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

[XLR82XS]

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.

Thankfully my local dealer is a premier dealer and truly is the BEST dealer myself and my family have ever dealt with. The best dealer environment - period. (at least in FL) Still need them around for service, recalls, parts, etc... (bonus: great events )

Tesla service centers/network are terrible today. (in FL)

 

[faroutinNM]

no dealer
no adm
no allocation BS
simple configurator

...
no test drive

...which is the reason I eliminated Tesla from the list of potential EV choices for my (then) next purchase. Went and test drove the Taycan, an etron (not GT, which didn't exist then), and a very nicely appointed top-trim vegan IPACE. Tesla where? None locally for test. End of story.

Very happy with my dealership, and very glad to support my local economy via the excellent staff there (unlike via Tesla) and via the excellent facilities there, etc. Porsche might have several levels of bureaucracy, but my local dealership is not one that's undesirable, for me.

 

[charliemathilde]

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.

my next car is probably a McLaren instead of a Porsche because the dealers suck that much to interact with. I’ve offered ADM and only half of them even bothered to fucking call me back. Fuck me ? No, fuck you. Can‘t go out of business soon enough

 

[Swissbob]

Funny comments here. Tesla has basically turbocharged the ev market with amazing cars and tech. My Tesla X AP v1 from 2016 is miles ahead of « Innodrive » and it’s a SUV which accelerates at light speed. The Taycan is a lovely car but flaming Tesla only shows how ignorant you are.

 

[Jhenson29]

it’s a SUV which accelerates at light speed.

While I understand that your statement is just hyperbole, I have to point out that it makes no sense to say the car accelerates at “light speed” as that’s not a unit of acceleration…

Good effort though.

And if your think that’s just semantics and I’m missing the point…maybe you should reevaluate who’s ignorant…?

 

[Erez123]

Tesla has done lots of things to push the EV market forward, but their cars are designed around what Elon finds cool, rather than what makes a good car.
The old Model S and X handle horrifically. They may be able to go fast in a straight line, but the second you turn the wheel, the whole car becomes unbalanced. The production quality was embarrassing, and that’s without getting into the aesthetic of the cars themselves, which are “plain” to be generous.
The Model 3 was a turning point, as for once they focused on performance beyond acceleration, and for that price point it outperforms everything in its class. Was it anywhere near the Taycan….no, not even close. But then it was far far cheaper.
The new Plaid takes that straight line acceleration to a new height, but mostly because that’s the only thing they could now come up with to show off about. The cool looking steering wheel means manoeuvring at low speeds is dangerous, the indicators and car horn “buttons” turn along with the wheel, so are impossible to hit unless you look. You can’t do a three point turn without playing a mini game of fruit ninja on the iPad mounted on your dash, swiping up and down repeatedly. The car costs $150k and is about as luxury as a Prius, with plastic seats. And still looks “plain”. I reserve my judgement on the handling, because I haven’t driven it. But I would be surprised if it matched the Taycan. But hey, at least it can fart.

 

[daveo4EV]

all the caveats (only one lap) probably not multiple - unclear what tires were used - no release video

still we have to give it's due - it's super quick - and by my estimate at least 8 seconds faster than what the best a Taycan TurboS could do @ Laguna. (I've done a 1:46.xx in my Turbo - and even with a pro driver and summer tires I'm not 18 seconds off the pace vs. pro-drive - I'm normally only 2-3 seconds off "optimal")

1:28.xx will qualify you P1 in a 911 CupCar series (I know because I owned a cupcar in 2016 that did 1:28.xx on full slicks for P1 qualy and went on to win the race)

1:28.xx is super super quick at laguna

kudos to Tesla for pulling this off…plaid is undoubtably quick

another note: they clearly have their battery tech much improved previous generation Model S's could not even do a full lap @ Laguna at full pace - down on power by turn 4 in my previous gen P85D…

Although that non-stock front splitter isn’t exactly production - so I'm wondering what other mods were applied

so this is big progress

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/tesla-model-plaid-faster-porsche-133800999.html

 

[charliemathilde]

We need some folks here to actually drive them and post.

 

[Erez123]

Although that non-stock front splitter isn’t exactly production - so I'm wondering what other mods were applied

• 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.

 

[JustLooking]

yeah on the purchase side dealers certainly don’t seem to add much value. I’m a bit more cautious in wishing for the demise of dealers when it comes to service. For dealers, warranty work is a profit center so they have an incentive to make the experience relatively friendly. You can see what might happen to service if you look at Tesla: have to go through an app, long waits, no ability to speak with someone. Im not saying that all manufacturers will deal with service as badly as Tesla (or that all dealers are good at it), just that they woukd have an incentive to cut as much cost as possible which would inevitably lead to a worse experience on average.

I've had two appts with Tesla. They called me to ask what's going on, ran all the diagnostics remotely and showed up at my garage with the correct parts to be replaced a few days later. First time I was busy working, so the guy just did his thing. Second time the mechanic and I were chit chatting and had a great conversation about road racing, as he saw my race bike in the garage and was big fan of WSBK. Not saying everyone is so lucky with Tesla service, but again, let's not pretend there aren't issues with dealer service.

