I recently had a 50 minute test drive of the Tesla Model S, P85 version. I thought some members here may be interested in my thoughts on it
The Tesla Model S comes in 3 versions. A "60", "85", and the top of the range "P85". These range from £55,000 - £75,000 approximately. A buyer would typically order £5-10k of options on top, and the P85 I drove had at least £10k of options, making it a £85,000 car.
Among other things, it had air suspension and 19" alloys. Both of which may have had an effect on handling and ride, as assessed.
Looking at the car, it is attractive and very wide and long. Quality of body and paint work is not premium however, and is below the standard on modern Skodas.
The boot is huge, and in fact big enough to install 2 small rear facing seats in it. The front storage compartment is in fact around the same size as an i3's boot! This car is big.
Legroom is also huge, front and rear. In fact, with the driver's seat fully back, I could only just fully depress the accelerator pedal. However, for a 5 seater big family car, it has a major, and fatal, flaw. Rear headroom is lacking, to the point where my head was hitting the roof - just as in the rear of the i8. However, the i8 is a 2+2, not a full 5 (7) seater family car.
The problem is that the Tesla has a badly designed sloping roofline. A terrible idea in a large family car, and truly a case of form over function. Combined with the rear seat being high due to the batteries underneath, it results in inadequate rear headroom.
Sitting in the front, the car is comfortable, spacious and airy. The large tablet style touch screen in the centre looks odd and out of place. Flashy yes, but it makes the car seems gimmicky. The instrument display is fine though. I noticed though that a passenger using internet functions on the centre display stops the navigation being displayed on both screens, which was annoying.
The interior trim is cheap and flimsy, and not befitting a car in this price range. Nowhere near the quality of even the i3, never mind the i8.
This car had a lot of options, and I liked the height adjustable suspension feature a lot. I wish my i8 had this.
From discussion with Tesla, I would estimate that the real world range of the large battery version of the car, is 200 miles when driven under similar conditions as my i3 REx test, which gave 79 miles range (i3 BEV estimated range 85 miles). A driver could reasonably extend each of these ranges by 20% if deliberately driving in a frugal manner and in eco mode.
Moving off, the Tesla is smooth, quiet and powerful. It immediately feels very nice indeed to drive. And just as calming and relaxing as the i3 and i8 (in e-drive).
The steering is extremely light, which suits the car. Putting the steering in Sport mode achieves nothing more than making it a little too heavy, as it still offers no true feedback whatsoever - in common with most other modern cars.
Moving off is astonishing! At the traffic light Grand Prix, if you accelerate fully, it is akin to asking Scotty to go to "Warp Factor Nine"
One split second you are in one spot, the next you have launched forward 100 feet, with accompanying knock back of your head.
This is similar to the i3 and i8, but more pronounced at the point of moving off, because it is all electric (unlike i8), very powerful, and you get 100% of the torque immediately. Simply fantastic! And I could not get enough of trying its acceleration. It also feels very fast because it moves off so silently, unlike the i8 in Sports mode.
It has enough torque to spin the rear wheels on a straight dry road whilst moving, if the surface is anything less than perfect. The stability controls quickly reign the driver in though
That acceleration is the single biggest selling point of this car, for me.
The
big downside of the Tesla though is that it is 2.1 tonnes, and it feels heavy too. Furthermore, it can
only run at maximum power for 15 seconds before it has to reduce power! This was confirmed by Tesla to me, and is due to massive heat being generated in the batteries when under maximum power. Its glycol cooling system cannot cope with so much heat at once. In real world driving, this is unlikely to be an issue however.
Grip levels are reasonable, and the car is well balanced when turning. However, under very hard acceleration it transfers so much of its massive weight to the rear that steering response is significantly reduced, and it feels unwilling to turn.
It corners with little roll, thanks to its low centre of gravity. This is a heavy car though, and needs to be driven as such. It is not a car to throw around twisty roads. However, its massive power and acceleration do make you wish it were more nimble in its handling.
Overall, it is an impressive car that is very nice and enjoyable to drive. In P85 guise, it is also extremely quick, to the point where I cannot think of any car that will beat it off the lights up to around 20mph (not counting launch control activated runs in combustion cars). The fatal flaw in the car however is the rear headroom, which is unacceptable in a family 5/7 seater car.
PS. The Tesla staff were more interested in my Exige than in their own cars
A very nice car enthusiast accompanied me on my test drive, and he talked as much about the Lotus as the Tesla, and wanted a ride in the Lotus afterwards.