Perfomance vs Standard motor noise

[westerndh]

I took a test drive in the Model S Signature Performance yesterday in Santa Monica, it was a pre-production model (not a beta).

There was a very noticeable noise from the inverter when punched - I must say it sounded very exciting, like a jet engine spooling up, however I really noticed the noise difference. The standard S experienced during my Fremont test drive was almost no noise, and it was driven pretty hard.

The Tesla associate mentioned the noise difference between the two versions was due to the inverter working that much harder, which makes sense.

Personally, I prefer the quiet of the standard S.

I haven't seen any discussion of this so wondered if anyone else has noticed this?

 

[Jason S]

There was some mention following the first batch of test drives and then some mention of a correction to that.

I don't know the state of production cars other than nobody I've read so far re: production performance car has mentioned it.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

- Non-perf (white) that I drove at Fremont in June didn't have that sound.

- Non-perf (silver) that I rode in at Palo Alto in July had it. The co-pilot mentioned that it was to be addressed soon.

- Perf (grey) that I drove at Santana Row in late-August didn't have it. This was one of more recently produced test drive cars that was used in some of the later Get Amped events.

 

[rcc]

Red Performance that I drove at Santana Row last week didn't have the noise. Non-perf car I drove in July at the Palo Alto Get Amped didn't have it either.

 

[contaygious]

I never heard it at palo alto event in black performance.

 

[smorgasbord]

Black Perf in Palo Alto & Grey Perf in Carmel both had it.

 

[Jason S]

Well there's an odd thing.

Two different Black Perf at Palo Alto? Either that or one man's annoying whine is another man's normal electric motor noise.

 

[dadaleus]

I haven't noticed any such noise in my Performance. Just the whoosh of wind as the car shoots forward!

 

[4sevens.com]

I like EV noise - if it's under load - reminds me of the space car in the last starfighter

 

[Jaff]

The performance motor whine is still far quieter than the Roadster...

The Roadster motor whine is a symphony to me...I never get tired of hearing it... :smile:

 

[Beavis]

When discussing things like this, it would be helpful to know the VIN. This was mentioned as an issue on some (not all) early production cars used for the Amped Tour and now some are still used for test drives, I assume. I have not heard this as a big concern on any cars delivered to customers.

 

[4sevens.com]

When I test drove the white performance S in the dallas event the car was WAY too quiet. It was quieter than a lexus.
I wouldn't mind a little whine when I got on the power

 

[smorgasbord]

When discussing things like this, it would be helpful to know the VIN.

Firmware version is the better metric.

 

[goyogi]

Maybe the funny sound some people heard coming from the back on the performance version was actually the passengers crapping in their pants.

 

[Doug_G]

When I drove Elon's (performance) car at the Fremont event I did not notice any sound from the drive train. It made the Roadster drive train sound noisy.

 

[dadaleus]

One week in, I have noted that there is a small noise when doing hard acceleration. It's kind of a whine and it's very different from the Roadster. It doesn't bother me at all, but it is there.

 

[cinergi]

Is it the balloon-spewing-air noise heard in the videos or something else?

 

[dadaleus]

I'll have to go watch the videos, but that's a pretty good description. It's not very loud in mine though.

 

[cinergi]

Shortcut for ya: The high-pitched whine during acceleration...

 

[dadaleus]

Shortcut for ya: The high-pitched whine during acceleration...

Yep, that's the one. Mine is a little deeper sound, but it's definitely the same thing.

But it's much more pronounced in the video that I feel like it is in the actual car. Same with the background noise. Maybe that's the nature of the sound on video cameras.