What does Doug DeMuro think of the Tesla Model S Plaid?

Doug DeMuro is perhaps YouTube’s most popular car reviewer with more than 4 million subscribers. On Tuesday, he reviewed the Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model S Plaid which is a super-high-performance version of the Model S sedan.

‘An absolute marvel of everything’

The starting price tag on the Plaid is around $130,000 (£94,6400) which is “big money” yet the car delivers in a “big way,” DeMuro said in his video review.

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Tesla claims the Plaid is the first production car in history to do zero to 60 in under two seconds. There is some controversy over the validity of the claim as the advertised time of 1.98 seconds requires very specific circumstances.

Regardless if the real-world time is 1.98 seconds or 2.1 seconds it begs the point:

“This will outrun every other vehicle you will ever encounter on the road in the entire history of the production of automobiles.”

Simply put, the Plaid is “an absolute marvel of everything” which is even more remarkable when keeping in mind this is a family sedan — backed by 1,000 horsepower and a range of 400 miles between charges.

Not exactly perfect

One of the biggest debates on the Plaid is the unusual steering wheel called the “Yoke”. The steering wheel more resembles a fighter pilot stick than a traditional circular steering wheel.

DeMuro said a special car this fast deserves something unique and different. While it is “not good,” the Yoke steering wheel “isn’t as bad as I expected it to be.” 

While not unique to the Plaid, DeMuro said it suffers from the same quality issues that have plagued Tesla for years. Most notably, the driver’s side handle would get stuck “one out of every two or three times.” This could be frustrating since this is a feature that has been around for several years already.

“Tesla, I hate to say it, is famous for this kind of thing. They just don’t build cars at the same level of quality as most other brands. Tesla people hate when you talk about this stuff but it really is a problem.”

Last, the interior materials are “nowhere near as nice” as luxury brands like Mercedes Benz that sell at similar price points.

The ‘DougScore’: best all-around car ever made

While the interior quality falls short of what luxury buyers are used to, the Plaid more than makes up for it in terms of performance. DeMuro ends every video with his own ranking system, best known as the “DougScore.”

The Plaid earned a score of 73 out of 100 which ranks it as the best high-performance sedan. It topped the 2021 Taycan Turbo CrossTurismo by one point and fell one point shy of the highest ranked vehicle ever, the McLaren F1.

Commenting on the score, he said:

“The Plaid is truly fantastic and it’s quite possibly the best all-around car ever made.”