Wiki Model S Delivery Update

[TorqueMonster]

Sorry, not sure how to help you then. I'll cut and paste the text:

thanks for posting!

 

[Laddcruzer]

I posted this back in May and never got a reply, but it seems my worries were confirmed. I won’t be going fast enough for them to be a concern personally, but brake fade is going to cause a lot of bent Plaids.

• May 27, 2021
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• #31,603

Watching that video, I just noticed the tiny front brake calipers and the even tinier rear brake calipers for the Plaid. It’s a 200 mph car! I’m assuming the regen brakes must be a powerful magnetic stopping force adding to these tiny calipers?

My only other experience with electric vehicles was a 2012 Chevy Volt. The regen brakes slowed the car fairly efficiently, but nothing close to having to slow a 200 mph 5,000 pound beast.

Maybe it’s because I’m an old guy and would like to live out my days on earth (or Mars) but to me having adequate brakes is a major priority. I’ve had a few situations where the good and oversized brakes on my German cars saved my life. Am I over reacting to what I’m hearing about the Plaids brakes being inadequate?

 

[EVonly]

I Have only had a date for 1 week in may on my December order. Until this morning:
Estimated delivery: June
I know it is not much, but to me it is very interesting.

It likely means nothing, but my LR order that has also been blank for the last month switched to June this morning.
My Plaid orders are still BLANK.
More Tesla shenanigans!

Edit: For the record, I’m not one of those people that believes BLANK means imminent delivery. There are way too many Blank orders for that to be the case. Date / no date both appear to be pretty meaningless until a VIN is actually assigned.

 

[DukeofURL]

Maybe it’s because I’m an old guy and would like to live out my days on earth (or Mars) but to me having adequate brakes is a major priority. I’ve had a few situations where the good and oversized brakes on my German cars saved my life. Am I over reacting to what I’m hearing about the Plaids brakes being inadequate?

I think what's being said is that they're inadequate for slowing down from 200mph to 0 in a hurry. In any public road scenario, I'm sure there's no concern.

 

[Dcher]

Yeah you’re gonna get two VINs soon. Maybe think about canceling one?

I had two plaids on order. Got my Vin for the version yesterday with wood and immediately cancelled the cf version which was my original order. Everything went through and will take delivery of the wood version on Sunday at 10am. Should be a great Father’s Day

 

[JADCa]

Maybe it’s because I’m an old guy and would like to live out my days on earth (or Mars) but to me having adequate brakes is a major priority. I’ve had a few situations where the good and oversized brakes on my German cars saved my life. Am I over reacting to what I’m hearing about the Plaids brakes being inadequate?

Big brakes do not help a car stop faster or better, they help a car stop multiple times in a row. German car brakes didn't save you on the streets. It would cost significant range to put big brakes with big cooling on a Tesla that would only help on the track.

MT set the all time record for 0-100-0 in the plaid, so brakes are pretty solid for safety at least

 

[FlatSix911]

Here are the details on what is required to achieve a sub-2 second time... find a VHT surfaced drag strip.

Tesla Model S Plaid breaks all the records in first independent test, but 0-60 mph has a caveat

Tesla Model S Plaid has broken several production car records in its first independent tests with MotorTrend, but the insane...

electrek.co

"The automaker had MotorTrend perform the first independent tests of the new Model S Plaid. Before they could do that, though, Tesla had them test the new performance sedan on a drag strip with a VHT-prepped surface, basically sticky asphalt, at the Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield, California.

On that surface, the new Model S Plaid was able to achieve an even faster-than-advertised 1.98 seconds 0 to 60 mph acceleration and a quarter-mile in 9.25 seconds at 152.6 mph using its drag strip launch mode, which takes a little while to activate and get into its “cheetah stance.”

That’s with the first foot of rollout subtracted, which is how MotorTrend tests all vehicles.
But the 0-60 mph acceleration in less than 2 seconds comes with the caveat that it needs to be achieved on a VHT-prepped surface at a drag strip."

 

[EyeDocRob]

Well - for me - I think the best way to go about buying a Tesla is to make sure the baseline of what you are getting is good enough to keep you happy.

