[Tacoma]

Another great review from Throttle House. I'm not sure how wise it is for Tesla to sell a car with that much power but insufficient brakes and suspension to handle it. Thomas is right when he said "dangerous." Not being able to stop in time can be a matter of life and death.

[pikkagtr]

damn my toaster takes at least 20 seconds to warm up
guess I gotta upgrade

[dscabra]

Much like flying an airplane; taking off is optional, landing is not! No argument that the car's technology is amazing, but it still needs to be a car at some point. Brakes should be simple to address, and adding track mode software will help with some of the handling. Eventually, the battery technology will get the weight issue under control.

[Red Bread]

Mercedes has sold the AMG G Class for years. That thing is consistently the worst handling and longest braking car tested. Tesla will be fine.

[5.M0NSTER]

I see a lot of crashes in this thing's future. If you can afford a $150k car, you're probably used to certain braking performance. With how quickly this missile gets to speed, I bet it will surprise a lot of owners in the braking. In a bad way.

[Limegrntaln]

I watch the Tesla Plaid channel on YouTube, the guy Tracks the hell out of all of His Teslas, he has 2 Plaid Models, and a Raven, and always complains about the brakes.

[Enjoli]

Originally Posted by pikkagtr

damn my toaster takes at least 20 seconds to warm up
guess I gotta upgrade

😅

[Germanauto]

Nice to see somebody actually critically analyze the car, calling out both it's good points and bad, instead of blindly kissing up to Tesla like the rest of the media.

Anyhow, the Plaid really is an exercise in marketing. It rightfully gets criticism from driving enthusiasts, but that's not the point of this car. From acceleration to the yoke wheel to the name, Tesla carefully crafted the Plaid to maximize Tesla's media attention, not to win the approval of corner carving traditional automotive enthusiasts.

[damnitBobby]

Electric cars are such a snooze fest. Not saying I won't ever purchase one but as an enthusiast this really is the beginning of the end.

[Bimmersandmopars]

The shop that's wrapping my wifes X3M Comp LCI in Xpel Stealth also had 2 Plaids in their getting the same treatment. Now for full disclosure I still have a $5k deposit down on one as I think they'd be fun work vehicles running around to customers, but other than that there much lacking. Then the 2 I saw honestly I just didn't have that "wow" factor. The wheel is hideous, the white interior is like mayonnaise exploded in the cockpit, the accent of wood is just tacky looking and out of place, and most of all.... it looks just like a normal S unless you know what the design differences are.

I take issue with the idea of mass marketing such a dangerous vehicle considering most people don't have the skill to handle an 11sec car let alone a 9 sec car.

Nonetheless.... I still like Elon Musk and his to hell with others opinions approach.

[willin11]

Love the technology they've been coming up with but the handling and braking could do with some improvements. Safety should be one of the top features of a car

[RM7]

Originally Posted by willin11

Love the technology they've been coming up with but the handling and braking could do with some improvements. Safety should be one of the top features of a car

Most every car can out-speed it's braking ability. I remember the first time slowing from 140mph in my WRX, holy brake fade and everything else bad with tiny brakes. When I'm racing these days, it's easy to get going faster than your brakes will slow you down. That's one of the number 1 things in racing, sure, you could go faster in the straight, brake later, but when you are on the ragged edge, you gotta know what your car capabilities are. Anyone who's every pushed it a little too far here knows exactly what I mean, when you realize there is no way you are going to make the next turn. Cars aren't magic and able to do stuff that is outside of normal physics. I know a good number of people racing Teslas and doing pretty amazing. As in they don't suck at handling. Not the best, but not like it's being made out in this thread either.

[5.M0NSTER]

Originally Posted by RM7

Most every car can out-speed it's braking ability. I remember the first time slowing from 140mph in my WRX, holy brake fade and everything else bad with tiny brakes. When I'm racing these days, it's easy to get going faster than your brakes will slow you down. That's one of the number 1 things in racing, sure, you could go faster in the straight, brake later, but when you are on the ragged edge, you gotta know what your car capabilities are. Anyone who's every pushed it a little too far here knows exactly what I mean, when you realize there is no way you are going to make the next turn. Cars aren't magic and able to do stuff that is outside of normal physics. I know a good number of people racing Teslas and doing pretty amazing. As in they don't suck at handling. Not the best, but not like it's being made out in this thread either.

