The Tesla Model S Plaid is crazy. Nitpicking fans are arguing over whether 0-60 in 2 seconds (!) is real because 1-foot rollout and special pavement blah blah, but Motor Trend managed to do it and found:
- Faster projected quarter-mile than the LaFerrari ($1.4M)
- “Its blistering 0-100-0-mph result was 8.2 seconds, besting the previous record holder, the McLaren Senna [also $1.4M], by 0.3 second.”
- “Ironically, the breathtaking straight-line achievements distract from another monumental achievement: The Model S Plaid is quite simply the best Tesla yet. It doesn’t matter if you’re cruising down the highway, slogging through city traffic, or slicing down your favorite back road. The Model S Plaid delivers, no matter what you ask it to do. On the highway and around town, the 2022 Tesla Model S Plaid is comfortable, quiet, and a delightful place to pass the miles.”
That combination is insane. Thousands of people who can afford a $1,000,000 supercar are going to buy a 5-seat, practical, better tech Plaid instead, or at least in addition. Tens of thousands of people who can afford a $150,000 sports car or performance sedan are going to buy a Plaid. Supercar-collecting YouTuber Manny Khoshbin, who has five white Rolls Royces at home for day-to-day driving in addition to his exotic collection, accidentally ordered a second Plaid and kept the order. Why not, it’s cheaper than the custom luggage for his specially-customized Hermes edition “#1 of 1” McLaren Speedtail. This is how the combustion age ends, from the top down (and from electric bicycles up).
Counterfactual world
I also notice from comments how so many people are deep into the illusion that the counterfactual “ ’d ”, as in “I’d still get the Taycan/Nevera” or “I would never get one because of the funny steering yoke”, has real-world significance. When I was a kid I would participate: “I’d buy the Countach in gold over the Testarossa.” Now I actually have that kind of money, I spent it on a kitchen remodel 🤷🏻.
