The other night, my friend Gail from Tesla Owners Club of Austin, who owns a Tesla Model X, called me and we got into an awesome conversation about Tesla, among other things. She told me that she’s been wanting to drive a Plaid Model S and that she had Plaid fever. I told her to put it out there and she took my advice.
Who else hasn’t had a ride in a Plaid Model S, and really REALLY wants to?
— Gail Alfar (@GailAlfarATX) September 14, 2021
Today, she called me back to tell me that she got her Plaid experience. This is what she had to say about the Plaid:
“I just drove a Plaid for the first time, and I have so many thoughts about it.
“First of all the kind person (Drew) that let me drive his beautiful Plaid has only owned it for a few weeks (and he’s a first-time Tesla owner!). Literally, he had only driven it a couple of dozen times. However, he was driving it flawlessly, so naturally. As if it was just second nature. He’s incredibly happy with his Plaid!
“Besides the fact that the vehicle is extremely fast, it basically has the same software capability as my single motor model three. To me, this is absolutely incredible. In fact, Drew was delighted when I was able to show him how to engage Autopilot, we actually set it up for the first time in the car. We actually activated full self-driving (FSD) for the first time. We drove down a curvy country road, and it was his first time and it was absolutely next level.
“The last part is when I got the chance to drive the vehicle. The steering yoke felt immediately as if it was more integrated with me and the driving experience than the round steering wheel ever felt! Forward, reverse and signaling came very naturally and I didn’t miss the stalks at all.
“We did not push the vehicle to full Plaid speed, as it would not have been safe to do so in the congested urban area that we were in. I’m definitely looking forward to that opportunity, and it can’t come too soon! “
Perhaps Consumer Reports was exaggerating the difficulties of the yoke steering, after all. Gail seemed to have no issue with it and many Tesla owners who also own a Plaid Model S have had similar responses. Earl aka @28DelaysLater summed it up nicely:
Oddly, it seems that people who purchase the new S like the yoke.
Also oddly, media sites that hate everything about Tesla don’t like the yoke either.
— 🐶 Earl of FrunkPuppy 🐶 (@28delayslater) September 17, 2021
Featured photo by Gail Alfar, used with permission.