Need an opinion: AWD or Full Self-Driving Capability

[nj121]

Guys,

I can't afford both in my Teals 3. I have been researching about the both functionalities but can't make a decision about which one is worth it more.

I live in NJ and never drove AWD car before. I know i can get the Full Self-driving later on but I just don't want to spend the more money for a couple of years so I want to make my decision before i buy the car.

Following are my thoughts:

AWD:

• You get rear heated seats (good for kids)
• Good to NJ winters
• Very good battery life
• A hardware to support next version of supercharger
• Excellent pickup

Full Self-driving capability:

• Relaxed driving (I don't have long commute (25 miles one way) but its NJ and heavy traffic)
• Tesla is incresing price as they are adding more features. Want to get it before price goes much higher
• Traffic light and stop sign is coming very very soon
• lane change and exits functionality
• I don't care about summons and parking

 

[Kwakster928]

AWD.

Autopilot is plenty for what you need to do in NJT.

 

[Az_Rael]

On your relaxed driving point, you will get that with Basic AP that comes with the car. Basic AP is great on freeways and in stop and go traffic. The lack of auto lane change is annoying, but I find in stop and go, I have to manually change lanes anyway because the car can’t navigate the small openings.


As far as stoplights and stop signs, odds are the first revision of that software will be pretty basic and most likely terrible. It will take a long time for it to iterate to something useable. Look at how long NoA has taken to get almost decent.

 

[Aellinsar]

I'd agree with the other two poster and pick AWD over FSD. That said, personally I'd pick "neither" and save the money.

 

[PWlakewood]

After driving AWD and RWD I would go AWD especially for my wife since shes not as confident on the road.

 

[Marius A]

You can always upgrade to FSD, can never upgrade to AWD.
I think you'll get more back for having the AWD. If your daily drive doesn't change speed limits all the time then speed limit sign recognition doesn't really give you anything, and I don't think auto lane change adds any value when you have to make sure that it's safe yourself anyway.
Autopilot will keep you straight while you check your blind spots, then you press the shifter up once to disengage AP (or if you're super-lazy like me: up then down, to disengage AP and engage TACC. I call this 0 pedal driving), pull into the neighboring lane, double press shifter to start AP again.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

The basic Autopilot gives you adaptive cruise control and self-steering, which is the bulk of the driving work.

Don't let Tesla's marketing strategy with FSD price increases get to you. FSD is buying a ticket to a lottery where you don't even know if a prize will ever be awarded. Like every other company working in autonomy, they're crossing their fingers and hoping their AI will eventually be good enough.

Buy the _currrent_ product.

 

[OCR1]

This question comes up frequently in this forum and we usually see approximately 90% of the members recommend AWD over FSD. The main reason is that you get the benefit of AWD every time you get behind the wheel. When comparing to SR+ you get better range and a nicer interior. FSD is a future product. Some of the benefits are available now, but I personally almost never use them. And I don't find it to be more relaxing to use FSD because I'm constantly watching the car closely so that I can take over if it does something stupid.

If it were me though, I'd spend another $2K and try to find a Stealth P3D-. The increase in speed is substantial and I believe you will easily get the $2K back down the road on resale. It's clearly the best value in the Model 3 lineup right now.

 

[Nocturnal]

So it's SR+ with FSD vs AWD?

I agree that AWD isn't critical, especially in a Tesla but the range is good in cold winters or on trips. I have FSD and I'd recommend you go with the AWD instead. As you noted, down the road if FSD is super compelling you could find a way.

If it were me though, I'd spend another $2K and try to find a Stealth P3D-. The increase in speed is substantial and I believe you will easily get the $2K back down the road on resale. It's clearly the best value in the Model 3 lineup right now.

Agreed 100%. Crazy value. ​

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

After driving AWD and RWD I would go AWD especially for my wife since shes not as confident on the road.

One thing to be aware of, the AWD is basically 100% RWD until wheel slip, or you hammer the throttle. So on loose surfaces, the back of the car will still slide before the front tires do anything. It does not drive like a common 'AWD' car thats often primarily FWD or sometimes full time AWD.

 

[bonkers818]

AWD for sure. Basic autopilot works just fine for my commute to NYC everyday.

FSD functions are gimmick at best. I used smart summon twice. Navigate on autopilot keep going to the wrong side for exists on the turnpike. I have it off by default.

 

[PrGrPa]

I tend to agree with other posters: get AWD over FSD. Though getting neither will be fine. The SR+ is no slouch compared to non-electric cars.

