Elon Musk was not joking. Teslas are really things that maximize fun. This is true, it seems, even if one drives the company’s “slowest” performance car around one of the world’s most famous and most dangerous racetracks.
The Tesla Model Y Performance is the company’s most conservatively-specced performance model. With an 82 kWh battery pack and a combined power of 510hp, the all-electric crossover could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 155 mph.
That’s not slow in any way, but its capabilities are notably less impressive than vehicles like the Tesla Model S Plaid or even its sibling, the Model 3 Performance. The Model X Plaid, a significantly larger and heavier car than the Model Y Performance, also outdoes the crossover with its 0-60 mph time of 2.5 seconds and its top speed of 163 mph.
YouTube channel Top Speed Brothers recently took a Model Y Performance to the Nurburgring to test how the all-electric crossover fares on the racetrack. Interestingly enough, the vehicle in the channel’s video was actually made in Gigafactory Berlin.
So how did the Model Y Performance fare? Surprisingly well, actually. While the all-electric crossover was overtaken by several cars during its lap, and while it did not showcase the face-splitting acceleration of the Model S Plaid when it set its record on the track last year, the Model Y Performance actually proved quite capable, hugging the curves of the Nurburgring fairly well.
Overall, the Made-in-Germany Model Y’s Nurburgring run was not underwhelming by any means. Without Track Mode or any special acceleration settings, Tesla’s most conservatively-specced performance car still proved that it could be fun to drive, even on one of the world’s most dangerous racetracks.
Watch the Tesla Model Y Performance’s Nurburgring run in the video below.
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Keyword: Made-in-Germany Tesla Model Y proves surprisingly fun in the Nurburgring