Is There a Difference Between Early 2015 and Late 2015 85D?

[Ostrichsak]

We currently have a 2015 70D and at the time of shopping for it I thought that ALL 2015's were devoid of the previously defunct "Tech Package". I'm now seeing 2015's (which I assume are earlier model year versions) which indeed have Tech Package. Is there a significant difference from a 2015 85D with tech package and say our 2015 70D that was made after the "Tech Package" was deleted (aside from the obvious range differences)?

For instance, will the 85D have 4G/LTE or would this only be available for the 2015 85D's new enough to no longer have the Tech Package so it came standard? Also, I assume that being as it's early 2015 it wouldn't need the "Premium Package" to have things like ambient LED interior lighting and such?

I'm a bit confused by this mid-year transition since it looks like bits & pieces were done over several months right in the middle of that model year.

 

[mbhforum]

FWIW, I have a 2015 85D made in April and it has the LTE modem and the tech package. You will drive yourself crazy trying to compare packages and features from year to year, yet alone month to month. You better off determining what features are important to you and figuring out if the car you are interested in has them.

 

[Ostrichsak]

FWIW, I have a 2015 85D made in April and it has the LTE modem and the tech package. You will drive yourself crazy trying to compare packages and features from year to year, yet alone month to month. You better off determining what features are important to you and figuring out if the car you are interested in has them.

That doesn't make a lot of sense because according to this link they started installing LTE instead of 3G in early June of 2015. If yours was manufactured in April of 2015 that would be months prior to when this page says they started.

Our 2015 70D didn't have the tech package but was new enough to have all of the features we wanted. I thought it was all 2015's at first but now I'm seeing 2015's with the "tech package" which caught my eye so I started looking into it. I'm just curious what are the important things we should look for in a 2015 model since that was the year there were lots of changes throughout the model year. Like if I see a 2015 with "tech package" what do I want to look for in terms of features/options that would be on one of the newer 2015 cars after they discontinued the "tech package" and made most of it standard.

 

[mbhforum]

It’s certainly possible that my car was upgraded from 3G to LTE later on as I did purchase it CPO. I have no way of knowing unfortunately.

 

[Ostrichsak]

It’s certainly possible that my car was upgraded from 3G to LTE later on as I did purchase it CPO. I have no way of knowing unfortunately.

Ah, that's an important data point then. I thought you meant you bought it new. I know that you could add LTE to 3G models for $300-$500ish (it varied in cost from when it was first offered) so most likely the previous owner of your car had it added later.

I know that over the years I've enjoyed learning what options were added/removed in vehicles but this was much easier since in most cases large changes were made between model years. The Tesla approach of being able to make corrections on the fly has pros and cons because it's all over the place and largely based on what the build date was. That link I posted above coupled with the actual manufacturer date/VIN can be helpful but if you don't have the date/VIN it's a guessing game it seems.

 

[vickh]

even the CPO sales people were confused when I asked about a 2015 MS tech package..

 

[Ostrichsak]

even the CPO sales people were confused when I asked about a 2015 MS tech package..

CPO salespeople are confused by more than they understand.

 

[pedriscoll]

I recently traded in a May 2015 build 85D. It had the Tech package and LTE.

 

[cellphonechris]

Check out this link for a changelog for Model S by year/month:

Model S - Options by Year - Tesla Motors Club Wiki

 

[Ostrichsak]

I recently traded in a May 2015 build 85D. It had the Tech package and LTE.

Being as you were "used" to the 2015 w/Tech Package and (based on your sig) it looks like you traded in on a newer 100D, are there any little differences that you notice you now have that may be present on the "newer" 2015 and forward models? Higher resolution display or other functions/features I'm not used to? I know when we got our 2015 (ours was later 2015 so no Tech Package option) there was a lot of little things we noticed we liked over our 2013. I can't remember all but folding side mirrors, hill hold, different display for AP1 and a few other things were part of the updates and we really like those over the 2013. I don't recall what they all were because that was months ago now and the wife drives the newer one ("Luckeee!" -Napoleon Dynamite) so I can't recall exactly what all those were but I also want to make sure there isn't one that is something I really wanted had I just found a later 2015 or newer car. Hopefully that makes sense. If it does, you'd be a great candidate to tell me first-hand what you noticed. (If you got a brand new one the obvious differences that wouldn't be on an early 2015 model would be front end refresh, LED headlights, center console upgrade, yadda yadda)

Check out this link for a changelog for Model S by year/month:

Model S - Options by Year - Tesla Motors Club Wiki

I'm aware of that link (I posted it in my 2nd post, post #3 of this thread for reference) and I used it a lot a few months ago to determine what year our second Model S would be. I wish I had known more about it when we bought our first one and I likely wouldn't have bought a 2013. I guess I'm more asking in the reverse order if I found a couple of early 2015 cars that still have the Tech Package so I want to get a small list of items that, at that same time, might be optional so I I can make sure they have that before making the mistake of buying. I don't want to buy and then find out something like auto liftgate was optional around that time of manufacturer and they didn't get it but now it's too late. So a short list of things to double check for like:

LTE
Hill Hold
AP1

...or something similar for early "Tech Package" equipped 2015 models is what I'm trying to compile. This way if I do happen across one of these early-year versions I can quickly find out if it has certain features I want that would be standard a few months later or on 2016 cars.

