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Just mashed the pedal on a Performance Model 3, OMG!

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I have a loaner Performance at the moment. I thought it was locked down to "Chill" mode. While that is true apparently you still get full power if you floor the accelerator. Holy crap is that thing fast! :p I passed a semi going about 50 and by the time I was clear to switch back into my lane it the Performance was approaching 90 mph. All in the space of three or four semi lengths. My LR RWD is fast, this Performance is insane. It's like a RWD that never eases off after you leave the line. I may have to upgrade. :eek:
 
1) Brace head against headrest
2) Floor the accelerator
3) Hold on!!!
4) Stop grinning and cackling like an idiot (very difficult)

Ironically my very first impression of the 3P on a test drive was "huh the accelerator tip-in feels soft." Like from stop, the car didn't lunge forward if you pressed the accelerator lightly, like my Charger did. Now after owning it, I appreciate it so much. The amount of torque available, I'd put the car into my kitchen every night when trying to inch it forward into the garage if it was more sensitive. And obviously if you floor it or give it some more travel, the car brooks no BS and takes off.
 
Yeah I got an overnight tester P3 a few months ago... I couldn't believe how fast the P3 is for the price. And the car still rides pretty well and is so quiet so it can be used for family use. Easily the best performance-oriented bargain out there and the kid can actually fall asleep in the back. Although I got a whopping 1.5 miles per kWh when driving it because I kept mashing the pedal on the right.

I had a Dodge Charger as well, and the wife made me get rid of it because the baby hated riding in the back. And it wasn't practical due to looking like I was an drug dealer causing me to get pulled over all the time and having to explain to the police that I in fact did not have drugs in the back of my car.

We also tried a Performance Y but oddly my wife didn't like it at all. So P3 it is.
 
Even "slow" teslas are fast, comparatively speaking, in almost all the ways a regular driver would identify "fast". Off the line, 20-70, etc. With that being said, even cars that might be faster than a model 3 performance (say from 30-90 or something) usually arent in a practical sense, because they have to downshift, etc.

The instant torque + lack of shifting end up re defining what most people think of when they think "fast". Its also the fastest car I know that is also "completely happy / fine" with also driving slow. Most fast cars seem to beg to be driven fast. If they have adjustable modes (like comfort or eco + sport. for example) when driven in eco mode they feel like econobox cars, no matter how much you spent on it. Driven in sport, they feel more like performance cars, with the hit to gas mileage that entails.

My BMW 435 got about 17 miles to the gallon, because I drove it in sport mode all the time, but that was really for the throttle mapping only. The car felt completely unresponsive to me when driven in "comfort" mode from a throttle response standpoint. So, even though the car was rated at like 26 mpg I think, in order for it to even feel close to being a sporty car I had to use the sport mode, even when I was just sort of cruising around.

The model 3 scratches both of those itches for me. 90% of the time I am cruising around. My lifetime wh/mi on a model 3 P with 27k miles on it is 269 wh/mi, so that tells you I am definitely cruising around most of the time, lol. When I want to, however, just a press of the accelerator pedal, and "im gone". I almost never floor it, either, unless I am showing the car to someone. The reaction is always the same for someone who has never ridden in one before.

I say "ill take you for a ride around the block".. we get in the car, I cruise around the block to a spot where we have a 4 lane highway close to my house, say, "ok, hang on", they look at me kind of puzzled, I floor it, their eyes bulge out of their head and they say some form of "Ohhhh shhhhhhhhh". 2-3 seconds is all, I let off the pedal, and they all get this look of "wonder" in their eyes.

Then I tell them, "it cost similar money to the BMW M3 I was going to buy, but my commute costs to work are about 50% less than that would have been, and I havent been to a gas station in 2 years, its like having a gas pump in your garage".

(there is a reason i am rolling around on Zero G referral wheels, lol).
 
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Then I tell them, "it cost similar money to the BMW M3 I was going to buy, but my commute costs to work are about 50% less than that would have been, and I havent been to a gas station in 2 years, its like having a gas pump in your garage".

(there is a reason i am rolling around on Zero G referral wheels, lol).
The base price of a (non-comp) BMW M3 is $69,900, and it goes up and up from there. At $56,700, even a base M340iXdrive is $5k over the price of an M3P, at least where I am.

My 92-year-old dad asked me if I had a car that doesn’t need to be plugged in…I asked him if he has a car that doesn’t require gas and can be refuelled at home…
 
The base price of a (non-comp) BMW M3 is $69,900, and it goes up and up from there. At $56,700, even a base M340iXdrive is $5k over the price of an M3P, at least where I am.

My 92-year-old dad asked me if I had a car that doesn’t need to be plugged in…I asked him if he has a car that doesn’t require gas and can be refuelled at home…

True, but when I bought my car in 2018, the price of the car was 71,500 (before incentives). I got a total of something like 11k in incentives, but the out the door price, including tax and everything was like 78k, then tack on the 2k I spent on the EAP to FSD upgrade during the fire sale, and it was 80k (before incentives).
 
The base price of a (non-comp) BMW M3 is $69,900, and it goes up and up from there. At $56,700, even a base M340iXdrive is $5k over the price of an M3P, at least where I am.

My 92-year-old dad asked me if I had a car that doesn’t need to be plugged in…I asked him if he has a car that doesn’t require gas and can be refuelled at home…


Considering gas is now over $5/gallon in California, I figure nobody actually wants to go to the pump...
 
The base price of a (non-comp) BMW M3 is $69,900, and it goes up and up from there. At $56,700, even a base M340iXdrive is $5k over the price of an M3P, at least where I am.

My 92-year-old dad asked me if I had a car that doesn’t need to be plugged in…I asked him if he has a car that doesn’t require gas and can be refuelled at home…
I like using the old saying from the muscle car era: "it passes everything but gas stations" slightly reworded to "it passes everything including gas stations" with older people; generally they get it after that.