Model 3 Highland Performance/Plaid Speculation [Car announced 04.23.2024]

[brianman]

Am I the only one wondering if the tweet of the tweet (with the latter being removed) will be removed soon?

 

[Apprunner]

For the record, I do think it's "poor form" to put a clearly Ludicrous badge on the car (rear and seats) if you're not intending to deliver a free upgrade to Ludicrous for tha vehicle.

But a lot of what Tesla has done is poor form. :|

To be fair, no one from Tesla ever said that the badge indicated Ludicrous. It could just be their new "Performance" badge.

 

[momo3605]

For the record, I do think it's "poor form" to put a clearly Ludicrous badge on the car (rear and seats) if you're not intending to deliver a free upgrade to Ludicrous for tha vehicle.

But a lot of what Tesla has done is poor form. :|

I think the community just assumed that it was a ludicrous badge. I think in reality it's just their new performance badge.

 

[GregD60]

19" rims available in China are so much better than the 20"


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I wonder if the 19" rims are forged like the 20" rims. If so, they should be quite light.

 

[brianman]

To be fair, no one from Tesla ever said that the badge indicated Ludicrous. It could just be their new "Performance" badge.

Yeah, I call B.S. on that. It's clearly at least strongly inspired by the exact Ludicrous visual from the movie.

Also the red underline is already established as the performance indicator for M3P.

 

[GregD60]

they look the same but with small plastic covers instead of the bigger ones.

I actually like the look of 19" wheels and tires on a model 3 better than 20". The proportions of the size of the car to the wheels and the tires just has better esthetics in my opinion.

 

[mpgxsvcd]

The graph shows a power curve of the rear motor, without total values / scaling, without changes of the front motor or total power. I am not sure how you can interpret all unseen data into it. I am not questioning that the car will be accelerating better at all speeds, never have, but it is very fishy that they are showing the charts as they do.

I thought the graph shows the combined torque and power for both motors? Is that not the case? It is hard to tell without reference numbers and a scale. Is there a video that the graph is from?

 

[Stew-2]

I am waiting a year to purchase this or a Ludicrous. I am always contemplating a Plaid but its too big for my tastes...maybe i'll change my mind.

That’s the same boat I’m in. In fact after the specs released yesterday I finally got off my butt and went and demo’d a new Model S.

Size was fine but I kept flipping the non existent turn signal stalk haha. I’m sure I’d get used to that in a couple days, the swipe to shift didn’t seem as big a deal.

The biggest unexpected issue was that with the seat and steering wheel adjusted to my liking I could not see half of the driver display - it was blocked by the top rim of the steering wheel. The ventilated seats were nice.

So I don’t know, go for the Plaid… go with the new M3P? Surprisingly the S didn’t feel noticeably larger in the inside, mainly the outside. I felt more like I was sitting in the S, and on the 3, if that makes sense.

 

[brianman]

The biggest unexpected issue was that with the seat and steering wheel adjusted to my liking I could not see half of the driver display - it was blocked by the top rim of the steering wheel. The ventilated seats were nice.

Amusing feedback from a 3 driver already accustomed to the "everything is in the middle".

When getting into S or X, there's definitely additional positioning effort for the seat and wheel for the instrument cluster.

 

[cptnslo]

That’s the same boat I’m in. In fact after the specs released yesterday I finally got off my butt and went and demo’d a new Model S.

Size was fine but I kept flipping the non existent turn signal stalk haha. I’m sure I’d get used to that in a couple days, the swipe to shift didn’t seem as big a deal.

The biggest unexpected issue was that with the seat and steering wheel adjusted to my liking I could not see half of the driver display - it was blocked by the top rim of the steering wheel. The ventilated seats were nice.

So I don’t know, go for the Plaid… go with the new M3P? Surprisingly the S didn’t feel noticeably larger in the inside, mainly the outside. I felt more like I was sitting in the S, and on the 3, if that makes sense.

That’s why the yoke is superior in the S

 

[Stew-2]

That’s why the yoke is superior in the S

Yeah I was thinking to myself that this setup was clearly designed with the yoke in mind.

 

[Apprunner]

That’s the same boat I’m in. In fact after the specs released yesterday I finally got off my butt and went and demo’d a new Model S.

Size was fine but I kept flipping the non existent turn signal stalk haha. I’m sure I’d get used to that in a couple days, the swipe to shift didn’t seem as big a deal.

The biggest unexpected issue was that with the seat and steering wheel adjusted to my liking I could not see half of the driver display - it was blocked by the top rim of the steering wheel. The ventilated seats were nice.

So I don’t know, go for the Plaid… go with the new M3P? Surprisingly the S didn’t feel noticeably larger in the inside, mainly the outside. I felt more like I was sitting in the S, and on the 3, if that makes sense.

I don't need ultimate speed either. It sounds like the new M3P is just a more fun car all around and seems highly RWD biased with the new motors and very tossable. Will definitely test drive both and see which one I like more.

 

[Izzyz28]

That’s the same boat I’m in. In fact after the specs released yesterday I finally got off my butt and went and demo’d a new Model S.

Size was fine but I kept flipping the non existent turn signal stalk haha. I’m sure I’d get used to that in a couple days, the swipe to shift didn’t seem as big a deal.

The biggest unexpected issue was that with the seat and steering wheel adjusted to my liking I could not see half of the driver display - it was blocked by the top rim of the steering wheel. The ventilated seats were nice.

So I don’t know, go for the Plaid… go with the new M3P? Surprisingly the S didn’t feel noticeably larger in the inside, mainly the outside. I felt more like I was sitting in the S, and on the 3, if that makes sense.

Get the Plaid and swap the factory wheel for a Hansshow wheel. The yoke is a worthless piece of *sugar*.

 

[Gasaraki]

Do we know the width of the wheels front and back? Anyone know where to find these?

Funny how different places are saying different sizes. On Autotrader they say:

19" in the front, 20"s in the back not just staggered widths.

 

[momo3605]

Funny how different places are saying different sizes. On Autotrader they say:

19" in the front, 20"s in the back not just staggered widths.

It's been confirmed it's 20" in the US and 19" in China. Rory probably misspoke or he had a misconfigured china car.

 

[Gasaraki]

Then how is the P eligible for the IRA tax credit? Maybe the battery is assembled in the US?

The P batteries are Panasonic batteries made in Texas.

Edit: Giga Nevada

 

[Jeremy3292]

The P batteries are Panasonic batteries made in Texas.

Nevada*

 

[csammy]

Can't wait for CarWow to drag race this with 55% charge

 

[pdx_m3s]

Who's gonna be first to put the 20x10s (or 10.5s... we don't know yet) with 275s up front?

Square Warp setup would be cool.

 

[JezzaE]

Since this is the speculation thread...

I don't know if they've been consistent on the labelling (I haven't been staying current), but it seems like this is somewhat unifying:

The "Performance" branding is the official labelling. Within each model (S/X/3/Y), they have a performance classification and the vehicle is named as such. At various times "what you get" for the performance labelling is a moving target (Sport/Insane/Ludicrous/Plaid) -- and sometimes across transitions multiple are available. And sometimes they offered paid for upgrades (upgrades for P85D, M3P plus? or whatever, "Track Pack" for Plaid).

I fully expect to see the Insane setting get replaced by Ludicrous at some point for new 2024 or 2025 deliveries (with improved official performance numbers) but I don't have a clue if that will be offered as an unlock to existing M3(H)P owners for free or cost. If you're buying "in the near term", safest to assume Ludicrous won't be available for your car.

It’ll be a software paid upgrade or it won’t happen…sorry you aren’t/can’t buy right now but don’t ruin it for the rest of us!