 

[cellphonechris]

If I recall correctly, one of the biggest differences you'll find between early vs. late 2015's is Next Gen Seats.

 

[Ostrichsak]

If I recall correctly, one of the biggest differences you'll find between early vs. late 2015's is Next Gen Seats.

These were still an option through most of 2015 (our 2015 70D has them but it was listed) and the ones I've seen will list if they are Nextgen seats or not. I think that starting at the end of 2015 it was the only option of you got leather.

 

[demotrek]

you might want to read that Wiki page again. The tech package was discontinued April 2015 and those items were made standard. Any Model S after April 2015 is a solid car imo

 

[Ostrichsak]

you might want to read that Wiki page again. The tech package was discontinued April 2015 and those items were made standard. Any Model S after April 2015 is a solid car imo

If it's a pre-April 2015 car WITH the Tech Package why wouldn't it be a "solid car" as well? That's kind of my question here. Is there anything that car would be missing that a car manufactured a few months later would have? I think I've thought through the basic question out loud here but I'm just curious if there's anything I'm not thinking of when comparing the two.

 

[ccharleb]

Canadian 2015 S85D bought new.

Order March-17, confirm March-18.
Build started May-16 and completed May-21.
Delivered June-17

Ordered with:
Tech Package (including AP1)
Next Gen seats (front and rear)
Winter Package

Came with 3G connectivity. I think I missed LTE by a few days only....
Winter package included the Heated steering wheel (got lucky on this one)!

Christian

 

[Ostrichsak]

Canadian 2015 S85D bought new.

Order March-17, confirm March-18.
Build started May-16 and completed May-21.
Delivered June-17

Ordered with:
Tech Package (including AP1)
Next Gen seats (front and rear)
Winter Package

Came with 3G connectivity. I think I missed LTE by a few days only....
Winter package included the Heated steering wheel (got lucky on this one)!

Christian

So there was a time that the subzero package did NOT include a heated steering wheel? That's some of the info I'm looking for as I wasn't aware of that. This is exactly the type of stuff I was looking for as I missed this change previous to 2015.

In that link it states that they added it to some 85D late 2014 so it would stand to reason that maybe they were putting them in all 2015's that had the cold weather package?

 

[ccharleb]

If I remember correctly, Tesla started to add the Heated steering wheel in Northern States 1st. So you could have a cold-weather package with heated wheel and some without, all at the same time!

 

[pedriscoll]

Being as you were "used" to the 2015 w/Tech Package and (based on your sig) it looks like you traded in on a newer 100D, are there any little differences that you notice you now have that may be present on the "newer" 2015 and forward models? Higher resolution display or other functions/features I'm not used to? I know when we got our 2015 (ours was later 2015 so no Tech Package option) there was a lot of little things we noticed we liked over our 2013. I can't remember all but folding side mirrors, hill hold, different display for AP1 and a few other things were part of the updates and we really like those over the 2013. I don't recall what they all were because that was months ago now and the wife drives the newer one ("Luckeee!" -Napoleon Dynamite) so I can't recall exactly what all those were but I also want to make sure there isn't one that is something I really wanted had I just found a later 2015 or newer car. Hopefully that makes sense. If it does, you'd be a great candidate to tell me first-hand what you noticed. (If you got a brand new one the obvious differences that wouldn't be on an early 2015 model would be front end refresh, LED headlights, center console upgrade, yadda yadda)


The main differences that I noted between the 2015 and 2018 were the facelift, better overall fit and finish, higher resolution rear camera. When I bought the new car, AP2.5 was not as smooth or capable as AP1. Now with the recent software upgrades, AP2.5 is now better overall in terms of less wandering within a lane and able to handle sharper curves. The MCU 2 is much faster. The browser is actually usable with it. The range increase from 265 to 335 at 100% is great for me when I have to do some 250+mile day trips for work. On the downside the auto high beams don’t switch off soon enough when traffic approaches and the auto wipers still are not as good as in 2015. Loved the 85D but love the 100D even more.

 

[David29]

you might want to read that Wiki page again. The tech package was discontinued April 2015 and those items were made standard. Any Model S after April 2015 is a solid car imo

[I know this is a late response but adding this comment in case it is helpful to anyone searching this thread.]
Umm, not quite all. The big item formerly in the Tech package was the powered lift gate, which was then moved to the Premium Interior package. I recall that vividly because I wanted the power lift gate and had to pay $3000 for the premium package to get it, and then sometime later the power lift gate was made standard. Otherwise the Premium package had little in it that would warrant its price.