Model 3 long range vs performance query

[Subevo]

im contemplating trading my model s 75D for he above but can’t decide between the models
It looks like the long range has almost the same power and acceleration as my car 4.2 vs 4.4 secs although the model 3 is getting a 5 % power boost soon.
The performance version is much quicker which I would like but concerned about ride comfort on 20inch wheels.
There’s also a price difference of £5k .
My question is if I bought the long range would I regret not getting the performance or should I save the £5k.
Anyone test driven both models is the performance the one to get.
The performance version does look good .
I watched a YouTube video of someone that bought a midrange version in the USA who said the power delivery wasn’t as good so then swapped for the performance version .something to do with using different motors.but that info might be outdated now.
Any opinions apppreciated.

 

[freekie]

I test drove the performance version then went for long range after my brother convinced me the performance of the performance version was crazy equivalent to a £1 million Ferrari that they won’t let you take away until having advanced driving lessons! I’m very happy with the LR and am saving approx £200 on insurance plus the lower initial cost.

 

[MOBB]

Imo the ride on the performance 20”s is significantly better than the German equivalents. It’s firm but very well damped and comfortable

 

[gangzoom]

From 0-60 the P is clearly crazy quick, but from 60-100 AWD is just as quick, infact in this video the AWD car 'wins'.

Its very odd, normally the higher HP car will really show its advantage in speeds of 60mph+. For example my old 180bhp FWD DC2 Teg could get under 6 seconds 0-60mph which is only bolts a second slower than my old modded 335i running 380whp - add in reaction time/wheel spin 1 second in the real world is nothing, but after 60mph its a different story, the 335i just disappears into the distance effortlessly.

Its pretty obvious that the AWD car is been limited by Tesla, or the P version is been limited by Tesla after 60mph, regardless the P Model 3 clearly doesn't have any more power than an AWD version at 60mph+.

Either way depends when you really want extra power, if its 60mph+ I suspect a 100D S is quicker than a P Model 3.

Is having a quicker 0-60 time worth £5k, bare in mind sub 5 second 0-60 is hardly slow......maybe, maybe not, only you can decide.

Have you tried a 100D S, that car has a mighty battery, most likely our next Tesla purchase.

 

[MrBadger]

My question is if I bought the long range would I regret not getting the performance or should I save the £5k.

I've once used the car when not in Chill mode. The £5k would be totally wasted on me. Its plenty fast enough in chill when you need it. For me, my £5.8k FSD was a better purchase.

 

[Roy W.]

I test drove the P+, but my order has always been for the LR AWD. The test drive didn’t change my mind.

I’d say it’s more to do with how you like to drive. If you normally “drive like you stole it”, aka “Audi mode”, you might prefer the P+. If you normally drive more sedately, like me, then the LR AWD has loads of power there when you need it.

Like @VanillaAir_UK I’ve only ever switched out of Chill mode to demonstrate the acceleration to friends. Even in Chill mode it’s the fastest car I’ve ever owned.

The other benefit of the LR AWD is of course the cost saving, and cheaper insurance every year.

 

[Artiste]

I never considered anything but the M3P and I love it. Yes, I’ve lost in terms of comfort and refinement compared to my A6, which I still have. The M3 is quieter under 30mph because there’s no engine noise, but at 40mph and over its considerably noisier because wind noise and especially tyre noise is noticeable. At motorway speeds the A6 knocks it into a cocked hat in terms of refinement.

The only time I’ve driven it in chill mode is the day I picked it up as I thought I’d better be cautious till I got used to it. I’ve never used chill mode since. There’s no point in buying a Ferrari and then driving it like a Nissan Micra. And I love the look of incredulity and rage on the faces of pimply youths in their souped up Ford STs when I leave them standing at the lights.

I didn’t go for FSD as I didn’t think the very limited extra functionality is worth £5800 and I haven’t regretted it. In fact TACC on the M3 is awful - very jerky with phantom braking that can be downright dangerous. That’s not an issue because I bought a performance car which I prefer to drive myself. If I had to buy again tomorrow I’d buy the same.

 

[JCremonini]

From 0-60 the P is clearly crazy quick, but from 60-100 AWD is just as quick, infact in this video the AWD car 'wins'.

