The car enthusiast and reviewer with 4.12M YouTube subscribers, Doug DeMuro drinks a bigger bottle of Tesla kool-aid this time — he finally gets his hands on the Model S Plaid for his review.
Doug, who has driven the world’s most beautiful and fast cars experiences the Plaid acceleration which Elon Musk says is over 1.2g’s of g-force at its peak. In his review video (below), the charismatic reviewer accepts that he has never experienced such acceleration before.
2021 Model S subtle air vents
One interesting new find that Doug made during his review of the new Model S interior was the almost hidden air vents across the dash. The driver-side air vents are located above and below the instrument cluster screen (above the Yoke steering, see marked image below).
For the front passenger side, Tesla has designed new Model S air vents in the same fashion, subtle and minimalistic. Doug tested the air vents for HVAC and he found the air through powerful enough to cool or heat the cabin despite being hidden in plain sight.
Not only the front but the rear air vents are also hidden towards the top of the rear infotainment screen.
Interior
Slightly later on in the video, Doug discusses the new UI and digital gear selection without using any stalks or knobs. Also, this is one of the first Model S Plaid cars that we have seen with the Wood Décor, customers normally select the Carbon Fiber Décor when buying this car for a sporty look.
The Black and White interior option which we see in the Plaid Model S in this video costs an extra $2,000 above the $129,990 price tag of the car. Choosing either Wood or Carbon Fiber Décor does not cost an extra dime.
Slight door handle issue
During his review, Dough found an issue with the door handle of this 2021 Tesla Model S. As the driver walks towards the car with the key in his pocket (or hand, etc.), the door handles of the Model S pop out automatically, then the driver and passengers pull the door handles a bit more to open the door.
Sometimes, the door handle is stuck after automatically popping out and if it is pulled further, the door would not open. The remedy to this is to slightly push the door handle back (just ever so slightly, see video at 00:26:30). According to Doug, this issue mostly affects the driver’s door handle.
The Model S and Model X self-presenting automatic door handles have had issues since the start but this specific issue might not be present on every new Model S or X design refresh vehicle. Tesla support might have a fix for this specific issue in the near future when deliveries to customers start to escalate further in the next quarters.
The Plaid experience
Tesla’s flagship hatchback sedan Model S Plaid comes with 3 motors (1x in the back, 2x in the rear). These motors are actually one of the most advanced carbon-sleeved rotor motors in the world according to Elon Musk, except for perhaps in a research lab somewhere in the wild.
These 3 motors combined produced 1,020 horsepower and 1,050 lb-ft of instant electric torque that can outclass any production internal combustion engine (ICE) sports car any day on the dragstrip (like the Mustang Shelby GT350 and McLaren 600LT have met their fate already).
Tesla Model S Plaid has a top speed of 200 mph (322 km/h) but is currently software-limited to 163 mph (262 km/h) by the automaker. This limitation is in place because the current Plaid Model S cars are not equipped with the proper wheels and tires — and these will be available in fall 2021 according to the Tesla Model S official website.
Let’s watch how Doug DeMuro who has driven almost all ICE supercars, reacts to the Plaid acceleration. “It’s really hard to accurately represent acceleration on camera, but if you watch the cars out the back window at 34:50… you’ll get it,” he said under his own review video.
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