My Model S Performance vs My RS6 Performance
Discussion
So, I took the plunge and sold my 3 year old RS6 Performance last week and just picked up a new Tesla Model S Performance to replace it. Funny they have the same naming...
Like many I was worried about:
- Tesla customer service and collection (not delivery, they don't do that) process.
It is terrible, collection sucked, waited around for hours, generally ignored. Prepare yourself.
- Tesla build quality
I had some niggles, the paint is not great, but my detailer with machine polish it before a full car PPF goes on so that will be sorted. The drivers seat "leather" has a weird crease on it which they will sort. But, the panel gaps and overall quality are fine. No rattles, squeaks or anything else.
- Charging
The range I see on the screen matches the range I get. And I do have a heavy right foot. 250 miles done so far and the range has matched closely what I drove. Charging up has been no hassle. I have free supercharging so get 350 miles for free (or around £10 at home) compared to 350 RS6 miles for £90.
So, how does it compare?
- Speed
The Tesla would destroy the RS6, even round corners. Instant torque, no gear changes, similar power makes for much fastness. Ignore the 0-60 times, it is the 30-80 time which is most impressive. It will destroy anything.
- Handling
Well, the RS6 was a bit of a barge and so is the Tesla. I would rank them equally. Difference is in the Tesla, you slow for the corner (Newton's laws apply to 2.5 tonnes in both cases) then half way round you boot it and it just takes off, no worrying about gear or lag or anything.
- Comfort / interior noise
Hard to tell, you notice more road noise in the Tesla but then there is no thumping V8 to cancel it out. The seats are comfier for me in the Tesla. But the rear floor is higher than the RS6 so the back seats are less comfy for my 6 foot son.
- Stereo
Tesla wins
- Dials / Gadgets
No need to say, Tesla wins
- Autopilot
The Tesla wins, I had active cruise and lane assist on the RS6 but the Tesla Autopilot is years ahead. Just remember to keep putting pressure on the steering wheel or it turns it off "for the rest of this drive" and gets grumpy with you.
Do I have any regrets, am I grumpy about the niggles? No not at all. I actually love it and feel embarrassed for having not bought one three years ago. My Aston has similar niggles but all are forgiven when I drive it. Same with the Tesla.
Like many I was worried about:
- Tesla customer service and collection (not delivery, they don't do that) process.
It is terrible, collection sucked, waited around for hours, generally ignored. Prepare yourself.
- Tesla build quality
I had some niggles, the paint is not great, but my detailer with machine polish it before a full car PPF goes on so that will be sorted. The drivers seat "leather" has a weird crease on it which they will sort. But, the panel gaps and overall quality are fine. No rattles, squeaks or anything else.
- Charging
The range I see on the screen matches the range I get. And I do have a heavy right foot. 250 miles done so far and the range has matched closely what I drove. Charging up has been no hassle. I have free supercharging so get 350 miles for free (or around £10 at home) compared to 350 RS6 miles for £90.
So, how does it compare?
- Speed
The Tesla would destroy the RS6, even round corners. Instant torque, no gear changes, similar power makes for much fastness. Ignore the 0-60 times, it is the 30-80 time which is most impressive. It will destroy anything.
- Handling
Well, the RS6 was a bit of a barge and so is the Tesla. I would rank them equally. Difference is in the Tesla, you slow for the corner (Newton's laws apply to 2.5 tonnes in both cases) then half way round you boot it and it just takes off, no worrying about gear or lag or anything.
- Comfort / interior noise
Hard to tell, you notice more road noise in the Tesla but then there is no thumping V8 to cancel it out. The seats are comfier for me in the Tesla. But the rear floor is higher than the RS6 so the back seats are less comfy for my 6 foot son.
- Stereo
Tesla wins
- Dials / Gadgets
No need to say, Tesla wins
- Autopilot
The Tesla wins, I had active cruise and lane assist on the RS6 but the Tesla Autopilot is years ahead. Just remember to keep putting pressure on the steering wheel or it turns it off "for the rest of this drive" and gets grumpy with you.
Do I have any regrets, am I grumpy about the niggles? No not at all. I actually love it and feel embarrassed for having not bought one three years ago. My Aston has similar niggles but all are forgiven when I drive it. Same with the Tesla.
To be fair the p100dl 3 years ago wasn't quite the same car as your performance, lower build quality, poorer suspension, much more expensive etc.
Tesla seem good to sort out the inevitable few niggles, I didn't even have a delivery process lol..
Can imagine it's a bullet though my p3d is plenty fast
Tesla seem good to sort out the inevitable few niggles, I didn't even have a delivery process lol..
Can imagine it's a bullet though my p3d is plenty fast
RobDickinson said:
To be fair the p100dl 3 years ago wasn't quite the same car as your performance, lower build quality, poorer suspension, much more expensive etc.
Tesla seem good to sort out the inevitable few niggles, I didn't even have a delivery process lol..
Can imagine it's a bullet though my p3d is plenty fast
Exactly, the model S has been undergoing constant development since its launch Tesla seem good to sort out the inevitable few niggles, I didn't even have a delivery process lol..
