Tesla Plaid First Impressions! You're Yoking With Me

I finally get my hands on the new Tesla Model S PLAID edition! Does it live up to the hype? Let's check it out.

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// Credits
Editing: Ben Sullins
Graphics: Ben Sullins
Producer: Katie Felton
Writing: Ben Sullins

// Music by Epidemic Sound

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// About Tesla Palladium (Plaid)

The Palladium refresh was announced in January 2021 with initial deliveries in June 2021. The refresh included a new interior, new powertrain, suspension and thermal management amongst other improvements.[186] The refresh originally consisted of three models, the Long Range (LR), the Plaid, and the Plaid+, although the latter was cancelled shortly before deliveries began. The "Plaid" name is applied to the performance model and is a reference to the only speed faster than "Ludicrous" in the movie Spaceballs.[187]

The Plaid model includes one motor for the front wheels and one motor each for the two rear wheels (starting price $131,100).[188] At the core of the Plaid's performance are innovative new motors featuring a carbon-wrapped rotor to allow much higher motor RPM.[189] Musk claimed that this presented challenges, because carbon and copper (the rotor material) have different thermal expansion rates.[190] The Long Range model includes the front motor and a single rear motor (starting price $80k, but raised to $85k soon after deliveries began).[191]

The Palladium models have the lowest drag coefficient of any production car with Cd=0.208.[192] The new HVAC system uses a heat pump that Tesla claims provides 30% longer range and requires 50% less energy in freezing conditions than the previous Model S.[193] Charging was claimed to increase by 187 miles (301 km) in 15 minutes (on a 250 kW Supercharger).[192] The interior features a non-circular "yoke" steering wheel, a landscape-oriented center video screen, a video screen for the back seat, increased headroom and legroom, particularly in the rear seat area, lower noise via acoustic glass, a new, customizable user interface, and improved gaming (via the AMD RDNA 2 GPU).[192][194] The company estimated that deliveries will reach 1000/week in Q3 of 2021.[191]

The Plaid has 1,020 horsepower (760 kW) and 1,050 pound-feet (1,420 N⋅m) of torque. It was independently tested by Motor Trend to go 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 2.07 seconds (1.98 on a prepped drag strip) and cover a quarter-mile (400 m) in 9.34 seconds at 152.2 mph (244.9 km/h).[195] Tesla claims it will reach a 200 mph (320 km/h) top speed.[191]

[lukeayliffe]

Yer missed the videos. Glad your back 👍👍

[deanmcmanis]

Thanks for the clarification about the Rimac! It's an outstanding achievement, but nobody can seriously overlook the $2, 400, 000.00 price tag. The Tesla Model S Plaid is easily the quickest car that most people will ever drive. Importantly now it's not just a one-shot thing, as the Plaid still runs 9 second 1/4 mile times with only 20% charge, and not even in Drag Strip/Cheetah mode. And the new Model S has improved thermal management which means that it can do it back to back, all day long.

[trevorshiffermiller]

There have been many different configurations for the horn activation over the years. The horn only being in the middle is the most common in the last 30 years. Before airbags this was a great design so you always had the horn in the middle and no matter what position the wheel is turned. It is actually a safety design flaw to have the airbag be the horn. Why? When the airbag goes off you don’t want your hand to fly off the airbag at those speeds into your face. A button on the side is a much safer idea. I know Chrysler was doing this in the 90’s in most of their vehicles and it was easy to get used to having buttons. I agree that I would like actual buttons like Chrysler did but that is something I think I could get used to having a haptic feedback software button instead. My family had a 92 Plymouth Grand Voyager that had side buttons for the horn and I still own our 96 Dodge Ram that has the horn button on the sides. Vehicles in the past used to have a ring you used to push or pull to activate the horn. It is just a different configuration that is there for a reason. You get used to it and move on.

[strykerace]

Two weeks from now: "I love the yoke! I get it now."

