My wife and I are both concerned I might "screw up". To err is to be human. I've not had a speeding ticket in 20 years. Couple warnings (slow back roads).
You can screw up on a golf cart. You can set limits in the Model 3. If you don't want the Performance Model, then don't get it. I didn't.
After you have been driving any car for a while you instinctively learn it's limitations and it becomes an extension of you.
Sure, but that is not the way it has to be. I travel a lot and may be in rental 20+ weeks of the year. You can either be a old dog or not.
And with the addition of electric it doesn't give as much feedback as an ICE vehicle that, you know you are really pushing it and telling everyone else while your at it, that you are pushing it when the ICE screams through it's nostrils that you are coming.
Why do you feel this way? I'm somewhat the opposite. There are a lot of ICE cars that can feel like you are going 100 when you are going 45. There's also a lot that can feel you are going 45 when you are going 100. It's not really an EV thing.
Here is a simple example. Say your on this 2 lane highway and your trying to pass a truck that you've been stuck behind.
The dashed lines open up but there is a car coming the other way. So you wait. The car passes and the dash lines are about to go solid, but you think you still have time (with the P). You this car is quick, do you know go for it, where in your past cars you never would? Will you know, when you really shouldn't?
The line going solid means that is illegal to cross. What's the question?
My brother and I were on a 2 lane road many years ago and had radios where we could talk to each other. I was in front and could tell him of there was any traffic, he would still do stupid things like cross the yellow in the middle of a turn. Was he safe? Yes. Was he legal. No.
Some people will also remind you, than when passing, you are limited to the max road speed. But few people limit themselves to 55 when passing.
The important part is that with the acceleration, you do have the ability to create a bigger safety buffer.
Will you naturally push the acceleration odds? Will you tend to drive faster (or accelerate faster) without the rumbling feedback reminder nag.
Some may, most won't. Again, the same thing happens in ICE vehicles. Move from a Subaru to a Challenger and there will be a huge acceleration/speed differential, not an EV concept.
Some Challengers seem to also be the slowest cars on the road.
I'm just curious if anyone else contemplating the Performance has considered this and for anyone who has and got the car (or any under 4.0s 0-60 Tesla), how is it going?
One curious question I have also, do you feel you can drive it "normal" as the Non-P (or ICE for that matter). That is, does it constantly remind you it wants to get up and go? Or does the P only show itself when you really push it or you need to put in some performance mode. I know about chill mode.
I don't have the P, but I seldom drive my RWD anywhere near its limits. Even when I'm showing the car off, I push the accelerator less than half way down.
Because the reasons above I have NOT test driven one yet. I have a feeling I WILL want it, have to have it. It's kind of like drugs after that first high your in trouble
Then don't get one. The standard RWD Model 3 is a really quick car that outperforms most of the things on the road anyway. For me, the differential in price just wasn't worth it. I can do a lot of other things with the ~$15k difference. The RWD M3 will generally impress all of your friends except for the hard roadies.
Regarding lots of cars feel like 45 while going 100. That is NOT the problem. Not a lot of cars can silently get from 45 to 100 in 3 seconds with little feedback.
My Example IS NOT crossing the Solid line. My example is learning that you can pass before the dashed line runs out in less time. And will naturally think you "can". And you probably safely CAN. But the more often you do that you might get burned and you'll probably be a at higher speed.
We've all made judgment mistakes on the road. With such a huge jump in acceleration the mistakes might not have the human reaction time to "recover".
Think of it this way. In math, to often solve a problem, you take it to the "limit". What if EVERY ONE could go 0-60 in 3 second? Would the roads be safer? What if 20 years from now cars routinely go 0-60 in 1 second. The human brains won't be any faster to react to mistakes.