Can imagine it's a bullet though my p3d is plenty fast
The model S performance (raven upgrades etc.) is a long way from where the car was 3 years ago
120-150 acceleration of the performance is mental, no longer does the car slow once it’s “won” the qtr mile
The downside is most videos / reviews are using old data
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Sunday 17th November 06:38
Dave Hedgehog said:
Exactly, the model S has been undergoing constant development since its launch
The model S performance (raven upgrades etc.) is a long way from where the car was 3 years ago
120-150 acceleration of the performance is mental, no longer does the car slow once it’s “won” the qtr mile
Can you share some more detail on that as the P100DL has been out 3 years and the performance stats are near identical today as it was back then?The model S performance (raven upgrades etc.) is a long way from where the car was 3 years ago
120-150 acceleration of the performance is mental, no longer does the car slow once it’s “won” the qtr mile
When ludicrous came out 4years ago it lifted the performance above 30mph as cars like the P85D were battery limited, the performance benefit off the line was largely the ability to push more of the available power to the rear axle at launch (it had a more powerful rear motor but it still needed feeding with electrons), once the rear wheel bias was reduced as speed increased the P85D and 85D became much of a muchness. Ludicrous changed all that by raising the current limit on the battery, in effect increasing the power across the range. There was then a series of revisions to the battery, 85, 3 versions of the 90 battery pack, then the 100 with ludicrous and the cars today are running largely the same 100 pack they were it came out. Even the Raven 5% power increases doesn’t make much difference in an MS Performance because it’s only the front motor that’s the perm magnet, and secondly the limitation is still pretty much the battery. The cars power at speed have always been and still are relatively poor (relative being important) at speed - it’s why every YouTube video you see shows the Tesla jump into the lead, stay there, then the gap start to close as the ICE out accelerates the Tesla, although by that point the cars are doing 80mph and so day go day hardly a concern.
Happy to be proven wrong if you have some knowledge about the engineering advances I’ve missed.
ReformedPistonhead said:
Heathrow. Appointment 1pm. Finally someone came to talk to me at 14:20. Left at 16:15.....
Nice guys in the end but total chaos....
20 seconds to say “we know you are waiting, sorry be with you soon” would have been nice.
Same here for the Dartford branch; other than one other customer collecting a '16 plate Model S we were the only people there so service should have been better. Practically zero handover so had to learn the car on the 250 mile journey homeNice guys in the end but total chaos....
20 seconds to say “we know you are waiting, sorry be with you soon” would have been nice.
I swapped a new 2019 BMW M5 Competition for a 69 plate new Model S Performance. Can't fully compare like-for-like as the Tesla is currently on winter tyres, but while the Tesla is certainly a lot quicker 0-120 I think the M5 would have it licked around corners. If I could change one thing about the Tesla it would be to have a steering wheel paddle which increases the amount of regen when entering corners etc (I think the Hyundai Ionic offers this).
Tesla customer service is really really poor, which I think customers need to start calling out or they'll not improve. In the chase for (much-needed) profit it appears Tesla has chosen to cut back on customer service and the success of the Model 3 is allowing them to get away with it.
Andy M said:
I swapped a new 2019 BMW M5 Competition for a 69 plate new Model S Performance...
First, congrats.Second, bummer about the lack of attention at handover. They delivered my car to me and the guy spent as much time with me as I needed (15 minutes) to re-acclimate myself to the controls before he left.
Third, I gotta ask, why the switch from one basically-new car to another?
Zcd1 said:
Third, I gotta ask, why the switch from one basically-new car to another?
I'm not sure I'm currently able to say, as it has gone legal. BMW UK and BMW Financial Services have acted pretty awfully, even to the surprise of the supplying dealership. My barrister has stated that it's the worst case he's dealt with.Dealing with Tesla being useless has been a walk in the park
RobDickinson said:
To be fair the p100dl 3 years ago wasn't quite the same car as your performance, lower build quality, poorer suspension, much more expensive etc.
Tesla seem good to sort out the inevitable few niggles, I didn't even have a delivery process lol..
Can imagine it's a bullet though my p3d is plenty fast
I can attest to this. I could write an entire article about the Model S 2015 vs 2019 as I've driven both for about 3 months now.Tesla seem good to sort out the inevitable few niggles, I didn't even have a delivery process lol..
Can imagine it's a bullet though my p3d is plenty fast
They are not the same car. It really is a new generation of Model S, but instead of one big change there were a bunch of small ones that just add up.
Andy M said:
Same here for the Dartford branch; other than one other customer collecting a '16 plate Model S we were the only people there so service should have been better. Practically zero handover so had to learn the car on the 250 mile journey home
Dartford where great with me despite being mega busy doing 150 cars that day. Told me when my slot would be, kept asking if i needed anything / coffee etc, handover guy was great asked me how much i knew as they accept most owners are knowledgeable learning the cars on the web before they get there. I needed 5 mins with him and was gone.Just don't crash it. It took them 6 months to repair my roof. They say it's getting better in terms of parts availability but I've yet to see that.
