Performance vs. Non-Performance & an extra $10K

[chmod a+wrx]

Personally I really think the CF interior are the best looking one by far and also that the nicest wheels on a blue car are the carbon grey ones.

Oh, very true!

The carbon fiber is an impressive look (at least in photos....have yet to see in person).

Not being a car enthusiast (and I suspect there are quite a few here), the carbon fiber interior would eventually be lost to me and "just another interior". My opin.

I guess you could also say that the gray wheels are then an option as well, and those are pretty sweet. You could always powder coat your wheels though......

 

[Johann Koeber]

Let me offer my view of things:

Getting the performace version is not a decision of rational thinking, but of gut. Feelings.

Read the comments above: Those who aren't trying to rationalize are talking about feelings: regret ...

How do you feel deep down inside? Do you really really really want the performace version?

That is what it boils down to, after all the arguments have been made.

Or:

Turn around 180 degrees and consider the following question:

What is money?
What meaning does it have?
What feelings do you attach to having money?

A profound understanding of these will help you to easily come to a decision. The best possible decision for you.

PS

Now your wife.

Couples do not talk enough about money. It is a good idea to sit down as a couple and contemplate on the money questions. Different feelings about money and different beliefs on the the meaning of money can have profound influence on a relationship. Many relationships fall apart because of money matters. Often is is just the different belief systems.

 

[ckessel]

I'm leaning away from the Perf at this point.

1. The 19" vs 21" tire cost thing is the biggest deterrent. If we're talking about feelings, it bugs me on an fairness level (disclaimer: views vary on what's "fair").
2. On a financial level, the $12k price difference from the equivalent base model is beyond my gut feel for the value of the option. There's a big emotional gap between an $88k car and a $100k car.
3. It'd force me to finance part of the purchase as I don't have that much cash, which I'd rather not do. Debt beyond liquidity is the concern, I may *choose* to finance part of the base model and use the money for other investments.
4. The Perf didn't blow me away in the test drive. Yea, it was great, but not such leaps and bounds greater than ~5.5 second ICEs that I felt it was a compelling purchase.

Part of me hopes TSLA will go nuts making financial concerns less critical, but it looks like I'll have to lock down before that has any chance of happening. I am seriously entertaining the thought of deferring for 3 months.

 

[Arnold Panz]

Todd,

I'd advise against the Performance. My basic rule of thumb on any big decision involving money (buying something, a new job etc.) is "will this change my lifestyle at all?" I would think that $10k (plus tax) would not only put a dent in your finances, but is money you'll miss somewhere down the road where you could use it for something else, or better yet for savings for a rainy day.

The bottom line is that like someone who has never eaten certain foods (like people who are kosher and don't eat lobster or pork), you really won't know what you're missing with the Performance. For friends who have asked, I basically tell them that unless they truly have $10k to spare, it's not worth getting the Performance.

Think about it another way -- what's the difference between a mid-level and high end Mercedes or BMW? In other words, try driving a BMW 535 and a 550 and see if you notice a HUGE difference, and if that difference would actually make you want to spend the extra money for the 550. I realize it isn't exactly analogous, but unless you are a really serious driver who is going to really push the car to its limits, I suspect you will never, ever "miss" the added juice of the Perf car.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I agree with Arnold Panz -- $10k buys some nice vacations. The real kicker, though, is that I don't like how the seats in the Performance models look. The Alcantara seat inserts look odd to my eye, and the piping doesn't always work with exterior color (e.g. would you want black seats w/red piping on a green car?).

The only thing niggling at me about this decision are the universal reports that the Perf models had a smoother ride. Completely counter-intuitive -- sports-tuned suspension and 21" wheels should make for a harsher ride.

 

[mnx]

Maybe another way of looking at this is, how often do you floor the accelerator in your current car? If the answer is never or almost never, don't even consider the perf. If the answer is sometimes, or frequently then definitely consider it.

