All,
Been using heavy doses of TMC as therapy to get thru the long wait while my car was built and shipped. I feel like I owe a good write-up as my contribution back. So here goes. Note: Took delivery on Monday August 17.
If it matters my most recent car (traded on the MS) was a 2013 535i with a Stage One Dinan ECU upgrade. That car makes something like 360 bHP and 390 lb-ft
Delivery Experience:
The delivery experience was good. The DS was patient and willing to spend as much time with me as needed. I’m a terrible addict when it comes to cars (I’m 43 yrs old and have owned more than 45 cars). I’ve never sat thru the delivery process and always just asked for the keys. In this case an hour and a half passed before I realized. Even if you think you can figure it all out on your own – set some time aside for the delivery process. It was fun and informative
The car was extremely clean inside and okay (not great) on the outside. I didn’t make a fuss in part because it was raining yesterday in Nashville. I checked it over carefully for paint issues and found none
I didn’t get any swag which was kind of a bummer. They did give me some nice leather key covers with rings on them. Probably standard and I like them
side notes:
Initial Issues:
Just one minor issue on the driver’s seat – the front edge of the next gen leather isn’t properly attached. It’s a big plastic clip that needs to be stretched over a bar under the seat. Not a huge deal. Will get it fixed at some point
Charging:
Very simple. I was pleased that the NEMA 14-50 in my garage worked. It was included with the build of my home (in anticipation of a Model S at some point) and I had no good way to test it. No reason to think it wouldn’t work, just it would be my luck to bring home the car and find I couldn’t charge it
I did have one issue in the early evening day one (6:30 pm) where the car dropped to 30amps. It said there was a charging issue. I removed the plug, put it back in, bumped it back to 40amps and it’s worked fine since. I’m guessing that was a peak usage time both for the neighborhood and my own home and the car didn’t like that.
I notice that the power fluctuates a bit. Amps blips between 39 and 40 and volts ranges from 236-240 but is usually either 238 or 239. I’m trying not to concern myself with this as I have no experience with Tesla, no knowledge of electricity and no engineering degree. Still I watch it because I can’t get myself not to watch it
Range:
See below where I talk about power and handling, but I’ll never get anywhere close to the rated range. It’s too early to know what I will actually get but my bet is something like 180 miles. That’s totally fine by me because I’ll rarely (if ever) take a road trip in the car. It’s for commuting to work and having fun in Nashville. My guess is that it will seldom drop below 50% charge
Power:
A lot of talk on the boards these days is about Ludicrous Mode (and I’m likely to get it too) but the P85D has a lot of guts. I’m not longing for more power. Off the line it is crazy, passing power is very strong and the power is instant which makes accelerating out of curves great. However, I can see what people mean about the passing power. While it’s very strong in comparison to the 0-30 power it’s simply above average to very good. I think the issue is the 0-30 power is just so crazy that the rest of it humbles in comparison. Unless you are buying the car purely as a hotrod I highly doubt you will be disappointed with the power
I’m a Porsche guy and the power of the P85D is most similar to my 997TT. The TT pulled endlessly which was very cool but somewhat useless in daily applications – you could be going 120 by the time you entered a highway off a long on ramp. Both the TT and the P85D share a trait – they are very civilized if you treat them gently – that’s a huge value to me. The P85D is a nice car to cruise around in and enjoy yourself. There no effort required but if you want to apply effort to it and have a little extra fun, it’s there for you
Handling (note: I have the coil suspension)
As I mentioned I am a Porsche guy and my favorites for handling were my 2004 996 GT3 and my 2010 Cayman S. The GT3 of course required a lot more care when driving but you could get a whole heck of a lot out of it – especially that model because it had reduced nannie systems compared to other 911s.
The P85D handles nothing like those cars. Nor would you expect it to. I’d have to look it up but it might be almost 2K heavier than the GT3. It drives heavy and solid. Glued to the road and impossible to get rear end movement to the limits I’ve taken it so far. It overcomes this somewhat cumbersome feel with the power it applies instantaneously as you are coming out of turns.
