Who needs a roadster when you have model s plaid?

[AlexanderAF]

I'm sticking with the Roadster.

When the Model S "refresh" Plaid and Plaid+ specs were released, I strongly considered just trading in my current car for one of those. Having those strong performance numbers while having practical features like comfortable rear-seats, a rear infotainment system, lots of storage, etc. would make a lot more financial sense than keeping my current car and getting a Roadster as a weekend car like I plan to.

But I'm sticking with the Roadster because of how special it is. I want something that's going to absolutely thrill myself, my family/friends/coworkers, and will be a jaw-dropper when I take it out. It's Tesla's flagship car.

 

[FlatSix911]

Agreed. I'm sticking with the Roadster, however, my big concern is the continuously slipping production date... at this rate, it will be 2025.

 

[DukeofURL]

I'm sticking with the Roadster.

When the Model S "refresh" Plaid and Plaid+ specs were released, I strongly considered just trading in my current car for one of those. Having those strong performance numbers while having practical features like comfortable rear-seats, a rear infotainment system, lots of storage, etc. would make a lot more financial sense than keeping my current car and getting a Roadster as a weekend car like I plan to.

But I'm sticking with the Roadster because of how special it is. I want something that's going to absolutely thrill myself, my family/friends/coworkers, and will be a jaw-dropper when I take it out. It's Tesla's flagship car.

I haven't 100% decided which I'm going with, but currently my house has a 2-car detached garage, which is grandfathered into local building code, so I wouldn't be permitted to expand it to fit a 3rd car. I would not have good luck convincing the wife to keep her car outside while my two are inside, so this is one of the reasons pushing me towards just upgrading my S to the Plaid+, rather than keeping my existing one and getting the Roadster.

Although, the Roadster is not a practical car, and practical reasons shouldn't be used to decide about it, haha.

 

[phantasms]

@dfwatt Recent rumor is a faster Model 3 will be here soon.

Personally, such a thing would be the only car to prevent me getting a Roadster, or at least delaying. For the Roadster I’d have to sell some TSLA. For a ludicrous 3 turned into a track weapon I’d just have to sell some TSLA calls. lol

 

[Pyre]

@dfwatt Recent rumor is a faster Model 3 will be here soon.

Personally, such a thing would be the only car to prevent me getting a Roadster, or at least delaying. For the Roadster I’d have to sell some TSLA. For a ludicrous 3 turned into a track weapon I’d just have to sell some TSLA calls. lol

Where are these model 3 rumors? Im interested.

 

[phantasms]

Where are these model 3 rumors? Im interested.

Here you go. That Sawyer dude was tweeting about it too. It makes sense. Elon in the past did say there would be a Ludicrous Model 3. Now that the S is Plaid the 3 would no longer risk taking S sales. I’m hopeful, and doubtful, that it will look different in any way or have better brakes/cooling. We’ll see.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1384324613698555906

 

[dfwatt]

Here you go. That Sawyer dude was tweeting about it too. It makes sense. Elon in the past did say there would be a Ludicrous Model 3. Now that the S is Plaid the 3 would no longer risk taking S sales. I’m hopeful, and doubtful, that it will look different in any way or have better brakes/cooling. We’ll see.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1384324613698555906

Yeah that would be pretty easily doable. You'd only need about another hundred or so horsepower

 

[MaxPowers]

Faster M3 would be nice but I would rather see roadster sooner than a faster M3.

 

[Amleagon]

This is a question for the roadster fans. The model s plaid will do 0-60 in less than 2 seconds. Top speed is 200 miles, let's face it most people are not going to drive near that fast anyway.

Plus you'll get it sooner and it's $60k cheaper.

Would you get the model s plaid or wait for the roadster?

Valid points

 

[dfwatt]

Yeah not sure how they're going to top the Plaid specs to any meaningful or practical degree. Roadster 2 will be bought mostly for the exclusivity, styling, and open top.

Doubtful that this is a fair characterization. First of all the Roadster is likely to have way superior dynamics. Although people think of performance just in terms of acceleration it's also about handling and again not just numbers on the skidpad but Dynamics. I suspect that the Roadster will be significantly lighter than the Model S, have higher limits, and be significantly more responsive. And it would likely smoke the plaid model S around any race track. An unanswered question about the Plaid is what they're going to do to tighten up the somewhat ponderous feel of the Model S. I just drove a Porsche Taycan Turbo S and one thing that was stunning was that even though it is actually heavier than the Model S it feels a lot lighter and it's way more responsive. As Colin Chapman famously said "do your best design and then add lightness". Since you can't really add lightness what you do add to the best handling cars is the way that they feel lighter than their actual weight. The Model 3 is a good example of this. I suspect the Roadster is going to be another one.

 

[gowthamn]

I really hope it corners much better and has better handling, braking steering etc.

 

[Tiger]

Did they stop selling Plaid+ to differentiate "2020" Roadster?

 

[tsaldana11]

This is a question for the roadster fans. The model s plaid will do 0-60 in less than 2 seconds. Top speed is 200 miles, let's face it most people are not going to drive near that fast anyway.

Plus you'll get it sooner and it's $60k cheaper.

Would you get the model s plaid or wait for the roadster?

I’ll wait

 

[n2mb_racing]

Who's getting a Model S plaid to hold themselves over until the Roadster? If it slips again, it could be 2 years from now, which wouldn't be a terrible amount of time to own the Model S plaid before selling...

 

[DukeofURL]

Well, Elon just tweeted that the Plaid+ is “cancelled”. I guess I’ll wait until it happens with the 4680, whenever that might be? …or keep my order with $6000 cheaper autopilot haha

 

[FlatSix911]

More Elon nonsense... Elon Musk announces Tesla is canceling Model S Plaid+, don't really need more than 400-mile range - Electrek

 

[CaptUAL]

It's not a question of need, but want. I'm sure Roadster will be daily driver for plenty of people, but it's ultimately still a toy and that's okay! Not everything has to be multi-purpose and totally functional to serve every need possible. Sometimes the smiles created is enough.

I certainly don’t need a roadster, any more than my MSP, Airplane or boat. I just want one

 

[MarcG]

Substantially lower weight (hence braking performance) and much better handling & exit corner speeds could be reasons to want a Roadster for the track.

 

[n2mb_racing]

Substantially lower weight (hence braking performance) and much better handling & exit corner speeds could be reasons to want a Roadster for the track.

It'll be interesting to see if they can achieve any weight reduction over the plaid. Smaller body will help, but then they talk about adding more batteries, which are very heavy. I think it is going to be at least 4700 lbs. But, with enough power, and huge carbon ceramic brakes, maybe that's ok?

 

[phantasms]

It'll be interesting to see if they can achieve any weight reduction over the plaid. Smaller body will help, but then they talk about adding more batteries, which are very heavy. I think it is going to be at least 4700 lbs. But, with enough power, and huge carbon ceramic brakes, maybe that's ok?

I can't imagine it'll be that heavy. I doubt they end up sticking to the 620miles figure as it's simply not needed. Elon changed his tune on range well after release the initial Roadster stats. I'd rather have half that mileage and half the battery weight. I presume it'll be quad motors but super slippery. 450 miles would be more than enough for me.

As soon as I get this car I'm crushing the coast to coast cannonball record.