By Gallery: Tesla Model 3 Performance
I drove the regular, 271-hp, rear-wheel-drive Tesla Model 3 a few months ago and liked it. It was pretty quick and seemed to handle well enough. But I didn’t walk away from it thinking, “Gosh, if only it had more performance.” Well, Tesla has given the Model 3 more performance anyway -- quite a bit more, dubbing the new trim level, creatively, the “Model 3 Performance.” I would have named it Squealing Weasel, or Tiger of Torque, or Da Angry Badger or something. But Tesla is a Silicon Valley tech company, so I guess “Performance” is acceptable for a trim level name.
The new model promises a top speed of 155 mph and a 0-60 time of just 3.5 seconds, both on the same 75-kWh battery that gives the same 310-mile EPA range as the other Model 3s. So it’s better before it even gets off the spec sheet. Compare those numbers to the non-Performance Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive Model 3, which tops out at “only” 145 mph and takes a full 4.5 seconds to get to 60; and the Rear-Wheel Drive Model 3 I drove seven months ago that hits a paltry 140 mph tops and gets to 60 in a leisurely 5.1 seconds.
The newest 3 is smaller, lighter and more nimble than the Model S flagship, making it –- potentially -- the Best Tesla you can buy (though the larger Model S, with more batteries to draw from, does get to 60 in 2.5 seconds, so you have to arrange your priorities for what constitutes “best”). Elon Musk The Great and Powerful has tweeted that the Model 3 Performance will beat a BMW M3 around a race track. So it sounds like a significant car.
We are, unfortunately, short on specifics though. Not a lot of technical details outlining the exact differences between the Performance model and the AWD and RWD Models 3 are out yet. The Tesla Model 3 Performance sedan I drove was among the very first to roll off the assembly line in Fremont, well ahead of any detailed spec sheets. It was trucked down to Los Angeles and plopped into the Tesla showroom in the high-fashion Westfield Century City shopping mall, next door to (I am not making this up) a Kim Kardashian makeup portal that actually charges (I looked it up) $150 for makeup kits that would make you look good enough to meet and marry your own Kanye West (oh if only!). So there were no engineers around, no JB Straubel, for instance, and the handful of salespeople milling about anxiously in fashionable buttoned-up saleswear were enthusiastic about selling WestSiders a new Tesla, but I got the impression they might not have known an 18650 cell from a $18 Peach Crème KKW Lipstick tube (another Kim Kardashian item).
Actually, the Model 3 doesn’t use 18650 batteries anymore (18 mm in diameter, 65 mm high; no one knows where the zero comes from on the end, according to Musk). All Model 3s are now powered by a tray of 2170 cells, larger and more power-dense than the 18650.
The Model 3 Performance has dual motors, one driving the front wheels and another driving the rears. Combined, the two motors make 335 kW, or 450 hp. For comparison, the base Model 3 has one motor that makes 271 hp, and the dual-motor Model 3 has two that combine for 346. So the 450-hp Model 3 Performance is definitely a big step up. The additional power comes from what Tesla calls, without elaboration, “more capable inverters.”
Controlling all that power on its way to the wheels is a new vehicle dynamic control (VDC) system. Tesla no longer uses Bosch VDC but has instead made its own. Tesla says this allows engineers to more precisely tune the distribution of torque front and rear as well as side-to-side.
The little red stripe is another indication you have a Model 3 Performance
The Model 3 Performance isn’t just about straightline acceleration, either. The suspension is lowered while tires are Michelin Pilot Sport 4S all around. Base level wheels for the Performance trim are 18s, but 20s are available.
The Model 3 Performance’s optional $5,000 “Performance Upgrade” package includes: 20” performance wheels, “performance” brakes with lightweight two-piece rotors to improve heat management, carbon fiber spoiler for stability at that 155-mph top speed, that lowered suspension and aluminum alloy pedals with little rubber strips on them. This list raises more questions than it answers, and there are no answers, at least not yet. So we don’t know what Tesla did to the springs and shocks and whether the steering is quicker or the same. Likewise, there is absolutely no indication of what might or might not be in a promised “track mode” setting that is being finalized right now, though that might not even be the name of the little list of promised performance goodies beyond what’s on the car you see here. As Elon Musk might say, “All in good time, my little pretties, all in good time.”
And yes, I did get to drive a Model 3 Performance. Now, you’d think that this would be an insightful experience. I even brought my plug-in Racelogic test device to try a couple 0-60 launches. But nothing went right on my drive. First of all, I couldn't find the cigarette lighter into which I could have plugged the handy little accelerometer. It's there, just not easy to find. There are USB ports in Teslas. Apparently Tesla owners don’t need to smoke as often as other drivers. Maybe they vape. Who knows? Second, my drive took place in West L.A. during rush hour on a Friday, driving through which is like trying to muscle your way to the stage at a free Kanye West concert.
Nonetheless I tried, first going west on Santa Monica Blvd, then south on Westwood, then giving up on that plan and turning north to try and make Sunset Blvd before my allotted one-hour drive time was up. On the way I found Hilgard Ave., which not only had no cars the moment I drove on it, but some actual curves - two to be exact.
I dove in, making my Tesla minder giggle and squeak just a little while making the Model 3 Performance perform. It was promising. It feels, as much as I could tell in two turns, like body roll is firmly-controlled, front-rear weight balance is perfect, and the limits of grip are far beyond what Hilgard offered. I turned around and did it again, in the opposite direction, with the same result. No understeer, no oversteer, just straight, true tracking through the turns. Whee!
Acceleration, likewise, is strong; thrilling, even. It’s still unclear whether you have to do that chemically ridiculous 30-minute pre-conditioning drill to get the 3.5-second 0-60 figure, but whatever figure I was experiencing was impressing the heck out of me.
Tesla says that this version of the Model 3 can lap a race track without overheating and shutting down, as the Model S had famously done in previous lapping sessions several years ago. Greater control of all the car’s performance parameters, from torque distribution to battery temperature control, has reportedly been vastly improved in this new-model Model 3. It’s unclear whether a Model 3 Performance could go a race distance, or even a lapping session, but it sounds like it’ll do a couple laps at least. Again, we’ll see.
Of course, none of this comes cheap. While the base Model 3, which doesn't exist but could arrive in customer hands in either six or nine months according to Tesla, starts at $36,000. This model starts at $65,000 and stickered at $79,000 in the fully-optioned car I drove. A BMW M3 about covers that price and performance. But an M3 is a proven commodity, with many generations of happy owners and more than a few lap records. Tesla is constantly developing its cars, sometimes through over-the-air updates when a better software solution comes out. That’s both good and bad.
So far customers seem enthusiastic no matter what happens, cheering on Musk like he’s some kind of cult leader. But if you have to join a cult, 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph would be a good one to pick.
Vehicle Model Information
ON SALE: Now, in limited supply
BASE PRICE: $65,000 (includes destination)
AS TESTED PRICE: $79,000 (includes destination)
POWERTRAIN: Two motors: three-phase, four-pole induction motor (front), permanent magnet motor (rear), awd
OUTPUT: 450 hp, 471 lb-ft (mfg)
CURB WEIGHT: 4,072 pounds
0-60 MPH: 3.5 seconds (mfg.)
FUEL ECONOMY: 310 miles range (EPA), 116 MPGe (EPA)
PROS: Small and powerful
CONS: Same ugly exterior
