though 3-4 snow falls of 3-6 inches of snow. To be honest in Toronto we mostly get ice and due to the weight and low center of gravity, NEVER found my self in any compromised situation. The second winter, using the snow tires, I did manage to get somewhat stuck in a snow drift due to the car in front of me stopping. Once traffic cleared just kept the accelerator down and the car pulled out no problem. This is the third winter and the only thing I am noticing now is the car is a little looser now on snow than before ( at least I am noticing it) is probably due to the snow tire tread depth.

No power snow we get lots of slush and ice and the street I live on very rarely gets plowed...they just dump salt, and then after a few days turns to ice.

 

[igotzzoom]

The only two factors for me are frunk size and option cost. Living in coastal SoCal, I have absolutely zero "need" for AWD, but if it's the difference between 0-60 in 5.5 and 4.2, if I can swing the payments, for sure I'm going to go with AWD. What can I say, I'm a sucker for acceleration!

 

[juanmedina]

If you don't care about acceleration get the RWD. It should have more traction than your regular front ICE rear wheel drive car since you have more mass over the rear wheels.

 

[LilWanFu]

I was just back down there for a wedding. I swear everytime I go back home to Miami I lose a little more of my mind. The latest thing I saw driving back up to Orlando was the express lanes being "closed". Yet, while we were stuck in the slower traffic, people were jumping through the plastic rod barriers into the "closed" express lanes and speeding through unimpeded with absolutely no consequence. Not a cop or anything in site. Gotta love Miami!

I'm in the Lake Buena Vista area for Disney a few times a year and I just generally prefer the traffic there. The I-4 corridor can get busy of course but that's expected for work traffic. Yes, I've seen some very interesting stuff down here. AWD and Performance to the rescue and I drive a fairly sizeable SUV (Chrysler Aspen). That doesn't deter anyone.