Tomorrow makes the begining of week 3 and I've noticed a few things - figured I'd share.
I sold my 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 AWD Cabrio two days before delivery of the M3P -very fortutuious when it came to paying for it. Delivery was a pita and Ive told that story elsewhere but its all ok now. 'Blue' is a blue 2023 performance with the white/black partial premium interior - certainly the prettiest car I have ever owned - I've had it on canyon roads, city streets and empty stretches of freeway - it snowed here in Tucson the morning of delivery and it was 80F yesterday and today - so the weather has been varied - without precip though, so wet traction is a future development.
Vehicle came wth Pirelli Z4's - which are a really good tires - this is also the first vehicle I bought new that didn't need to go to the tire store for a trade up from OEM tires.
You might see a lot comparisons here to my 911 - that makes sense - they are honest comparable vehicles off an autocross or a track. My 911 was a base model convertible 4 - the Porsche AWD version that was usually 80/20 R/F power - thus - it had 325hp and weighed about 3500# with me, fuel and the usual junk we carry around. 0-60 was about 5 seconds - and the 50-70 was all trying to get the thing wound up to put the power to the ground. It handled like, well, 911, with the usual caveat that when you pushed it the stability and traction control kept the rear end facing backwards - which is always a good thing - but it does take a few tenths off canyon road times. The convertible and the weight of the AWD system do subtract a little bit from the base car acceleration but the surefootedness of the AWD system in tight accelerating turns more than made up for the marginal loss of acceleration. The 911 also required premium fuel, and got 17-18mpg when driven aggressively and 25mpg at 80 on the highway. Yes - I was known to exceed the speed limit.
I've charged it with a Tesla wall charger, a mobile connector - and at the local supercharger when I having dinner - basically to make sure they all worked. And they did.
Blue was pristine when I picked her up. The panels had uniform gaps across the car, and the paint had very low levels of orange peel - there was a little - but I imagine if I'd bought one of the silver cars I would not have seen any. That deep Blue is a color that shows the slightest amount orange peel I've noticed over the years. From 3 feet away the paint is pefect, and that deep blue is gorgeous. The interior had no scuffs, dings or damage and the underside looked pristine also - not a scratch or bump. 3 miles were on the Odo.
Setting up the seat and steering wheel like I was back in the 911. Slight recline, steering wheel in my lap, below the level of where the gauges normally would be. Having it save it a nice touch - my 911 also had a seat settings save. Great idea from this crew is the 'Guest' setting so I can put it on guest when I drop it off for a Valet to stop them from changing my settings.
This car is a rocket. Acceleration makes me laugh. The 911 made me work for it. Shifting gears, staying in the right rpm range, certainly thats part of the fun of driving a sports car but the 911 still is not an EV; you need to work for it. Without even making much effort or any fuss you're at 70mpm in 5 seconds. The power comes on linearly and strong - if you have a Model 3 single motor or even a dual motor long range - its not the same. The 911 did a 5 second 0-60, flat out, making lots of noise burning dead dinojuice. The M3DMLR does a 4.9/5 second 0-60 - so they're comparable in straight line acceleration. 5 seconds to 70 is completely different experience.
Consider for a moment Power to Weight Ratio - the 911 with the base motor has a Power to Weight between 0.092hp/lb. The 2023M3P has 475hp and weighs 4500# or so with me in it along with the charger kit, a tire kit, etc That power to weight is 0.10555 - or 15% more power per pound and its noticeable.
The difference between the base models and the Performance lies in handling. The M3P handles very much like my 911. The M3P has the weight low - the center of mass feels like it is on the floor of the M3P - center of mass of the 911 is in the seat - its subtle but you can feel it when you're pushing it. The liimits of the car become noticeable when the electronics start kicking in. In the 911 you can feel the ass trying to get out in front of the car in certain situations - in the M3P that's not what you feel near the limits. You start to feel the tires sliding a little - which the stability control brings right back into limits - which is why there is a track mode so you can reduce that effect. You turn that off in a 911 and unless you're REALLY experienced at it you'll be looking back where you can from pretty quickly.
But - over all - the lower center of gravity and the big wide tires keep the vehicle in the turn. I was getting off I-10 near Picacho Peak into I-8 and the lanes narrow and there are always semis and minivans in the lanes blocking you. You could weave in and out at 100+ with absolute control and you're not getting people flipping you off like you get in a 911 becase NOBODY expects a Tesla to have that capability.
That experience brings me to the only truly negative part of this review. The brakes. They're soft. They work great- but they're soft. Very soft feel. Even with everything set to Sport the brakes somehow lost the message from Elon. I HATE soft brakes- they're not spongy - which would be really bd - but they're soft. You really have to tromp on them to get them to give you what you want - which means they're not well modulated. In the 911 you had absolutely control of the brakes - you could feather them easily and add just the right amount of braking while beginning the process of adding power back in because of throttle lag. An EV has no throttle lag and the stupid car talks at you if you're pressing both throttle and brake so you have to learn how to drive all over again - and when pressing the issue you have to have good reflexes in getting the brake released and the accelerator pressed.
See a light start turning yellow? PUNCH IT and you've made the light. Get in a wrong lane at a light? Hit it out of the gate and nobody except another EV can possibly get ahead of you at that light. The M3P is simply a blast to drive. You can drive it hard - or - you can drive it like your father in a 65 Caddy - the difference between my 911 and the M3P is I can bring 2 more people with me and scare the crap out of them too! In addition to my friends or my wife! The M3P is prob the sportiest car under $70k available today. Prob under $150k
The only TRULY SCARY thing I have noticed with the automation is the cruise control. We have areas near us that have a mile between lights. You crank it to 55, set the cruise and the damn car will basically drive into the rear end of the car stopped at the light. The Traffic Aware Cruise is great with other vehicles around you, or on the highway but on a controlled access road with stop lights - its downright dangerous. I would not normally use cruise control in those situations with an ICE car, but the instructions tell you that in these situations you should use it. I was inside 200 yards from a stopped vehicle in front of me at a light and the cruise control made ZERO effort to start slowing down. It was playing a little bit more chicken that I felt comfortable with. It would not slow down until within a couple hundred feet - sure - the regen and brakes would easily stop it inside 100 feet but it scared the crap out of me.
Charging has been good - I've averaged 279w/mi so far - and thats included some pretty spirited driving - and a LOT of local stop and go granny regen. I've mastered single pedal driving and convinced my wife to take her Model S off creep and put it in hold, I imagine my brakes will last 80,000 miles at this rate - remember that the 911 brakes are expensive and don't last that long because you use them ALL THE TIME!!
My 911 cost about 20 cents a mile for premium gas at current prices. My M3P at home costs 3 cents a miles at home charging. Insurance is about a wash - I'm not comiing from a Lexus or Benz even - and maintenance and repairs are put off for 4 years now except for those very expensive tires. Hopefully we will see cheaper repair and maintenance options other than Tesla showing up in the next 4 years as EV just explodes. My 911 wwas going to need brakes, tires, shocks, oil changes, tranny fluid maintenance, and probably shortly a repaired starter. I figured that all in would have been close to $10k. Making the M3P free essentially.
Questions?
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) In normal driving mode the Traction Control straight up refuses to let you really power out of a turn, until the steering wheel and car are pointed basically straight. When not in Track Mode it's actually pretty frustrating at times. I wasn't used to sporty cars that limit power. Even my old Model S P85 - which is not sporty - allows for more power coming out of a turn. And the P85 is RWD so it'll swing the back out easier than the M3P.
