Tesla Model X Plaid | Test Drive | Auto Class Magazine

Tesla Model X Plaid | Test Drive

2 September 2024 Redazione News, Tested

The Plaid is the most effective way to recover the potentially accumulated delay at a random charger. Like the Model S Plaid sedan, it has 1,033 horsepower, 1,450 Nm of torque and in this case also a couple of wings. Welcome to the future.

Words Matteo Lavazza / Photos Daniél Rikkard

We are in 2024. If you ask those who in the 70s/80s leafed through science fiction comics, everyone will reply how much they were sure about today’s flying cars. Unfortunately it is not so and even if in 18 months it will be possible to dine with candlelight beyond the atmosphere and for the modest figure of $ 450,000, cars still do not fly. Not all at least. Tesla, since 2012 – the year in which the Model S has been introduced – is the meter of comparison in terms of electrical mobility, the architect of that change that driving enthusiasts fear so much, migration to zero emissions, the absence of the sound of an internal combustion engine and charging waits that are still unable to compete with a full tank of petrol flavor.

It is also true that in the current state of things and with all the brands now chasing the creation of Elon Musk, Tesla is the only manufacturer to have created a flying car. No, I’m not referring to the SpaceX project, let alone at the roadster sent to the conquest of Mars. This is the Plaid, the most effective way to recover the potentially accumulated delay at a random charger. Like the Model S Plaid sedan, it has 1,033 horsepower, 1,450 Nm of torque and in this case also wings. Welcome to the future.

I would have sworn that I could not forget the earthquake that my internal organs suffered the first time that I sank the accelerator on the Model S Plaid driven a few months ago, but time plays bad jokes and although it leaves the memory, it fades the intensity of an emotion that no other car is able to offer, as long as it is not a proper racer. The fact that the Model X Plaid is an SUV of over 2 tons and can lead to 6 people on everyday roads leaves me speechless: where can we ever go starting from here? At the moment you could play fantasy, but the tangible reality offered by Musk with the tribute to “Spaceballs” of the immense Mel Brooks is the closest thing to a shuttle suitable for the grocery run, all without polluting along the route and with an average range that in perfect Tesla style allows you not to lose hair in the count to residual kilometers before the following refill.

By aging you become more practical and tend to be more rational, or at least you should. So if the Model 3 and the Model Y Performance are undoubtedly the best choices in terms of quality/price ratio, the Model X is the exclamation point, the way to a future never as in this case so at hand. The same hands that must learn a new movement, given that the Plaid can be equipped with the Yoke, the cut steering wheel that reminds you to be in command of a spaceship.

Hyperspace. A combination, the space one, which never as in this case is resumed in every detail, starting from the opening of the rear doors, which between intelligence and footprint sensors manage to open up in narrow and low spaces without ever a hitch, however leaving easy access thanks to the large opening that offers way to the third row in the back. They are called hawk wings and need just 30 centimeters to open up. In front there is only the essentials, with the absolute dominance of the two displays, that in front of the driver and the gigantic horizontal tablet placed in the middle and which can be significantly rotated in the direction of those who hold the Yoke. Here, a sort of gadget that is undoubtedly a magnet for curious, an advertisement to show off at the bar with friends, but that to the practical test is no better than the traditional steering wheel, above all taking into account that in the moments when you go to exploit the absurd power of the Plaid, a whole steering would certainly be safer. Having said that, just take the habit and making use of a greater diameter and a square portion, coexistence in the city and on B-roads is not even so impossible, with some further reserve in the maneuvering phase, where you often find yourself looking for a piece that is not actually there.

Hands firm and I’m ready to push hard on the throttle. The eyes are sucked into the orbits, the stomach becomes small and I return to try what it means accelerating from 0 to 100 per hour in just 2.6 seconds. Everything happens in the most absolute silence, with a hiss that accompanies an almost imperceptible sense of emptiness that seems to crush the eardrums with the same intensity with which you are pressed on the backrest. The Model X tears the asphalt with the all-wheel-drive and challenges the laws of dynamics and common sense by launching from one point to another with a speed unthinkable for any car equipped with number plate and insurance. Thus powerful emotions become an addiction and counting on 104 kWh batteries is not even a game to be managed with the dropper, given that the average range is estimated at around 540 km and – with use without great concerns – it remains close to 500 kilometers.

Tesla technology, however, is not only the incredible speed offered by the Plaid, but an autopilot capable of reading road signals and bringing you to destination through dialogues with the satellite navigator and reading the traffic in front of you, carrying out overtaking only by acting on the indicators. This type of science fiction is even more incredible for me than the overflowing power available at the right foot. When charging, with always very reduced times thanks to a network of SuperCargers (and not only) in continuous growth you can deceive the wait with the various integrated videogames, or watch a movie on Netflix, or go down and take a walk, keeping under control the status of the car via its own app.

The differences with the Model S Plaid are purely aesthetic, with the X that communicates more space in the passenger compartment and a weight of just 13 extra kilos, a factor that is not highlighted in any way, except as regards an almost imperceptible body roll through corners, mainly due to a higher car body, given that the center of gravity remains very close to the ground. And it is precisely here that I wanted to bring you my dear reader, because after all if you buy an electric car to save the planet it is right to evaluate certain topics, but if you take it with over a thousand horses of power you want it to go fast and not only on the straight. The Model X Plaid will not be the alternative to a Porsche Cayman, let alone a BMW M3, it cannot and moreover it does not even intend to be.

It is a large SUV that is incredibly faster than any other car you can buy with less than half a million Euros. It does all of this because it is the extremization of a concept introduced by its creator, aspect that thanks to electric cars have not entered the common collective only as an alternative to internal combustion. It is the expression of an object that brings the future here, today, that puts on the plate how much a zero emissions technology is shaped and knows how to be fun, not only useful or politically correct. The Plaid makes sense precisely in these terms, the fact of representing the summit of a mountain made of a series of countless stages that can truly offer answers to every question. Its 1,033 horses, all ready and immediately, are the exclamation point and the “full stop” towards who knows what other crazy idea Elon will come out with. Falcon wings folded, hands tight on the Yoke: Fly me to the moon baby!