Tesla Model S Plaid: New Info from Chief Designer and Engineer | Jay Leno's Garage

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They mentioned you have to opt-out of the carbon ceramics, is that true, are the ceramics included now? That would entirely justify the price hike for me but doesn't make sense considering the track pack supports the refresh and got a price hike

As far as I know they don’t come standard. But Tesla changes their offerings often.

If you watched the video, they said they were included in a specific package.

What intrigued me was that they claim to have made carbon ceramic rotors that work also when cold. Not sure if that’s a first, but usually people don’t want to run carbon ceramic brakes on daily drivers because in part the cost of replacing and in part because of the feel and behavior when not actually driving it hard on a track.

Its not a first, practically everyone from porsche & the other germans to aftermarket such as surface transform have carbon ceramics that respond instantly and work while cold now It hasn't been much of an issue since the early days of carbon ceramics, at latest ~2010 > because in part the cost of replacing It's the opposite, carbon ceramics are great for daily driving because they never wear, on track under intense heat they will flake off and need costly replacement. They are good for peak, record performance on track, otherwise everyone will recommend you some good large steel disks

I just. . . Is this all they've got to show, all we have to talk about? The Model S with a few more refinements. Still trying to turn this big luxury sedan into a sports car, a dragster, a "supercar" even? I mean, I'm glad they've kept the S going. They've evolved it and evolved it, instead of creating a new design merely for the sake of newness. I like that. But when they say "supercar" my first thought is, where's that new Roadster? Where's anything new at all?

If the roadster eventually comes out it’ll be in HyperCar territory or faster. This is still easily supercar fast

Can it beat the fastest car coming out of Asia?

I always like listening to Franz and Lars, but there isn’t really any new info in here.

I mean in Tesla terms, the S is indeed the "supercar". The Roadster will likely be the "hypercar".

Model S is not a supercar by any stretch. It’s a boat.

Leno doesn't seem well. I hope he's okay.

Spoken like someone who’s never driven a current gen S.

He recovered pretty well after the burns he got. I'm guessing he is just getting old.

Any info on this? Everything I see says that they aren't good at cold temps or in the wet.

Spoken like someone that’s never driven any kind of sports car. It has some of the numbest steering I’ve ever felt, has awful turn in and mid corner handling, and is generally only bailed out by corner exit.

Besides the lackluster updates on the Model S, there are several parts of the interview where Jay is not making sense or very slow. I am surprised they left those parts in the show.

So the two options for automobiles are “sports car” and “boat.” Right. Got it.

First time being interested in cars? Boat has been used for decades to describe large, heavy cars with slow turn-in and numb steering.

Ah okay. So it’s clear then now you’ve never driven a new Model S. Also, you’ll find most cars these days (sports cars included) have very numb steering. Even Porsches. But do carry on.

I _have_ driven one. The steering is incredibly numb. It's the most numb in its class. If you think it's not, you've either never driven a sports car, or you don't know the difference between steering weight and steering feel. Go drive a Taycan for comparison. No, it's not going to feel like a 968's steering, but it's very communicative with solid roadfeel. Or go drive an i5 M60. That one is oft criticized for the numb steering, but when I was doing my test drives, it felt infinitely better after having driven the MSP. Hell, for that matter, go drive an M3P. It is worlds better than the S in the steering feel department, and I'd still describe the M3P as numb. I quite literally ordered an M3P over an MSP because the M3P was fun to drive and the MSP sucked to drive on backroads.

I think its a little bit of age, but mostly he was unimpressed in this episode. At the end when he mentions Roadster, he's back to normal energy levels.

I owned an M3P. The S is a bigger car and handles FAR better, despite not having quite as much feel (and it’s not like the 3 has much of that anyway). I’ve also driven a Taycan Turbo S many a time and yes, Porsche’s road feel is ahead of Tesla on many levels. Both are still boats, by your definition. In any case the S is leagues ahead of the 3 in every metric.

What are those wheels? Can you even get those wheels from Tesla?

A sports car and a supercar aren’t the same. And one isn’t a subset of the other.

Supercars are, in fact, a subcategory of sports car.

Model S is as old as Leno

I like it. I can only deal with 1 car. I want a car that is viciously fast and has at least "good" maneuverability but I can also fold the rear seats down and fit some large items. (I wish more cars would just do a rear seat delete to save weight and add more cargo but I know this is a pipe dream) So, I love things like the S or Taycan, except the S is achievable while a higher end Taycan is not. I hope they keep making them. I have zero interest in a roadster or anything with no storage capacity. So, I am one of the voices rooting for things like the S to still be made.

He is REALLY showing his age in the last few episodes. Watch some 2025 episodes, then watch like a 2022 episode. It's a huge difference in energy levels. It's a fate ahead of all of us, no avoiding it. Sucks.

Franz and Lars are exceptional at what they do, but this video felt a bit desperate and staged. There’s nothing particularly new here in terms of insights, or really improvements to the S. Sure, the seats are nicer, and after 13 years of bolting it together the gaps are good, but there’s no getting away from the old design and limited rear space (for this class of vehicle). I loved the 2 S’s we’ve had, but nothing here would make me want to purchase another.

What happened to Tesla? I feel like when Drew left it was basically it ...for the car part at least.

17 yr old design

I was also tempted to get into the "what exactly does supercar mean" argument, but. . . It's always been vague, something changes with time and fashion.

Just personal experience w/ track pack and similar cars, its not a noticeable difference I'm not sure if they have the same OEM for the refresh, but it doesn't look like they changed anything on the track pack site, and up til now the calipers were from AP Racing, and rotors from Surface Transforms, they just give their requirements & brand accordingly Same guys who design the brakes for McLaren, Aston, Koenigsegg, develop w/ Porsche, its their tech and I doubt Tesla significantly changed the game

0-60 in under 2 seconds and 200mph top speed is a super car

I just ordered a plaid and asked the exact question of the sales rep. It looks like he mis spoke and you have to buy the 20k package to get those brakes. Also you can't lump that package into a lease incase someone else is wondering.

They really should have over viewed all the improvements since Jay's and not last years model.

Still no 800V system, no brake by wire, still the same chassis with many quality problems (trunk, panel alignment etc) - I still like the design, but I do expect progress and not these small improvements.