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P85+ in the real world

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This is from a TM forum member (link http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/tesla-s-p85-vs-porsche-panamera-gts):
WOW .... color me impressed.

Got to test drive a red P85+ this morning at Menlo Park.
It is like a totally different beast compared to the P85 as far as handling goes. Gone is the floaty feeling around corners; now i get scalpel-like precision and handling. Acceleration seems the same; not the 3.1 second teaser that was on another thread but still as thrilling as ever when you step on it.


Tesla set up a different route than their regular test-drive routes for these P85+ as i was told so that people can put it through its paces. To those who are familiar (bikers in particular) with the area, it is up on Page Mill Rd. where it is a 2-way and pretty narrow but a perfect route to let the P85+ loose. Tesla grin was plastered across my face throughout the entire 20-minute session. Got to take it on 280 as well; getting on ramp and off ramp is quite an experience. So tight around the corners.


I haven't had the privilege to drive an MP4-12C (so not sure about the comparison there regarding Elon's claim) but the P85+ is my own personal bench-mark now.

I just clicked on my "DELIVERY" button. :) Quest over.
 
I can confirm delivery of the Performance Plus Model. I picked up my P85+ at the Seattle Service center on Saturday. Apparently the first performance plus in the Seattle area.

Unfortunately I will not be much help in giving you the great feedback you want on how much improvement the plus package brings to the Tesla Model S. My only previous experience with a Tesla was a 40 minute test drive. Nor have I regularly driven high performance cars in the past. So all I can say is it drives wonderfully, up and down the hills outside of Seattle it feels like it is on rails. There is something amazing about accelerating up a steep hill and getting to 50 in just a few seconds.

Hopefully, Mark will get his car soon and be able to get you the answers you need. At least I can confirm they are being delivered. Best car I have every had by such a wide margin I can't stop smiling.
 
I can confirm delivery of the Performance Plus Model. I picked up my P85+ at the Seattle Service center on Saturday. Apparently the first performance plus in the Seattle area.

Unfortunately I will not be much help in giving you the great feedback you want on how much improvement the plus package brings to the Tesla Model S. My only previous experience with a Tesla was a 40 minute test drive. Nor have I regularly driven high performance cars in the past. So all I can say is it drives wonderfully, up and down the hills outside of Seattle it feels like it is on rails. There is something amazing about accelerating up a steep hill and getting to 50 in just a few seconds.

Hopefully, Mark will get his car soon and be able to get you the answers you need. At least I can confirm they are being delivered. Best car I have every had by such a wide margin I can't stop smiling.
Congratulations on the new car and thanks for the feedback!
 
Based on the post above, I dropped into the Menlo Park dealership this morning to see if I could test drive the red P85+. Even though they were busy, they allocated the time of one of the folks there to go with me on a 30 minute test drive. I did both freeway driving, including the long entrance ramp from Sand Hill Road to 280 and a twisty two lane road. I was truly impressed with the improvements compared to my P85, and in comparison to other sport sedans I have owned, specifically the 2000 (E39) and 2006 (E60) BMW M5.

All of my complaints about the current handling have been addressed. I made quick lane changes on the freeway at 80 mph - the directional stability was great and the "floaty" feeling is gone. On freeway on ramps, the car takes a set and holds it. Understeer is greatly reduced. I didn't notice any compromises in ride comfort either. So IMO P85+ handles as well as an M5, something that I can't say about P85.

The open question for me is the same one I have been posing for a month without getting an answer. That is, how will an upgraded P85 handle compared to P85+, and what will be compromised by not having the new dampers and swaybars and why are they excluded from the upgrade package? I'm certain that at least one person at Tesla knows the answer to this question, I just have to find him.
 
Based on the post above, I dropped into the Menlo Park dealership this morning to see if I could test drive the red P85+. Even though they were busy, they allocated the time of one of the folks there to go with me on a 30 minute test drive. I did both freeway driving, including the long entrance ramp from Sand Hill Road to 280 and a twisty two lane road. I was truly impressed with the improvements compared to my P85, and in comparison to other sport sedans I have owned, specifically the 2000 (E39) and 2006 (E60) BMW M5.

All of my complaints about the current handling have been addressed. I made quick lane changes on the freeway at 80 mph - the directional stability was great and the "floaty" feeling is gone. On freeway on ramps, the car takes a set and holds it. Understeer is greatly reduced. I didn't notice any compromises in ride comfort either. So IMO P85+ handles as well as an M5, something that I can't say about P85.

The open question for me is the same one I have been posing for a month without getting an answer. That is, how will an upgraded P85 handle compared to P85+, and what will be compromised by not having the new dampers and swaybars and why are they excluded from the upgrade package? I'm certain that at least one person at Tesla knows the answer to this question, I just have to find him.

Thanks great feedback.

There were some early comments in another thread on the upgrade differences… see below


That's true, but to be more specific, the P+ package is not entirely retrofittable, only "most" of it.

Spoke for an hour with George Blankenship at the Santana Row event last week, and he was raving about the Performance Plus package. When we asked about retrofit, his answer was "90%". I asked him to clarify if he meant they were 90% sure it was retrofittable, or if 90% of the P+ kit could be retrofitted. It's the latter.

In addition to the wheels, there are suspension parts that change, and some structural parts that involve frame mount changes too. It is not possible to retrofit a few of the structural parts (wasn't clear to me exactly what these were), but he said if you add the new suspension parts and wheels you get "awfully close" to the handling of a factory P+. There are definitely parts that are NOT retrofittable, but he said it will still be a big, noticeable improvement. There were about 8 other owners who were gathered around for this discussion, probably other members here, and some of them may have picked up more of the specifics of the few parts that can't be retrofitted to our cars.

