Cars Electric Vehicles

Famous Tech YouTuber Delivers The Blunt Truth About Tesla's Model S Plaid

Tesla Model S Plaid driving Gestalt Imagery/Shutterstock
By Julian van der Merwe/

The Tesla Model S Plaid is by far the most impressive vehicle to come out of the American EV maker, and it rightly got a lot of attention when it first launched thanks to it's impressive performance and stark interior. Despite being a spacious, four-door, luxury sedan, the triple-motor power train in the Model S Plaid is capable of delivering 1,020 HP — accelerating the vehicle to 60 mph in a claimed 1.99 seconds, and a top speed of 200 mph. Along with its impressive performance comes Tesla's typically optimistic range estimates, which state that the Plaid should get 396 miles off of one charge.

With a price tag in excess of $120,000, one would expect the Model S Plaid to be equipped with some impressive bells and whistles, and if you're looking for a futuristic vehicle, it certainly doesn't disappoint. The minimalist interior is clad in wood trim, while a somewhat controversial yoke replaces the steering wheel, and a 17-inch landscape display gives you access to the vehicle's many electronic options.

When popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, or MKBHD, first reviewed his Model S Plaid in July 2021, he had largely positive things to say. But now, a year and a half later, he revisits the vehicle as a long-term owner.

A more balanced, long-term review

As a long-term owner, Marques' latest review of the Model S Plaid reveals that he is overall still happy with the vehicle, stating "It's one of very few EVs I could live with daily, considering all the road trips I make for ultimate frisbee."

Among the things he still rightly praises the car for are the impressive acceleration, which makes it among the quickest production cars in the world, keeping up with the likes of the Porsche 918 Spyder and McLaren P1, and the ample interior storage that belie the vehicle's incredible performance.

However, according to Brownlee, the interior design is the vehicle's biggest weakness. In Tesla's quest to design the most futuristic-looking vehicle around, it removed basically any tactile feedback from the user experience, including any stalks behind the steering wheel yoke. To make matters worse, the touch-sensitive blinkers on the steering wheel are reportedly unresponsive a lot of the time, even when you have adjusted to the interface.

Aside from buttons, range estimates and battery degradation were complaints as well. While Tesla claims a range of 396 miles, Marques states that this has not been realistic, with his real-world range coming out to 360 miles when driving conservatively, and battery degradation putting the new range closer to 315 miles. As testing by InsideEVs showed, Tesla is prone to overstating the range on its vehicles by around 10%, so MKBHD's assertions make sense, although 315 miles isn't bad all things considered.

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