Tesla Model S Reviews

Tesla's Model S is the pride of the ground-breaking electric carmaker's fleet. So, how does this sleek, full-size, five-door hatch fit with a family of four's requirements for a full week. Can the quiet achiever live up to its smooth reputation, and justify its not insubstantial price-tag?

If you have even a passing interest in Tesla's Model S, you'll have seen an internet video where someone has lined up a Ferrari, Lambo, or another fast exotic you could name, to drag race against it.

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It is almost impossible to describe the acceleration in the Tesla Model S electric car. It would be brutal except there is almost no noise, the leather-lined cabin is pampering and calm, and the ride over bumps so gentle and smooth.But it accelerates so fast it challenges the senses. The closest example I can think of is the start of a high-speed roller coaster.Your head hits the headrest behind you, your eyes push back into their sockets and you hang on.The difference is that the Tesla isn't on rails, you can steer it wherever you want to go. Well, almost.The maximum range in ideal driving conditions is 500km, and it requires a unique charging adaptor (to handle 40 amps), so you can't top up at home or work without a $1000 installation. Floor it like we did and maximum range suddenly drops to 160km.Which means, for now, it's one of the most amazing cars money can buy providing you don't venture further than between 80km and 250km from home, because otherwise you'd have to tow it back.Anyone who dismisses electric cars as the weaklings of the automotive industry need to go for a ride in one of these. Without exaggeration, it would give a supercharged HSV GTS – Australia's fastest and most powerful sedan – a bloody nose before it overtook a Mercedes-Benz AMG E63. And you wouldn't even hear it coming.We couldn't replicate Tesla's claim of a 0 to 100km/h time of 3.8 seconds, but it'll repeatedly complete the feat in a sub 5.0-second time with the same effort as brushing your teeth.Then there is the surprise and delight factor: it has the largest display screen of any car on sale. Forget tablet, it's more like a desk-top screen that has been fitted vertically.There are only two buttons inside: the glovebox and hazard light switch. The doors open as you approach the car, and lock as you drive off, blending in with the profile of the doors, so no-one could car-jack you if they tried.Some of the technology is genius, such as the memory setting for raising the suspension for steep drive-ways. When you slow down for the same drive-way next time, the car remembers the GPS position and does it automatically.The car turns itself off after you walk away, which is an eerie feeling and took some getting used to.It's the one electric car that looks like it's actually worth the price being asked. The Tesla Model S easily competes with other cars in the $100,000 to $220,000 price bracket (the price depends on the size of the battery pack and the number of options).But it's worth noting a car with all this technology is able to limbo to this price because a large chunk of it has been subsidised by a US government trying to reduce its dependence on oil. So the Tesla Model S is not exactly competing on a level playing field just yet.

Malcolm Flynn road tests and reviews the electric Tesla Model S, with specs, energy consumption and verdict.