I had to have my M2 in for 4 issues in the past year. I'll spare you all the details, but upon showing up at the dealer they said they didn't even have an appt for me. For future services I had them drive a loaner to my house, pick up my car and drive it back (not something they normally do). The car would then sit at the dealer for days waiting for parts. Granted their customer service improved, but wasn't as nice as Tesla.

My BMW, Honda, Lamborghini and Porsche dealers are also a schlep and take up valuable time, I really appreciated that Tesla came to me. At the end of the day, I guess it is what it is. Of all the experiences I've had, Tesla was definitely the best. I didn't feel like I had to be on good terms with a service manager and ask for the right mechanic and kiss their ass as much as they pretentiously kiss mine.

 

[Swissbob]

I've had two appts with Tesla. They called me to ask what's going on, ran all the diagnostics remotely and showed up at my garage with the correct parts to be replaced a few days later. First time I was busy working, so the guy just did his thing. Second time the mechanic and I were chit chatting and had a great conversation about road racing, as he saw my race bike in the garage and was big fan of WSBK. Not saying everyone is so lucky with Tesla service, but again, let's not pretend there aren't issues with dealer service.

I had to have my M2 in for 4 issues in the past year. I'll spare you all the details, but upon showing up at the dealer they said they didn't even have an appt for me. For future services I had them drive a loaner to my house, pick up my car and drive it back (not something they normally do). The car would then sit at the dealer for days waiting for parts. Granted their customer service improved, but wasn't as nice as Tesla.

My BMW, Honda, Lamborghini and Porsche dealers are also a schlep and take up valuable time, I really appreciated that Tesla came to me. At the end of the day, I guess it is what it is. Of all the experiences I've had, Tesla was definitely the best. I didn't feel like I had to be on good terms with a service manager and ask for the right mechanic and kiss their ass as much as they pretentiously kiss mine.

Same. Tesla experience in Switzerland was excellent. Miles better than Audi / BMW. Yet to need Porsche service but frustrated to have paid for a bike rack and a month after car delivery it’s still not available…

 

[schad]

Same. Tesla experience in Switzerland was excellent. Miles better than Audi / BMW. Yet to need Porsche service but frustrated to have paid for a bike rack and a month after car delivery it’s still not available…

I've never had a good experience with a BMW dealer. The best I can say is that they occasionally met my low expectations of them. (Usually they didn't.) Indie shops have much worse waiting rooms, but the results are so much better.

Regarding delays, everything is delayed or backordered these days. I've come to expect that everything is going to take at least two weeks, and probably more like two months, longer than it used to. Welcome to the modern world. Wear a mask!

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

• 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.

Wow - that's a lot of mods. And the question is really, how well does the car do as a 'daily driver'?

Its really not very difficult to build a car that runs rings around the Plaid/Taycan on a racetrack, and it's not hard to build one that beats either in the 1/4 mile. The really tough thing to do is design a car that does well on the track, well in the 1/4 mile, and represents top-of-the-line quality in terms of ride, noise, handling, comfort, fit/finish and practicality. Porsche has developed what I believe is the best car in the world when evaluated using this criteria.

 

[submatrix]

My friend took delivery of his Plaid a couple days ago, and I got a chance to ride in it today. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to drive it.

We did a launch, which was insane. We both literally got light headed in the 2 seconds it took to hit 60mph.

Interior is definitely improved over my 2018 Model S. They use more variety of high quality feeling materials. Seats feel more premium, and are ventilated. They also feel slightly more firm than the squishy 2018 Model S seats, which was appreciated. I did press on the dash a bit to test the fit/finish and there was some creaking, but the passenger door panel was well put together and felt solid.

Door handles made a sort of loud motor sound when presenting, worse than my Model S. Not sure if that's something new with the Plaid or if it was a defect -- I suggested my friend ask service about it. In any case, the sound when the Taycan handles present is more premium.

Panel gaps were mostly pretty good, though not as tight as my Taycan. I think they were tighter than my Model S was, but tbh I didn't pay a lot of attention to the amount of gap back then. I just know that whatever gaps were there were at least consistently wide instead of some of the horror stories from the Model 3 where you see where the gap widens or thins very obviously.

There was one misalignment that he showed me which was that the trunk didn't quite sit flush with the back bumper. There were some rubber stoppers on the inside which he could screw/unscrew to adjust how the trunk door aligned when closed. I found it interesting that there's actually a design element to correct trunk alignment. Not sure if this is common in other vehicles or just Tesla. After he showed them to me, they started to look pretty familiar. I think my Model S had them too.

Cabin was very quiet, though it's hot here so he had the A/C up. The A/C noise was pretty much all I heard. It theoretically will get even quieter once Tesla releases the update which adds Active Noise Cancellation.

Unfortunately we didn't get to take any corners at speed to test the handling/body roll. Next time.

 

[DirtRider]

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