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2014 P85D Owners... hindsight? regrets?

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wk057

Former Tesla Tinkerer
Feb 23, 2014
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For those of us who have 2014 P85Ds, ordered in October... given everything we know today... any regrets? Would you still have ordered/traded/etc? Was it worth it?

For some bullet points, What we know now that we didn't in October:

Personally, knowing even a couple of the above and I'd still be driving my P21636 P85.

Just curious how others who took delivery of a P85D in December feel now. I know there are a lot of us here.
 
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After reading the recent thread about the P85+ and also considering the BS around AutoPilot, I can certainly see how you feel. I'm joining the party late so I didn't face the choice you had, but I can see why having ponied up more money to get in to the P85D you might regret the move.
 
No regrets here. The P85D is just so much more capable and refined than my early Sig S.

Well, one regret: I miss all that frunk space. But even that's more on a conceptual level than a practical concern.
 
Is the P85D a better car than the P85 even without autopilot lacking the perceived 691hp? If it is then I'd be happy. I have a P85 but had a P85D loaner for a few days and it was insane. I personally would love to upgrade even if it didn't have 691hp. I don't own the P85D though so didn't have to make this decision.
 
Some regrets - 90D would have been ideal for me. But then I got to drive a great car for the last 7 months. When my lease expires in couple years I will go to the max battery pack available and the plain D.
 
Knowing what I know now, it would have made more sense for me to have kept my 2013 P85 another year while they worked out the kinks in software. The additional loss of value driving it 1 more year would have been roughly worth the continued payments. With the said, my Dec 2014 P85D has the rear NextGen seats and the performance plus suspension which are no longer available in current P85D's, and Tesla is letting us upgrade to ludicrous speed. So all I really miss out on is the heated steering wheel which isn't bad in the grand scheme of "missing out on an unannounced new feature or option". I'm disappointed in how auto steer isn't available yet but as long as it works as promised and is released by the end of the year, I'm still a happy camper.
 
No regrets. Progress is made.

I'll let you in on some insider info, next year, they will have an even better version!

Trading a 1 year old car is going to be a huge financial mistake no matter what, and doing that site unseen is a risk nobody made you take. My P85D was my first Tesla, and I think it is a fantastic car.

Sorry that you feel that you got shorted, but ... I don't think Tesla was well outside of what I've seen from other car companies in my life.
 
No regrets. The P85D is much quicker and with AWD makes my wife feel safer than our P85+ which is my daily driver. I am not upset about AD features still delayed. From an investor standpoint it may hurt the stock price but these cars are made to be driven. If I have blind spot detection and TACC I'm good. My only frustration....not a regret....is mileage claims. Since I make very few long trips this has been more of a perceived issue than a real one.
 
No regrets for me since the exchange rate vs USD makes a new 85D cost the same now as I paid for my P85D in february. If that hadnt been the case I would most likely have rejected delivery of the car missing the correct seats etc. Probably I would have been driving a leased 90D soon instead...

The car is awesome, but seeing the rear seats every day and knowing that ludicrous is a paid upgrade does leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I dont like being played for a fool....
 
For those of us who have 2014 P85Ds, ordered in October... given everything we know today... any regrets? Would you still have ordered/traded/etc? Was it worth it?

For some bullet points, What we know now that we didn't in October:

Personally, knowing even a couple of the above and I'd still be driving my P21636 P85.

Just curious how others who took delivery of a P85D in December feel now. I know there are a lot of us here.

Agree Tesla Marketing BS on "total motor power", and delays in autopilot, are crappy.

But nobody ever said the P85D would have better range than the P85. Elon said that with Model S a two motor configuration was in more efficient on a like for like basis than a single motor configuration. But the P85 and P85D are not equivalent in power or performance - the P85D is more efficient than an equivalent RWD model that could do 0-60 in 3.1s would be, if it existed. The 85D and S85 are equivalent, and duly the 85D has a higher range than its RWD variant. The 70 is expected to have a lower range than the 70D for the same reason.
 
Agree Tesla Marketing BS on "total motor power", and delays in autopilot, are crappy.

