2018 Tesla Model S P100D Test Drive & Review
I had the ability to test drive a new 2018 Model S P100D & it was the most impressive vehicle I had the privilege of driving. The first time I heard of Tesla was hearing Elon Musk live at the late show. After hearing him speak I was intrigued with the company and the product. After years of hearing & researching about them I completely understand why someone would say driving A Tesla is experiencing the future of automobiles.
From the moment you enter the vehicle the incredible touch screen display gets your attention. The touch screen isn’t just A stereo; there are plenty of functions & abilities to the system including live maps & locating the nearest superchargers. Additionally many new features continue to be brought to the system over software updates. The touch screen is likely to start having Atari and other media features added to the platform soon. This is just the early stages of what Tesla will do with this touch screen display. It could lead to becoming Tesla’s verison of “iOS” with an App Store. But time to get back to the car.
I’ve sat inside the 3, S & X before but this is the first time I’ve been able to be behind the wheel. The instant torque is realized immediately from the first push of the throttle. After a short drive I was able to perform a safe launch from a stop light. The one gear motor exploded from 0-60 in 2.5 seconds. The car would have easily continued to over 100 mph within a second or two had I let it continue to accelerate. The cars power was unlike any other vehicle I had driven before. This Tesla makes my Porsche Cayenne Turbo feel slow. This family car took off more like A Ferrari instead of a traditional four door sedan. I’m a fan of european luxury cars but they are no match to what Silicon Valley’s best engineers are producing today. I highly recommend any Tesla hater or electric car denier to go experience this car first hand & continue to spew their misinformed message after driving this engineering marvel. I was extremely optimistic about the vehicle and thought I might have been disappointed by over optimism but that definitely wasn’t the case.
I was aware of autopilot 2’s capability but this was the first time I was able to experience it behind the driver seat. One lever beneath the turn signal quickly engaged the autopilot system. A lift of the lever again increased the speed silimar to cruise control systems. The difference becomes clear as you approach the vehicle in front of yours. The vehicle will automatically drop to the speed of the vehicle you are following. If the vehicles autopilot is engaged to 50 mphs individual in front is only doing 35 the car will slow down comfortably to the same speed as that vehicle & remain at a consistent safe distance. If the the leading vehicle begins to accelerate the P100D instantly began to match the leading cars speed. The first time you give the autopilot full control to a complete stop your have a little panic in your heart to give up the controls to a computer. The autopilot was already engaged up to 50 mph. When coming toward the stop light there were a few vehicles already stopped ahead. The car began to smoothly decelerate down as the distance of the vehicles narrowed. My foot remained inches above the brake, just in case. The car went further down from 20 down to 10. The car inched slowed and I watched it go from 5 to 4, 3 to 2..1..0. The car came to a complete stop with no hickups or choppiness. It performed the stop better than most human drivers. My skepticism of giving the car full control subsided. With the autopilot system still engaged; The steet light turned green and the car in front started to go. The car immediately began to drive & stay at the speed of traffic. These features are minimal in the grand scale of things to come from this company, but it shows that Tesla has a clear lead over other automakers today. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW and others claim they have “Tesla Killers” in the works. The model S has been around since 2012 & has continued to significantly improve while the competition still has nothing on the road to compare to this. None of these “Tesla Killers” have systems equal to or better than Autopilot 2. Good luck to them trying to convince a potential Tesla customer to buy their vehicles without A trusted autonomous system or A nationwide charging infrastructure system. Any electric vehicle without access to a system on the size or scale of the Tesla supercharger network is lacking a huge market advantage that Tesla has been developing for years now.
The test drive was an amazing experience and the sales associate was an extremely educated individual. I’ve been on test drives in cars before & the “salesman” is forcing the car down your throat. Doing everything in their power to get you into a vehicle at any cost. This was a fun experience rather than a nerve racking business deal a test drive can become. I’ve been on test drives where “salesman” cluelessly make up answers to questions without telling the truth or unable to answer easy questions. I research information about Tesla quite often and listen to the conference calls so I have quite a bit of knowledge about the company & was unable to stump the Tesla associate on any of the many questions I had asked. The information & experience from the associate was unlike any other sales staff I’ve ever encountered.
The only recommendation I have is that you experience A Tesla for yourself & create your own opinion rather than let others think for you. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever driven. A simple test drive will make any hater bite their tongue. Anyone I’ve met that had something bad to say about Tesla and the vehicles has never experienced the car first hand. The doubt and misinformation that comes from many is alarming. If you haven’t driven the car you really don’t know what your talking about. The future is here & thanks to Elon Musk it’s 100% electric.
If the P100D is out of your budget but your interested in purchasing A fast electric performance vehicle, I’d highly recommend you give the Performance Model 3 for A drive. That was also an incredible vehicle & our review on that will be coming soon.