 

[Todd Burch]

Maybe another way of looking at this is, how often do you floor the accelerator in your current car? If the answer is never or almost never, don't even consider the perf. If the answer is sometimes, or frequently then definitely consider it.

Nice thoughts from all. Haven't made up my mind yet, but you're giving more things to think about, which is good.

I don't floor my current car for a few reasons:
-It's my wife's low-end automatic transmission Toyota Corolla. Nuff said.
-Transmission shift in that thing drives me crazy when I floor it.
-I don't like burning gasoline (but I'm ok with cleaner sources of energy, which feed my home).

However, when I took the test drive in the performance version, I was positively giddy when I floored it. Thus the dilemma...will the non-perf make me giddy?

Now I'm really kicking myself for not asking to ride in a non-perf at the Get Amped event!

 

[ckessel]

Now I'm really kicking myself for not asking to ride in a non-perf at the Get Amped event!

I absolutely need to test drive the non-perf before I finalize. I might be able to do that, Portland is supposed to get permanent cars in September.

 

[contaygious]

I still think it comes down to regret. We are talking about an 80k car or a 90k car. We are beyond the point of rationalizing the 80k car in this discussion so what's another 10k for those who can afford the 90k car? If it feels ok then get it. Avoid whichever direction you will regret more.

 

[dsm363]

Nice thoughts from all. Haven't made up my mind yet, but you're giving more things to think about, which is good.

However, when I took the test drive in the performance version, I was positively giddy when I floored it. Thus the dilemma...will the non-perf make me giddy?

Now I'm really kicking myself for not asking to ride in a non-perf at the Get Amped event!

Think you have your answer there. The acceleration never gets old so if it's a financial possibility get the performance I think.

 

[smorgasbord]

and the piping doesn't always work with exterior color (e.g. would you want black seats w/red piping on a green car?).

It's easy to get caught up in matching everything when in Design Studio. However, in real life the only time I was able to see both the seat piping and the exterior car color was when looking though an open back hatch. While it's nice to match well all around, my take is that it's not a big deal if the piping doesn't match. For me, the beige headliner is a bigger reason not to get the black interior since it clashes very visibly.

That said, you can get a Green Perf with tan interior and the piping color wouldn't clash. Here's a picture from Design Studio:

Note that they had to take the roof off to show up the exterior and interior colors together. Like I said earlier, it'll be rare to see both together at the same time.

 

[ckessel]

...so what's another 10k for those who can afford an 80k car?

It's $10,000 dollars. It's a large sum of money. Given expected TCO over a long lifetime, the $80k Model S is closer to a $60k ICE. So a more appropriate comparison is a +10k over a 60k car, which is a lot of money.

Then you also have folks where a non-trivial amount of money is paying for the car as a lump sum of savings not out of yearly income. Someone with $70k in savings making $75k a year is going to have a much different view of the $10k impact that someone with $0 savings making $250,000 a year.

 

[SCW-Greg]

Maybe another way of looking at this is, how often do you floor the accelerator in your current car? If the answer is never or almost never, don't even consider the perf. If the answer is sometimes, or frequently then definitely consider it.

Man, everybody's responses here are great, covered from all angles.

I would add/wonder is not how many times from a standing start are you going to want to push the pedal to the floor (for me very rarely - though I may be lead footed), but what would be the difference be when you're already in motion trying to get around traffic? Does the Performance model show it's kahunnas (significantly more than the non-perf) at 50mph - taking it to say 70mph?

 

[contaygious]

It's $10,000 dollars. It's a large sum of money. Given expected TCO over a long lifetime, the $80k Model S is closer to a $60k ICE. So a more appropriate comparison is a +10k over a 60k car, which is a lot of money.

Then you also have folks where a non-trivial amount of money is paying for the car as a lump sum of savings not out of yearly income. Someone with $70k in savings making $75k a year is going to have a much different view of the $10k impact that someone with $0 savings making $250,000 a year.

