ASSAULT & BATTERY
What is the electrifying new Tesla Model S really like lined up against competition such as the Aston Martin Rapide S and Porsche Panamera? By By Steve Steve Sutcliffe Sutcliffe
The opening moments of engagement with the Tesla Model S are fascinating and go something like this. You see it for the first time in the metal and you think: Wow, great-looking car. Big but beautifully proportioned; appears weirdly like a Maserati from the front. Then you’ll approach it physically and think: Okay, so how do I open the door? Someone who knows will then inform you that to use one of the Tesla’s exquisitely crafted chrome door handles, you must first press upon it gently, whereby it will glide serenely out of the bodywork, enabling you to pull upon it conventionally and, presto, the frameless-windowed door will open and you’ll climb inside.
When you do, the first thing you will see — pretty much the only thing you will see — is the enormous iPad-like touchscreen that dominates the entire centre console. You will probably then give this a prod, just to see what happens, and the car will come to life, just like that.
Except that there will be no noise — nothing. The touchscreen will light up and the instruments in the dashboard behind the steering wheel will appear mysteriously out of the darkness, but there won’t be so much as a murmur from the car as they do.
When you first decide to squeeze on the accelerator to make the allelectric Model S move, you will never, ever forget what happens next. The car will begin to move, either gradually if you press the pedal smoothly or very fast indeed if you are clumsy with it. And at that point, your whole perspective on the business of driving will shift, instantly, a good 25 degrees towards the leftfield — to a place in which everything seems different
from the way it once was.
You will find yourself homing in on the horizon while making no noise whatsoever, which is a deeply odd thing to experience but also, you will discover, a curiously beguiling sensation at the same time. The notion of acceleration will feel completely different in this car and simultaneously you will realise how soothing the ride seems, how precise the steering feels, how strong the sense of thrust appears and how disarmingly competent the car is at pretty much everything it does.
And after an hour or two with the Model S, you might arrive at a fairly shocking conclusion — that it is, in fact, really very good indeed at being a motor car. So, what sort of conventional cars should we be comparing it with?
As you can plainly see, the cars with which we’ve chosen to compare this particular Model S are the Aston Martin Rapide S with a conventional V12 bruiser and a Porsche Panamera with a V6 dieselturbo. We wanted to see (a) just how quick it really is, hence the Aston, and (b) how much more economical it might be than a conventional but still sporting diesel car, hence the Panamera.
To gauge how much pure performance