I know what you’re thinking: not another electric car story. But, please, hear us out. This one is a little different – it’s “normal” to drive.It’s brought to us by Tesla, the electric-car start-up co-founded by Elon Musk, the entrepreneur who set up PayPal, sold it for a tonne of cash, and now launches rockets into space under contract for the US government.His side project is to accelerate the adoption of electric cars by promising to address the big problems: driving range, recharging and price. We’ve heard the promises before but, shock, horror, this one delivers.To learn more about the technology, Tesla started five years ago with an electric roadster (based on a Lotus sportcar) that could out-sprint a Porsche to 100km/h.It then broadened its reach by contracting electric-vehicle technology to Toyota and Mercedes-Benz – the world’s biggest car maker and the inventor of the automobile. Not bad to have in the resume.Not it has built its own, ground-up model: a sleek five-door luxury hatch about as big as a BMW 5 Series sedan.The Model S went on sale in the US late last year and is due in Australian showrooms by the end of this year.VALUEThe Nissan Leaf is $50,000 and is the size of a Pulsar hatch. The Holden Volt is $60,000 and the size of a Cruze sedan. So Tesla offering a large luxury sedan from $60,000 is something of a minor miracle.The line-up has two other models, with more power and more driving range as the price increases to $70,000 and $80,000 respectively. The RRPs are realistic because Tesla has had significant funding from the US government. But the company insists it will be viable within a few years.Australian pricing is yet to be confirmed but the top-line Model S will likely cost $80,000 to $100,000.The company plans to build up to 100,000 electric cars a year, after ramping up to 25,000 in its first full year. Tesla bought an old Toyota factory that was sold cheap in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. It helps that Elon Musk is friends with Toyota boss Akio Toyoda.TECHNOLOGYTesla has ingeniously integrated the battery pack into the completely flat floorpan, the core structure of the car. The design is likened to a skateboard because it enables Tesla to add other body types to the same simple layout at a later stage (a seven-seat SUV-style vehicle is due next).The large electric motor fits neatly at the rear and is available with a choice of two power outputs. Three types of battery pack are available for three levels of driving range (260km, 370km, 500km).Tesla keeps the batteries cool by using smaller lithium-ion cells than other electric cars. But the coolest part of the car has nothing to do with being electric: it’s the massive 17-inch touchscreen that’s in the dash.It controls radio, air-conditioning and navigation – which has the option of using Google Earth or a stencil map. Google search will also navigate to the nearest point of interest.Other cool stuff: the door handles retract when the car is parked and when you’re on the move (to reduce wind resistance). The aero rating is an industry-leading 0.24cD, the third best in history and the slipperiest automobile on sale today.It’s other party trick: a “supercharger” that enables the Model S to be topped up in less than an hour. Normal recharging is up to 8 hours.ACCOMODATIONThe Tesla Model S looks small but it’s massive inside. The boot (894 litres) is bigger than that of many SUVs.The big screen TV takes some getting used to but you can dim the display with a few taps of the screen.On close inspection you can see some component sharing: the indicator and wiper stalks, steering wheel and power windows switches are borrowed from Mercedes-Benz.SAFETYIt’s fellow start-up Fisker, not Tesla, that’s in the news for having its electric cars catch fire. That said, Tesla did recall 439 roadsters in 2010 for a potential fire fault – with the standard 12V battery, not the lithium-ion pack that powers the car.Tesla says it has not had a report of a fire risk since and tests its vehicles to Toyota and Mercedes-Benz standards.The Model S passes US crash test requirements but is yet to be tested by Euro NCAP. The company forecasts a five-star safety rating based on internal testing. Eight airbags (two front, two knee, two side and two curtains) and stability control are standard.DRIVINGHere’s the big surprise. It goes like a V8 AMG Mercedes, accelerating hard instantly. And then, miraculously, it doesn’t run out of puff.Most electric cars have a bit of zip at first but then suffer an asthma attack. The Tesla Model S feels like it could go forever. Unfortunately, speed limits dictated that we wouldn’t find the limit of its potential.The other thing that had me scratching my head was how well the Model S handled bumps even though it rides on massive 21-inch wheels and low-profile tyres. It felt as smooth as a Rolls-Royce but handled with the finesse of a BMW.Key to its success is the fact that it has the centre of gravity of a sports-car. Because the battery pack is also the floor, it’s barely 12cm off the ground and makes light work of the low-slung aluminum body.On the California coast road I’m not cursing the traffic, I’m praying for a red light so I can feel the acceleration again. It’s epic. AMG and HSV drivers won’t know what hit them. When we eventually head for the hills, the handling feels agile, the steering direct.The brakes, supplied by Brembo, have an impressively normal feel – unlike other electric cars that tend to have an initial dead spot before biting too hard. If Tesla can make decent brakes on an electric car, why can’t other manufacturers?The Model S may seem an oddity to the mainstream but enthusiasts and those with a passing interest in cars should ignore this car at their peril.If this is the electric car of the future, count me in. 

