ALISTAIR WEAVER: Hi! Alistair Weaver here for Edmunds with a Tesla Model S Plaid, one of the most anticipated, most outrageous, and most controversial cars of the year. [MUSIC PLAYING] We're going to put it through the full Edmunds instrumented test. Can this 1,020 horsepower electric sedan really hit 0 to 60 in 1.99 seconds as Tesla claims? We're going to put it through the world famous Edmunds EV range test to see whether this version can do 348 miles on a single charge as the EPA claims. We're going to drive it on road and track to find out whether this $135,000 Model S is a match for the Mercedes EQS and Porsche Taycan. Oh, and we're going to find out whether the y in yoke should really be a j? But before we get into all of that, please do us a favor and subscribe to the channel. And if you're looking to sell your car, head to edmunds.com/sellmycar and we'll make you a cash offer. Now without further ado, let's get on with it. You know, this is the bit you care about most, the acceleration test. Now the Plaid has three electric motors developing, says Tesla, 1,020 horsepower combined. Now to give you a bit of context, that's more than twice as much as a Chevy Corvette, and six times as much power as a base Honda Civic. Tesla also says it's good for 0 to 60 in 1.99 seconds, and 1/4 mile in 9.23 at 155 miles an hour. Now if that's true, the Model S Plaid would be the first production car ever to dip under the fabled two seconds. But regular Edmunds viewers will attest that we never take Tesla or anyone else for that matter at face value. Every car that receives an official Edmunds rating comes here to our track for a full instrumented test by our dedicated team. That's our head of testing, Jonathan Elfalan behind the wheel. Should also point out that this isn't a Tesla press demonstrator. To be honest, they haven't really been talking to us since we published our EV range test results. And nor is it a car from an excitable owner. We actually rented this from an industry specialist for a vast sum of money-- over $4 grand. It is therefore, fully representative. There really are no tricks here. This [? asphalt ?] is a simulation of real highway. It's not some specially prepared drag strip with traction-adding spray. Geographically, despite my weird accent, we're in Southern California, just outside LA, as you can probably hear from all the traffic noise. This we believe very confidently is a proper representation of what this car can do in the real world. Now before the Plaid can be set up to do its sprint, there is a bit of palaver. First, you have to select drag strip mode, then wait anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes as the car prepares itself, chilling the motors and optimizing the battery temperature. Then when it's finally in the right mode, you need to set it up for launch control. Over to Jonathan. JONATHAN ELFALAN: OK. So we've already put the Model S into drag strip mode. It's allowed the car to cool down its motors and batteries so that we can get the maximum or the quickest acceleration run. That took about seven minutes and 13-ish seconds, when it indicated that it would only take three minutes. So a little longer than that. We're going to start initiate the launch sequence. So I'm going to press very firmly on the brake pedal and then floor the accelerator. I see a bright yellow light that's starting to initiate the launch. It says preparing for launch, suspension entering cheetah mode. And now we're ready to go. Here we go. Oh my God. Oh! Woo! Oh! Oh! Oh my God! [LAUGHING] Woo! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Geez. That's kind of eerie. When we tested things like the GT500 here that's super loud, it's a real sense of occasion, that thing just whoosh! JONATHAN ELFALAN: That is-- that is something else. A little breathless right now. The road just narrows in front of you. All right. So this is the second launch. Here we go. OK. I'm a little used to it this time. [EXHALES] ALISTAIR WEAVER: [INAUDIBLE] you tested so many supercars and everything else. Does this feel different? Does it feel genuinely faster? JONATHAN ELFALAN: I mean, this is by far, the fastest and most breathtaking acceleration I have ever experienced in any car that I've driven so far. ALISTAIR WEAVER: It's still remaining remarkably sanguine though. It's good. JONATHAN ELFALAN: That first time I was just completely breathless. I felt like I was doing an acceleration run for the first time ever. [MUSIC PLAYING] ALISTAIR WEAVER: So the test team need a bit of time to crunch the numbers. So while they do, let's do a bit of driving. What a tease. Now I've been driving this thing on the road a little bit, but I've deliberately held back from using full throttle, because I wanted to film my actual reaction. So here we are on a bit of a straightaway. I'm doing 20 miles an hour. A little bit of trepidation, but here we go. [LAUGHING] Bloody hell! Sorry about the language. Because it's an electric car and it's so instantaneous, all that talk, it just heightens a sense of everything. Here we go. [LAUGHING] Geez. OK, that was like, 100 miles an hour down into the brakes. Its because it's electric and because everything is so silent that you really-- you just sort of lose that sense of perspective. Everything just suddenly starts coming at you so much faster than you anticipate. What's kind of nice about it though is actually you can kind of modulate the throttle quite easily. It's not-- it's not particularly difficult to just jump in and drive. Now of course this car has got all wheel drive. It's a product of the three motors. And it has got torque vectoring, which in theory, transfers the power