There are a few other things I'm waiting on before deciding:

1. Actual, usable, real-world range of the LR. My model 3 said 325, rarely did I get 200 from an 90-10% charge (should've been closer to 250). So, waiting on someone to get a LR and then do a 100% to 0% hwy driving test to see if "400" is even close.

2. Active Noise Cancelling. Bruh, I bought a car that's had on it's website "active noise cancelling" for nearly 5.5 months. It doesn't work yet? Oh yeah, I'm def not taking delivery. Knowing Tesla - it may literally never work.

3. The rear-end and taillights are ugly as *sugar*. They look so incredibly old and put a damper on the car imo. I'll probably wait until at least the two things above have been addressed and maybe I'd consider taking it with these. But, they look horrible.

I agree with you on the taillights. It almost makes me want to wait to get the new MS. Almost...

 

[Needsdecaf]

I will--I need to find a place which will be quiet for 5 or 10 min. I believe I would have to do the plain Plaid run before going into drag strip mode, as afterwards, even if I turn of the mode, the pack will still be warm.

Any yes, that article was cool, thanks for posting.

Wonderful. I, and many others, say thank you for being the guinea pig / tester / all-knowing plaid source of knowledge. Many thanks!

 

[BPeter]

Was talking to my brother about this - Tesla is constantly iterating their cars. So there is never a "big" refresh or model years. A change could happen randomly one week and the next round of cars have it.

I'd call this refresh a pretty big refresh. Even Tesla considers it so, splitting it out as a new car in the parts catalog. Same with the early 2016 refresh.
The next updates from here will probably be minor for another ~5 years, before we get another big refresh.

People like to say Tesla doesn't do refreshes or model years, but that's not always the case.
The Model 3 MY2021 marked a clear line in the sand for differences with the heat pump and center console. Tesla had also started to increment the model years the same time as legacy manufactures.
I wish they had kept the pre-refresh Model S as model year 2020 though, they were all produced in 2020 and would just make it a lot easier if 2021 was only the refreshed ones.

 

[sflgator]

Am I the only person who wants to delay delivery until the update the trail lights and the bar on the back of the trunk? IDK, the more and more I see it, the less happy I know I'm going to be with a taillight design that's years old. Have to think, given the picture we saw of the model s with the active spoiler, that a new taillight design will be out by early 2022.

No guarantee Tesla will update the tail lights and headlights in 2022.

 

[omarsultan]

Here are some examples of what it should look like. But I think your waviness is not too bad at all.

That was helpful - thx. Also, I understand the comment about the brakes--the calipers on the Taycan take up half the wheel.

 

[EVonly]

All the data coming in for the Plaid is excellent, but we still know nothing about the performance of the LR. Since I have orders in for both, it would really help if we had this performance data for both cars. How are we expected to make informed decisions on the purchase without having equal data points?

I was perfectly happy with the performance of my Ludicrous equipped P90D. Can the LR match this performance? Can it do the 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds? We can all venture a guess, but no one knows how Tesla will sandbag the LR. I sure hope we get access to this information soon for those of us that want to know what we are buying.

 

[umair239]

Haha - yeah - I mean, I guess. I'm not keeping the car for more than 2 years either, but...that can be a long two years.

Take it from someone who got the Model 3 two months before they re-did the interior/updated the sound proofing:

I told myself "hmm, all this gloss black looks terrible, I guess I'll just buy a wrap for the center console" "hmm, the car is a bit loud on the highway I'll get used to it" "hmm...325 supposed miles should be plenty to keep me happy on road trips"...

Ok, I did and it was fine, but less than 60 days a much better (and higher quality interior) came out and addressed all my concerns. Oh, and it got a heat pump and a larger battery pack and double paned windows. The new Model 3 was likely a completely different car. So much more soft touch areas, much quieter and I can only assume more efficient.

With the new model S... I really just want my damn ANC and an updated ass. The front looks good, the interior looks great, but the ass is so ugly.

@TorqueMonster - they failed to hit the 0-60 time on actual "normal" untreated road surfaces. So none of the claims were met.


