Tesla Model S

Consumer Reports Scores Tesla Model S ‘Top Scoring Car’ 99/100 [Video]

Published

12 years ago

May 11, 2013

Built from the ground up as an EV, this car’s overall balance benefits from mounting the battery under the floor and in the lowest part of the body. That gives the car a rock-bottom center of gravity that enables excellent handling, a comfortable ride, and lots of room inside. Plus, it has a front trunk where other cars’ gasoline engines would be, in addition to its large rear cargo space. This big luxury hatchback even seats seven, with its optional third-row jump seat.

Inside, the car looks like something Marty McFly might have brought “back from the future” in place of his iconic fusion-powered DeLorean. A giant 17-inch touch screen glows in the center of the dashboard, controlling everything from high-res Google Earth maps to opening the sunroof, setting the responsiveness of the regenerative brakes, and adjusting the suspension ride height. In all, the Model S worked better than we expected—especially being the first home-grown model from a brand-new car company.

The Tesla Model S – the electric car that shatters every myth.

The electric motor delivers impressive power, right now, and it is impressively efficient. The Model S uses about half the energy of a Toyota Prius every mile, and it has more than twice the range—about 200 miles—of any other electric car we’ve driven. Still, you’ll have to plan ahead for longer trips; you won’t be taking it on a spontaneous jaunt from, say, New York to Cleveland any time soon. You won’t make it. Even with Tesla’s optional High Power Wall Connector, it takes about five hours to charge. On a standard 240-volt electric-car charger, it would take about 12 hours.

Tesla does provide some ability to make long trips in the Model S- as long as they’re the right trips. Up and down California, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and between Boston and Washington, D.C., the company has set up a network of Supercharging stations—with free electricity—that can refill the battery halfway in a half hour. (To charge more than that at such speed takes longer and would damage the battery.)

All this comes at a price. We paid $89,650 for our Model S, with the biggest available battery, the most seats available, and the fastest available optional chargers. Then we still had to pay another $1,200 for Tesla’s High Power Wall Connector. But operating costs are a little more than half that of a frugal Prius.

So is the Tesla Model S the best car ever? We wrestled with that question long and hard. It comes close. And if your needs are confined to the Tesla’s driving range, it just may be. But for many people, the very thing that makes cars great is the ability to jump in and drive wherever you want on the map at a moment’s notice. And on that measure the Tesla has its limitations. So the Model S may not satisfy every conceivable need, but as we’ve learned through our testing and living with it, the Model S is truly a remarkable car.

We couldn’t resist having some fun in the luxury electric sedan. In the process, we answered the seminal question: Will it drift? Drifting can be a measure of a car’s great-handling chops, as well as its available power.And boy, can the Tesla drift as you can see in our video.

Read our complete road test for more details, and check the Ratings to see how it compares to other luxury cars and electric cars.

Source from Consumer Reports

Elon Musk

President Donald Trump buys a Tesla at the White House – Here’s which model he chose

Published

2 months ago

March 11, 2025

Joey Klender

Credit: cb_doge | X

U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted by a convoy of Tesla electric vehicles today at the White House after he said last evening he would be buying one of the company’s cars in support of Elon Musk.

A variety of Tesla EVs, including the Model S, Cybertruck, and Model Y, all arrived in Washington on Tuesday around lunch time where the President sat in, examined, and mulled over which car he would choose. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters today that President Trump would be paying “full market price” for the vehicle.

CEO Elon Musk was alongside Trump to help make his decision:

Which Tesla did President Trump Choose?

After mulling the decision for several minutes, President Trump seemed to have gravitated toward the Tesla Model S Plaid in Deep Red, the company’s quickest and most luxurious offering, suitable for the leader of the U.S.

Trump said:

“The one I like is that one (Model S). And I want that same color. I’m going to give [Tesla] a check. I don’t want a discount.”

According to images shared from Washington, it seems Musk brought two Model S vehicles — one in Deep Red and another in Deep Blue Metallic — knowing that the President would probably choose that vehicle, but was unsure about the color.

Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X

President Trump’s Comments on Tesla and Elon Musk

President Trump has truly gained a meaningful working relationship with Musk, who he has called “a genius” and “brilliant” on several occasions. Regarding Tesla, the President said:

“Tesla’s a great company; They’re American cars, it’s American made. He employs thousands of people. He has the most modern plants in the world.”

