A user in the Tesla Motors Club forum recently started a poll asking members if they would upgrade from “Insane” mode, which enables them to accelerate from 0–60 MPH in 3.1 or 3.2 seconds, to “Ludicrous” mode, which reduces that time to an impressive 2.8 seconds. The upgrade costs $5,000 + labour for P85D owners over the next 6 months, and $10,000 for new Tesla buyers. Plus, you have to upgrade the battery pack to the P90D, which costs another $3,000 (if you weren’t planning to do that anyway). Unlike most Tesla updates, these both require the installation of new hardware (most notably, in the case of the speed booster, a fuse upgrade). The poll results are interesting….
Surprisingly, ~60% of the members wanted the upgrade, ~14% of them said no, and ~25% of them said they’ll wait a bit while they think about it. Some of them were absolutely delighted to hear about the Ludicrous upgrade option. $5,000 is half the cost of a brand new sedan, but a fraction of the cost of most sports cars offering similar performance. Some of the members think that $5,000 is a steal, as performance upgrades of that caliber can cost many thousands of dollars.
Other members were suspicious about what Tesla was actually offering, and whether it is worth it, but we can’t be sure until the upgrade is finally released.