True, but you have to admit that they put the same brakes you find on any other 3700lbs performance car (M2C for example) on the 5000lbs ship, and gave it ridiculous speed.

It should have the biggest brakes you've seen, but it doesn't. And that's the problem.

[RM7]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

True, but you have to admit that they put the same brakes you find on any other 3700lbs performance car (M2C for example) on the 5000lbs ship, and gave it ridiculous speed.

It should have the biggest brakes you've seen, but it doesn't. And that's the problem.

Depends on if it's recouping braking energy by induction, that would provide braking force that is not obvious by the size of the brakes. Whether that's the case or not here, it's definitely going to be the future.

That's where hybrid drivetrains could be the ultimate performance for a few years, while battery capacity increases, as the hybrid can use a smaller batter, capture the energy of the car moving and store it, then use it to launch from the corner, and keep repeating the process. The hybrid drivetrain would allow it to go for a decent distance.

[Kick 6]

All I know is I had to do an emergency stop in my M6 when some idiot in front of us decided to brake hard. Everyone in our line had to "lock them up" and I was more impressed with the brakes than I was the engine. I was more worried about the car behind me hitting me than me hitting the one in front. For a heavy car, the M6's brakes are impressive.

[selbyp93]

Originally Posted by Kick 6

All I know is I had to do an emergency stop in my M6 when some idiot in front of us decided to brake hard. Everyone in our line had to "lock them up" and I was more impressed with the brakes than I was the engine. I was more worried about the car behind me hitting me than me hitting the one in front. For a heavy car, the M6's brakes are impressive.

I had the exact same experience, not on an M6 though. Immediately looked and checked if the cars behind me are going to hit me.

[Quadruple VANOS]

Originally Posted by RM7

Most every car can out-speed it's braking ability.

I don't agree with this statement. For example, I don't find BMWs out-speeding their brakes.

[5.M0NSTER]

Originally Posted by RM7

Depends on if it's recouping braking energy by induction, that would provide braking force that is not obvious by the size of the brakes. Whether that's the case or not here, it's definitely going to be the future.

That's where hybrid drivetrains could be the ultimate performance for a few years, while battery capacity increases, as the hybrid can use a smaller batter, capture the energy of the car moving and store it, then use it to launch from the corner, and keep repeating the process. The hybrid drivetrain would allow it to go for a decent distance.

In the future, perhaps. But today the availability of high regen braking is limited by the capacity of the battery, and the rate at which the battery can charge. Decelerating from speed would need to put an enormous amount of energy into the battery very quickly. Also limited by weather conditions (the colder the lower the current) and by the fact that when fully charged there is no room to store the braking energy any more. Regen is a bonus, not a safety critical braking system.

I doubt there will ever be a 100% works all the time electric braking with powertrain. That's why the brake sizing has to be done assuming you have no boost in deceleration from regen.

But from what I hear the ceramic brake package for the plaid is in the works. I think Tesla realized they need hardware for braking, not just software. After they released this beast to the public.

[Quadruple VANOS]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

In the future, perhaps. But today the availability of high regen braking is limited by the capacity of the battery, and the rate at which the battery can charge. Decelerating from speed would need to put an enormous amount of energy into the battery very quickly. Also limited by weather conditions (the colder the lower the current) and by the fact that when fully charged there is no room to store the braking energy any more. Regen is a bonus, not a safety critical braking system.

I doubt there will ever be a 100% works all the time electric braking with powertrain. That's why the brake sizing has to be done assuming you have no boost in deceleration from regen.

But from what I hear the ceramic brake package for the plaid is in the works. I think Tesla realized they need hardware for braking, not just software. After they released this beast to the public.

Prolly this one…

[5.M0NSTER]

Exactly. I don't think Tesla is happy with their lap time at the Ring. But you already have over a 1000HP. So what's next? Aero and brakes. Active aero makes sense for this car for sure.

[yousefnjr]

On my electric skateboards the brakes work by just powering the motors in reverse. If you dig into the motor controller software, it’s actually supplying the same amps used for full acceleration to perform a full stop. I presume the same could be done for cars, maybe that’s not so great for efficiency/heat in a large vehicle though. Just guessing.

[stein_325i]

Looks like with Randy Pobst behind the wheel, the Model S Plaid was able to set the Willow Springs record and beat both the CT5-BW and M5CS.