He said that Elon and he recently had a fun few hours of testing P+. They had a stock (non-P+) P85, a P85 with the retrofittable parts, and a factory-built P+. Drove them one after the other. He said riding with Elon is a bit terrifying, he'll whip the wheel left and right and pretty high speeds. They all could tell the difference in all 3 levels, but they agreed the retrofit P85 was still a very big improvement. Most people wouldn't notice the additional handling gains between retrofit-P+ and full P+.

From this post: Performance Plus Package now available as option or retrofit - Page 9

Maybe you can upgrade to a loaner :)
 
There were some early comments in another thread on the upgrade differences. From this post: Performance Plus Package now available as option or retrofit - Page 9

Maybe you can upgrade to a loaner :)

Thanks for reposting that. I remember reading it but could not remember the specifics.

Upgrading a loaner is a great idea. If Menlo Park were to upgrade one of their P85 cars, Bay Area P85 owners (there are a LOT of us) could test drive the car before committing to spend $13K.
 
assembly line the week of June 10th. WOW I was told we would go early when ordering the full package. This is considerably longer than 4weeks.
I called the order line and that's what she said. Her best guess was a delivery late June/early July and the Delivery Specialist would be assigned later this week or next week.

The most efficient way to run a production line is to batch similar cars together to reduce the part swaps between vehicles, I guess the P+ runs are booked till then.
 
WOW this is awesome info!! Six can you or anyone else post pics? I'm most interested in if the rear wheels are noticeably wider and fill up the wheel well better? THANK YOu!

Well believe it or not I don't have the car at the moment. I drove it over the weekend then took it to a detailing shop to get Xpel wrap placed on the car. The only pictures I have are just Smart phone ones that did not focus on the rear tires. Just looking at them they did not appear significantly larger. The most visible difference is the + sign on the P85+ badge on the back of the car :)

On the other hand it occurs to me that Metropolitan Detailing does some of their wrap work on a lift. I will give them a call and see if they will let me know when it is on the lift and I will try and take some suspension photos if I can.

- - - Updated - - -

4 weeks... 6 weeks.. consider yourself lucky! Deposit in 2012, finalized 1/17, and I'll just be getting my car this weekend. There are others who finalized in 2012 who are still waiting.

I suspect your car was made in the same batch as mine. Just Northern VA is farther then Seattle from Freemont CA. I lived in Northern VA for more then 10 years before moving to Seattle. Good luck, you will love your car. I had unbelievable expectations and they were exceeded. I also own Tesla stock so you can imagine how great last week was for me.

Reminds me of a great quote from the movie "Broadcast News":

Tom Grunnick: What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams?
Aaron Altman: Keep it to yourself.

But I think the fellow Tesla owners and fans will understand if I don't and share my Tesla Smile
 
Crap. Really disappointed here. Edmunds just tested a P85 without the suspension upgrade. http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/track-tests/2013-tesla-model-s-track-...
It clearly states that they had previously tested a P85+ last year. If you look at last years test, the tires are the wider Michelins. http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/track-tests/2012-tesla-model-s-track-...
So it looks like the P85+ does the slalom in a pathetic 66.8mph, and the P85 does an even worse 63.6mph. Both are worse than several SUVs on the market.
Hoping reviews are really good by regular drivers or I may have to cancel my order and keep my 911....
Late response, but keep in mind that for magazine testing, it's all relative (you can't compare results across publications). Edmunds has consistently gotten much lower lateral G numbers for the Model S than other publications. Unfortunately other publications do not do slalom (except Road and Track, but they don't have test results for the Model S) so there's nothing to compare to.
 
That is great news and thanks for the info. I really hope the retrofit will satisfy my expectation cause I can't seem to convince myself to spend 13k on just this part of the car. I have an email from Elon telling me it would cost 6500-9500 but now we are hearing 13k! Also can't seem to convince myself to turn in my car after having xpel and 3m tint placed. I would be happy with a partial upgrade and hope we can order a few key parts and have them placed elsewhere.


Based on the post above, I dropped into the Menlo Park dealership this morning to see if I could test drive the red P85+. Even though they were busy, they allocated the time of one of the folks there to go with me on a 30 minute test drive. I did both freeway driving, including the long entrance ramp from Sand Hill Road to 280 and a twisty two lane road. I was truly impressed with the improvements compared to my P85, and in comparison to other sport sedans I have owned, specifically the 2000 (E39) and 2006 (E60) BMW M5.

All of my complaints about the current handling have been addressed. I made quick lane changes on the freeway at 80 mph - the directional stability was great and the "floaty" feeling is gone. On freeway on ramps, the car takes a set and holds it. Understeer is greatly reduced. I didn't notice any compromises in ride comfort either. So IMO P85+ handles as well as an M5, something that I can't say about P85.

The open question for me is the same one I have been posing for a month without getting an answer. That is, how will an upgraded P85 handle compared to P85+, and what will be compromised by not having the new dampers and swaybars and why are they excluded from the upgrade package? I'm certain that at least one person at Tesla knows the answer to this question, I just have to find him.
 
I'm really excited about these initial reports that say the floaty feeling is gone in the P85+. That was really bothering me when I drove a P85. I placed my order for a P85+ on 4/23, and the email said delivery in one month. However, I still haven't signed the contract, gotten a VIN, or anything else. I think I will be lucky to receive my car by the end of June, and the wait is killing me now!