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"2 days to make any changes".. reconfirm for P85?

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ohmman

Upright Member
Global Moderator
Feb 13, 2014
11,529
22,980
North Bay/Truckee, CA
I ordered and confirmed my S85, well optioned, a couple of weeks ago. As anyone who has placed an order knows, I've spent a lot of time worrying and waffling about my selections. Specifically, the age old (well, year old) question of whether I should have gone with a P85. I am generally a reasonable fellow when it comes to these kinds of decisions, as my 15-year old Acura will attest. I recognize clearly that the S85 is plenty of car, especially for someone like me with a young family. It's a comfortable daily driver and touring car, which is my use case. It's also wicked fast - I test drove the S85 and P85+ and never had to floor either of them to get the "oh yeah" feeling.

So, all of that said, I've got this worry that I'll wish I had the extra power from time to time. Or that I spent $100k on a car and didn't get that extra burst of power. I'd stick with 19" wheels, which I've read is an issue with the P85. I may buy aftermarket 20s, which would give me some flexibility on tires so that I could take a little better advantage of the extra torque. I've also read the P85 isn't worth it unless you go with the P85+, but for the kind of touring drives I plan to take, it's a bit stiff. Really I'd just be looking for that 0-30 0.8G slam into the seat, I guess.

Thoughts? Should I remain sensible? Is it true that the P85 with 19s is relatively pointless from a traction perspective anyway, or will my ability to swap wheels allow me to capitalize? My DS emailed and told me I have "2 days to make any changes". Sorry for reviving something that's been hashed out so frequently, but I've already read all of those threads repeatedly and am hoping for more tailored feedback.. ha!
 
I like 19" better on my P85. much better

the 21" look great but handling and ride is not as good. makes me want to get rid of mine but they look so good on the car w/ grey/grey wheels

I think the P adds the ability to spin wheels under 40-45 mph on bad roads but the regular S should be almost as fast unless you have great traction w/ a P
 
The P85 is plenty of car for the occasional straight line launch. Sounds like P85+ not really necessary. I think you'd be blown away by the S85 too but if you go with 19" rims on the P85 and don't want much wheel spin you could find stickier tires for summer months.
 
I owned a p85 first. aside from it being in the shop a lot, the handling was off, particularly the back end. I would have likely never really known the difference if I hadn't gotten several P85+ loaners for extended periods. I ended up trading up to a + and absolutely love it! the added harshness in the ride is greatly balanced swapping for 19"s, which I found out after switching due to the wet and cold up here, and the 19's will likely last a lot longer. the power and poise of the + is not something you have to peel out or drive over the speed limit to enjoy. The combination of power and super amazing handling give you unparalleled maneuverability. combined with the 19" "mellowing agent", the + is the perfect cocktail of fun, IMHO! money considerations aside, I'd highly recommend getting the P85+ or sticking with the S.
 
I ordered the P85 because well first off a lot of stuff was included with the price when I ordered but also a big factor was that I knew if I didn't get the P it would just eat at me every day when I drove it and it sounds as if that's already started with you and you don't even have it yet. I knew what this felt like because I had a 97 Camaro RS edition for 7 years . It was just the V6 and I always wanted to have the V8. So I knew that if I had the S85 it'd just grind on me every day that I didn't just bite the bullet and add it. So I added it.

It's kinda funny how I justified my p85. I started with an S40 and talked myself up to a fully loaded P85. Go figure.

the "plus" package is not worth it IMO.
 
All good feedback. I should have mentioned that for me financially there is very little difference between any of the options. It's more about being able to remain "reasonable". I wonder if Tesla would unbundle the 21" wheels from the + and discount it accordingly. Not likely.
 
Since you're in California, a P85+ will be a blast! I drove a loaner P+ for a day and I did notice a big difference in handling and traction, especially in cornering. Unfortunately for me (maybe fortunately for my wallet!), New England roads are brutal on 21" wheels... So I had to settle for a P... But for you? I'd go for the P85+ and not bother with aftermarket solutions. I'm absolutely sure you'll love it!
 
