When people think of Tesla’s at the drag strip laying down impressive times, it’s usually either the flagship Performance Model S, or the Performance Model 3.
Often left out of the excitement is the Standard Range Plus (SR+) Model 3, which is the ‘slowest’ vehicle in the Tesla lineup, but still no slouch when it comes to acceleration and speed.
Matthew Cjel took his SR+ out to the Luskville Dragway in Luskville, Quebec yesterday to see just how quick it is, and in the process achieved some impressive numbers.
According to Cjel, he removed all the floor mats and the rear bench of his SR+, but other than that it was completely stock for his three 1/4 mile runs.
On his first run, with the battery at 90%, he clocked in at 13.185 @ 106mph (170km/h). His second run at 88% battery was almost identical at 13.181 @ 106mph. The third and final run with the battery at 87% was the slowest at 13.218 @ 106mph.
According to his dragy app, his 0-60mph time was an even more impressive at 4.99 seconds, beating the time listed on Tesla’s website at 5.3 seconds, and breaking the 5 second barrier.
With a 1ft rollout, which is the standard in the US for published 0-60 numbers, his time was even better at 4.73 seconds.
In an interview, Cjel tells Drive Tesla that while his previous car was much faster (a turbo’d Audi A3 which ran the 1/4 mile in 10.7 @ 130 mph), the SR+ is deceivingly quick, especially once it gets up to about 30km/h.
“It isn’t able to get out of the hole like an AC induction motor from the AWD variants, but due to the weight savings from a smaller battery, one less motor and smaller rims, the midrange (35-100kmh) acceleration allows the SR+ to punch well above its weight and compete with quicker cars than it really should be doing. All the while giving it the highest efficiency of the Tesla fleet.“
These impressive times are thanks in part to a 5% power boost that was delivered free via an over-the-air (OTA) software update to SR+ Model 3’s last year in 2019.36.2.1.
When we first tested it, there was a noticeable difference in the acceleration from a rolling start.
Here’s a look at his second run at 13.181 @ 106mph.
