I've driven every Tesla the company has built, and my longtime favorite is the original Roadster, no longer in production.
Well, it was my favorite. That honor now goes to the P3D.
Everything about this car is what the driver of the future wants — the studiously minimalist interior, the omnipresent technology, the refreshing absence of traditional luxury filigree — joined with what forward-leaning enthusiasts crave.
Sure, Tesla has more than its share of problems getting the Model 3 on the road. But when the rubber finally meets the road ... Zowie! The overdesigned fancifulness of the Model 3 and the practical family-sedan girth of the Model S is forgotten and you're back in spiritual Roadster territory, but with countless exciting updates. And make no mistake, laying in the P3D's sci-fi throttle never gets old. The addictive electric WHOOSH! is to Tesla what the wild wail of a screaming gas-incinerating V8 is to Ferrari.
The 0-60 mph dash does indeed seem to pass in less than four seconds. The big difference between the Performance 3 and the car I last drove is that with the P3D, the speed doesn't feel tapped out after 60 mph passes. That could be an illusion, but I could also chalk it up to having the additional torque delivery vector with the second motor.
The dual-motor Model 3 has a more compact wheelbase that than the Model S, making the car feel quite darty and light (even though, objectively, it's sort of heavy), but the oomph delivered by the two motors brings some muscle to the party. The closest internal-combustion analogy might be the BMW M2 combined with the BMW M3/M4, with Audi all-wheel-drive stability thrown in.
This mash-up takes a bit of getting used to: exceptional stability, crisp acceleration, deft braking, and point-and-shoot steering. The last one matters: the dual-motor 3 lacks "Ludicrous Mode" throttling — it's essentially in Ludicrous all the time, unless you dial it back to Chill Mode — so you can punch this sucker all day long.
Over time, however, it's the exquisite steering that captures the imagination. I noticed this on the single-motor Model 3 I drove earlier this year, but I noticed it far more with the dual-motor, probably because the additional grunt focuses the mind on one's primary interface with the car.
(Also, I hate to say this, but as with the single-motor Model 3, I more or less ignored Autopilot on the P3D because the dang thing is just so much fun to drive yourself. The dual-motor is fully outfitted with all the hardware it needs for Autopilot operation, but unfortunately, Tesla's engineers have simply made human piloting too appealing. Sorry, folks.)
Credit is due to Tesla for the Model S and especially for the supercar-besting P100D, but I think the Model 3 Performance is the company's best car yet. It can go toe-to-toe with the best high-performance sports sedans in the world and also give a lot of outright sports cars a run for the money, all while providing 15 cubic feet of truck space and a front "frunk" for a few more.
What we have here, admiring ladies and gents and drop-jawed children, is the complete package. Beautiful outside, cool as heck inside, and a car that gets your pulse pounding when you step on it. I'm crazy about this thing. It's pure joy with four wheels and four doors.
Oh, and by the way — no gas burned and no tailpipe emissions generated to deliver this bountiful pleasure, this happy mingling of man and machine.