If you haven't been living under a rock, you’ll know the Tesla Model S Plaid is mighty quick. We’ve seen it beat all kinds of supercars in drag races and we know from a recent video it is also frighteningly fast around the Nurburgring. But can it compete against two very potent combustion-powered machines with heavy upgrades under the hoods? The short answer is yes.
But here’s the longer version. Carwow lines up a Model S Plaid against a heavily modified Porsche 911 Turbo and a tuned BMW M5. All three cars have around 1,000 horsepower and the Tesla is the heaviest at around 4,85 pounds (2,200 kilograms). As a reminder, it has a three-motor electric powertrain, which makes it one of the quickest production cars available on the market today with a claimed 0-60 miles per hour time of 1.99 seconds.
Against it, the Porsche relies on a 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six engine with aftermarket intakes, a new titanium exhaust system, and a custom ECU remap. The result is a peak output of 1,011 hp. The 911 Turbo is the lightest of the trio tipping the scales at 3,637 lbs (1,650 kg). Last but not least, there’s an upgraded BMW M5. Its 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 has been tuned and now delivers 1,000 hp. It is significantly heavier than the Porsche at 4,078 lbs (1,850 kg).
In the first three quarter-mile drag races, the Model S Plaid takes comfortable wins. The M5 driver then proposes that each car gets three passengers but the result isn’t much different. Actually, this puts the Bavarian sedan in an even worse situation losing to the Tesla and Porsche by a bigger gap. Things get even worse for the BMW during the rolling-start races.