This is extremely encouraging, btw:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1404851588762521601

You are making too much sense bro. Better quit it before someone chimes in with a generic nut hugging response of, " UmMm ArE wE rEaLlY cOmPlAiNiNg AbOuT 0-60 iN tHe FaStEsT pRoDuCtIoN cAr"

 

[omarsultan]

I really do have to offer up a mea culpa at this point. I was one of the folks kinda cranky about the $10K price increase for what essentially seemed like an interior refresh. Boy, I was wrong. I think they maybe every aspect of the Model S better.

 

[eipi10]

All the data coming in for the Plaid is excellent, but we still know nothing about the performance of the LR. Since I have orders in for both, it would really help if we had this performance data for both cars. How are we expected to make informed decisions on the purchase without having equal data points?

I was perfectly happy with the performance of my Ludicrous equipped P90D. Can the LR match this performance? Can it do the 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds? We can all venture a guess, but no one knows how Tesla will sandbag the LR. I sure hope we get access to this information soon for those of us that have orders in for both cars.

For practical purposes, they are identical. It is impossible, and in many circumstances illegal, to use the full power of either the LR and Plaid in ordinary driving.

 

[BPeter]

I really do have to offer up a mea culpa at this point. I was one of the folks kinda cranky about the $10K price increase for what essentially seemed like an interior refresh. Boy, I was wrong. I think they maybe every aspect of the Model S better.

That's great to hear. After finding out more information, we do know this car is almost all new.

New interior, new motors, new battery, new suspension. The only thing that wasn't changed was some of the chassis and body panels. Odd that they didn't just update the body panels and make it obvious that this is a VERY different car.

 

[BPeter]

For practical purposes, they are identical. It is impossible, and in many circumstances illegal, to use the full power of either the LR and Plaid in ordinary driving.

Ah but not if Tesla throttles the Long Range to prevent it from stepping on the Plaid's toes.

I think there is some artificial throttle lag on some of the lower Model 3 trims aren't there? I saw that ingineerix boost module can reduce input lag on the SR+ and Long Range. I swear sometimes when I get a non-performance Model S loaner it also feels like there is artificial input lag.

It's possible this new Long Range also has that.

 

[BrandonLive]

Whyyyyyyy do people insist on saying ludicrous speed and plaid are two different things?

I just hate when people get movie references wrong. Spaceballs 1 goes to ludicrous speed and passes Lonestar and Barf, who are in normal light speed with the white lines, while Plaid. Plaid is the “color” OF ludicrous speed. They’re not two different things! Amateurs!!!

This is a matter of interpretation. Many of us who’ve seen the film many times have always interpreted it as Dark Helmet ordering Spaceball One to go faster than it ever has (“Ludicrous Speed”), then pushing throttle all the way (past “Ludicrous”), and the ship accidentally going faster than even Ludicrous (“to Plaid”) and thus overshooting Lonestar and the gang.

I think reasonable people can interpret it either way. One other variation that seems plausible is that “plaid” is what happened when you go the fastest speed within the “Ludicrous” range.

Either way, I think this is all reading way too much into a silly joke

 

[Drew-MS]

I'm very disappointed reading this article.

That is some early 2000's Ferrari level of Testing BS "conditions". Come on, what's with all the strong-arming? I guess Tesla knew that MT wasn't going to meet Elon's claims of sub 2 seconds without a drag strip launch. As Jason Fenske has already shown, there's not enough grip to do so no matter how much power you have.

I really wish Tesla would stop making stupid claims and just roll the car out. I mean, it stands on it's own. It doesn't need Elon's overhyping it. It's amazing and frankly, who cares if it's 2.1 or 1.98. You're never going to launch from a light in Plaid Drag Strip mode and have the same kind of traction. IT DOESN"T MATTER if it's not sub-2 seconds.

But no, Elon can't help himself, so they have to resort to this buffoonery. Come on Tesla, grow up and do better. The car is amazing. Don't give the haters any fuel by having Motor Trend put an asterisk next to the number.

Well, if MT wasn’t able to match Tesla’s claimed 1.99, that would be the headline and haters all over would be talking sh*t. So Tesla felt it was important for MT to achieve Tesla’s claim (even if under certain conditions) and it makes sense to me. Who cares if it’s on a prepped surface and not on the street. It was sort of expected.