Translation
Author: Chang Yan
“Playing the pig to eat the tiger” is a great honor for cars.
It used to belong to the elites of Japan, the Mitsubishi EVO and the Subaru STI.
It used to belong to the German steel, the AMG, M Power, and RS.
But now, this phrase seems to be increasingly applied to the Model S Plaid.
Not because it’s too slow, but because it eats up everything that’s too fast.
The previous cars were impressive when compared to the sports cars, but Plaid easily out-accelerates supercars and even hypercars.
In terms of price, the previous steel cannons could beat a car three times their own value with some effort, but Plaid can take down a car 30 times its own value with a little bit of effort.
What’s even more outrageous is that the Model S Plaid is still a harmless four-door sedan.
“All of its new tricks are hidden under familiar, decade-old sheetmetal,” according to Car and Driver after testing the car.
So, is this car really that fast, valuable, and magical?
Below is a deep review by Car and Driver.
This is definitely a better electric car.
“Tesla has always been fast, but under its CEO’s leadership, the company seems equally adept at breaking internal boundaries and making serious, industry-changing moves–Plaid is the result of both.”
In terms of core hardware for electric vehicles, the Model S Plaid has made virtually all-around improvements, including:
- Better motor: “It’s the first Tesla with three motors, two in the rear axle and one in the front, they’re all permanent-magnet synchronous motors.”「Plaid 采用了全新的内饰设计，包括一个 17 英寸的中央触控屏和一个配备了方向盘拨片的纵置式屏幕，以及高质量的音响系统、更舒适的座椅和更多的内部存储空间。」The car utilizes a more diverse set of materials. It has a 17.0-inch central screen that is now oriented horizontally, a 22-speaker surround sound system, and thicker sound-insulating glass that makes the interior significantly quieter than before.
Even the design has improved:
“Tesla’s loyal users will notice the shift away from Mercedes-Benz gear selectors, turn signal stalks, and power window switches.”
And, the acceleration is even faster.
After all, we are discussing speed, aren’t we?
“Car and Driver” offers a vivid and thorough description of the exhilarating process of launching a Model S Plaid.
“To unleash maximum acceleration, select Drag Strip mode, heat the battery to optimal temperature, and hold down the brake and accelerator pedals for about 10 seconds to prime the air springs for lower ride height. The front wheels tuck in to the wheel arches in Tesla’s so-called cheetah stance (which we found only slow 0.1 second at 60 mph and the quarter-mile without waiting).”
“The initial launch thrust isn’t what you expect because power must be judiciously applied to maintain traction. What’s shocking is how quickly the Plaid accelerates to 60 mph in just 2.1 seconds, such that the environs begin to mimic the goofy grid animation on the instrument panel screen.”
“The VBox test gear logged 4.3 seconds to 100 mph and a 9.4-second quarter-mile sprint, joining the Bugatti Chiron Sport as the fastest we’ve ever measured a production vehicle running the quarter mile.”
“If you’ve been following Tesla, you know that performance falls off a cliff after one or two hard acceleration runs at full battery charge. Not anymore. Plaid’s radiators are twice as large as before, and our test vehicle made eight runs back-to-back with no problem, the final one at 80 percent battery charge.”
“Of the cars that can run the quarter mile in the nines, Plaid is the least ostentatious.”
“But for a large four-door sedan that can accommodate five people, provides comfortable riding experience, and has a starting price of 131,440 dollars, being able to compete with multi-million-dollar supercars is an amazing achievement.”
“In our mid-acceleration test, Plaid actually beat the fastest exotic cars, accelerating from 48 km/h to 80 km/h in 0.9 seconds and from 80 km/h to 112 km/h in 1.0 seconds.”
“These are the fastest times witnessed by our testing equipment, more than twice as fast as the Chiron, and about 30% faster than the Model S Performance and Porsche Taycan Turbo S from last year.”
Plaid is good, but don’t get too greedy for speed
“However,” this word is finally going to appear on the road to chasing top speed.
Because “Car and Driver” found that Plaid can’t even run at the claimed top speed…
“But if Tesla doesn’t make exaggerated promises, it wouldn’t be Tesla.”
“Plaid cannot reach the company’s claimed speed of 320 km/h. The top speed of our test car is 260 km/h, which is no faster than the Model S Performance from last year.”
“Tesla has been releasing some software, as well as new vehicle upgrades, to achieve its claimed goals. Of course, it swears that OTA will unlock the true Plaid speed.”
“But trust us, you don’t want to drive this car at 320 km/h, even 260 km/h is frightening, hovering, and tense, making us very worried about its ability to navigate between lanes.”
Editors listed the shortcomings of Plaid at top speed:
- “The steering system did not become stable enough as the speed increased, which made the task more difficult. At similar speeds, Taycan is definitely stable.”
- “In our test, the brakes became soft. Although our braking system is not as demanding as the one required for the track, a warning message still popped up on the dashboard, reporting that the braking system had reached its limit.”The editors of Car and Driver passionately argue that it’s important to remind everyone that prioritizing the driving experience is more important than the numbers on the spec sheet.
“At the limit, Plaid is like a zombie, with nothing passing through the ends of the Yoke steering wheel.”
Meanwhile, in tight turns, Plaid easily enters into oversteer, leading to excessive electronic stability control intervention.
“Tesla boasts of torque vectoring with the dual, rear mounted motors in Plaid,” but the vehicle’s overall safety strategy severely limits how close you can get to the limit.
“The Model 3 Performance with adjustable (and turn-off-able) track mode settings is more satisfying and fun.”
Surprisingly, the Yoke steering wheel and automatic shifting received pretty good reviews.
“The Yoke isn’t necessarily a terrible idea, but it becomes one when a manufacturer fails to pair it with a quicker steering ratio.”
“We quickly got used to the haptic turn signals and other assistive controls. In addition, an unobstructed view is an improvement.”
“But you never want it to turn 180 degrees. It quickly leads to some bad habits, like reaching for the wrong side of the Yoke when entering a turn that would normally require some hand-over-hand action.”
“When cruising on straight highways, the Yoke might be fine. But try parking or making a U-turn in a Plaid, and you’ll have a newfound appreciation for the rim of a steering wheel.”
“Shifting is accomplished with a swipe of the touchscreen. We think it’s a problematic idea because information and entertainment screen crashes are not a rare event for Tesla or any other carmaker. At least Tesla has an alternative in the center console when this happens.”
“Compared to the Yoke, the new digital shifter works quite well. Although sometimes the system doesn’t recognize that you want to go forward rather than reverse, quick left-side corrections on the display screen will move you in the right direction.”
But then again, I don’t think too many Plaid users actually need to take it for a spin on the track, and even fewer are willing to blast an EV to its limit.Is it not enough to be able to leave all competitors behind on the road and constantly see your car break various world records on the internet?
However, at the end of the article, the editors still happily proclaimed: “The acceleration of the Plaid is like a fiercely explosive phenomenon that can warp reality in an instant. I hope that everyone who hates electric cars can come and experience it. This explosive experience will change their minds.”
The final test results also tell us in a prominent way that although electrification may not make you fall in love with everything, the Plaid is undoubtedly a worthy hexagonal warrior.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.