There's a good deal to be pleased about with Tesla's new vehicle and option lineup. Many original P85 owners had been scratching their heads when looking at the options for a Model S replacement. When the D series cars came out last fall, Tesla eliminated the P85 and thereby created a performance gap in their product line. There were essentially two choices for P85 owners looking to upgrade to a newer car with Autopilot and other new capabilities:
• Trade up to a P85D, a model which cost $20K more than the P85, and take a ~$25K hit on resale of your P85.
• Trade down to a 85D, with a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds vs. 4.2 for the original P85. Or, trade to a RWD 85 with a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds.
When faced with this choice, many P85 owners said they would likely replace their P85 with another used P85 if their car was damaged beyond repair.
With this week's product revamp, Tesla has increased the performance of the 85D to 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. This puts it in the same league as the P85, plus it has All Wheel Drive. The price for a fully loaded 85D is only $5K more than a fully loaded P85 was in 2013. That's more like it. Some of us would still like to see the return of the P85, but at least there's a model with similar performance at a similar price.
Tesla has also reworked and simplified the options. For one thing, they bundled the LED Interior Accent Lighting with the Premium Package. Previously, the LED Interior Accent Lighting had been bundled with a deluxe leather interior option that few people wanted. In fact, that deluxe leather option has been eliminated. (Leather seats are still available, of course.)
There are also several new paint colors—two of which are actual colors, not further iterations of black. The new Warm Silver is quite stunning.
There is no mention on Tesla's web site about the suspension used in the various models. Previously, the P85D was said to have a "more advanced" suspension than the other models. Now I wonder if that is still the case. For assembly line efficiency, it would certainly make sense to standardize the suspension parts—leaving only the choice between standard and air suspension.
Overall, I think Tesla is to be commended for these recent changes. The vehicle lineup now covers all the bases.
• Trade up to a P85D, a model which cost $20K more than the P85, and take a ~$25K hit on resale of your P85.
• Trade down to a 85D, with a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds vs. 4.2 for the original P85. Or, trade to a RWD 85 with a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds.
When faced with this choice, many P85 owners said they would likely replace their P85 with another used P85 if their car was damaged beyond repair.
With this week's product revamp, Tesla has increased the performance of the 85D to 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. This puts it in the same league as the P85, plus it has All Wheel Drive. The price for a fully loaded 85D is only $5K more than a fully loaded P85 was in 2013. That's more like it. Some of us would still like to see the return of the P85, but at least there's a model with similar performance at a similar price.
Tesla has also reworked and simplified the options. For one thing, they bundled the LED Interior Accent Lighting with the Premium Package. Previously, the LED Interior Accent Lighting had been bundled with a deluxe leather interior option that few people wanted. In fact, that deluxe leather option has been eliminated. (Leather seats are still available, of course.)
There are also several new paint colors—two of which are actual colors, not further iterations of black. The new Warm Silver is quite stunning.
There is no mention on Tesla's web site about the suspension used in the various models. Previously, the P85D was said to have a "more advanced" suspension than the other models. Now I wonder if that is still the case. For assembly line efficiency, it would certainly make sense to standardize the suspension parts—leaving only the choice between standard and air suspension.
Overall, I think Tesla is to be commended for these recent changes. The vehicle lineup now covers all the bases.