around at the rear to help give you more grip and agility in corners. But you know, will it ultimately grip and will it ultimately travel very fast through [INAUDIBLE] corners? Absolutely. Is it a sport sedan like a BMW M5 or Mercedes AMG? Well, not really. And I say that because it's a 4,800 pound electric sedan, and it doesn't kind of feel like Tesla's set this thing up to be-- to be a sports car. I mean, look at these seats. I'm moving around like a crazy person. I'm kind of hanging on to the yoke through these tight corners. This car is all about straight line performance. It's a kind of modern electric interpretation of a good old fashioned American muscle car. The problem I have with this car is honestly, it's just all a bit much. It's way too fast for our tight and twisty circuit here. It's absurdly fast on the road. And I can't really see in the real world what it delivers over the Model S long range, which is already ludicrously rapid, travels further on a full charge, and costs $40,000 less. I mean, I've driven plenty of supercars, which are nearly as rapid as this, and a few race cars as well, but they all have a sort of sense of theater-- a real kind of visceral element to them that this car lacks. In this car you've really got to concentrate on just how fast you're going. And that worries me, because I think people are going to get into trouble in this car. I mean, it's as fast as like a top end motorbike. But on motorbike, you've got a real sense of self-preservation and you've got to be really, really good to get the best out of it. And B, it's just so dangerous. This, you just wind up the windows, turn on the aircon, and then it's like a 1,000 horsepower golf cart. The other thing, these indicators on the yoke, driving me nuts. What particularly irritates me is that the left and right are both here. So you use your left thumb for turning left and your left thumb for turning right. It feels like it'd make a lot more sense if you had the right one here, where you right thumb is and the left one here. There. Anyway. Oy. There's plenty of grip and it turns in nicely like all Teslas do. d ultimately, it's not as much fun to drive as a Tesla Model 3. It's not as agile. It's not as nimble. It doesn't turn as nicely. It's-- and that's really just because of its size and weight. All the trick engineering in the world can't overpower the basic laws of physics. Ultimately, this car feels like sort of more about the bragging rights than what it can actually do. See, after a while, you almost start to feel a little bit sick. You know, you just-- [EXHALES] [INAUDIBLE]. So this is kind of strange. I've never been carsick in my life. Ever. I've never even been sick on a boat. I've been in a Formula One car. I've been in the back of a two-seater Formula One car. And yet today, in this, I don't know if its the tuna had at lunchtime or just sensations, I just started to feel like-- you know you get fluid in your mouth, and you're like-- it's not good. I had to come into the pits. It's the strangest feeling. I don't know if it's because there's no noise and you don't get that same sensation. So your brain isn't processing in the same way that when you're in a super car and it's noisy, or a race car and everything is happening, and your brain just kind of processes the speed. I really never felt like this before. Thankfully, after a bottle of water and a few deep breaths, I was feeling like myself again. And what's more, the numbers were ready. So Jonathan, Tesla claims 1.99 seconds to 60, quarter mile in 9.23 in 155. Edmond says-- JONATHAN ELFALAN: A little generous on Tesla's part. We officially measured 2.3 seconds to 60, and a 9.4 quarter mile at 150.8 miles per hour. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So that's 2.3 dead, 2.30. JONATHAN ELFALAN: 2.30, correct. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So why are we behind Tesla? JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well, for one, we don't factor in rollout, which is the distance that the car travels over a foot right at the beginning. That's about 0.24 seconds that we don't subtract. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So if you subtracted that we'd be around just under 2.1 seconds? JONATHAN ELFALAN: Correct, 2.1. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So about a tenth slower than Tesla. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Correct. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And we don't do that because presumably, it's not very real world. JONATHAN ELFALAN: It's not real world. I mean, in the real world, you're not going to be subtracting time from your run. This is what the car does from 0 to 60, not from point whatever-- 0.24 seconds to 60. So yeah, I mean, that's-- I think that is the value that makes most sense. ALISTAIR WEAVER: The other thing is we're on a regular street surface, not a prepped super sticky drag strip. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Right. It's what we would consider just your average street. It doesn't have any sort of VHT or sticky-- stickiness to artificially augment your road grip. So yeah. We, think this is a very valid real world representation of what this car can do. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And while we haven't hit Tesla's figures, and in the real world, it won't do 0 to 60 in our opinion, in under two seconds-- the magic two seconds-- this is still the fastest car that we've tested here. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah. I mean, it is-- it by far, the fastest car we've tested here. And the fact that it is maybe a tenth off here really doesn't matter. It is still phenomenally, mind-bending fast. