LR AWD to P3D: Initial thoughts

[COM3]

Just picked up my P3D last night, and have noticed some pretty significant differences (not just acceleration) between the two cars, and wanted to share my thoughts for anyone else considering it.

First, the cars:
My "old" car was a Pearl White Dual Motor Long-Range. 18" Aeros. Delivery was in September of last year. .
New car is a MSM P3D that I picked up last night.

1. Build quality - The new car is definitely better. Panel gaps are smaller, hood closes more solidly, and there is much less wind noise in the interior. I imagine these changes are just because it's a newer build, and Tesla has probably tweaked a few things in the past 9 months. These difference are probably not limited to the Performance model of the car.

2. Suspension - I expected the P3D to be stiffer and ride harsher due to the larger wheels and different suspension. Couldn't be further from the truth. The car rides MUCH better. When hitting bumps/manhole covers/whatever in my dual motor LR car, my head would bounce off the headrest and it was more...rattly. The P3D soaks up the bumps more and feels more premium. I noticed it right away, and my wife (who doesn't pay as close of attention as I do to these sort of things) commented as well.

3. Color - On the Pearl White car (my old one), it was obvious that the front and rear bumpers never matched the rest of the car. I hear it's a common issue, and it really bothered me. I'm really loving MSM. I think it makes the car look a little classier, and my bumpers match my car now. Hooray!

4. Stereo - I feel like it sounded a little better in the old car, but the new car is on a different software version (2019.15.103) and the speakers haven't had any time yet to "break in", so I'll hold off on judgment for now.

The upgrade was definitely worth it for me. Not that the old car was bad, I absolutely loved it, but I'm even happier with the new car.

 

[JulienW]

Looks like your observations are more about quality improvements made than actual differences. I just got an AWD (would love to have a Performance) and I agree that the quality is VASTLY improved over the last few months. Looks like Tesla is becoming a "normal" quality auto maker. If they keep improving at this rate in a couple of years we may see Tesla inching (or is it millimetering?) towards Lexus and Mercedes.

 

[P-Lo801]

I love my LR RWD, but I have entertained the idea of getting the AWD non-P. I'm curious, did you trade in your old car for this performance through Tesla? If so, what was the experience like?

 

[TampaRich]

4. Stereo - I feel like it sounded a little better in the old car, but the new car is on a different software version (2019.15.103) and the speakers haven't had any time yet to "break in", so I'll hold off on judgment for now.

Could this be a difference in the immersive sound setting?

 

[COM3]

I love my LR RWD, but I have entertained the idea of getting the AWD non-P. I'm curious, did you trade in your old car for this performance through Tesla? If so, what was the experience like?

They stopped matching CarMax a few weeks ago, so you're either going to take what they give you, or sell on your own. Since taxes are so high here, it made more sense for me to sell to Tesla (since I only pay the difference between trade-in and the new one's cost).

 

[COM3]

Could this be a difference in the immersive sound setting?

I checked that and the EQ. I think it's just that the speakers are brand new. Most speakers take little bit to break in.

 

[mswlogo]

Speaker cones do break in. Give Stereo a little time.

When I demo’d RWD with Aero’s and P3D+ 9 months ago I was surprised how smooth it was expecting it to be jarring over rail road tracks etc. It felt just as smooth as RWD.

 

[diggity]

Funny, I bought a demo car in March with a November '18 build, and the quality was excellent. Maybe I just got lucky, but color is consistent, ride is smooth, and panel gaps are null.

 

[COM3]

Initial post was after only driving it home from the dealership (about 30 miles). Got a little more time in today, do here's a couple more things I've noticed

1. Screen has a greyish tint. I initially thought it was a problem with the screen, but when I open the web browser, whites are white. All other screens have a grey tint.

2. Speaker cover material on doors (near the windows) and on the dash looks different. Will have to compare to other 3s.

3. Material around cameras by doors looks different (need to confirm this too).

 

[RMSpec]

They stopped matching CarMax a few weeks ago, so you're either going to take what they give you, or sell on your own. Since taxes are so high here, it made more sense for me to sell to Tesla (since I only pay the difference between trade-in and the new one's cost).

They matched my car max quote yesterday.

 

[mact3333]

I was going to do the same exact thing but Tesla wanted to give me 39k trade in for a 51k car and I only had 200 miles on it....what a joke.

 

[COM3]

They matched my car max quote yesterday.

Sales guy and I are going to have a talk.

 

[COM3]

They matched my car max quote yesterday.

Sounds like they still match non-Tesla trade-ins.

Some more differences:
New car doesn't have the rainbow effect on the glass roof panels when they get wet.
New car didn't come with cables for phone charging. They let me take the ones out of my old car though.

 

[Oceans808]

Ok, so I've got the AWD, dual motor non-p because it was in my price range. Now I'm seeing that they took $10K off the performance models. This sucks. Is there a trade-in option??

 

[Eugr]

I think the difference is because of improved build quality.

I test driven Performance model (took it for overnight, so got a good mix of highway and city driving) and bought LR AWD in May (delivered 6/6) and I'd say LR AWD handles the bumps a bit better than the Performance one. Also I feel like my AWD is quieter on highway speeds, most likely because of the tires. The only noticeable difference is acceleration, everything else is about the same.

 

[raptor5244]

Ok, so I've got the AWD, dual motor non-p because it was in my price range. Now I'm seeing that they took $10K off the performance models. This sucks. Is there a trade-in option??

When did you buy? Keep in mind they lowered the price when the tax credit was reduced from $7500 > $3750. Also, the Performance was up there in price and really didn’t have enough value to justify the price. The P is missing sport seats with proper bolstering, adaptive suspension with thicker sway bars and drive modes for street and track, heads up display, wider tires, more aggressive brake pads, etc. I sprung for the M3P over the AWD with 19s for the extra acceleration since for me that part of the driving experience never gets old.

 

[Oceans808]

When did you buy? Keep in mind they lowered the price when the tax credit was reduced from $7500 > $3750. Also, the Performance was up there in price and really didn’t have enough value to justify the price. The P is missing sport seats with proper bolstering, adaptive suspension with thicker sway bars and drive modes for street and track, heads up display, wider tires, more aggressive brake pads, etc. I sprung for the M3P over the AWD with 19s for the extra acceleration since for me that part of the driving experience never gets old.

I bought it last year so I was able to get the $7500 credit

 

[raptor5244]

I bought it last year so I was able to get the $7500 credit

How much was a M3P+ without EAP/FSD last year?

 

[super20g]

Ok, so I've got the AWD, dual motor non-p because it was in my price range. Now I'm seeing that they took $10K off the performance models. This sucks. Is there a trade-in option??

You do not want to even get a trade in value from Tesla. They offered me half off a 6 month old car at the time with 5k miles on it... WTF kind of deprecation is that.

 

[raptor5244]

You do not want to even get a trade in value from Tesla. They offered me half off a 6 month old car at the time with 5k miles on it... WTF kind of deprecation is that.

They seem to offer top dollar for trade-ins on ICE vehicles, price match Carmax, etc. to get you into the new vehicle and the Tesla ecosystem. However, they are not really set up to resell and manage used inventory so they probably just lowball the Tesla trades so you will sell it somewhere else. The problem is you stand to lose a lot of tax sales tax savings when you do that.

It looks like they started to sell used inventory in CA in limited supply so maybe they will see there is money to be made by selling used and expand the offer.