It’s a GT not a sports car IMHO. It has a great blend of stability, smoothness, power and control. It’s not a race car. It’s a very capable high performance luxury sedan that has nice weight distribution/AWD neutral handling
For my money a perfect combo would be the Tesla and a GT3. That is a ying/yang pairing. So now I have to hit the lottery and convince my wife I need a GT3 on top of the Tesla (not likely in the near term)
Things I like
Things I don’t like (and I’m nitpicking and digging deep here)
Other:
Final thoughts: It’s a great car. I can’t see how it would ever become boring. If that’s true, it’s pretty special. I’d be curious to drive an 85D. I wonder if the extra power of the P85D is worth the cash for most people. I’m glad I got it because I wanted no regrets or lingering questions but it might be a waste of money. But that’s easy to say when I have it of course
Oh and still waiting for my first Tesla moment. No one has asked me anything about the car. Maybe Nashville is so behind the curve that everyone just thinks it’s a Toyota Avalon
Thanks for reading,
Tim
Been using heavy doses of TMC as therapy to get thru the long wait while my car was built and shipped. I feel like I owe a good write-up as my contribution back. So here goes. Note: Took delivery on Monday August 17.
If it matters my most recent car (traded on the MS) was a 2013 535i with a Stage One Dinan ECU upgrade. That car makes something like 360 bHP and 390 lb-ft
Delivery Experience:
The delivery experience was good. The DS was patient and willing to spend as much time with me as needed. I’m a terrible addict when it comes to cars (I’m 43 yrs old and have owned more than 45 cars). I’ve never sat thru the delivery process and always just asked for the keys. In this case an hour and a half passed before I realized. Even if you think you can figure it all out on your own – set some time aside for the delivery process. It was fun and informative
The car was extremely clean inside and okay (not great) on the outside. I didn’t make a fuss in part because it was raining yesterday in Nashville. I checked it over carefully for paint issues and found none
I didn’t get any swag which was kind of a bummer. They did give me some nice leather key covers with rings on them. Probably standard and I like them
side notes:
- Product Specialist at the Nashville SC said there have only been two (including mine) deliveries in the last four weeks
- They know nothing about timing on either 7.0 (of course) or Ludicrous upgrade. And only about 5 or 6 people have asked to be on the upgrade list. I’m apparently near the top of the list because I called to discuss cancelling the P85D order in order to get a P90D right after the announcement. They explained the upgrade option and put me on the list at that time
Initial Issues:
Just one minor issue on the driver’s seat – the front edge of the next gen leather isn’t properly attached. It’s a big plastic clip that needs to be stretched over a bar under the seat. Not a huge deal. Will get it fixed at some point
Charging:
Very simple. I was pleased that the NEMA 14-50 in my garage worked. It was included with the build of my home (in anticipation of a Model S at some point) and I had no good way to test it. No reason to think it wouldn’t work, just it would be my luck to bring home the car and find I couldn’t charge it
I did have one issue in the early evening day one (6:30 pm) where the car dropped to 30amps. It said there was a charging issue. I removed the plug, put it back in, bumped it back to 40amps and it’s worked fine since. I’m guessing that was a peak usage time both for the neighborhood and my own home and the car didn’t like that.
I notice that the power fluctuates a bit. Amps blips between 39 and 40 and volts ranges from 236-240 but is usually either 238 or 239. I’m trying not to concern myself with this as I have no experience with Tesla, no knowledge of electricity and no engineering degree. Still I watch it because I can’t get myself not to watch it
Range:
See below where I talk about power and handling, but I’ll never get anywhere close to the rated range. It’s too early to know what I will actually get but my bet is something like 180 miles. That’s totally fine by me because I’ll rarely (if ever) take a road trip in the car. It’s for commuting to work and having fun in Nashville. My guess is that it will seldom drop below 50% charge
Power:
A lot of talk on the boards these days is about Ludicrous Mode (and I’m likely to get it too) but the P85D has a lot of guts. I’m not longing for more power. Off the line it is crazy, passing power is very strong and the power is instant which makes accelerating out of curves great. However, I can see what people mean about the passing power. While it’s very strong in comparison to the 0-30 power it’s simply above average to very good. I think the issue is the 0-30 power is just so crazy that the rest of it humbles in comparison. Unless you are buying the car purely as a hotrod I highly doubt you will be disappointed with the power
I’m a Porsche guy and the power of the P85D is most similar to my 997TT. The TT pulled endlessly which was very cool but somewhat useless in daily applications – you could be going 120 by the time you entered a highway off a long on ramp. Both the TT and the P85D share a trait – they are very civilized if you treat them gently – that’s a huge value to me. The P85D is a nice car to cruise around in and enjoy yourself. There no effort required but if you want to apply effort to it and have a little extra fun, it’s there for you
Handling (note: I have the coil suspension)
As I mentioned I am a Porsche guy and my favorites for handling were my 2004 996 GT3 and my 2010 Cayman S. The GT3 of course required a lot more care when driving but you could get a whole heck of a lot out of it – especially that model because it had reduced nannie systems compared to other 911s.
