Hands-on First Look: Tesla Model S Plaid
The Tesla Model S Plaid’s flat power curve all the way to 150 mph with single-speed dual motors on the rear is mind-blowing!
ClubLexus — as a forum and a media outlet — mainly focuses on all things Lexus. Shocking, I know. But one of the things I love most about this community is our overall sense of auto enthusiasm. In fact, you may not know it, but one of our most popular sub-threads is simply called Car Chat. A place where you can debate and discuss every single make and model… ever. And just this week, Car Chat saw an amazing thread about the new 1,020hp, 200mph-capable Tesla Model S Plaid.
Started by CL member Hameed, Pics of the Plaid Model S and opinion of an owner features both hands-on reactions from Hameed himself, a current Model S owner, as well as first impressions from one of the first 25 Model S Plaid owners, Omar:
Omar was one of the 25 lucky owners that took delivery of their Plaid cars at the Tesla Plaid event last week on June 10. Needless to say I have Plaid envy – lots of it lol
Omar has been kind enough to answer countless questions and take lots of pics by request from the folks on the Tesla forum. Needless to say – for anything new like this plus the fact that it is not yet widely available, there were tons of questions/requests.
I will highlight some of the feedback from Omar about this car:
- The car feels much more “premium” than his previous Model S – both in terms of the quality of fit and finish as well as materials – see a bunch of interior shots as well as exterior paint shots – no misaligned panels and the paint seems perfect. Not sure if the cars at the delivery event were specially “prepped” for this because of the expected level of attention at the event or if this is as sign of things to come from Tesla (thank you competition – Porsche, MB, Audi etc). It does not have any fancy massaging or infinite levels of ambient lighting (for some that is part and parcel of “premium and luxury”). It now has ventilated seats (cooling and heating). It also has “active” headlights. The rear taillights did not get an update and a lot of folks are very upset about this. I suspect there will be refresh to these eventually.
- The car is a lot more quiet now – acoustic glass and much less road noise overall (some chassis insulation etc) no doubt has made a huge difference. It appears that the new active noise cancellation feature is not yet “working” as the toggle to activate it is grayed out. No doubt an update to the software will enable this soon. If the car is already very quiet with the improvement in chassis insulation and acoustic windows, I can only imagine how much more quiet it will be once the ANC is enabled.
- The yoke seems to be a work in progress – to put that mildly. I’m keeping an open mind that Tesla will make it feel less awkward with a future software update. I don’t hate it, and at the same time would love to try it out first before passing judgement.
- The performance of course is on another level. No need to say any more.
- The UI software is brand new and is unique to the S/X as there are now 3 screens vs single in 3/Y. Omar mentioned that it feels a bit unfinished (the ANC for example), however since it’s software – it will no doubt get updated soon.
- I really like the new 21 inch “Arachnid “wheels and they are finally not some skinny anemic wheel/tire combo like on previous gens. They are 265 in the front and 295 in the rear.
- The flat power curve (as opposed to falling off power) all the way to 150 mph with a single speed dual motors on the rear is mind blowing to say the least. Tesla had to design a special machine (as none existed prior) to make the high tech carbon sleeve for the rear motors that help with this power delivery.
- Elon made a point of mentioning that the Plaid has the lowest coefficient of drag of any car in production today as the value is 0.208 which includes the wheels while the car is in motion. The EQS has a cd of 0.2, but I don’t know if that is while the car is in motion and also includes the wheels.
Hameed continues:
Some die-hard current Tesla Model S owners feel “betrayed” that Tesla deliberately didn’t do an extensive exterior refresh and I get that, however I think the tweaks made to the original design to (wider track, lower overall height and more aerodynamic) are tasteful and are a direct consequence of determining that other priorities (two new factories coming online, new battery development/ramp up – the 4680 pack, etc) on Tesla’s roadmap precluded the time/$ required for a full exterior redesign. Virtually everything (or most) under the skin is new/refreshed. This refresh was needed and I’m sure the legacy ICE manufacturers competition (Taycan, EQS, Etron GT) also played a fairly significant role.
I still am very much in love with my current 2016 S, however when the time comes to replace it, the Plaid or LR versions would definitely be top contenders as my next car (used, low mileage and under 3 years old). It’s far from perfect, however it’s very good in a lot of areas that I feel are important as far as I’m concerned. That’s all that really matters to anyone considering any car really.
Click HERE to read the rest of Hameed’s post and see more photos. And head over HERE to see Hameed’s reactions to MotorTrend’s first Model S Plaid review. Cheers!
EDITOR’S NOTE: After publishing this post on the ClubLexus home page, a moderator merged multiple Model S Plaid threads. As such, instead of linking to the start of separate threads, the above links now take you to two of Hameed’s posts in the one large Model S Plaid thread.