We went for FSD over AWD as I find the auto parking on my Model S indispensable. Same if I drive my SO’s Model 3. We didn’t need the extra range of the AWD either. If range had been a factor then it would have been the AWD with no FSD.

What you get in the ‘basic’ no-FSD package in terms of driving assistance is pretty good. Though it’s not always been clear in the car descriptions.

don’t buy FSD in anticipation of future features. Like @ItsNotAboutTheMoney said ‘buy the current product’.

 

[BZM3]

My opinions below..

• Relaxed driving (I don't have long commute (25 miles one way) but its NJ and heavy traffic) Autopilot is included. It wont change lanes but does everything else.
• Tesla is incresing price as they are adding more features. Want to get it before price goes much higher
• Traffic light and stop sign is coming very very soon ...You never know....
• lane change and exits functionality not worth 7K
• I don't care about summons and parking good.

 

[PWlakewood]

One thing to be aware of, the AWD is basically 100% RWD until wheel slip, or you hammer the throttle. So on loose surfaces, the back of the car will still slide before the front tires do anything. It does not drive like a common 'AWD' car thats often primarily FWD or sometimes full time AWD.

Do you have anything to back this up? I tried to get the rear to break loose on a 3 and S with no luck going slow or fast.

 

[Msjulie]

Do you have anything to back this up? I tried to get the rear to break loose on a 3 and S with no luck going slow or fast.

I agree that it is not tail happy but the rear motor is the more efficient one so I could see it being biased there in very calm travel. That said, I do wish Tesla would provide some more geek displays like power draw by motor, regen by motor, etc...

 

[Marius A]

Do you have anything to back this up? I tried to get the rear to break loose on a 3 and S with no luck going slow or fast.

My experience on snow and ice is that the back kicks up turns for like 0.5 second before it steers itself back. That is not proof, but my experience feels similar to what is stated.

 

[ivolvo]

As far as I am concerned the answer is simple: AWD. Autopilot is working for the most cases I care about. FSD is at this point quite ephemeral anyway. I called Tesla customer support and they honestly tell me: 1) there is no timeline when it will be available (there should be legal issues covered as I understand it) 2) There are no details of what exactly will be available and allowed 3) there is no additional equipment required to switch from Autopilot to FSD, so I suspect when this feature is actually available, Tesla will be quite incentivized to offer it at a price that customers agree to accept. AWD, on the other hand, has a huge impact on the snow and gives faster acceleration.

 

[TyH2009]

AWD for sure.

You can at least always buy FSD later, you can't upgrade later to AWD.

 

[sperkin]

Get AWD. You can get FSD later.

I know RWD can do snow well, but this weekend going over the grapevine I was glad I took the AWD car. My car even slipped a couple of time by 1 or 2 inches. I felt really safe driving over 6 inches of snow without any pavement visable.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

Do you have anything to back this up? I tried to get the rear to break loose on a 3 and S with no luck going slow or fast.

My personal experience, data from Bjørn, and logic. The rear motor is a fair bit more efficient, and running two motors under light load is just about always going to be less efficient than one. With enough mechanical grip this isn't super noticeable, but the rear end very easily will still slide under part throttle when cornering at the limit. If you press the pedal too hard the front motor will kick in and the car slides a bit but its far from a drift. Drive the car on snow with the stock tires, corner near the limit of the tires and touch the throttle. The rear end kicks out every time. If you hammer the throttle the car tends to be more stable in these conditions. The car absolutely drives like a RWD car until you get slip/spin, or the car slides. Honestly I have a hard time understanding how this isn't clear unless you don't drive anywhere near the limit. If you just stab the throttle going slow around a turn, the front end will mostly push before you get anything from the back. But if you roll into the throttle while cornering at the limit, the rear kicks out every time. Of course the car has stability control and it tries to limit the angle, but its not always fast enough and the car can slide 5-10 degrees if you do this with a dirty road, much more with snow/ice. If the road is in good shape and you have a fair bit of grip, you barely get anything past a chirp from the rear since you need to hit the throttle too much and the front end starts pulling. Be aware, this 'drifting' is rather short lived, as the car shuts down the fun after it slips. But you can quite easily kinda drift a corner by going too fast and rolling into the throttle mid turn. You need to have the rear end near the limit, then push it over with the throttle. So you need a lot of entry speed and a smooth transition. The AWD car is light on power to the rear axle, it can't really light them up unless you persuade it.