Scared to ask... anyone tempted by Model S Plaid?

[Rcrewse7]

• UP x Bilstein Semi-Active Skyhook Dampers
• UP Billet Adjustable Front Upper Control Arms
• UP Billet Adjustable Rear Camber Arms
• UP 3 Way Adjustable Rear Stabilizer Bar
• UP 19” UP-03 Forged Wheels
• Yokohama Slicks
• UP Plaid Spec Carbon Bucket Seat
• UP one-off aero, carbon racing steering wheel, roll cage, air jacks, brake master cylinder stopper, brake ducting, etc

And in case you are wondering…..$230k. ?

meanwhile a tuned Ford Shelby can smoke it in the quarter mile for less than half the cost.

These comparisons, while impressive as clickbait, are meaningless.

Curious, where did you find the $230K number?

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[Mr.Smith]

Google Tesla fit & finish. You'll never go Tesla after seeing the search results. Never.

These aren't focal points for Telsa buyers. My friend was getting a Y, I showed him all the flaws, he said you buy a Tesla knowing it's flawed.
He got the Y last year, his second Tesla.

I was getting a S then a 3 when it first came out because it was that or a Leaf. It was a special car then and way ahead of its time.

 

[feye]

Google Tesla fit & finish. You'll never go Tesla after seeing the search results. Never.

And then there is OTA!

 

[hkarthik]

Tesla service quality largely depends on where you live and how much traffic they get, because there's no standard that the service centers are held to and they haven't really expanded enough to meet the growing service needs of a large customer base.

Where I live in the SF Bay Area, my friends who bought Model S back in 2016 described a luxury dealership experience when they got service. Appointments were readily available, and if the car was in need of service for several days, they got a loaner. Just like at Mercedes, BMW, or Porsche.

Now he says the entire place is full of Model Y and Model 3 owners. Getting a service appointment can take weeks, the super chargers are always busy, and if your car needs to be serviced for a few days, they hand you Uber credits which run out quickly. It's completely deteriorated to the level of Toyota or Honda.

I don't see much of a future for Model S or Model X. The Tesla fanboys will continue to buy them, but anyone comparing these cars to Porsche or Audi will really wonder what they're paying for. Most of my friends who bought new Model S's are all looking at the Taycan.

 

[Erez123]

Curious, where did you find the $230K number?

Unplugged Performance sell them on their site.

 

[Tsingtao]

we know the plaid is quick - super quick - embarassingly quick - but the big “message” in that video - is when the guy just says “I’m done I’m ordering one” - and does so on his phone right then right there

no dealer
no adm
no allocation BS
simple configurator

we’ve not only got to accelerate the transition to EV - but we’ve got to get rid of this awful dealer network…

Porsche needs to add a “buy now” button to the configurator - it’s quite frankly just plain stupid that I have to interact with a clueless sales person to do my order entry - drives me nuts.

the most impressive part of that video is when the TurboS owner orders a Plaid track side before the 3rd race - almost faster than the time it takes the plaid to do the 1/4…you can question his judgement - but OMG watch the eCommerce dominate and you can see why dealers/existing-auto hates Tesla - it up ends their entire model - boom I want one - it’s done.

dealers are not long for this world - and I for one won’t miss them.

So true. The only real added value of a dealership (at least during my Taycan purchase experience) was being able to see and touch the different interiors and exteriors (and of course borrow the keys for a test drive). I learned 10X more about the Taycan through this site than I did from visiting three separate dealerships. It was remarkable how little some of the sales reps knew about Taycan specifics and electric vehicles in general. I suspect that they, like so many, spend their idle time watching their Facebook feeds rather than studying product literature.

 

[epirali]

It theoretically will get even quieter once Tesla releases the update which adds Active Noise Cancellation.

General comment about ANC (not Tesla in particular): its a cool technology, but it ain’t magic. Its pumping energy into a cabin trying to exactly cancel another wave of energy. It is never perfect, can’t work broadly in space and may not be worth it. Its a little bit like that great like from the “Good Place“ that one character used to say:

”Whenever I have a problem I throw a Molotov cocktail. Then I have a different problem.”

 

[hkarthik]

Doug DeMuro posted his review of the Tesla Model S Plaid here:

If you're at all tempted by the Plaid, it's worth watching.

I like his reviews, especially as he goes through the quirks of each car's interior. I would have liked to see a bit more information on the yoke steering experience too.

He pointed out a few quality control issues which Tesla is known for, which shouldn't really surprise anyone. Nothing seems to have changed there, even for Tesla's now flagship car.

 

[jontybutts]

Looks like a car designed 10 years ago

 

[Tsingtao]

Looks like a car designed 10 years ago

All the teslas, to me (an American with some Chinese heritage so perhaps I am jaded), look like they were designed in China. I'm just not a big fan of Chinese car designs, much prefer German and Italian designs.

 

[hkarthik]

Looks like a car designed 10 years ago

yeah it's clear that Tesla is doing limited R&D now, except on the interior tech and the ever elusive self driving AI. Seems like most of their investment is focused on increasing manufacturing capacity on the lower end Model 3 and Model Y.

