Winter driving in a non D car

[AnitaToronto]

I'm totally fine on ice or snow with my winter tires as long as I'm not backing up a steep hill in my RWD. Too bad I do the backing up a steep hill everytime I get out of my garage. That is the only reason I'm thinking of getting a D.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

Well I'm on my second winter with the non-D. I can't find any issues with it or icy corners spelling trouble. The stability control never lets the rear end move much.
The one observation I have made though is that the regen does a better job slowing you down on ice than the brakes. I would imagine that a D car with all wheel regen braking would be even better. I have scared myself when transitioning to the brakes on ice as the anti-skid seems to be much more primitive and slow at cycling the brakes compared to the more precisely controlled regen deceleration.

Anyone with a D care to share their experiences on ice?

Second winter with my 85D and the "awful" Pirelli winter tires. We just had 3 days of ice in central Ontario. I live on a rural road - glare ice - charged through everything without a hitch. Note: I have had no issues with the Pirelli tires, even though most of the forum hates them. They have been good under every condition so far.

 

[Doug_G]

Back in December I had a P90D loaner with the awful Pirelli winter tires. They were just fine on the P90D. No problems at all. Personally I'd get real snow tires, but the Pirellis are adequate.

I used to have Pirellis on my P85. They sucked. Horribly. If the conditions were slippery I couldn't climb the slightest incline. I was constantly having to turn off TC in order to climb hills. I don't have that problem with XIce3; It is MUCH better.

My current loaner (for the last 3 weeks) has been a P85D with all seasons. It's just fine in the wet. It's kinda okay in snow but tends to understeer badly. It's absolutely horrible on ice - a couple of weeks ago I tried to slow with regen and hit some black ice, and the car immediately started to spin. I managed to catch it and get it straight again, but it would have been really bad if the oncoming traffic was closer. That's never happened to me with snow tires.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

Back in December I had a P90D loaner with the awful Pirelli winter tires. They were just fine on the P90D. No problems at all. Personally I'd get real snow tires, but the Pirellis are adequate.

...You made me laugh, Doug. I knew I'd get this reaction....
I ordered my 85D when you could package the wheels/tires into a lease. After reading your blog Cold Weather Driving (an excellent blog BTW), and reading posts from @mknox , and @Jgdixon , I was petrified that I had terrible tires, and would be running out to get Michelin x-ice or Nokians......Perhaps they changed the compound, or tread pattern, or both, but they have been "decent" tires, and I live in a hilly, snowy area. The AWD helps, but the tires do make the difference.

Thanks for the chuckle.

 

[Doug_G]

Glad that amused you. It's entirely possible that Tesla is now using a better Pirelli tire, but the AWD would fix the hill climbing problem for sure. In any case, I had no complaints about them on the P90D

 

[cwave1]

What did that cost you in terms of difference in CPO vs trade in? My trade in quote is horribly low.

They gave me about $55K for my 2013 S85. I thought it was low but with the tax savings it covered my loan buyout so I went for it. The CPO was around $100K but it is much more loaded than my previous car and obviously much newer and now I'm in a new 4 year warranty as well.

Just got the new vehicle delivered this past Thursday and couldn't be happier. The 'D' is massively different than the RWD car for grip in all circumstances and don't let anyone tell you differently. I also can't list the amount of small items that are fixed or are much better in quality than my 2013 car. I'm definitely a happy customer and will likely keep this one for a long while.