P90D

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Discussion

gregf40

Original Poster:

1,114 posts

115 months

Wednesday 19th August 2015
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I've been watching Tesla with much interest for some time and think I'm finally going to take the plunge!

Does anyone have any experience with the P85D? Would you recommend it?

I have several cars and would use the Tesla around London mainly and maybe occasionally to go further a field.

I'm assuming the acceleration is addictive (it certainly is in my GTR) but are there any negatives to the car someone who hasn't owned an electric car before should be aware of?

Cheers in advance!

Carparticus

1,038 posts

201 months

Wednesday 19th August 2015
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gregf40 said:

Does anyone have any experience with the P85D? Would you recommend it?

I'm assuming the acceleration is addictive (it certainly is in my GTR) but are there any negatives to the car someone who hasn't owned an electric car before should be aware of?
I've done around 30k in a Tesla Roadster, 10k in a Model S P85+ and driven a P85D many times. I've also had fun with a GTR, albeit not mine.

Given your car history, I can only suggest you call Tesla West Drayton and book a P85D test drive. You might come away very surprised. I think you'll have your eyes well and truly opened as to what the future holds. All the negatives you may have read from haters and naysayers will evaporate pretty quickly.

The P85Ds acceleration isn't called 'Insane' without due reason. It is instant, linear, noiseless, intense, enjoyably painful, amazing, and highly addictive. It generates strange sensations on internal organs that I've not felt in any ICE car and I honestly believe someone somewhere will one day pass out with the sheer rate acceleration. The instant thrust on demand at normal road speeds is astonishing yet it is not accompanied by all the usual sound/vibration of mechanical carnage that so many conventional 'sports cars' generate to achieve anything remotely similar (even though that is what many of us expect and want a sports car to produce).

Its like being launched from a massive catapult. Stab the 'Go' pedal and it will teleport you 300m down the road and past 100mph in less time than it takes to read this sentence aloud…

And if that doesn't float your boat then you might as well go one step further and order the P90D with "Ludicrous" mode. It has rates of acceleration faster than a Mclaren F1 up to about 120mph or so .. in a 4WD car with up to 7 seats that can do 200+ miles a day on £4's worth of domestic electricity, that also has an infinite-mile 8 yr warranty that doesn’t force you to have any 6 monthly services!! Plus you'll have the benefit of lifetime use of the free supercharger network which enables 500 mile day trips with one 30-40 min stop. (Although I still haven't met anyone who actually wakes up and makes an unplanned random non-stop 10 hr trip to John O'Groats .. as so many EV haters like to argue about !!).


The only downsides that come to mind are that it's a tad wide for threading down London streets, and its not an ultimate track weapon. But for all-round ability on every day roads roughly within normal road speeds, theres little to come close to it.

Oh, and if you park up anywhere in the open be prepared to answer a million questions from thousands of very enthusiastic random strangers.


I look forward to hearing your thoughts after a test drive :-)







Edited by Carparticus on Sunday 30th August 01:17

JonV8V

7,178 posts

123 months

Thursday 20th August 2015
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A P85D will beat every car in your garage to 30, stay ahead to about 70 and be overtaken eventually above that, that's not to say it's slow at higher speeds. Don't be taken in my the 700bhp+ claims as the battery can't deliver enough current, the ludicrous mode bring a different battery fuse that delivers more. In effect the std car is heavy, has high 400s bhp with the benefit of full torque from stationary which is why it gets the jump on other cars.

That all said, most driving is below 70 and its incredible in that range. It is different though!




kalibre46

278 posts

130 months

Thursday 20th August 2015
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JonV8V said:
A P85D will beat every car in your garage to 30, stay ahead to about 70 and be overtaken eventually above that, that's not to say it's slow at higher speeds. Don't be taken in my the 700bhp+ claims as the battery can't deliver enough current, the ludicrous mode bring a different battery fuse that delivers more. In effect the std car is heavy, has high 400s bhp with the benefit of full torque from stationary which is why it gets the jump on other cars.

That all said, most driving is below 70 and its incredible in that range. It is different though!
So are you going Ludicrous JonV8V? I've decided not to upgrade my order and keep the £11k in my wallet. Hopefully I won't regret it when the car gets delivered in October.

JonV8V

7,178 posts

123 months

Thursday 20th August 2015
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No I'm not even going P and keeping a further 10k off the lease. From what I've read and understand, over 30mph there's not much difference unless you go ludicrous and the new battery stuff to make an 85D a 90D gives higher voltage at the same current so in theory might be a little quicker anyway. Range is more important to me than that extra bit of acceleration too as I regularly do 200-250 miles in a day. I'm hoping a 90D will have about 260 usable range without trying whereas a P90D with ludicrous will probably not get anywhere near that if you have too much fun!!

ukshooter

501 posts

211 months

Thursday 20th August 2015
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gregf40 said:
I've been watching Tesla with much interest for some time and think I'm finally going to take the plunge!