Its very odd, normally the higher HP car will really show its advantage in speeds of 60mph+. For example my old 180bhp FWD DC2 Teg could get under 6 seconds 0-60mph which is only bolts a second slower than my old modded 335i running 380whp - add in reaction time/wheel spin 1 second in the real world is nothing, but after 60mph its a different story, the 335i just disappears into the distance effortlessly.

Its pretty obvious that the AWD car is been limited by Tesla, or the P version is been limited by Tesla after 60mph, regardless the P Model 3 clearly doesn't have any more power than an AWD version at 60mph+.

Either way depends when you really want extra power, if its 60mph+ I suspect a 100D S is quicker than a P Model 3.

Is having a quicker 0-60 time worth £5k, bare in mind sub 5 second 0-60 is hardly slow......maybe, maybe not, only you can decide.

Have you tried a 100D S, that car has a mighty battery, most likely our next Tesla purchase.

I’m questioning that video. All the numbers point to the Performance version being a fair bit faster throughout the speed range. Besides, does anyone seriously believe Tesla would have a Performance version of the car which actually, in 90% of scenarios, was slower then the lesser model ? I wonder what the state of charge was in the cars ?

 

[WannabeOwner]

I watched a YouTube video of someone that bought a midrange version in the USA who said the power delivery wasn’t as good

Maybe? the YouTube you saw was RWD? (That model not available in UK)

Stating the obvious: in changing MS to M3 you would change from hatchback to Boot

I've once used the car when not in Chill mode. The £5k would be totally wasted on me

Chill has spoiled my demos ... people used to be impressed that the Tesla choices started at "Sport"

My MS-P, coming up to 4 years old, has spent 90% of its life in Sport (and in my daily-use cases 90% of its life tootling along dual carriageway) ... about to replace it with an MS Raven and really really could not persuade myself that I would get anything that i would actually use by choosing the Performance version (and for MS its > £10K difference )

My current car is low-threes 0-60, Cooking Version Raven will be high-threes, whereas a new Performance would be two-and-a-half. Previous ownership tells me that I would use that once in a blue moon ... my heart overridden by wife's head ... not sure quite how that converts to M3 / M3P so YMMV

I’ve never used chill mode since. There’s no point in buying a Ferrari and then driving it like a Nissan Micra

My passengers hate the instant acceleration (e.g. if I jump out into a tight gap, onto a roundabout, "because I can") if they are not actually looking out the window and concentrating on the road ... so I only use P when Solo.

 

[WannabeOwner]

TACC on the M3 is awful - very jerky with phantom braking that can be downright dangerous. That’s not an issue because I bought a performance car which I prefer to drive myself

Agree, disappointing about all the reports of phantom braking. For me I hate self-driving (on long, dull, stretch of dual carriageway), having AP watch my back has the potential to keep me out of trouble and the two of us are way better than one of us on our own. I don't have inbuilt radars that I can shine under car in front to know about traffic stopping ahead of that, nor eyes in the back of my head for blindspot / lane intrusion ...but I'm still in AP1 world where phantom braking is almost-never ...

 

[12Pack]

The difference in the P is the jerk off the line. Jerk is the rate of change of acceleration. With the P, at at one moment you are at a standstill, and the next you are experiencing full acceleration. With the non-P models (and ICE cars) you get to full acceleration more gradually. Much less of a difference if the car is already rolling. The fractions of a second getting to 60 are not really statistically significant, but the throttle response difference is very real - at least on a Model S

 

[gangzoom]

I wonder what the state of charge was in the cars ?

The fact your even asking this shows something is up when comparing the AWD and P cars.

There isn't a single combustion car I can think of where a car that can pull away so easily on a 0-60 run gets pegged so badly by time you get to 60mph+.

Going from a 100bhp to 200bhp car gets you quicker 0-60 times, up to 300bhp and the difference is how quickly 80-100mph arrives, 400bhp and your playing with the big boys at three digit acceleration figures which is where you really need BHP to show a difference and pull away.

A car like the P Model 3 *should* be walking away from the AWD version at 60mph given the massive 0-60 difference, almost regardless of SOC. The fact it cannot tells you Tesla is fiddling with power figures some where, either the AWD is been limited or the P is.

