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M3P VS M3D
- Thread starter minis2003
- Start date
That was my call. Plenty of power. How many of us need a car that’s faster than 4.0 to 60? The P would have been a vanity purchase for me and I think I lost mine a decade ago.
The main reasons for the 3P are:
1. If you ever plan to track the car then the 3P has Track Mode.
2. You just want the maximum acceleration available. If you think you may have buyers remorse later and wonder if you should have purchased the 3P then it is usually better to just bite the bullet now and get what you want than start thinking about trading up and spending more money.
3. You just like the looks of the larger 20" wheels/performance tires, larger brakes with red calipers and carbon fiber trunk lip spoiler.
At the end of the day it is an $8,500 delta between a M3D with 19"s vs. the M3P. I personally think it is worth about $5-6k more based on the upgraded hardware and Track Mode tuning they include but from an acceleration standpoint this car blows away just about everything on the road. If you are on the fence and can afford it I would get it the 3P so you don't have any regrets. If you really don't care, save the money.
not planning on tracking the car and the 20" rims make no difference to me, the maximum acceleration (0-60 3.2) is nice but not sure how much i would use it if i do not track the car...on ramps???
what i did like was the spoiler, brakes and radio. did not realized both cars have the same radio so that is what made me think do i really need the M3P and just go with M3D
what i did like was the spoiler, brakes and radio. did not realized both cars have the same radio so that is what made me think do i really need the M3P and just go with M3D
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
If you don't track the car you don't need the brakes either, as they won't make any functional difference except cost more to fix if anything ever goes wrong with em, and make your selection of aftermarket wheels a ton smaller.
destructure00
Active Member
Bigger brakes don't matter for street driving. If you don't plan to track the car and you don't care about the appearance differences, don't get the P.
I currently own a 911S and a Chevy SS. In the past I’ve had other Porsche’s an, M5, and several other fun/fast cars. The M3D I bought a few weeks ago feels faster than all of them. I think it is numerically faster than most of them. 0-60 is one thing but the biggest grin for me is the mid-range acceleration. Even at highway speeds you can floor it and take off like a bullet. It’s fantastic. What’s even more amazing is the power delivery given the fairly narrow, non-performance rubber (I have the 18” Aeros). I’m sure the P is even better but for me this is a lot of fun and I’m not seeing the $8-10k difference.
It depends, different strokes for different folks, which is why Tesla offers multiple configurations of the car. My wife has an SR+ since she doesn't need the extra range or value the additional acceleration and I have a M3P because I value the acceleration and extra range. The instant acceleration is the feature that actually make me smile when driving this car and I wanted the biggest smile I could get.
Based on your feedback, it seems like you would be happy with the M3D, you could always paint your brake calipers red and add the trunk spoiler if you really wanted to.
Agreed, in fact you barely use the brakes when driving this car in the street thanks to regen.
However, if you ever really push the car during spirited canyon carving or hit the track you will find the stock brakes are not up to the task. The M3P calipers and rotors are a little better but the stock brake pads are not track quality either. This is an area where they should have just OEM a set of Brembos for the M3P like most other manufactures do.
Agreed. The M3P I have feels faster than my C7 Corvette Grand Sport because of how the torque from electric motors is delivered instantly. The main acceleration difference between the M3D and M3P is between 0-50mph, after that they are pretty similar. The big difference is down low, where the M3D is fast the M3P just pulls harder and more violent in fun kind of way.
If you are a numbers guy figure the M3P has about 100 more hp and 100 more lb ft of torque than the M3D. The M3D is good for 0-60 in the 4.4 range and 1/4 mi in the 12.7 sec range. The M3P rockets this 4100 lb car to 60 in 3.2 sec and the 1/4 mile comes at 11.7s. It just puts the M3P in different company. For example, a Camaro ZL1 with 650hp/650lb ft tq will do 3.5-3.9 sec 0-60 assuming it can hook up from a launch and the 1/4 mile in the 11.5-11.7 sec range.
If you are an enthusiast $60k - tax credit for this kind of performance is a steal. I am excited to see what the future holds when manufactures start building true performance EV sports cars.
Here's How Each Tesla Model 3 Trim Stacks Up on the Drag Strip
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
This is not correct.
Tesla is deceptive in their listed stats on their cars- they use a different measurement for the Ps than the non-Ps.... (one using 1 foot rollout, the other not).
Nobody else does this. (Tesla initially did NOT do it for the 3, though they've long done it on the S/X- originally listing the P3 at 3.5 and the AWD at 4.5, both without using rollout- but then they went back to dishonesty and overnight the P dropped to 3.3 without any actual change... then they knocked .1 off both when they pushed the "5% average power" update).
Anyway, back in reality, magazine testing (where they use the same test for all cars- and include rollout- so these are the #s you'd actually use to compare cars to each other) the AWD Model 3 does 4.0 in the 0-60 and 12.5 in the 1/4 mile.
2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range Dual Motor First Test Review - MotorTrend
It looks like MotorTrend rated the M3P at 3.1 sec in that article and when they refer to prior testing of the M3P it looks like they are quoting the hp/tq figures prior to the software update. (450h/471tq) From what I read, post software update they are showing dyno reports of 464hp/496tq now on the M3P?