Does anyone have any experience with the P85D? Would you recommend it?

I have several cars and would use the Tesla around London mainly and maybe occasionally to go further a field.

I'm assuming the acceleration is addictive (it certainly is in my GTR) but are there any negatives to the car someone who hasn't owned an electric car before should be aware of?

Cheers in advance!
Feel free to use my referral link if you haven't already used one!

http://ts.la/ian2737

Let me know


Edited by ukshooter on Thursday 20th August 12:43

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 20th August 2015
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Pugnut

51 posts

187 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
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Message me if you want to have a try in the P85D.

adamfawsitt

523 posts

212 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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Introduction and context

I love cars and have been passionate about performance cars since before I had a driving license. Whilst on the corporate ladder I dabbled in mainstream performance like Porsche 911s and when I founded my business I was able to indulge in more exotic cars such as Lamborghinis and Ferraris in addition to Grand Tourers from Aston Martin and heavy metal such as AMG S Class Mercedes, Audi S8s and Super Charged Full Fat Ranger Rovers - I do find it hard to resist a big fast car… I tell you a little of my motoring history to provide some context for my impressions from the P85D.

I am not a racing driver but I am a reasonably proficient driver spending ~15 days on track and completing a couple of advanced driving courses each year.

Handling

How does the P85D handle - in a word brilliantly for a car that weighs in excess of 2 tonnes. The car feels incredibly stable in straight-line conditions. Around corners the handling is excellent with very high turn in rates and amazing grip levels (I pulled 0.78G in a corner without even trying on tyres that were not fully scrubbed in). There is little body roll - to the extent that the suspension almost feels active (which it isn’t). The suspension (I have air) is superbly tuned resulting in a performance bias (good damping / rebound rates) with good compliance for fast road work over uneven surfaces.

Acceleration

I have the cooking version of the P85D (Insane rather than Ludicrous mode) and the big changes versus my “old” P85 are stepping off the line and operating at Motorway speeds. The P85D is a vast improvement over the P85 in both scenarios:

Off the line - 3.1s to 60 MPH is rare territory in terms of any performance car let alone a heavy 5 door saloon car. Stamping on the throttle in the P85D from standstill results in a jaw dropping performance, the instantaneous power is unlike any vehicle that I have ever owned or driven. There is no wheel spin, drama or fuss simply a literal thump in the back and some very impressive traction control as the car starts to very quickly reel in the horizon. Incredibly impressive in all respects - the Tesla grin might have to be upgraded to the Tesla Euphoric Haze for PxxD owners…

Motorway speeds - my P85 was a very quick car up to about 80 MPH after which it became on par with a Golf R32 (a great little car) or similar and above 100 MPH it really wasn’t fast accelerating at all. The P85D addresses this issue and at Motorway speeds it has moved, in acceleration terms, from a Golf R32 to just shy of a BMW M5 (a brilliant car) in terms of acceleration though over 100 MPH the acceleration is improved it is still lagging versus the sub 100 MPH performance (which I am hoping the Ludicrous upgrade will address).

What is the P85D like to drive in the real world?

In a word amazing - this is the best daily driver that I have EVER owned. I usually run 3 cars that I use frequently, a 4x4, a daily driver and a Supercar - these are currently a Land Rover Defender (last of the few off the line, what a shame they are stopping manufacture), a 7 Series BMW and an Aston Martin Vanquish. The P85D definitely straddles the real world capability and driving pleasure of both my daily driver and Supercar to the point that I am considering selling my Supercar and joining a Supercar club for the odd days when track use or very fast road driving is required.

I have only owned the car for A month but I cannot ever imagine tiring of the off the line acceleration, sharp handling, high grip levels and overall planted feel of the P85D which all combine to give a car that provides the driver with great confidence in it’s capabilities.

In the real world this car is biblically quick - you don’t need to be in the right gear or to prepare in any way, simply press the throttle and turn the steering wheel and this car will go where you point it at serious speed.

Conclusion

This is a simply incredible car, relaxing to drive, epically fast, beautifully designed and in the real world on European roads combines the size and convenience of a large saloon with the performance of a Supercar. I cannot emphasise enough how the performance and handling improvements on the car combine to provide a vehicle that feels so planted on the road and results in an incredibly high degree of driver confidence.

gangzoom

6,254 posts

214 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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^^

Great write up, thanks for sharing.

Sadly I think I can only afford the 70D+options, but equally I haven't the £££ need for expensive lawyers should I get caught doing over 100mph smile


gregf40

Original Poster:

1,114 posts

115 months

Monday 31st August 2015
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Thanks for the write up!

Definitely going to arrange a test drive and imagine I will be placing an order!

Will keep everyone posted smile

kalibre46

278 posts

130 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
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Thanks for the write-up.

I've got 8 weeks until the delivery of my P85D and I cannot wait.....!