The Tesla 2022 Model X Plaid Update Is Here!
Let’s talk about the Tesla Model X. It’s the only Tesla vehicle that we’ve never really spent any time discussing, and in honesty that’s because we always figured it was a bit too niche, a bit too weird or maybe just not as exciting as things like Roadsters and Cybertrucks and spaceships and all that. But I’m happy to say I’ve come around - and it’s been the new Plaid Model X that’s done it for me - this thing finally makes it make sense. And in a very short time I've actually changed my opinion around to believe that not only is the Model X Plaid the coolest Tesla ever made - it might actually be the coolest car in the world. Bar None. Let me tell you why that is.
A Brief History of the Model X
Elon Musk first unveiled a prototype of the Model X in the year 2012, saying that production would begin in the following year. So, a reminder that ‘Elon Time’ is not a new occurrence, this is a trend that dates far back and our boy has a chronic issue with realistic timelines. Because the X didn’t come out in 2013. Or 2014. But on September 29th 2015 the first 6 Model X SUVs were delivered to customers at a special launch event. This was the first ever fully electric SUV, it was a very big deal. And Tesla didn’t just make a taller, fatter version of the Model S, they could have, but instead they chose to skip ahead a few decades and build the car of the future, today. For better or worse.
During his presentation of the Model X that night, Elon Musk said that if he had to do it over again, he’d have made the Model X less complicated and therefore easier to engineer and build. Luckily for us, Elon never took a do-over on the X design and it retains all of those bafflingly wonderful complexities to this day.
Falcon Wing Doors
Of course, by complexities we mean the doors. These are Tesla’s take on a style of door that was traditionally called ‘gullwing’. Mercedes used this design back in the 1950’s to great effect. There were a handful of exotic sports cars that utilized gullwing doors through the 60’s and 70’s. Delorian used them on their 1980’s stainless steel masterpiece. Mercedes Benz brought them back in 2010 with the SLS AMG supercar.
Tesla was able to take a very cool looking but not very useful design idea, and use modern technology to make it both cool and practical at the same time.
The first change that Tesla made was to name their doors after a cool bird, the falcon - not some dirty old seagull. Aside from being named after a garbage bird, the gullwings need a ton of clearance space at the sides to fully swing open, so not friendly for the Costco parking lot. Tesla got around this by double-hinging the doors, and fitting each with an ultrasonic sensor and putting a third on the roof. They scan the area around the vehicle to determine how much space there is, then adjust the "span" and open accordingly. Tesla engineers say the doors can open with as little as 12 inches on each side of the vehicle.
It’s kind of hard to explain, but basically the doors are flexible enough and smart enough to maneuver around pretty much any reasonable obstruction. This dude on Twitter Jeremy Judkins has been doing a pretty good job lately of illustrating how the doors function in his TikTok videos.
Fast Forward to Plaid
So, the Model X remained pretty much unchanged for its first 5 years of life - it was this crazy, electric spaceship car that was very cool, but also very weird and very expensive and I don’t think most people really knew what to do with it, or what to think of it.
Enter 2021 and production of the Model S and Model X come to a halt. We’re told that something new is coming - there’s a ‘refresh’ in the works. Couple months go by and we get renderings of the NEW Model S and Model X. They look 95 percent exactly the same as the old Model S and Model X; but the interior is different, it looks cooler, sleeker, more modern, the screen is big and horizontal now, the steering wheel has been replaced by a weird yoke thing. And more exciting than any of that, we now have this three motor, Plaid powertrain option that sends the performance specs into a whole new level. Tesla’s have always been fast, but these are unprecedented zero to 60 numbers we are seeing. F1 race cars don’t even accelerate this fast.
We asked when these cars would be delivered, Elon said soon. We waited a month, asked again, Elon said soon. Waited, asked, soon. Waited, asked, soon… Until June 2021 at the Model S Plaid launch event when Elon Musk unzipped his pants and dropped the fastest car ever made onto our eagerly awaiting faces. And that was the coolest shit ever. It’s all we could talk about or even think about for months. Every cool person had a Model S Plaid. I tried everything I could - started an Only Fans, priced out one of my kidneys, begged Squarespace to sponsor the channel… No such luck. I was not able to come up with the cash to join the Plaid club. If only I’d sold Dogecoin at the peak.