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And we don't just test the acceleration. We also measure braking performance and lateral grip. The Plaids start from 60 miles an hour in 108 feet. That's four feet further than a BMW M5. On the skid pad, it registered 1.06 g, the same as the M5. That's impressive, but as we've seen, it doesn't necessarily translate into cornering fun. The other big part of our process is the Edmunds EV range test. We drive every electric car on a real world loop from our office in Santa Monica, California, testing how far they'll travel on a single charge. In common with every other Tesla we've tested, the Plaid failed to hit its EPA range figure. But this time, by just three miles. For Plaids fitted with 22-inch wheel rims, the EPA claims it will travel 348 miles on a single charge. And we managed 345 to an indicated 0 range. In doing so, the Plaid matched our result for the Tesla Model 3 Long Range. And so joins its little brother at the top of our range leaderboard. Also impressive was the Plaid's consumption. At 32.1 kilowatt hours per 100 miles, it actually bettered the much less powerful twin motor Porsche Taycan 4S. Obviously, don't expect to enjoy anything like these figures if you deploy all 1,020 horsepower. It seems crazy to think that the Model S originally debuted back in 2012, and I was there. As you can see, I haven't changed a bit. Still got that jacket. Now if you're wondering why it's making all that noise-- you can probably hear the fans whirring on behind me. It's because we've been hammering it around the track. And it's now desperately trying to cool itself down and manage those batteries. It's kind of giving our sound man kittens. This is actually the biggest update in the last nine years. And to be honest, it's still very subtle. These wheel arches have been flared a little bit to incorporate bigger tires. They've also reworked the aerodynamics here at the rear with this new sort of diffuser and a trunk lip spoiler. Now this is to help keep the car stable at speeds up to 200 miles an hour. But here's a little factoid for you. At the moment, Tesla hasn't quite got the software right. So it's limited to 163 miles an hour. Then in theory, sometime in the future, they'll do an over-the-air update, and allow it to hit 200. We'll see. Overall though, the whole effect is very subtle. Even the solitary Plaid badge is very much on the small side. I like that. This is kind of the ultimate sleeper, or as we used to say in Europe, a Q car. It reminds me a bit of the Mercedes 500E from the '90s. And that was really cool. Underneath, you get the now familiar Tesla chassis with a 100-kilowatt battery residing underneath the cabin floor. The three motors are located one at the front and two at the rear. And apparently they now come sheathed in carbon fiber that allows them to spin at up to 20,000 revolutions per minute, which is a lot. Now by the magic of television, we've been transported into a different time and place to reveal the biggest changes of all here inside. The old portrait screen has been replaced by something that's landscape, mimicking the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. Although if you look at Tesla's website, it's not actually a screen at all. It's a 17-inch cinematic display. And it controls just about everything, including controversially, the gearbox. There are no column stalks at all attached to the yoke. So how does it work? Well, in theory, you put your foot on the brake, and then the car will automatically sense whether it thinks you want to go forward or backwards. Now we're facing a sort of fence at the moment. But you might think that the car would then put us into reverse. But, actually, nothing doing. So I can do it manually using the screen. So I swipe up to go forwards, or down to go into reverse. And then it activates all the cameras and the little buzzy noise. Or P to go back into Park. So what happens, you might ask, if the screen decides to give up on life, as it's known to do in certain Teslas? Well, there is a little bit of redundancy down here. You can just about see the PR and D symbols. And in theory at least, the, system will recognize when the screen has failed. These will come to life and allow you to carry on your journey. I haven't had the opportunity to test that though. Tesla has updated the UX and UI. That's user experience and user interface, Dad. So you do get new graphics for most of the major controls, but the actual functionality will be familiar to anyone who owns a Model 3 or a Model Y. You also still get the curious mix of ergonomics. If you want to open the glove box, for example, you have to go into the control setting. And then there it is. A couple of new things to point out. If you go into suspension, you now have this little geeky display that tells you things like ride height, compression damping, rebound damping, which is great if you're a geek like me. Apart from that though, it's pretty much business as usual. If you're waiting for the kids or if you're trying to charge the car at a Tesla Supercharger, you have the opportunity to watch your favorite channels, including of course, your favorite automotive YouTube channel. [INAUDIBLE]. You can play arcade games. You can surf the internet. And of course, the piece de resistance, Tesla's fart machine is still present and correct. Several years old. It's still funny. There is, of course, another function buried in here, which is always the talk of the Teslarati. And that's autopilot. It's a $10,000 option on the Plaid that's actually fitted to this car. And it is terrible. The haters can hate. And I