I have a 60 and have driven both P85 and P85+ as service loaners. I can see spending more for the extra range of a 85, for me the difference in 0-60 acceleration between P and non-P isn't worth anything near the more than $10,000 extra. My 60 accelerates faster than I ever have before and that I would ever need.
 
Choices

I have a 60 and have driven both P85 and P85+ as service loaners. I can see spending more for the extra range of a 85, for me the difference in 0-60 acceleration between P and non-P isn't worth anything near the more than $10,000 extra. My 60 accelerates faster than I ever have before and that I would ever need.

We have a Signature S85 (non-performance), and I can't say that even with the ability to have purchased the Performance (the P+ wasn't available then) I could really have justified it for what we got. Now there are a few options that have come out since that I would love to have, such as the cold weather package (we are in VT), but I am hard pressed to think I didn't have a better way to spend the difference in price. The 85 pack is a no-brainer. P or P+ is a much tougher call. I should note that we ended up accepting the 21" wheels that came with the Sig and don't find them too hard a ride, even on all the potholes and dirt roads in VT. We have the 19" for snow tires but the 21" seem nice enough for the rest of the year.

DJ
 
All good feedback. I should have mentioned that for me financially there is very little difference between any of the options. It's more about being able to remain "reasonable". I wonder if Tesla would unbundle the 21" wheels from the + and discount it accordingly. Not likely.

if money isn't the issue, consider that without too much hassle you can swap the 21" wheels with 19's and sell them or keep them for the warm summer months where that soft sticky rubber doesn't turn to wood (more of an issue up north here). I'm pretty sure Tesla will not allow the + to be ordered without the staggered wheels, fortunately they are worth a lot in resale, so it doesn't have to feel wasteful. I was surprised how much rubber is still on the road with the 19's, they are pretty fat! I went with the TMC favored Rial Lugano turbine wheels from tire rack and so far they have been awesome. the guy who owns tire rack owns an S and has made ordering the rite wheels and tires a synch, they even come with matching lug nuts thrown in for free!
Silver:
https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?target=runWheelSearch&autoMake=Tesla&autoModel=Model+S&autoYear=2013&autoModClar=&initialPartNumber=LU85932T720BS&i1_Qty=4&wheelMake=Rial&wheelModel=Lugano&wheelFinish=Bright+Silver+Paint&showRear=no

or titanium gun metal:
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?target=runWheelSearch&initialPartNumber=LU85932T725TG&wheelMake=Rial&wheelModel=Lugano&wheelFinish=Titanium+Gunmetal&autoMake=Tesla&autoModel=Model+S&autoYear=2013&autoModClar=
 
Another take, I have a 60 and very happy with the performance. When I ordered I went practical and got the standard 19's, but could not get over how nice the 21's looked. So after 6 months I put the 21's and was amazed how it improved the handling. I will probably sell the 19's at some point, do not notice much difference in noise and ride. It really depends on your particular situation as to which battery you need and what performance you want.
 
Absolutely no regrets at all with my pre-delivery upgrade from S85 to P85. I love spirited driving and the extra punch of the P is just candy. I test drove all models multiple times to make sure I was buying what I really wanted. I recommend that anyone questioning do the same.

The extra handling of the + is very nice but is not something I would be able to use in 95% of my driving. And the extra price bump from P85 to P85+ was outside my justifiable budget range. If money is no object get the P85+ and consider getting 19" or 20" wheels for it to give you more driving options.
 
One of my favorite things about this type of thread is that the answers mostly correspond with the final selection of the author. If you chose a 60, you love it just as much as the guy who went P85+. That's also why it's been so hard to decipher what's the appropriate choice for me. It's probably why there are so many of these threads out there as well - it's personal and we all want a little bit of support when making this kind of choice, but the car is great in every iteration. That's really the best news of all. Very, very few people regret their final decision.