Regardless it looks like Tesla separates these two trims by about 1 sec 0-60 and 1/4 mile, which is a lot in the real world. This was a pretty cool video of 4 Model 3 trims and how a 0-60 run separates them in the real world. It looks like the AWD and RWD LR get the jump slightly but you can see how hard the M3P pulls down low as it creates a lot of separation pretty quickly.
A couple other of fun videos to watch.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
They're quoting the pre-bump dyno #s for the AWD there too.
Though peak dyno #s aren't a great indication of anything real-world useful on a single-speed EV.... (this is obvious by the fact the AWD and the P get within 1-2 mph of each other for 1/4 mile trap speed, while the RWD is 10+ mph slower- despite them all having supposedly big, roughly comparable per step, peak HP differences)
No question the P is significantly quicker to 60 (though not by as much as Teslas dishonest two-system-measurements would want you to believe), but not much difference past that... (another way to see that is the P gets to 60 almost a second sooner... but that ~1 second difference doesn't really get any larger by 115 mph at the end of a 1/4 mile run)
Personally my own driving is 90%+ highway, and the <10% that isn't is almost entirely non-city driving usually with a single lane each way, so the difference is useful pretty near 0% of the time to me.
If I still lived in my previous house where a large % of my drive time was stoplight to stoplight, multi-lane, it'd be another story.
Are these 30-50 and 50-70 times you listed last year (post #4) still accurate today or did the performance software update improve the 30-70 numbers for the M3D and M3P?
Performance vs Dual Motor - highway speed
I am hopeful that if Telsa implements performance improvements that they would be slated for the M3P owners first and foremost because the hardware they include in the package is nothing to write home about.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
They've improved slightly, should be a much newer thread with at least some of that data, though it's obviously very small improvements given the times are already crazy quick for both
Found the AWD data in an email I sent someone a few weeks ago-
30-70 3.21s
50-70 1.82s
30-50 1.39s
would have to poke around for the newer P data
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Thanks. That is so fast it makes you giggle and the strange part is that there is so little drama involved in a Model 3 when accelerating that fast.
It is hysterical to compare the mid-range acceleration between an Tesla Model 3 and 755hp Corvette ZR1 and this is old data on the M3P before the update.
2019 ZR1 - 8 Speed Auto
Various videos about runs on Autobahn show that
M3P does 0-200 kmh( 124,2 mph) in 14,4 seconds. Thats on par with Bmw M3 E90.
M3D does 0-200 kmh( 124,2 mph) in 16,6 seconds. Thats on par with Bmw 340i, M140i.
So around 2 seconds between them.
M3P does 0-200 kmh( 124,2 mph) in 14,4 seconds. Thats on par with Bmw M3 E90.
M3D does 0-200 kmh( 124,2 mph) in 16,6 seconds. Thats on par with Bmw 340i, M140i.
So around 2 seconds between them.
When switching from my 2017 M3 to my M3D I debated between the two over and over. I decided that responsible, everyday driving was not 0-60 in 3.2 sec. So I ended up with the M3D and my wife hates it when I take it out of “chill” mode... too much whiplash. Kid wants it in rocket ship mode all the time. The M3D is in essence, the power of my M3 without the top end, tuned suspension, and sport seats.
If you are financing a 50k and 60k car, you can have the M3P over 72 mo loan or a M3D cleared in ~59 months with the same payments. If you are paying cash, well... the M3P is awesome.
My analogy is a 328 to 335 to M3 = A4 to S4 to RS4 = SR+ to M3D to M3P.
In the end you decide what the value of your money is... and sounds like you did. Enjoy!!! I am.
If you are financing a 50k and 60k car, you can have the M3P over 72 mo loan or a M3D cleared in ~59 months with the same payments. If you are paying cash, well... the M3P is awesome.
My analogy is a 328 to 335 to M3 = A4 to S4 to RS4 = SR+ to M3D to M3P.
In the end you decide what the value of your money is... and sounds like you did. Enjoy!!! I am.
My advice would be to get what makes YOU happy. You're not going to get objective opinions on here, as a) everyone has his/her own priorities, b) we live in a culture where (stupid or not), people often have ego wrapped up in what car they drive (or what trim they drive, ex. P3D vs. 3D, or BMW M3 vs. 340i vs. 330i, for example). I'm sure many people wish they'd gotten the P3D and for whatever reason (budget, practicality, priorities, etc.) did not, and no doubt some who sprung for the P3D regret doing so.
The P3D is objectively faster, regardless of what testing methodology was used by whom, and has various other aesthetic and performance upgrades as you well know. Aesthetics can be replicated easily (and probably less expensively) via aftermarket additions, but the performance difference cannot. If it's worth it to you, do it. If it isn't, then don't. Simple as that.
The P3D is objectively faster, regardless of what testing methodology was used by whom, and has various other aesthetic and performance upgrades as you well know. Aesthetics can be replicated easily (and probably less expensively) via aftermarket additions, but the performance difference cannot. If it's worth it to you, do it. If it isn't, then don't. Simple as that.
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