Which was actually for the best, in hindsight. Not only did I retain both of my kidneys, but now that the hype from the S has died down and the Model X Plaid has actually hit production - I honestly prefer the X, that’s the car I’d actually buy if I had the money today.
The Model X Plaid is Here
Anyway, let’s get back on track here. The new Model X Plaid is out in the world and it is a legitimately amazing vehicle for many reasons, but there are a couple of big ones.
Let’s talk about the price. As of today, a Plaid Model X is going for $126,490 USD with standard wheels - you get 333 miles of range with standard 20 inch wheels and zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds with 6 big, comfy adult sized seats in the back. Compare that to the 2015 Model X that cost $132,000 USD for 250 miles of range and zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds - you could buy the “Ludicrous” mode for an extra 10 grand but that still *only* brings the acceleration up to a 3.2 second zero to 60. So the new Model X Plaid gives you more stuff, for less money in the same vehicle that you could have bought back in 2015. This has to be the only luxury product in existence with a deflationary price. The cost of a Rolex has doubled in 5 years and they’ve been making the same damn watches for 50 years.
Now let’s compare the price of a Model X Plaid against the Model S Plaid (exact same 3 motor powertrain and battery pack) - the Model S is going for $129,990 USD (again with standard wheels, though you’d have to be a psychopath to buy a Model S Plaid and not get the fancy upgrade wheels).
Either way, The Model X is cheaper than the Model S. Cheaper. The X is bigger, has an extra row of seats and has those outrageously over complicated Falcon Wing doors… and it’s cheaper. The extra seats and the robot doors are essentially free. It doesn’t make sense. It must be a mistake that they just haven’t noticed yet. Nobody tell Elon Musk about this. Buy this car before he finds out and switches it.
If you happen to have 130 Gs, of course.
Anyway, not only is the price right, the performance is there as well - the Model X Plaid may not be the fastest car in the world, but it will outrun 99 percent of all cars ever made. It’s honestly surprising that a vehicle this big and heavy doesn’t break the ground when it launches with that amount of power. And this new Plaid power train is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, even from Tesla. We know that every Tesla vehicle has been very fast from zero to 60, but at speed they kind of lose that exceptional thrust - you’ve maybe seen a video where an electric car drag races and ICE car, the EV will win handily at first, but the gasoline car will come back and catch up or even overtake. The carbon overwrapped rotors in the Plaid motors fix that problem - the wrap compresses the rotor and keeps it from flying apart at high rpm due to overwhelming centrifugal force. So Plaid motors maintain full power throughout the entire range of acceleration - they pull just as hard from 60 to 100 miles per hour as they do from zero to 60.
So, we’re getting like 90 percent of the Model S acceleration fun for a hair less money and a bunch more convenience. Sure the X won’t handle the curvy roads as well as a Model S, but the X does corner spectacularly well for an SUV - it has negligible body roll, a tight chassis and adjustable steering and air suspension that can be tuned for performance driving at the touch of a screen.
So getting back to my original point about the Model X Plaid being the coolest car in the world. Let’s check off some boxes here - You can smoke a Lambo in a stoplight drag race, that’s cool. You can cut through twisty country roads while you pretend to be a race car driver with your steering yoke, that’s cool. You can bring 5 buds on a road trip and everyone will be perfectly comfortable the whole time, that’s cool. You guys can drive over 300 miles on that trip without having to charge, that’s cool. You’ve got intelligent robot doors that actively make it easier to get people and stuff into and out of the car, that’s cool. You have an AMD Ryzen powered computer in the dash board with a 17 inch screen, that’s cool. Glass roof? Cool. The best driver assist software on the market? Cool. Getting easily the best value for money in the entire luxury car market? Also, pretty damn cool.
Anyway, that’s the revelation that I've recently gone through about the Model X Plaid after I started really thinking about it a few days ago. Maybe we’ve helped you out with your own decision making or at least provided some good confirmation bias to support a choice you’ve already made. Either way, do you agree that the Model X Plaid is the coolest car ever, or are you wrong?