That's my point though. Sounds like you would regret spending the 10k so then its not worth it to you. For me there is more than enough to jusitfy the asking price for performance including accerlation, better interior quality/headliner/accents, spoiler, wheels and other options I was already purchasing anyway. But the value is still all relative.

 

[shokunin]

I'm a lead foot driver, so flooring it will not only put a grin on my face, but also negate any regrets of not getting the performance. I like what Elon said that you get performance without sacrificing other factors, there's no penalty in getting performance. If I wanted performance in any other sedan, the premium is about same, if not more, plus there's the penalty of going from a v6 to v8 or v10, gas mileage suffers for all city/highway driving. At least in the performance S you're only going to take a energy drain when you floor it.

 

[ckessel]

That's my point though. Sounds like you would regret spending the 10k so then its not worth it to you.

Well, that's getting pretty meta boiling it purely to the concept of regret. There's a school of thought that all decisions are emotional and that, as beings of free will, we only do what we really want to do.

 

[rcc]

Acceleration on the non-perf car felt really good. At least up to about 65 mph. This from someone who drives a BMW 330i on a regular basis. Usable acceleration under 65 mph seemed better than my 330i.

My only concern about non-perf acceleration is at >65 mph since I didn't get a chance to test that. I strongly suspect it's better than my current car but don't know for certain.

I am seriously considering the perf car though. The power in the Perf car seem to make that car cost-competitive (or even a bargain) with its competition from Day 1 even if I opt for the 19" wheels. I'm never going to spend that kind of money on a gas car so this is my one and only chance to get 911-class acceleration in my daily driver. It's expensive though .

That said, the handling is the real issue. If everyone's initial impressions of how the car handles holds up in a deeper look, from a handling perspective, purchase price of the Model S is a bargain or at least cost-competitive at every price point. Although the two best bargains to be had are probably the Perf car and the 40Kwh car.

 

[ChadS]

You want to shell out $10k for bragging rights?

Well, I did specify that getting perf was only for people that easily have the money to spare. A lot of them would indeed be happy to spend $10k they won't miss on bragging rights.

However, that wasn't my point. I don't want passengers to say "Wow, Chad got an awesome car". My point--why I used "doubters" rather than "friends"--was that I want my passengers to say "Holy *&%!, I had no idea what EVs are like; I want one!" In my experience, telling people how fast an EV can be does not do any good; you have to take them for a ride in a fast EV to convince them that EVs are something they would like to own. The more you blow them away viscerally, the more likely they are to take action and get themselves off petroleum.

That's part of the reason why I bought a Roadster. I didn't need a $100k sports car, and would never spend that on a gas car; but it sure has made a uniquely effective outreach tool. Plus getting a perf increases Tesla's margins (and increases future customer willingness to pay for the brand) and helps them get to the point where they can build cheaper cars so more people will be able to buy them. Clearly nobody needs a perf so nobody should stretch to get one; but if you won't miss the money, everybody wins when you get a perf.

 

[mnx]

I think the perf and non perf are about the same from 0-30mph (due to traction etc.) rolling accel from >30mph is where the perf shines.

Man, everybody's responses here are great, covered from all angles.

I would add/wonder is not how many times from a standing start are you going to want to push the pedal to the floor (for me very rarely - though I may be lead footed), but what would be the difference be when you're already in motion trying to get around traffic? Does the Performance model show it's kahunnas (significantly more than the non-perf) at 50mph - taking it to say 70mph?

 

[ckessel]

I think the perf and non perf are about the same from 0-30mph (due to traction etc.) rolling accel from >30mph is where the perf shines.

Somewhere I think I asked a question about the performance differences 0-30 and 30-60 because I wanted to know just that. I go 0-30 far more than 30-60 (lot of city traffic) so if the base model's 0-30 was nearly as good as the Perf model, then that'd settle the question for me right there. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone has that data yet.