But nobody ever said the P85D would have better range than the P85. Elon said that with Model S a two motor configuration was in more efficient on a like for like basis than a single motor configuration. But the P85 and P85D are not equivalent in power or performance - the P85D is more efficient than an equivalent RWD model that could do 0-60 in 3.1s would be, if it existed. The 85D and S85 are equivalent, and duly the 85D has a higher range than its RWD variant. The 70 is expected to have a lower range than the 70D for the same reason.
I believe wk057 is referring to the website who clearly stated an increase in range before the EPA-numbers came in to effect. The blog from JB Straubel also showed similar effects in the graph there if I remember correctly.

epa-numbers still show higher range on highway as compared to S85/P85(+) doesnt it?
 
Mine was built on December 20. I do not regret my purchase even for a moment. I do not care about stated horsepower or calculated theoretical power to the wheels. i care about actual daily performance. Yes, I would like to have autopilot features now. No, that would not have changed my decision.

I love my car, find it far better than the P85 I drove before it, and have no complaints.

Frankly, I do not place any credence in stated horsepower because the difference between stated figures and power to the wheels is always a variable equation. I do not get hung up on such details. I do get hung up on actual real world performance. The latter thrills me.

Yes, I am being repetitious. That is because I constantly am very pleased i made this choice when I did.
 
No regrets. Actually I am seriously impressed with the Model S. The P85D has had way less disappointments than my last two BMWs and that does not count the 2001 M3 whose engine had "catastrophic engine failure" (BMW wording). That caused me to not by a BMW for 12 years.
 
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I do not care about stated horsepower or calculated theoretical power to the wheels. i care about actual daily performance./QUOTE]

Same here which is what led me to the whole controversy in the first place as I noticed the lack of power where it matters to me most and that is passing power from 50-70. It's not the number, it's the performance that the number implied and the numbers, not just the horsepower numbers, are the tools that allow us to discuss it. 0-60 is more than I could ever want. I have no complaints there. The P85D is truly a marvel in that respect....just not once you're up to speed.
 
No regrets. I had said I'd keep my trusty ol' VIN 3000 P85 until they day they offered a Model S with:
1. AWD
2. Sport seats
3. Adaptive cruise control

All 3 were announced at once in October with the P85D, so Tesla called my bluff and I ordered. :)

While the car only came with 1 of those 3 when I received it in December, which did frustrate me greatly, by March I had all 3. Been happy since.

The only performance figure I cared about was the 0-60 one - 3.2s - and I got that. But it wasn't a reason I ordered.

Horsepower ratings are always overstated by manufacturers. No car puts anywhere close to its rated HP down to the wheels. They don't account for drivetrain losses (normally downstream in an ICE, upstream as we've learned with an EV) and assume ideal conditions (sea level at 50F in an ICE, full charge in an EV), so this was to be expected.
 
The P85D is my first Tesla and I took delivery in April. I have absolutely zero regrets. This car is frighteningly good and I still cannot find any sedan that can drive around 7 passengers and meet the performance/handling of the P85D. Could there be improvements? Of course. But compared to what you can get on the market today, and what I meet on the roads here locally, it is still very good value for money as an overall package. When I got the car, TACC, lane assist warning, etc. was already released and I did not expect the rest of the autopilot to be released until end of 2015. Surprised actually the rest of it is supposed to come sometime in September? Ludicrous upgrade is definitely something I am going to do as well for half-price, and I think it is fair that they charge more for it since it is increasing the performance beyond what was promised when I purchased the car (2.8s vs. 3.2s) as well as giving you a hardware upgrade to the inconel alloy contacts for half the price the new owners are paying. Not to mention the Canadian dollar has plunged since I deposited back in Dec 2015 and locked in my price, which makes my car worth more now in my local currency.

Knowing that the battery pack can be upgraded in the far future sometime makes me feel like the age of the disposable car is coming to an end. In five years, though my P85D will be "old", it's hard to imagine someone considering it too crappy of a car to not want it. Barring any revolutionary new Model S design changes, I can see myself keeping the car and simply paying for a battery replacement/upgrade to increase range, power, etc.