Tesla Model S P85D (Photo : Tesla)
The new Tesla sedan Model S P85D just set a new standard for perfection. It initially received a 103 out of 100 score from Consumer Reports magazine, but the electric car was later given a perfect 100 score.
Consumer Reports describes the car as "brutaly quick, with instant acceleration. The car's thrust is forceful and immediate. Its near-instant g-forces can otherwise be achieved only by leaping off a building - literally."
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the car accelerated to 60 miles, or 97 kilometers, per hour in 3.5 seconds using the vehicle's "insane mode." It is a high-performance, all-wheel drive version of the Model S - which is all electric - that achieved the equivalent of an 87 miles per gallon of gasoline.
Hinting an even faster model soon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said there is an even faster "ludicrous mode." Jake Fisher, head of automotive testing of the magazine, says, "This is a glimpse into what we can expect down the line, where we have cars with the performance of supercar and the comfort, convenience and safety features of a luxury car while still being extremely energy efficient."
Fisher adds that the magazine had to reassess the weight of some criterion such as acceleration, even as he points out that the Tesla car is twice as faster as other vehicles. He explains, "One you start getting so ridiculously energy efficient, it didn't make sense to go linear on those terms anymore." But the reassessment did not affect the scores of other cars.
However, the magazine had some criticism on the quality of the car's interior materials compared to other luxury cars. The Model S P85D costs $127,820, slightly higher than the P85D which sells for $105,000. The latter got a 98 score in the magazine's buyer survey in 2014.
It is not the car's speed that is impressive. Its stock performance is also moving fast. Tesla shareprice went up 8.1 percent to $242.99 at the close of Thursday trading in New York. It was the largest daily gain since October, although reckoned from January, Tesla's stock price increased 9.3 percent.
