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Worth buying an M3P at this point?
- Thread starter BMWY
- Start date
Fellow tristate area person.... I wouldn't get a performance, for one main reason: the low profile tires.
The potholes where we are kill rims. No matter how careful you try to be, you'll eventually smack into a good bump on a highway (from a pothole repair), or a pothole. Some potholes are so large, they're unavoidable when you're in traffic on the highway.
My rims on my prior car never lasted more than 30k miles due to the low-profile tires.
I went for a long range with aero tires for that reason...
Yes, but I was trying to keep it easy for the simpletons who don't understand the geometry and physics of bike launches.
I also raced for about 2 decades before crashing and almost losing my leg back in 2011. Now I can't ride because if I hit it again the wrong way, they may not be able to reattach the hardware and have to amputate it.
There's a dude that has rigged up a camera system on his tesla that triggers the throttle on the tree and he cuts a perfect triple .000 every single launch.
I ended up with with a 3 performance for the $ to performance ratio. If the bmw M3 leased like it did in 2018-2019 then I would have skipped the Tesla. But they weren’t so I tried out the 3performnce.
I’m glad I did.
It’s a great car/daily driver. I don’t see an ICE car matching it dollar for dollar until Musk makes the MSRP absurd.
It’s a great daily driver. Has good torque at all “reasonable” speeds. It can hide it weight moderately well in the corners.
It’s not too big in foot print to make parking easy. Can seat 4. And has a decent trunk. I don’t have to take ramps at weird angles.
My only cons are
Steering Feed back/corner entry speed doesn’t match similar ICE cars for me. But the exit acceleration is impressive.
I’m still keeping ICE around for fun. But my daily will always be at least a dual motor electric.
I’m glad I did.
It’s a great car/daily driver. I don’t see an ICE car matching it dollar for dollar until Musk makes the MSRP absurd.
It’s a great daily driver. Has good torque at all “reasonable” speeds. It can hide it weight moderately well in the corners.
It’s not too big in foot print to make parking easy. Can seat 4. And has a decent trunk. I don’t have to take ramps at weird angles.
My only cons are
Steering Feed back/corner entry speed doesn’t match similar ICE cars for me. But the exit acceleration is impressive.
I’m still keeping ICE around for fun. But my daily will always be at least a dual motor electric.
I think that the line between the performance and the "boosted long range" is too thin (especially if the rumors are true that they will be able to use track mode too) and it would be wise for testa to separate a little bit more the 2 products. BUT.... Making the M3 performance too fast, will be in the territory of the model S.. And again the too similar...
People usually do this with ICE cars... Let's say i buy a Audi S4, tune it and i have the same power of a RS4. But if you buy a RS4 and tune it, even more power, you maintain a "distance" between the 2 models. But in this case you cannot tune the Performance to have more power... So i kinda agree that the MP3 is not worth buying (even though i bought one
)
People usually do this with ICE cars... Let's say i buy a Audi S4, tune it and i have the same power of a RS4. But if you buy a RS4 and tune it, even more power, you maintain a "distance" between the 2 models. But in this case you cannot tune the Performance to have more power... So i kinda agree that the MP3 is not worth buying (even though i bought one
)Impressive mod, and you'll win for sure, but where is the fun in that? I can see it now, they'll call the next FSD parlor trick "drag strip mode" then people can just sit in the stands and watch Tesla run perfect 1/4 mile runs time after time then collect their prize at the end of the night... LOL.
This is a great point about launches. I have a friend that has a CBR1000RR and while on paper it may be slightly faster than my car 0-60 there is no way in hell he is launching like that at a stoplight on a city street... especially with other vehicles around him. It is sketchy for one and hard to be consistent on top of that.
Consistent launches are huge any of the fast ICE cars you see, especially rear wheel drive cars like a Hellcat, Camaro ZL1, Mustang GT500. Technically they are all sub 4sec 0-60 cars but the odds that anyone can consistently launch well enough to run that fast at a stoplight is highly unlikely. That said, all 3 of those cars I mentioned will walk me down above ~100mph at the drag strip and can run for hours on the road course while my M3P will overheat the battery and kill the brakes after a few laps. So there definitely are some downsides if you are actually in to motorsports and not just wanting a fun daily driver.
What I am excited about is my buddy in Florida won this dealer "lottery" to have the rights to a C8 Z06. If the supply chain allows it, he is supposed to take delivery this summer. That car might actually give me some trouble from a stop I will have to be sure my SOC is at least 80% when we test it out. If he does beat me I'll make myself feel better by saying that my car costs a lot less, can seat 4 comfortably, and still only costs me $9 to go 300 miles... but damn that C8 looks sweet part of me will be jealous for sure.
Rodney!
Looking for a hot receptacle
as a fellow new yorker, i agree with your statement. BUT, i ordered a M3P anyway... Going to swap out the wheels to 18's shortly after delivery.
This is like saying, “I will never buy a flying car because the only color they come in is white”.
You do realize you can swap out the wheels/tires, right? I did it they say after I took delivery. In my garage. With my son.
BigNick
Infamous Fat Sweaty Guy
I simultaneously admire the engineering and consider it cheating.