The P85D handles nothing like those cars. Nor would you expect it to. I’d have to look it up but it might be almost 2K heavier than the GT3. It drives heavy and solid. Glued to the road and impossible to get rear end movement to the limits I’ve taken it so far. It overcomes this somewhat cumbersome feel with the power it applies instantaneously as you are coming out of turns.
It’s a GT not a sports car IMHO. It has a great blend of stability, smoothness, power and control. It’s not a race car. It’s a very capable high performance luxury sedan that has nice weight distribution/AWD neutral handling
For my money a perfect combo would be the Tesla and a GT3. That is a ying/yang pairing. So now I have to hit the lottery and convince my wife I need a GT3 on top of the Tesla (not likely in the near term)
Things I like
- TACC – Normally I don’t like cruise control. I find myself fiddling with it and accidentally turning it off more than I am benefiting from it. TACC is something totally different. It changes the way I drive. I use it primarily in stop and go traffic on secondary roads. It’s fantastic for that. Makes it stress free to drive home from work in the evening. Lane Keeping will be great but I have no complaints about Auto Pilot for now although I suspect if I had paid for it months ago I’d be itchy to get the full feature set
- Home Charging – It’s obvious but home charging is so great. Always a full battery and no more discovering you blew off the gas station the day before and are now running late because of an early meeting
- Pre-cooling – It’s just awesome to get in to a nice cool car. I also like knowing that I am using the house electricity to cool the car. Not sure why I care about that since I plug it in daily, but I like it
- Precise front parking warning – Giving the distance to the curb in inches is just smart. Every car should have this
Things I don’t like (and I’m nitpicking and digging deep here)
- Guilt – I feel like I’m wasting power when I drive the car hard. Somehow it’s made me more conscious of this. I bought the car for performance, comfort and technology. Now I feel environmental guilt. This is a good thing of course and I’m going to mash the accelerator occasionally but not always!!
- Audio – It’s weak for sure. I couldn’t justify the UHFS because historically all I listen to in the car is podcasts. But . . .for some reason the car has me listening to music all the time. I’ve never used Slacker but it’s good and works well with the voice control. Kind of wish I’d sprung for the UHFS
- Size – It’s big. I could go for it being a few inches shorter and narrower. I’d rather it was 5-series sized not 7-series sized
Other:
- Visible Tesla – Visible Tesla is huge for me. Technology was a major factor in buying the MS. I co-own a software company and I’m a tech nerd. Visible Tesla lets me play with my car any time I want. I keep it running in one of my monitors so I can see status and precool whenever I want. Thanks to Joe for writing the app
- Opticoat – I have a separate post on this. Wanted an enduring shine w/o a ton of work. Time will tell
- Formula One Pinnacle Tint – getting applied on Monday. I will post picture before and after in the same location at same time of day
Final thoughts: It’s a great car. I can’t see how it would ever become boring. If that’s true, it’s pretty special. I’d be curious to drive an 85D. I wonder if the extra power of the P85D is worth the cash for most people. I’m glad I got it because I wanted no regrets or lingering questions but it might be a waste of money. But that’s easy to say when I have it of course
Oh and still waiting for my first Tesla moment. No one has asked me anything about the car. Maybe Nashville is so behind the curve that everyone just thinks it’s a Toyota Avalon
Thanks for reading,
Tim
