Man pushes his Tesla Model X to the extreme in off-roading challenge with surprising results

A Tesla Model X Plaid is built to be fast, comfortable and very good at making passengers question whether they really needed to accelerate that hard.

Taking one deep into the mountains for an off-roading challenge, however, is a rather different story.

One creator decided to find out just how far the 1,020-horsepower electric SUV could be pushed by throwing five increasingly ridiculous obstacles at it.

And somehow, the Model X kept surprising him.

The Model X surprised everyone on the way up

The first challenge for the unlikely off-roader EV looked seriously steep, and the slippery surface wasn’t exactly making things easier.

The Model X’s long wheelbase was also a concern because there was a very real chance of scraping the underside on the way up for the creator Joel, who goes by the name Tesla Camper online.

Luckily, the SUV has adjustable air suspension, so he raised it as high as possible and gave the hill a shot, and it worked.

The next climb was even tougher, especially after the wheels had picked up plenty of mud.

The Model X initially struggled, but switching on Tesla’s Slip Start setting gave it the extra help it needed to keep moving.

That’s pretty impressive considering the Model X doesn’t even have a dedicated off-road mode.

The creator then had to point out something that seems slightly ridiculous when you think about it: this was a 1,020-horsepower Plaid being used to crawl up muddy mountain trails.

Things got a little more dramatic for the Tesla

The next obstacle was designed to get one of the Model X’s wheels into the air as it crawled across a huge dip in the trail.

It looked like the sort of terrain where you would normally want a proper off-road vehicle, but the Tesla made it through anyway.

Then things took an unexpected turn when one of the tires went flat.

Thankfully, this wasn’t exactly his first rodeo.

He had brought two spare tires along with a puncture repair kit, meaning the adventure didn’t have to end there.

After fixing the tire, the Model X was ready for another round.

The fourth challenge involved driving across an extremely slanted section of the trail, with the creator understandably wondering whether the Tesla might tip over.

But the battery sitting underneath the car actually worked in its favor, keeping all that weight low gives the Model X a low center of gravity, making it surprisingly stable even when things got seriously tilted.

Then came the final challenge.

The last trail was so steep and rough that rocks had to be placed underneath the front of the Tesla to stop it from catching on the ground.

It looked incredibly sketchy from inside the car, but the Model X eventually made it down.

Even better, the creator was told it was the first SUV to ever make it down that particular trail.

For a car that was never designed to be a hardcore off-roader, the Model X put on a seriously impressive show.

It still has some obvious disadvantages, particularly its long wheelbase, road-focused tires and lack of a proper off-road mode.

But after surviving five increasingly wild challenges, it’s safe to say the 1,020-hp Tesla has a little more adventure in it than its luxury SUV image might suggest.