I agree that there was a failure to communicate adequately about this ahead of purchases, but I also agree with one of the above posts that said if the absence of track mode was a dealbreaker for you from the start, the only way to guarantee it was to go P3D+. Every thing else was some degree of a gamble.
No manufacturer can account for the stupid things people will do to vehicles. As an example I point to the whole “stance” scene. That’s often just suspension, wheels and tires and they absolutely ruin otherwise capable cars.
For the 1% of folks that every push a car beyond 80% of its capability, if you want a new car with decent track capabilities and a warranty, the market says you have to pay for that convenience. That’s not limited to Tesla. Look at every other oem that offers a track package (example the 1LE package for $7500 on top of the base price of a ZL1 Camaro, or even things like sport chrono packages & ceramic brakes on Porsches).
When I ordered my 3 that was the discussion in my house. “What version are you not going to have to mess with to get it on the track?” $5k didn’t strike me as unreasonable to have the OEM performance package. A reasonably well engineered aftermarket brake package for my BMW would be $5k alone. And I do plan to add a set of lighter weight wheels and stickier tires for the track.
Many underestimate how easy it is to screw up balance and handling with a single poor choice when picking wheels, tires, springs, damping rates, etc., so while aftermarket is often less expensive, it takes a lot of knowledge by vehicle owners and engineering by the aftermarket companies to get it right.
There’s a reason that, in general, aftermarket performance mods do nothing to increase the value of a car and in many cases reduce the resale value. Nobody knows how well it was engineered or installed, and it adds risk.
After throwing tens of thousands of dollars into modifying a few other vehicles for track use, I’m now a believer that just buying the track version from the beginning has the lowest lifecycle cost, lowest effort, and results in the safest vehicle.