[chancehoward]

Yes yes yes and yes! So glad to have you back with a solid Tesla video!!

[ItsKimJava]

Great video! Makes me nervous about our upgrade to the X with the yoke. Really curious to see what an add on accessory would look and feel like once connected onto the yoke.

[andrewkaylor]

Pro Tip: If you play the video at 2x, the Plaid is even faster /s

I'm glad the buttons on the yoke are haptic, was worried they might not be when it was originally announced.

[bluetoad]

That was a good review, I think I'll also not really like the yoke but I'll give it a go. Agree on the outside looks.

[Dr.SHERIFF]

Here in Germany the yoke is not authorized by the TÜV for safety reasons, so you only get a Plaid with a steering wheel version. The touch buttons are still annoying though.

[michaelrubin]

So glad you're back. Hope all are well.

[areyouarobotz]

Yoke comment is on point, totally why I'm not getting the refresh and instead a Raven

[ken]

An honest review of the yoke. I like your suggestion of an add on piece to make it a full wheel.

[antonioCsilveira]

I love the honesty on your videos, Ben. I agree with you that the Yoke Steering “Wheel” is a mistake, I would pay more to have a regular steering wheel.

[marcswasey]

It's always interesting to see people attempt to use the yoke. Everyone instinctively tries to turn it as if it's a regular circular wheel and they'll also try to catch it as it returns to its original position like it is one. That only works for circular wheels because if you put your hand out to grab the wheel at any point around its axis you're pretty much guaranteed to grab part of the wheel but with the yoke that's not the case. The solution would be to simply put your hand through the large openings on the yoke under the capacitive buttons which also seem to be much larger than the corresponding openings on a regular circular wheel, a feature which I like. If you put your hand through, the amount of distance the wheel can travel from your hand won't exceed a certain limit which is the point where the wheel contacts your hand making it very easy to gain control of the wheel quickly no matter its position. Even if your hand is in a regular steering position, your hand is already right next to the opening making it easy to put your hand through and make quick and controlled sharp turns and you only have to use one hand to do so. The wheel won't slip away because it can only travel so far if your hand is there. I also don't understand why people say that not having the horn in the center is a safety issue. I never use my horn because I don't like the idea of having to move my hand from the wheel to use it especially when driving one handed and especially in an emergency situation where I'd want to keep both hands firmly on the wheel. I'd much prefer the horn button to be right by my thumb where I could easily access it without having to move my hand from the wheel.

[outsider]

Finally!! ....a Model s 2021 with 19" wheels! They look great, much better than I thought! Thx

[dadsoul]

I would revise the first part of the sponsor script. The data leaks have mostly been because the security is bad at the endpoint, which a VPN won't help with. Something like a password manager helps a bit there

[airgunningyup]

another channel tested the plaid versus new 2022 sport bikes, needless to say the plaid is thee fastest vehicle you can buy.. neither of the bikes ( hyabusa and zx1400) could win 0-60 or 1/4 mile which is mind boggling

[dragovian]

You accidentally left a part where you are inserting the pin on the screen.. I suggest you update it, just in case :) (Sorry, but also on any other usage of this specific pin, i.e email/bank account)

[voyagerprobe]

Hi Ben. Regarding gear selection - there is another way to select gears by pressing both scroll wheels simultaneously with your foot on the brake and this will light up: P R N D in the area just below where one charges their cellphones. Then one just presses the lighted button of your choice ( Park, Reverse, Neutral or Drive).
foot on the brake, just press the aforementioned area below where the cellphones are charged to the left or right of the red Emergency triangle.
Then just press the gear you so desire.
Cheers mate !

[Ed-jgud]

Life post OLF is weird. I used to be on a steady diet of you, Joe 2x per week, and semi regular EA from tom Dodd with a gauranteed OLF every week, and now I get a tiny bit of Joe weekly. Miss hearing OLF’s weekly takes