know there'll be a stream of comments below about how wrong I am, but I've used this system in town. I've used it on the highway. On the highway, it's basically a sort of automatic cruise control, the kind of thing that you get in pretty much most cars these days. Around town, honestly, I think it's downright dangerous. Would I spent $10,000 of my money on it? Absolutely not. What I do like though, is the fact that the Model S has two extra screens, compared to the Model 3 and Model Y. This screen in front of me displays basic sensible information like the navigation and how fast you're going. If only I had that in the Model 3 that I own. There's also another screen here in the rear. This little screen allows you to control things like choose your own music, in fact, the air conditioning, and of course, watch your TV channels. But there is a problem. If you sat in the seat, your knee naturally interferes with the screen, which is immensely irritating. Much better to have it up here. Apart from that, at the back of the Model S remains a pretty nice place to be with comfortable seats, reasonable legroom, apart from you your knees end up a bit high, because those batteries under the floor, and plenty of headroom. You can also drop this down here to reveal some cubbies and some cup holders. Behind me is a decent trunk, supplemented by a little frunk in the front. This remains a very practical, versatile 1,000 horsepower supercar. But, and it is a very big but, the quality of this car just isn't good enough for $140,000. Sorry, Teslarati. [INAUDIBLE] just isn't. It isn't for two reasons. One is the choice of materials. Now I own a Tesla Model 3. And the materials in here are a little different. But this car costs more than three times as much as the Model 3. And if you compare the look and feel of things in here to the Porsche Taycan or the Mercedes EQs, frankly, it's a world apart. And on top of that, you have the problem of the actual build quality. The more you look at this car, the more you start to inspect it, the more problems that you find. Take that little strip for example, a little bimetallic strip that runs along the front of the fascia. In theory, it marries up with a strip along the doors to create this nice wrap around effect, except that the difference between the left to the right is about yay much. We have some weather stripping coming away on the right hand door. And a lot of the panels don't line up properly. Tesla's had its own way in the luxury EV market for a long time now, but competitors are coming thick and fast, both from the old world with the likes of Porsche and Mercedes, and the new, Lucid, Rivian, and everyone else. If Tesla wants to maintain its market lead, it's going to need more than antics on Twitter. It really has to focus on quality. Porsche and Mercedes also outrageously provide you with a proper steering wheel, but Tesla, not so much. All you can get on the Plaid is this so-called yoke. Now there's been plenty of Twitter rants about this already. But we wanted to cut through the hyperbole and put it to a proper test. Here at our test track, we've got a low grip handling circuit. The idea is you can simulate the effects of driving on ice and learn about a car's dynamic repertoire at modest speeds. So we'll work for that lone crusader. Michael Knight also worked for me. Let's give it a whirl. COMPUTER VOICE: Welcome Alistair. 12-mode activated. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Now this like, every other Tesla, won't allow you to turn off the stability control. So though it's got torque vectoring, which should help here, constantly fighting the ABS, which-- but then again, it might not be a bad thing, because as you can see, the yoke makes absolutely no sense when you're trying to apply lots of corrective steering. I've been around here in a 9/11. It's the most fun in the world. But as you can see, when you actually have to apply pretty rapid steering, it just doesn't work. It's kind of OK on the highway, as long as you're not trying to do a three-point turn or go on a particularly twisty road. But anything beyond that, it just actually feels dangerous, because you can't grab different bits of it. Honestly, this is a question that nobody asked and an answer that nobody wanted. It's just for Twitter. It's ridiculous. Don't let anybody tell you this is a good idea. I can't believe it's actually-- I can't believe it's legal, to be honest. It's just daft. What you can't do is drift this Model S. And of course, the other really irritating thing is that you have all these controls on the steering wheel. So I keep turning on the windscreen wipers. I keep hitting the horn. Why, why, why, why, why? The problem for me is that this yoke is really a metaphor for the whole car. It's almost as if Tesla's execs thought about how much noise they could make on Twitter and then worked backwards. A yoke on a road car is just plain daft. But then, so is the whole idea of 1,020 horsepower four-door sedan. I love the Tesla Model, 3 because it's a genuinely groundbreaking car that's accessible to many people. This, by contrast, is just a marketing exercise designed to create attention for an aging car and to satiate the egos of multimillionaires in cocktail bars. Really, it's only good for one thing. And that's drag racing. And coincidentally, that's where we're heading next. Please do us a favor and subscribe to our channel so we can do more things like the Tesla Model S Plaid. And if you or your family or your friends or your relatives or anybody else that you know happens to be selling their car, check out Edmunds.com/sellmycar and we'll make you a cash offer. [MUSIC PLAYING]