In regards to the Tesla lineup, President Trump said:

“I know people that have these cars; It blows them away. They love them.”

When talking about the polarizing design of the Cybertruck, he said:

“In terms of imagination, and I think I have a pretty great imagination, who else but this guy would design this and everybody on the road is looking at it. As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘That’s the coolest design.’ You gotta give him (Elon) credit.”

News

Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2025

Joey Klender

Tesla has made a decision regarding the future of its flagship vehicles, the Model S and Model X, which both have been sticking around for “sentimental reasons” and have no true alignment with the company’s future goals of growth.

The Model S and Model X were Tesla’s first two vehicles to be offered to the public.

They were essentially fundraisers for future, mass-market, affordable models, according to Elon Musk’s “Tesla Master Plan,” but their ability to still attract some buyers thanks to the performance of the Model S or the space of the Model X keeps them lingering.

But speculation regarding the vehicles’ true place in the expanding Tesla lineup has been persistent. With the vehicles, which have been grouped in with the Cybertruck in its quarterly delivery releases, only amounting to 23,000 deliveries in Q4, there are questions as to whether it is still worth keeping them around.

Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, said on the Ride the Lightning podcast yesterday that there are currently no plans to eliminate the Model S and Model X from the lineup.

When asked about whether there were plans for the Model S and Model X moving forward, Moravy replied:

“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there. The upgrade a couple of years ago was bigger than most people thought in terms of architecture and structure of the car got a lot better, too. But, we’ll give it some love later this year and make sure it gets a little bit…you know, with the stuff we’ve been putting in 3 and Y. Obviously, with 3 and Y, the higher volume stuff, you’ve gotta focus there.”

He confirmed that the two vehicles were not going anywhere “anytime soon.”

? When @DMC_Ryan asked Lars Moravy if Model S and Model X have some updates coming, the Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering said:
“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there.”
Sounds like another refresh is coming, and the flagships aren’t going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/Y6MPp47MJC
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— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 23, 2025

Moravy said the Model S and Model X are great consider when you consider autonomy and the robotaxi use: the Model S due to its overall quality and the Model X because of its interior space.

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Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla is offering a crazy Supercharging incentive on its two ‘sentimental’ vehicles

Published

3 months ago

February 8, 2025

Joey Klender

Credit: Tesla

Tesla is offering a crazy Supercharging incentive for those who choose to buy two vehicles that CEO Elon Musk said the company is keeping around for “sentimental reasons” a few years ago.

Tesla Supercharging incentives are pretty hard to come by, and it is hard to tell when the company is going to offer them. Usually, they are used to move vehicles and nudge consumers toward purchasing one model over another.

However, Tesla sometimes offers Supercharging incentives at random times for no real reason other than luck of the draw.

However, Tesla is using the Supercharging incentive to help move two of the cars that are low-volume sellers, but are kept around for what Musk called “sentimental reasons” in 2019.

Tesla is offering free Supercharging for those who choose to purchase or lease a new Model S or Model X.

The offer is good for the life of your ownership or lease. Tesla talks more about the terms on its website:

“Customers who purchase or lease a new Model X (or Model S) are eligible for free Supercharging during your ownership of the vehicle. Offer is tied to your Tesla Account and cannot be transferred to another vehicle, person or order, even in the case of ownership transfer. Used vehicles, business orders and vehicles used for commercial purposes (like taxi, rideshare and delivery services) are excluded from this promotion. You are still responsible for Supercharger fees, like idle and congestion fees, when applicable.”

This is a great promotion to attempt and move some of Tesla’s vehicles, especially two that the company only keeps around because they are two of the company’s foundational, flagship cars.

Musk said in 2019:

“I mean, they’re very expensive, made in low volume. To be totally frank, we’re continuing to make them more for sentimental reasons than anything else. They’re really of minor importance to the future.”

Tesla has not released a major update to the Model S or Model X in a few years. In 2022, it launched the Plaid configuration, but it has not received any true modifications since then, leading some to believe they could be sunsetted in the future.

For now, it seems they will be sticking around, but Tesla is still adjusting the prices and incentives of the two vehicles. Earlier this week, Tesla pushed the Model X’s price in the U.S. up by $5,000.

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.