I'm still on the fence, but I'm starting to feel some P85+. And I blame every one of you, even the ones that discourage it.
 
Well, I just went through this and here is why I settled on a S85:
- I've never cared about car performance (last cars: 4Runner, Prius, X3). I asked myself if I were trading in the X3 for a BMW 5-series would I ever consider the M-series. The answer was an emphatic no.
- I have 3 kids aged 8, 6, and 3. This thing will be a practical daily driver for us. With the kids in the car (the youngest ones in the jump seats) I'd never push the car enough to feel S vs P.
- My commute to work is all back roads. I'd have zero opportunity to punch it and feel it.
- After the above I'd only ever really feel the S vs P on the occasional road trip or test drive. Regarding test drives, I had to remind myself that the first one I ever took was in an S60...and I was still BLOWN away. It's not like anyone is going to consider the S85 slow.
- The key moment was when I talked about it out loud with my wife (that voice in your head can be deceptive). She has been relatively hands off on this whole thing (I'm driving her nuts) but she was an independent 3rd party and I informed her about this $13K option I was deciding on. She asked if I cared about the spoiler...no. Headliner...no. Red calipers...nope. So at that point she said the $13K of our money was for performance...great...so what's the difference? I informed her the S was 0-60 in 5.4s while the P was 4.2s. She looked at me like I had two heads and then proceeded to basically go through the bullet points above (you've never cared, your commute is on back roads, you'll have kids in the car, etc). She then whips out her iPhone and informs me that my current X3 is 0-60 in 6.9s. So she looks at me and asks if I'm always feeling like the X3 is too slow...nope. And that after improving from 6.9s to 5.4s, it was worth $13K to shave off another 1.2s. The lightbulb went off for me. No it absolutely was not worth it...for me. I'd much rather spend those $13K in other areas and I've suddenly felt much better about including air suspension, upgraded audio, etc. I was completely at peace with the decision.

Reading these forums you can get lulled into the perception that EVERYONE goes P and it's the only way to go. I know when I clicked my order button I had selected P for that reason! But I opened up the Q1 delivery tracker the other day and noted that the S85 is by far the most popular config.

Now...I gotta stop reading this thread before I add the P back in... ;-)
 
I don't want to cost you any money but I had to reply to this one:
- I have 3 kids aged 8, 6, and 3. This thing will be a practical daily driver for us. With the kids in the car (the youngest ones in the jump seats) I'd never push the car enough to feel S vs P.
I can think of many situations where I'd be motivated to floor it with 3 midgets ($0.01 licensing fee to islandbayy every time I use that term) in the car.
 
Thanks again for the replies. I stand by my general opinion that any iteration is excellent, and I'm thrilled to see so many happy owners. I decided today to reconfirm for a P85 without the plus. My thinking is that I get the ride of the S85 with the occasional extra burst. I'm going to put aftermarket wheels on the car and will potentially stagger, hoping for more grip on acceleration. In reality, the S85 would have been more than enough. This way I don't have to live with the "what if" but I can also fool myself into thinking I was being reasonable by avoiding the $11k bump for the +.

That's my story, and.. I'm sort of sticking to it.
 
One of my favorite things about this type of thread is that the answers mostly correspond with the final selection of the author. If you chose a 60, you love it just as much as the guy who went P85+. That's also why it's been so hard to decipher what's the appropriate choice for me. It's probably why there are so many of these threads out there as well - it's personal and we all want a little bit of support when making this kind of choice, but the car is great in every iteration. That's really the best news of all. Very, very few people regret their final decision.

I'm still on the fence, but I'm starting to feel some P85+. And I blame every one of you, even the ones that discourage it.

It's worth noting that the two complaints I see most frequently are from some S60 owners wishing they went with an 85 instead and from owners who went with 21s frustrated at the short tread life and cost of maintenance for replacement (and thus switching to 19s). I can't think of any other complaints I've seen regarding ordering.