October 19, 2026
MKBHD Calls Tesla’s Flying Roadster “Smoke and Mirrors” — and He’s Not Holding His Breath
Marques Brownlee isn’t buying the hype. In a 22-minute video posted October 17 — already past 8.4 million views — the tech reviewer called Tesla’s Roadster reveal “maybe the most insane product demos of all time,” then spent the rest of the runtime taking it apart.
His verdict: the wall-driving, upside-down, kickflip stunts were “a stupid amount of work that essentially amounts to a party trick” — “both figuratively and literally smoke and mirrors” distracting from the actual car. He’s not sold on the styling either, calling it a “cyberified interpretation of a Lamborghini… if I’m being generous.”
He did praise the fan-powered suction system as genuinely useful — but drew the line at the cold-gas thrusters: “What I’m most concerned about is crash test safety — what happens when you have a massive balloon of 10,000 PSI compressed air next to your head?” And on the 2028 production target: he’s “not gonna be holding my breath.”