I don't really get how this is relevant for anyone besides tesla shills at this point. It's the metric that matters the least when it comes to electric vehicles. It makes me think of Samsung 100+ mpx phone camera sensors. People who don't know a thing about the topic drool over big (or small) numbers but it's 99.99% marketing and 0.01% real world use.

We were promised fully autonomous cars in "2 years" in 2012 and all we get are vaguely superior driver assistance techs and fast 0-100 to burn more rubber [0]

It could do 0-100 in 1s I wouldn't want to drive something with that steering rectangle.

[0] https://www.tiretechnologyinternational.com/news/regulations...

It’s a relevant metric for car enthusiasts. But most people (overwhelmingly) are not car enthusiasts. Even Tesla owners are not car enthusiasts. They’re just stans for Elon and Tesla - they don’t care about any other cars. So, for them - acceleration isn’t actually important. It’s just bragging rights.

For most people out there, FSD is way more interesting than some insane 0-60 time. It’s impressive that Tesla has made this accessible in an everyday car (mind you, it requires a special drag strip to hit claimed numbers). But it’s not really that relevant or even interesting to 99% of consumers out there - the difference between 2.2s and 3.2s is very significant to an enthusiast but to most people (including stans) - it’s not relevant. They’re not going to be gunning it on freeway on ramps - that is quite clear from the number of Teslas I get behind within the Bay Area.

I like that Tesla is pushing the limits and getting EV adoption going but I see them selling snake oil and gimmicks as much as I see them selling a compelling EV car. They live for the gimmicks - without them there is very little reason the stans would be interested.

Sad they cancelled the Plaid Plus. I really wanted the 500mi range. I don't really need to accelerate 0-60 in 2 seconds.

Repost: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27541901

PS: Tesla used prepped tarmac surfac to obtain this time.

Also mentioned here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27548535

Prepping the road is not uncommon to get the fastest possible time. Hell even street racers will use VHT. I don't really see it as misleading.

It’s misleading because it’s not standard. When testing production road cars, it’s very common to test on standard road surfaces - not super glue.

What is the steering wheel angle ratio? I don’t know how you’d do a quick three point turn with that steering wheel unless it changes drastically in low speeds.

2.28 seconds without cheating.

Add glue to asphalt and start at 6 mph instead of 0 mph and it's below 2 seconds.

2.8 if you don’t feel like engaging the drag strip mode that takes 8 to 15 minutes to cool the motors and cool/heat the battery so you can do the 2.28

The LR is 3.1, so you decide whether $50k is worth it.

The real question is how are other cars measured, because if everyone cheats, no one cheats.

Everyone does a 1 foot rollout.

Europeans don't. Porsche for example. Dodge don't do it.

Tesla don't do it either for their non performance models.

Magazines do, manufacturers generally don't.

North American auto magazines.

Source? Everything I've seen says 1 foot rollout is industry standard.

not really. if everyone cheats a different way, you just can't compare the numbers.

I wish people didn't care so much about this specific performance number anyway. 0-60 time doesn't tell you how fast a car will go around a track (if you're into that), and more importantly imo, it doesn't tell you much about how enjoyable a car will be to drive on public roads. it's particularly frustrating to see how the few remaining manual transmissions are all designed to hit redline in second gear at 62 mph. talk about optimizing for the benchmark...

For car enthusiasts, I agree. For most of the population, 0-60 is a useful metric. Everybody accelerates from traffic lights and uses a highway on ramp nearly every day. Pulling 1g on a curve is for a work commute or road trip is rare.

Everybody accelerates from traffic lights, but few want to do 0-60 in two seconds there. FTA: “firmly press your noggin against the headrest (trust us), release the brake, and hang on.”

The difference between 0-60 in 4 seconds (drives the same distance as a constant speed of 30 for 4 seconds) and 0-60 in two seconds plus two seconds at 60 (gives you the same distance as a constant speed of 30 for 2 seconds plus one of 60 for 2 seconds) is the distance driven in two seconds at 30, so you’d be a whopping (not) one second behind if you drove that slower accelerating car.

(Also, this car takes 8 to 15 minutes to prepare for that sprint. That’s not the practical)

I wasn't describing how the plaid is practical. I gave reasoning why the concept of the 0-60 metric is useful and relatable for the general public.

there's very rarely a good reason to use full throttle from a dead stop on public roads. if I want to get in front of someone at a traffic light, about half-open throttle is all I need to do it. if the other driver resists, it's wiser to find a slot behind them instead.

I actually find the 30-50 and 50-70 tests that car and driver runs to be pretty interesting for a daily driver. in a manual it shows what kind of performance you can expect merging / changing lanes if you're too lazy to downshift, and in an automatic it captures how well the transmission responds to a sudden application of the throttle while cruising. these figures strike me as a lot more realistic than flooring it from a dead stop. many cars are traction limited in the lower gears anyway.

I do understand some people simply enjoy accelerating hard in a straight line, and I don't begrudge them that. I'm just disappointed by the tradeoffs that are made to hit that headline figure.

The engineers begged Elon not to whip them again but to make it stop they would have to use some shenanigans.

rolling starts on super grippy surfaces sure sounds like cooking the books to me.

Sort of, rolling starts are the standard at drag strips, and various auto magazines. What's more dishonest is not posting similar numbers for the other Tesla's.

Fastest production car in the world...and seats 5 adults comfortably!

It’s so close to the roadster, I see little point in bothering with a roadster now.

There is so much more to the driving experience than acceleration. No matter how you slice it, the Model S is still a huge, heavy boat.

They don't even sell the roadster in the UK.

They don’t sell it anywhere yet