The Goodwood Test: Tesla Model S P90D

Heritage

Tesla and heritage? Something of an oxymoron. If any marque has been the first to properly harness the future and send it into production, it’s Tesla. More to the point, not only is it the first to manufacture electric cars that have any quotient of true desirability, but it was the first to show the public just how good the performance figures were from an electric car. Elon Musk founded Tesla back in 2003, with a group of Silicon Valley engineers, and the tagline, “cars without compromise”. The company is named after Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the AC induction motor, patented in 1888. The Tesla Roadster came out in 2008, followed by the Model S, “the world’s first premium electric saloon” in 2012.

Two years later, the Model S got all-wheel drive, and could claim 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds, making it the fastest four-door production car ever made, and thus the poster boy for the first generation of useable electric cars. A new Model S with a 60kWh battery option and rear wheel drive, for £53,400 (or £395/month on PCP), is now available, too.

Design

It’s a tricky one: do you design alternative-fuel cars to look whacky and space-age and pioneering, or do you go the other way, and reassure customers that they’re buying a practical useable car, by making it duller than dullsville? Tesla have trod a canny middle path, with an exterior that is extremely sober, and which has now done away with the artificial grille at the front, after customers decided a plastic part would look better and shout the car’s electric credentials from the front.

Inside, however, you still have the wonderful, huge, iPad-style control panel dominating the cabin. The design has stood the test of time so far, and you can switch between climate, the huge map, entertainment and the state of vehicle charge quite happily. There is still the touch button to slide the sunroof open and shut, which my boys loved.

The best development for the Model S in the last couple of years, however, has to be the satnav, which has now done some joined-up thinking with the state of charge. Thus, if you are in London and put your destination as Liverpool, for example, the car will tell you how many miles it is, how much charge you need to get there, whether you will make it or not, and, if not, which supercharger you should stop at on the way up. It will also tell you how much charge you will need to put in when you stop, and convert that into the amount of time you will need to spend at the supercharger. And that is as good an example as I’ve seen of car companies responding to customer feedback. It also more or less mitigates range anxiety, one of the biggest barriers to purchases of electric cars.

Performance

It’s superlative. We’ll start with the most outrageous feature: Ludicrous mode. Engage this, and you can kiss goodbye to battery power and the past, which will have disappeared in the blink of an eye in your rear-view mirror. It’s proper supercar acceleration, which in a heavy four-door saloon feels hilarious. We actually hurt our heads when I shoved the throttle to the floor from a near standstill: they shot back and hit the headrests very hard, very quickly. We’ve never been in anything quite like it.

Aside from that, other dynamics that take a bit of getting used to include the retardation, which pushes some charge back into the battery. In 40 miles of urban motoring, I didn’t touch the brakes once – you just slow to a halt by taking your foot off the throttle. It can make some drivers a little queasy at first.

And then there’s Autopilot. Tesla is keen, particularly post-American crash by the guy who was allegedly watching a DVD when his Tesla went under a lorry while Autopilot was engaged, to point out that the Model S is not an autonomous car. The driver must retain control at all times by keeping his hands on the wheel. Were he or she to take them off, however, with Autopilot engaged, the car would steer itself between two broken white lines on a motorway, controlling acceleration and retardation, as a lot of cars with active cruise control do these days. It’s a very impressive system, and weird, although one could get used to it very quickly.

The chassis is also well managed on the Model S – there’s an awful lot of weight low down from the battery pack, but our Model S had the optional air suspension for £2,200 which was great, and adds a really premium feel to the drive.

Passion

It’s an extraordinary sort of passion you feel driving a Tesla – it’s quite emotional. You’re driving the future, and it works. There’s a huge sense of smugness, I’m afraid to say, that you’ve made a very wise choice that has bought you the best of both worlds: a sense of moral superiority that you’re saving the planet (to be discussed), and relief that you haven’t got to wear the hair shirt to do so, because the Model S P90D is very, very fast.

Price of our car – £111,080 after £4,500 plug-in grant (Tesla Model S P90D).