Amazing car, I wouldn't trade it for anything else, but their customer service is terrible. Not to mention that they made it nearly impossible to get a real person on the phone these days.
Amazing car, I wouldn't trade it for anything else, but their customer service is terrible. Not to mention that they made it nearly impossible to get a real person on the phone these days.
Interesting you post this as I currently run a 16 plate C7 performance.
How did you get on with test driving with Tesla? I've had a brief go in one on their basic, open to anyone, experience drives but that is literally 20 minutes, on a set route in a standard model S. This was prior to me buying the RS6 in Feb of this year.
They were quite cagey (Tesla Cambridge) when I asked about extended test drives, and it's a big reason I went Audi rather than Tesla which I was genuinely interested in.
Theres no way I'd spend 90k plus without a drive in the model I'd want (S Performance)and also at least a 48 hour drive to see just how well it could fit into an average weekend in my life. Given it's far removed from my current ICE car it's not a change I'd make on a whim.
Is there another area at Tesla reserved for serious enquiries?
How did you get on with test driving with Tesla? I've had a brief go in one on their basic, open to anyone, experience drives but that is literally 20 minutes, on a set route in a standard model S. This was prior to me buying the RS6 in Feb of this year.
They were quite cagey (Tesla Cambridge) when I asked about extended test drives, and it's a big reason I went Audi rather than Tesla which I was genuinely interested in.
Theres no way I'd spend 90k plus without a drive in the model I'd want (S Performance)and also at least a 48 hour drive to see just how well it could fit into an average weekend in my life. Given it's far removed from my current ICE car it's not a change I'd make on a whim.
Is there another area at Tesla reserved for serious enquiries?
So, 8 weeks in, 2,700 miles done.
Most have been super-charged miles at Tesla stations for free (3 trips to Scotland and back due to a sick relative) so cost of electricity is probably about £50 compared to £500+ on petrol in the RS6.
All great, except that the range in this weather if you drive it without any EV considerations is obviously quite a lot less than the maximum. I average 400 consumption which means a real-range full-empty of 250 miles but given you really use it between 10% and 90% is 200 miles, this compared to a theoretical 350 miles advertised. No great shocks there and honestly stopping every 170-200 miles for a 30 minute charge up is no great hardship, but it IS different from the RS6.
I console myself with Coffee, Pastries & a newspaper which I regard as free as I am not buying petrol.
For normal use around home of course you just don't care about range, I put it on charge overnight every few days.
Even after all this I have not thought about the RS6 once and would not go back.
Most have been super-charged miles at Tesla stations for free (3 trips to Scotland and back due to a sick relative) so cost of electricity is probably about £50 compared to £500+ on petrol in the RS6.
All great, except that the range in this weather if you drive it without any EV considerations is obviously quite a lot less than the maximum. I average 400 consumption which means a real-range full-empty of 250 miles but given you really use it between 10% and 90% is 200 miles, this compared to a theoretical 350 miles advertised. No great shocks there and honestly stopping every 170-200 miles for a 30 minute charge up is no great hardship, but it IS different from the RS6.
I console myself with Coffee, Pastries & a newspaper which I regard as free as I am not buying petrol.
For normal use around home of course you just don't care about range, I put it on charge overnight every few days.
Even after all this I have not thought about the RS6 once and would not go back.
ReformedPistonhead said:
So, 8 weeks in, 2,700 miles done.
Most have been super-charged miles at Tesla stations for free (3 trips to Scotland and back due to a sick relative) so cost of electricity is probably about £50 compared to £500+ on petrol in the RS6.
All great, except that the range in this weather if you drive it without any EV considerations is obviously quite a lot less than the maximum. I average 400 consumption which means a real-range full-empty of 250 miles but given you really use it between 10% and 90% is 200 miles, this compared to a theoretical 350 miles advertised. No great shocks there and honestly stopping every 170-200 miles for a 30 minute charge up is no great hardship, but it IS different from the RS6.
I console myself with Coffee, Pastries & a newspaper which I regard as free as I am not buying petrol.
For normal use around home of course you just don't care about range, I put it on charge overnight every few days.
Even after all this I have not thought about the RS6 once and would not go back.
That's great to hear! They are wonderful cars. I expect the usual suspects will be here soon to tell you why you're wrong but just ignore them.Most have been super-charged miles at Tesla stations for free (3 trips to Scotland and back due to a sick relative) so cost of electricity is probably about £50 compared to £500+ on petrol in the RS6.
All great, except that the range in this weather if you drive it without any EV considerations is obviously quite a lot less than the maximum. I average 400 consumption which means a real-range full-empty of 250 miles but given you really use it between 10% and 90% is 200 miles, this compared to a theoretical 350 miles advertised. No great shocks there and honestly stopping every 170-200 miles for a 30 minute charge up is no great hardship, but it IS different from the RS6.
I console myself with Coffee, Pastries & a newspaper which I regard as free as I am not buying petrol.
For normal use around home of course you just don't care about range, I put it on charge overnight every few days.
Even after all this I have not thought about the RS6 once and would not go back.
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