For UK public roads usage I would say 300bhp is more than enough, anything more than that and your chance of lossing your licence/causing a horrific crash is pretty high.

Its not uncommon for people to do 50mph on the Mways - like a Leaf driver, you can easily end up with a closing speed of 70mph+ if your in a car with 400bhp with AWD and not even realise, add in a bit of standing water and slight curve and you have a recipe for disaster.

But forget road safety for a second, I don't even dare our 75D X at full throttle on the Mways for more than 10 seconds for the sake of my license, unmarked police cars, fixed cameras, speed camera vans, even some do gooder with a dash cam can get you in trouble far too easily.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Is there a source of VBox data showing 10 MPH intervals comparison of various models? Would be good to see the difference between 0-30 and 30,40,50-50,60,70 intervals

From the couple of examples I have seen, in those "overtaking speed" intervals, M3P is 20% faster than M3LR AWD

 

[JCremonini]

I’ve only driven one car which I thought was too fast for the road and that was a McLaren 720s. When your rate of acceleration outpaces your brains ability to keep up with how fast you are going then it’s probably getting silly. And that is exactly what the 720S did to me.

 

[m3gt2]

I would say go for the Performance, yes the LR is plenty fast enough but you will be thinking what if if you don't go for it. I have a P+ and never use it in chill, you can easily modulate acceleration as it is so linear but if you are on your own, or need the extra poke it's awesome not only that but you should get a significant chunk of the extra cost back when you come to sell it.

 

[Fraank]

I went for the LR after being concerned about ride quality and road noise, and more so for the family than me. I find the ride on 18's still too hard on the local roads - they are pretty bad roads, so if you live somewhere less rural or with decent roads it would be less of an issue I'm sure.

The LR is still very fast, I test drove the P+ so know how that felt, but I'm really happy with the LR. It's still too fast for me to floor it with family in car

I actually really like the more stealth look of the LR now, but may have been tempted by a P3D-!

 

[Torokruger]

Why not best of both worlds LR AWD P- works for me so 18" comfort wheels dual motor etc etc..

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I went for the LR after being concerned about ride quality and road noise, and more so for the family than me. I find the ride on 18's still too hard on the local roads - they are pretty bad roads, so if you live somewhere less rural or with decent roads it would be less of an issue I'm sure.

The LR is still very fast, I test drove the P+ so know how that felt, but I'm really happy with the LR. It's still too fast for me to floor it with family in car

I actually really like the more stealth look of the LR now, but may have been tempted by a P3D-!

Pretty much exactly my thinking, but would add that as I'm closer to 70 than 60 by a fair bit, I just don't feel the need for extremely high performance as much as I used to, years ago.

Pity about the 18" wheels still seeming to be a bit hard. I opted for them in the hope that the ride quality on our predominately narrow and pretty poor lanes would be better than the bigger wheels with the lower profile tyres.

As for acceleration, my wife shouts at me if I floor it in the i3 from low speeds, so the pretty hefty performance increase with the M3 LR will need me to always be in chill mode, and have a gentle right foot, when she's in the car, anyway.

Apart from the longer range, the other reason I went for the LR was AWD. The lanes around here can get pretty iffy when it snows, and just having rear wheel drive seemed a serious disadvantage.

 

[volts]

The reason that the 2 models are the same in the video is environmental, likely to do with traction and grip rather than Tesla fiddling with power numbers. Both cars reached the maximum grip at the same time.

Remember that 0-60 times will have been recorded at a drag strip that has a millimeter perfect surface. The local B road won't be like that and the P+ will soon be limited by tyres.

On some road surfaces, the hard low profile 20" tyres will have more friction than 18".

 

[Avendit]

P- for me and very happy. It's true they all run out of guts a bit above 80. Still very fast, but the torque curve falls off at hight speeds where an ICE would be grabbing it's next gear.

Just one of the compromises we make in my view. Instead we get 0 emissions and a stunningly simple drivetrain (this is why the taycan has a second gear).

I've not driven the P+, but it almost definitely benefits from the wheels and suspension package. What my p- really needs tho is some uprated sway bars :-\. It has masses of grip, but does rather throw you around using it. It's a GT, not a track machine, at least as a p-.