The Tesla Model S is the first battery-powered vehicle that actually makes senseI'm in a carpark in downtown Los Angeles being shown around the Tesla Model S, the electric car from the outfit that made the Tesla Roadster. There are lots of unusual things about this luxury sedan but inside is one thing that has me captivated.VALUEIt's an enormous screen, easily the largest I've seen in a car, angled towards the driver and looking exactly like an oversize iPad. It controls all the functions; there are no buttons. To open the panoramic glass roof, for example, there's a slider graphic you move with your finger, alongside a crisp overhead image of the car. As the glass opens, so does the roof on the image of the car. There are no predetermined positions -- set it anywhere. It's slick.Little icons across the top of the screen direct you to other menus. The logic is child's play, there's internet and you can pinch to zoom. It feels Apple to the core, so I ask. Nope. All our own work, says Asia-Pacific director Kevin Yu, who's back home in California for a few days from his post in Tokyo. There's little missing in the car in terms of expected technical features at this level, with adaptive suspension, three grades of steering weight,TECHNOLOGYYu was one of the first customers when deliveries began in June and his car was No 23 off the line. The first 1200 cars delivered in North America are all Signature models, with a high level of specification and the most powerful, 85kWh battery, which gives a range of 480km. Yu's goes one better: its Performance spec is also very quick: zero to 60mph (96.6km/h) in 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 209km/h.The Signatures have already sold out and Tesla is starting to make standard cars that offer less powerful batteries, although even the 40kWh base car does the sprint in 6.5 seconds and has a 250km range. Tesla is a child of Elon Musk, who created Paypal, and its ethos is shot through with Silicon Valley can-do. Many employees are ex-Paypal, including Yu, and their confidence with the software and battery technology is palpable. “Batteries are a commodity,” Yu explains, “and they're going to get cheaper.”It's how you link them, control them, keep them at a constant temperature and exploit their potential that is Tesla's strength, he says. The recharge plug is hidden neatly behind one of the rear lamps and comes with adaptors for virtually any situation. At home, it can be plugged into a 240V socket overnight or charged more quickly via a special wall-mounted unit. The battery pack forms the floor of the car and helps give structural rigidity. The motor is mounted at the rear to drive the rear wheels.DESIGNThe Model S is a 5m long sedan that weighs 2.3 tonnes. There's cargo space front and rear, and two optional rear jump seats for children mean it can carry seven if required. The Model S, unlike the Roadster, which was a Lotus Elise stuffed full of phone batteries, is unlike anything else on the road. Almost nothing, beyond the window switches and steering column wands that I recognise from Mercedes, is familiar.Where Silicon Valley know-how was not enough, Tesla spread a global net to recruit talent from across the car industry. The design chief, Franz von Holzhausen, worked for Mazda and GM, and can be credited with making a large sedan almost sexy. The cabin has a modern, architectural feel. The seats, incidentally, are by Australian outfit Futuris. It's a convincing luxury statement with plenty of road presence.SAFETYIt comes with eight airbags and, I'm increasingly unsurprised to learn, electronic stability control that was done in-house. No job too big.DRIVINGIts range is such that Yu explains he typically does the 600km from LA to San Francisco with a three-stop strategy, topping up for just 15 minutes at one of Tesla's solar-powered “superchargers”, which cost owners nothing. That's no longer than a typical bathroom-and-drinks break. Because the batteries recharge like the ones in a phone, drawing down a lot of juice quickly when they're most depleted, he could skip one of the stops and spend 30 minutes at one of the stations for a half-fill. It all sounds, well, pretty much like what you'd do anyway on a trip of that distance.But on the stop-start freeway traffic one or two wrinkles do emerge. There's no hill-hold function, so on an incline it will roll back as your foot moves from brake to throttle. At least it doesn't have one yet; when Tesla has written the software, the car will simply download the upgrade from the internet. Another issue at crawling speeds is a stutter when you lift off the throttle. It's the motor reversing polarity, turning into a generator to harvest the deceleration energy. Yu assures me it's noticeable only at 15-20km/h, and when the traffic finally moves it's gone.There aren't many corners on the way to Hawthorne so I learn little about the car's dynamics, although it does have that weight-in-the-floor feel typical of electric cars and that gives a distinctive quality in bends. But I'd be encouraged to explore its potential on a country road. Acceleration is blistering. Eight-lane freeways can be hectic places when you're unsure if your blind spots are covered and rear visibility isn't a strong point, although not a deal-breaker. The Model S will leap between lanes if needed.VERDICTThe Model S outperforms any other electric car available on range, yet is bigger and more practical.