Photo: Tesla
Pretty much any automaker is going to great lengths to make their products more appealing. But often rather than rarely, an overpromising product disappoints in the real world. That’s also the case with Tesla, which is advertising the Plaid with a 1.99-second acceleration to 60 mph.
These being said, look closer at the build-your-own tool on Tesla’s website. There’s no asterisk next to the 1.99-second claim on the main page of the configurator, but curiously enough, the asterisk is listed on the “feature details” menu. The explanation for it? As expected of the boastful automaker, that time is only possible with the first foot of rollout subtracted.
MotorTrend wanted to find out for themselves how the Model S Plaid fares in a straight line, and their best run ended in 1.98 seconds. From the very beginning of their story, MotorTrend highlights very specific preparations that include a VHT-covered speedway and Drag Strip mode turned on. Without the super-sticky black resin that improves traction, the most the Model S Plaid has to offer is 2.07 seconds according to the cited publication.
As far as quarter-mile performance is concerned, the demo vehicle managed 9.25 seconds at 152.6 miles per hour (245.5 kilometers per hour) and 9.34 seconds at 152.2 miles per hour (244.9 kilometers per hour). Oh, and by the way, the biggest headache Model S Plaid owners will face when drag racing is the Cheetah Stance because it takes approximately 10 seconds to engage.
Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained isn’t exactly convinced by these numbers, highlighting on Twitter that MotorTrend hasn’t mentioned the rollout once in their story. Features editor Christian Seabaugh then replies 2.28 seconds without rollout on VHT-less asphalt, which isn’t quite as impressive as the 2.07 seconds with rollout mentioned in the article.
MotorTrend wanted to find out for themselves how the Model S Plaid fares in a straight line, and their best run ended in 1.98 seconds. From the very beginning of their story, MotorTrend highlights very specific preparations that include a VHT-covered speedway and Drag Strip mode turned on. Without the super-sticky black resin that improves traction, the most the Model S Plaid has to offer is 2.07 seconds according to the cited publication.
As far as quarter-mile performance is concerned, the demo vehicle managed 9.25 seconds at 152.6 miles per hour (245.5 kilometers per hour) and 9.34 seconds at 152.2 miles per hour (244.9 kilometers per hour). Oh, and by the way, the biggest headache Model S Plaid owners will face when drag racing is the Cheetah Stance because it takes approximately 10 seconds to engage.
Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained isn’t exactly convinced by these numbers, highlighting on Twitter that MotorTrend hasn’t mentioned the rollout once in their story. Features editor Christian Seabaugh then replies 2.28 seconds without rollout on VHT-less asphalt, which isn’t quite as impressive as the 2.07 seconds with rollout mentioned in the article.
Without rollout and on asphalt (zero VHT) the Plaid did 0-60 mph in 2.28 seconds.
— Christian Seabaugh (@C_Seabaugh) June 17, 2021
In other words:
— Christian Seabaugh (@C_Seabaugh) June 17, 2021
Prepped surface (VHT) w/ rollout: 1.98 sec to 60 mph
Un-prepped surface (asphalt) w/ rollout: 2.07 sec to 60 mph
Un-prepped surface (asphalt) w/o rollout: 2.28 sec to 60 mph
2.28 seconds to 60 mph without rollout (exactly the same time as the Model S P100D Ludicrous+ WITH rollout). This was cut from (an already super long) story.
— Christian Seabaugh (@C_Seabaugh) June 17, 2021
Google News