I recently read some people who had gotten used to the Plaid and it didn’t feel thrilling enough. One guy wanted to take his back to Tesla to get it looked at
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Is Tesla software limiting the launch and 0-60 times of the refreshed non plaid model s/x ?
- Thread starter Riceball777
- Start date
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
Yeah funny how that is. We always get used to things.I recently read some people who had gotten used to the Plaid and it didn’t feel thrilling enough. One guy wanted to take his back to Tesla to get it looked at
whitex
Well-Known Member
It's not free if it cost them sales of Plaid. Who would buy $20K premium Plaid if they could get even 90% of the performance as a $5K performance boost upgrade. They could make the boost $22K (so $20K at order time to upgrade to Plaid, or $22K after delivery), but I suspect not many people would purchase it as an upgrade.
Because people get the Plaid to have the fastest. They aren’t analyzing dollars/performance cost.
And if what you say is true why would they offer a boost in 3 and Y long range? Wouldn’t your same analysis apply there?
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
This is a simplistic view that doesn’t include all the variables.
If the availability of a LR acceleration boost even slightly erodes plaid sales, it’s likely a net negative for Tesla.
And they didn’t for the S/X and it’s been years. So, perhaps there is a reason.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Different cars, different economics, different cost/benefit analysis.
There’s also the significantly different powertrain. Frankly it’s an unsupported assumption that there’s more power to be had in the LR drivetrain without unacceptable tradeoffs in durability and warranty claims (that’s obviously not the case in the 3/Y as the powertrains are virtually identical).
I think I was way too deep into this emotionally. I was highly ticked at Tesla to not even give us what was promised with the MS LR (3.1 to 60). I would have definitely been on board for an acceleration boost for my MS LR.
I did what a year ago would have been unthinkable and unloaded it today. I ended up buying a Plaid. It cost me far less to upgrade now than if I had paid the extra 50k when new. I bought a used one that was newer and less miles than mine, with some newer updates as well.
So for me, the problem is solved. However driving the Plaid home from the dealer, I feel even more strongly that Tesla nerfed the performance of the MS LR by quite a bit. Seat of the pants impressions is the Plaid crushes the LR to 60. Even when not trying, the launch is much harder. From about 40 mph up, to about 100, the LR doesn't seem that much slower. Not by what you'd think feeling how it accelerates to 60. I wasn't able to go over 110 so I can't opine on that.
I have to say that the Plaid is definitely quick but so smooth it doesn't feel as quick as you might think it would feel. I didn't do any drag strip mode launches or full throttle from a stop. I did a roll into it like I usually did on my LR to help preserve the drivetrain. It was an apples to apples comparison for the most part.
I did what a year ago would have been unthinkable and unloaded it today. I ended up buying a Plaid. It cost me far less to upgrade now than if I had paid the extra 50k when new. I bought a used one that was newer and less miles than mine, with some newer updates as well.
So for me, the problem is solved. However driving the Plaid home from the dealer, I feel even more strongly that Tesla nerfed the performance of the MS LR by quite a bit. Seat of the pants impressions is the Plaid crushes the LR to 60. Even when not trying, the launch is much harder. From about 40 mph up, to about 100, the LR doesn't seem that much slower. Not by what you'd think feeling how it accelerates to 60. I wasn't able to go over 110 so I can't opine on that.
I have to say that the Plaid is definitely quick but so smooth it doesn't feel as quick as you might think it would feel. I didn't do any drag strip mode launches or full throttle from a stop. I did a roll into it like I usually did on my LR to help preserve the drivetrain. It was an apples to apples comparison for the most part.
@DayTrippin appreciate the experience. i’d love to move from an LR to a plaid. My biggest fear is insurance costs.
whitex
Well-Known Member
I disagree. First, those "who want the fastest" and "aren't analyzing dollars/performance" get a Rimac Nevera, or if on a budget in Plaid territory, a Lucid Air Sapphire. Second, even at the higher end, even cars priced above Model S/X, people still look for value. Check out the Porsche Taycan lineup, Porsche offers 5 different trims - starting around Model S territory (maybe a bit more now, as there was a Porsche price increase this year while Tesla lowered their prices) and ending way above Plaid price range for a fully loaded Turbo S. If you were right, Taycan would only be selling the bottom trim (which can be optioned to have all the same options as the top, except for the power) and the top trim (for those who want the fastest and are willing to pay more than 2x the price of the bottom trim). And yet, all different trims sell, with the lower trims at higher volumes. Porsche knows how to extract value from their customers, and yes, they do have software locked cars (without the post sale upgrade, e.g. Taycan GTS has the same hardware as Taycan Turbo, $22K MSRP difference - I suspect they determined it yields more sales that way than offering a post sale power boost, since Porsche does have paid options available for purchase and delivered via OTA, called FOD in Porsche vernacular).
Last edited:
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
Sapphire is not even close to Plaid territory in terms of price. Plaid is $105k. Sapphire is $250k.
I agree with @whitex that the Sapphire is more than double of the Plaid and the Rimac is like $2million? When I said people are buying the Plaid for speed and less the performance per dollar, I did not mean that money is no object
Interesting comparison with Porsche. The one nice thing about Porsche is they do indeed upgrade all aspects of the car. Brakes, suspension, wheels, chassis, powertrain, exterior, features. When you buy the top end Porsche, it is not as simple as let's take the regular model and just put some turbos on it (which is essentially what Tesla does).
Interesting writeup. In a way since I want the Plaid X and they dont offer fold flat seats I am sort of stuck. Fold flat seats is pretty important to me for an SUV and we do utilize that feature. But you saying the LR is not much slower after 40mph+ makes me a little more content with my LR. If they just had the boost for the initial 0-30mph I would be set.
I can't imagine there is a big insurance difference between the Plaid and LR. It's not like the LR is cheap and slow....it's still one of the fastest cars out there. In the case of Model X, it is only a $3500 difference with the recent price cuts.
Just call your agent and go online and get a quote for both in 15 mins. No need to leave in fear.
I did back in the day when I bought the 2017 S. It was almost 75% more. Crazy, I know. HAven't checked recently.
whitex
Well-Known Member
If someone cares about Plaid vs. Saphire pricing, they will probably care about $15K, so if they can get 90% of Plaid performance for $5K instead of $20K, they likely will. Tesla actually already had experience with this, when they sold P90D separate from Ludicrous mode, and there were people who bought it. The latter was a $10K add on, and apparently that didn't work out well for Tesla bottom line, so they ended up dropping performance models without ludicrous.I agree with @whitex that the Sapphire is more than double of the Plaid and the Rimac is like $2million? When I said people are buying the Plaid for speed and less the performance per dollar, I did not mean that money is no object
Interesting comparison with Porsche. The one nice thing about Porsche is they do indeed upgrade all aspects of the car. Brakes, suspension, wheels, chassis, powertrain, exterior, features. When you buy the top end Porsche, it is not as simple as let's take the regular model and just put some turbos on it (which is essentially what Tesla does).
And try more than one insurance company. The difference in rates for the Plaid version may be very large between different carriers.
Don't let that stop you! My insurance went down by $300 a year going from the MS LR to Plaid.
Similar threads
