Resale value for "P" versus non-P Model S

It's very rare that a normal trim level holds its value better than the base trim. Usually that's reserved for production-limited trims or special editions. Tesla even suggests as much in their buyback guarantee, which has a lower residual value for all options over base price.

You won't get the price difference between the 90D and P90D back out of a P90D when you sell it, that's for sure. I don't think you're going to be able to justify a P90D based on resale value, if that's the goal :biggrin:. Get the car you want, though. Neither is cheap.

Just look at other cars, e.g. Panamera. A new loaded S with air suspension, leather and super audio may go 120k, a lightly equipped base may go 85k, 3 years later, the base sells (by dealer) for mid 60s and the loaded S sells for low to mid 70s... Oh the trade-ins are likely 10k lower than the dealer's asking prices.

So over 3 years, the base depreciated 30k (85-55) and loaded S depreciated over 50k... this is true for all premium brands, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, you name it, not just Porsche. We see the same trends for P85s...

Some years later when say used 90Ds are going for 60k, P90D, however equipped, will go for 70k, if that. L mode will probably be worth close to nothing, 1-2k max on the resale market... just like that air suspension + PASM + sports chrono (performance options that improves actually both handling, normal day driving, and launch speed) will bring virtually nothing for that loaded Panamera S on resale...

On the flip side of it, you gain more by buying a used Performance model than base model.

Oh and of course the differences in resale eventually approaches 0 as car ages... After say 8 years or 120k miles, whether you got a 70D for 80k or a P90DL for 132k originally, both will be worth <10k, where value more or less depends on condition rather than which model...

Let's just say it's 8k for both. So in terms of depreciation cost over the car's life, the 80k 70D will cost 64.5k (accounting for 7.5k tax benefit), while the P90DL costs 116.5. So ya if you also add in tax cost differences, tire/wheel replacement, owning a loaded P90DL, will easily cost twice as much as a 70D and more.

Yes one gets relatively better deals by buying used high-end models. Of course there's a reasons why higher-end models depreciate more in the first place... since they ll cost about the same as new to insure and fix, which both cost more than the cheaper model.

+1 to zerocool. It is also my experience that premium options and extras tend to not help resale value much. Often used car buyers actually argue that they don't care for the extras so they are not willing to pay for them. Not having Supercharging enabled would probably be an exception. If you don't have then a potential buyer would want to take the $2500 it takes to enable it off the sale price.

My 2 cents: I'm old and have never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. And I'm not buying the car for the next guy.
P90DL, everything except child seats and a spoiler.

AB4EJ said:

Ha! No, I'm actually trying to justify staying with 90D (instead of performance model), because I value range over performance, so I will stick with that. I was thinking that some people might consider the "P" version to be more of a collector's item than the non-P, so might value it more highly; but the consensus of opinion is that this not the case.

Click to expand...

If you want the longer range vehicle, don't compromise your wishes to potentially help someone else.

Before dual motor it was easy to tell which car was "better", the higher up the stack you went, the better it got, a P85 was better than an 85, there was no downside to the performance. With dual motor that changed, the P90D is not "better" than the 90D, it's simply different, it depends greatly on what you specifically want. If you value range more than 0-60 time, than the 90D is a "Better" car for you than the P90D. I also suspect that due to that very reason, there will be an even smaller price gap between them on resale, I think a lot of used buyers will also value range over 0-60.