Every other manufacturer is playing catch up and looking to disrupt/innovate Tesla who is now the incubument.

If you want the most cutting edge design and tech, probably need to look elsewhere from Tesla. Of course don't ever say this to a Tesla fanboy

 

[JustLooking]

yeah it's clear that Tesla is doing limited R&D now, except on the interior tech and the ever elusive self driving AI. Seems like most of their investment is focused on increasing manufacturing capacity on the lower end Model 3 and Model Y.

Every other manufacturer is playing catch up and looking to disrupt/innovate Tesla who is now the incubument.

If you want the most cutting edge design and tech, probably need to look elsewhere from Tesla. Of course don't ever say this to a Tesla fanboy

As a Tesla fangirl, I agree with what you've said. However, when it comes to investment/innovation/tech they are most definitely the leader and it'd be hard to disrupt a disruptor.

Tesla is innovating in ways traditional manufacturers haven't been able to: complete bottom-up engineering due to vertical integration. Tesla innovates in the battery space and provides the specifications to battery manufacturers. They do their own component designs (think octo-valve), their own metallurgy for things like gigapress, their own motor designs/PWM controllers/electronics (not off-the-shelf/vendor parts), they have one of the most advanced AI research centers in the world (rivaling the tech giants) and custom hardware in cars, the concept of being remote/OTA from the get-go (remote diagnostics, electronic fuses, constant OTA pushes) and so on.

I'm not saying they do everything perfectly, but they are run like a Silicon Valley startup. It's all about constant/consistent innovation, it's not a model other manufacturers are used to. Don't think of their cars as a product, but rather a development platform which is constantly being improved upon.

I work in a disruptive field, this is what I live and breathe every day. It's hard for lay-people to see the overall vision when they think of the car as a product. Even though Tesla is already over 10-years in, they're not even close to their vision - which goes to show how good the product is. Again, the things I'm talking about aren't aesthetics like duck nose or panel gaps... those are easy things to fix, I'm talking about something much bigger and aspirational.

As an example, look at SpaceX. Most space companies' mission is to just get to space and do so reliably. SpaceX's vision is to go to Mars and to make humans interplanetary. As a result, their innovations have made them the leader in that space and ironically one of the cheapest options out there. In other words, just sending a rocket into space is childs play. Same with Tesla. They envision something many years into the future, a reality which doesn't exist yet (full autonomy, robo-taxis, shift in energy production/consumption, etc).

 

[daveo4EV]

probably a better choice than the plaid - time will tell - but it’s clear to me:

• people are chasing Tesla
• Tesla is no longer going to have EV’s to themselves
• competition is great for all of us
• the established car guys still have some work to do…

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2022-lucid-air-dream-edition-r-exclusive-first-drive-review

 

[kreshi]

M

As a Tesla fangirl, I agree with what you've said. However, when it comes to investment/innovation/tech they are most definitely the leader and it'd be hard to disrupt a disruptor.

Tesla is innovating in ways traditional manufacturers haven't been able to: complete bottom-up engineering due to vertical integration. Tesla innovates in the battery space and provides the specifications to battery manufacturers. They do their own component designs (think octo-valve), their own metallurgy for things like gigapress, their own motor designs/PWM controllers/electronics (not off-the-shelf/vendor parts), they have one of the most advanced AI research centers in the world (rivaling the tech giants) and custom hardware in cars, the concept of being remote/OTA from the get-go (remote diagnostics, electronic fuses, constant OTA pushes) and so on.

I'm not saying they do everything perfectly, but they are run like a Silicon Valley startup. It's all about constant/consistent innovation, it's not a model other manufacturers are used to. Don't think of their cars as a product, but rather a development platform which is constantly being improved upon.

I work in a disruptive field, this is what I live and breathe every day. It's hard for lay-people to see the overall vision when they think of the car as a product. Even though Tesla is already over 10-years in, they're not even close to their vision - which goes to show how good the product is. Again, the things I'm talking about aren't aesthetics like duck nose or panel gaps... those are easy things to fix, I'm talking about something much bigger and aspirational.

As an example, look at SpaceX. Most space companies' mission is to just get to space and do so reliably. SpaceX's vision is to go to Mars and to make humans interplanetary. As a result, their innovations have made them the leader in that space and ironically one of the cheapest options out there. In other words, just sending a rocket into space is childs play. Same with Tesla. They envision something many years into the future, a reality which doesn't exist yet (full autonomy, robo-taxis, shift in energy production/consumption, etc).

Just like those SpaceX rockets, your level of bullshit is also reaching new heights. Were you by any chance the guy in the robot suit that danced for Elon? Would explain a lot.

 

[Thor]

I used to be a big Tesla fan. I booked Model S in 2009, got it in 2013 and had it for 8 years before switching to Taycan. The tesla forums used to be fun and exciting. But now, tesla forums are more like QAnon forums. Crazy stuff gets said in those forums. And like Mr. Q, there is Mr. T (i.e. Elon) who controls the bitcoin world with a single tweet. Lol

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