Last year I posted about having 6 people in my MY with boost. We ran a fairly modified late model Mustang. We ran a couple times up to 70 mph from a stop. All I can say is every time we beat him convincingly with SIX people in the car, 5 of them adults and a heavy car seat.
His reaction was priceless when we rolled up to the next light after a few runs. He rolled down his window and said "Those Teslas are no joke." I then rolled down all the windows and showed them everyone in the car. His face just dropped and he shook his head. I ran into him just a few weeks ago when I was back in town since we moved.
Apparently he is running about high 10's, low 11's at the track pretty consistently. So I am pretty sure if after 70 he would have ran us down but to 70 on the street it was game over every time. We didn't even have full SoC, maybe about 70% but that doesn't impact the 0-60 times as much as it does the 1/4.
So if a "slow" 7 seat Model Y with 6 people can smoke a fairly quick Mustang, a M3 LR easily will. Add in boost and even more. Honestly the performance version isn't even necessary to take out most cars on the street if that is your thing. As has been mentioned, there is no where to go up from that the P. At least if you buy the LR and it isn't fast enough (though likely would be for about 95% of the drivers) you can still add boost later. It was a great idea on Tesla's part. I can honestly say in almost all my drive with the boosted Y, I never found it lacking for power. Sure, I am an adrenalin junkie and like acceleration but in normal traffic situations it always had more than enough to get the job done even towing.
That says it all. You only need the Performance version if you have to have the fastest one and it'll really bother you to know that you don't... otherwise even a regular Dual Motor is more than enough to smoke just about anything on the road from stoplight to stoplight.
Birdsfan
Member
Double check your numbers. I have the 2021 M3P and when I researched winter tires I was only able to downsize to 19". I do not believe 18" will fit on that car.as a fellow new yorker, i agree with your statement. BUT, i ordered a M3P anyway... Going to swap out the wheels to 18's shortly after delivery.
Rodney!
Looking for a hot receptacle
NOPE, you are incorrect.
There are lots and lots and lots of 18" wheels available for the Performance 3...
Maybe it's time for a plaid.This is a great point about launches. I have a friend that has a CBR1000RR and while on paper it may be slightly faster than my car 0-60 there is no way in hell he is launching like that at a stoplight on a city street... especially with other vehicles around him. It is sketchy for one and hard to be consistent on top of that.
Consistent launches are huge any of the fast ICE cars you see, especially rear wheel drive cars like a Hellcat, Camaro ZL1, Mustang GT500. Technically they are all sub 4sec 0-60 cars but the odds that anyone can consistently launch well enough to run that fast at a stoplight is highly unlikely. That said, all 3 of those cars I mentioned will walk me down above ~100mph at the drag strip and can run for hours on the road course while my M3P will overheat the battery and kill the brakes after a few laps. So there definitely are some downsides if you are actually in to motorsports and not just wanting a fun daily driver.
What I am excited about is my buddy in Florida won this dealer "lottery" to have the rights to a C8 Z06. If the supply chain allows it, he is supposed to take delivery this summer. That car might actually give me some trouble from a stop I will have to be sure my SOC is at least 80% when we test it out. If he does beat me I'll make myself feel better by saying that my car costs a lot less, can seat 4 comfortably, and still only costs me $9 to go 300 miles... but damn that C8 looks sweet part of me will be jealous for sure.
@Birdsfan Many aftermarket 18" wheels fit. I have 18x8.5" wheels on my 2021 M3P that were made specifically for this car, with the stock offset and machined to mount directly on the "stepped lip" of the PUP brakes/hub. (No spacers or centering rings needed.)
Titan 7 center cap alternative
The 56mm OEM and after market center caps are 1mm too small and slightly different than the Titan 7 center caps...
teslamotorsclub.com
I'm sure even 19s are a nice functional upgrade from the OE Uberturbines! Nothing wrong with going with 19s for most. My regular driving takes me on lots of torn up roads, rutted gravel driveways, etc. So I'm glad for the extra cushion from 18s, plus tires+wheels are that much cheaper. But if the roads I drove on were better maintained I might have gone with 19s myself.
I'll also note that with 100% stock suspension+bushings I didn't lose any steering responsiveness at all that I can detect in street driving, even on very fast paced twisty back road runs. The stock M3P steering response delay is still there in my car but it didn't get any worse. I think that really comes down to the tires. When you make the sidewall taller it really helps to pick a good performance tire with stiff sidewalls (if that's your goal).
(Yes I'm sure a car setup mostly for racetrack use with lots of spherical bearings, stiff mounts, track-focused suspension, etc would expose sidewall flex nuances that get hidden by my stock M3P's squishyness. Or if you put on non-performance tires with tall sidewalls they'll absolutely feel extra mushy, even on on a stock Tesla. I can say that from experience too.)
I have 18" winter tires on my M3P. There are rims that do fit. Mine are Replika R241s. You just have to do the research.
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Well, my mentality is that if I'm spending that much money on a car, I shouldn't automatically have to flip out several more grand to change the wheels.
I don't like buying things twice when they're pricey.
as a fellow new yorker, i agree with your statement. BUT, i ordered a M3P anyway... Going to swap out the wheels to 18's shortly after delivery.
Yep. I get it. The belt parkway destroyed my former car's wheels several times. I frankly hope to never ever buy a set of rims again. That ship sailed for me.
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