2013 Tesla Model S - The Quickest Sedan Built in America - Ignition Episode 38 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 (dramatic music)

00:03 Where do we start with the massively important Tesla Model S?

00:07 Well, we've already delved into its technical bits.

00:09 We've performed three range tests,

00:11 and we know it'll go anywhere between 238 miles

00:14 and 285 miles on a charge.

00:16 But there's one thing that will prove the Model S's worth,

00:20 and that's how it works as a car.

00:23 How fast is it?

00:24 How fun is it to drive?

00:26 This week on Ignition, we're gonna find out.

00:29 (car engine revving)

00:32 The first thing about the Model S

00:35 is that it doesn't start like a normal car.

00:38 Instead of pressing a key to unlock it,

00:40 you simply touch the door handle.

00:41 It pops out, and you tug it open.

00:45 You don't press a button or turn a key

00:46 to start the car, either.

00:48 You just touch the brake and put it in drive.

00:52 The massive center screen jumps to life,

00:55 and with barely a sound, you're off.

00:58 (car engine revving)

01:01 You might think with all this instantaneous torque

01:04 that launching the Model S might be difficult.

01:07 It's not, you just hit the go pedal.

01:09 The thing just leaps off the line.

01:11 The torque is insane.

01:13 Zero to 60, four seconds.

01:15 And the quarter mile flies by, 12.4 seconds

01:20 at 112.5 miles an hour.

01:22 (car engine revving)

01:26 And now for our 60 to zero braking test.

01:29 Very good stopping power.

01:33 Our best stop was 113 feet.

01:35 (car engine revving)

01:39 So now I begin the figure eight test

01:41 in the Tesla Model S, and the acceleration out of a corner.

01:45 It's just incredible.

01:47 I mean, it's a heavy car.

01:48 You can feel that mid-corner right now.

01:51 But when you come out of a corner,

01:53 and you put the gas pedal down,

01:55 or the accelerator pedal down,

01:56 the thing just takes off.

01:58 (car engine revving)

02:01 It's like riding Superman at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

02:07 Now, it has a surprising amount of grip,

02:11 given its size and its weight.

02:13 And you can push it pretty hard.

02:16 We have traction control off,

02:19 but you can't fully defeat stability control.

02:21 And that's a good thing,

02:23 because this thing makes so much torque

02:26 as soon as you touch the throttle.

02:28 If you get too aggressive with it on corner exit,

02:31 you just end up doing these big sideways movements,

02:34 and that is slow.

02:36 Although you can see the smoke in the rear view mirror.

02:40 That's pretty fun.

02:41 This thing is certainly a respectable performer,

02:47 not just as an electric sedan, but as a car.

02:50 (car engine revving)

02:54 Well, now we get to find out if the Model S

02:59 is any fun to drive.

03:01 And the initial impressions are, yes, it is.

03:04 The power is just incredible.

03:08 You dip onto the accelerator pedal.

03:10 We can't call it a throttle pedal.

03:12 But you dip onto the accelerator pedal,

03:14 and you just get this sensation of torque

03:17 that you don't find in anything but a supercar.

03:19 (car engine revving)

03:22 It's incredible to think that the quickest sedan

03:25 built in America is built in California,

03:28 and it's electric.

03:29 The steering feel is very nice,

03:31 very linear in the way it responds.

03:33 You can tell it's a heavy car,

03:35 but the chassis loads up nicely around a corner,

03:38 and it's using its weight rather well,

03:41 all 4,700 pounds of it.

03:42 Now, part of the reason why it's working so well

03:46 is because the battery pack sits so low in this car,

03:49 it's actually a stressed member of the chassis,

03:51 and that helps this thing around a winding road,

03:54 definitely helps this thing.

03:56 Now, one of the things I admire so much about this car

03:59 is that it isn't built by an established automaker.

04:02 It's free from the established philosophies

04:05 of how to build a car,

04:06 and it feels totally different because of it.

04:09 This feels like car 3.0.

04:12 It's the next generation of what a car should be.

04:15 I mean, sure, the core concepts are there.

04:16 It has a steering wheel, it has four tires,

04:18 but it's electrically powered.

04:20 It has really nice styling cues that look futuristic,

04:24 but not too in-your-face.

04:26 The interior is very well done,

04:28 but it still feels different, but in a nice way.

04:31 You could tell this car would be easy to use

04:33 on a day-to-day basis.

04:35 The infotainment system is like a giant iPad

04:38 glued to the dash, although it looks a lot better

04:40 than simply an iPad being glued to the dash.

04:43 It's touchscreen, and I've complained a bit before

04:46 about how touchscreen systems work,

04:47 how they don't provide enough tactile feedback.

04:50 Well, it turns out if you design a touchscreen

04:52 that's good enough, it's plenty usable, like this one's is.

04:55 It's fast to respond, it works very well.

04:58 (car engine revving)

05:02 One of the strange things about driving an electric car

05:04 versus a gasoline-powered car

05:06 is you don't have any engine sound.

05:08 You have no cues to tell how fast you're going

05:10 other than the torque sensation in your stomach

05:12 and the speedometer that's rapidly climbing up.

05:15 (car engine revving)

05:18 And without that engine noise,

05:20 you hear a lot more of the tires,

05:21 you hear a lot more of the wind.

05:23 You might be able to hear the limits of the tires

05:26 a bit more as a result, too,

05:27 because you don't have an engine blaring at you at full song.

05:30 (car engine revving)

05:32 You have to recalibrate your right foot as well.

05:36 In a gasoline car, you lift off to coast,

05:38 but in this Tesla, you lift off

05:40 and it goes into an aggressive regen

05:42 that slows the car down pretty dramatically.

05:44 You have to use the accelerator pedal to manage your speed

05:48 and then rely on the brakes

05:49 only when you need to slow down quickly.

05:52 Now, this is not an inexpensive car,

05:55 upwards of $90,000 or above,

05:58 but you consider the technology that you're getting,

06:01 but also the luxury that you're getting,

06:02 and it puts it right in the realm of the E63,

06:06 Panamera, and so on.

06:08 This thing, as heavy as it is,

06:11 is pretty comparable with those.

06:13 And given how forward-thinking it is with its drivetrain,

06:19 with its infotainment system and so on,

06:21 it might be the better bargain.

06:23 And so, to sum up,

06:25 can an electric car be fun to drive?

06:29 Well, if this Tesla Model S is any indication,

06:32 it definitely can.

06:40 Forget for a second that the Model S

06:41 is powered by electricity,

06:43 and what would you have?

06:45 Well, you'd have a good-looking,

06:46 forward-thinking luxury sedan

06:48 with a very impressive entertainment system.

06:50 You'd have a car that drives like the best

06:52 of its competition, fun, smooth, and pleasant.

06:56 You'd have a car with large interior dimensions

06:58 and plenty of cargo space.

07:00 And with all that, you have an electric powertrain

07:02 that offers incredible acceleration and considerable range.

07:06 This car, this Model S,

07:09 despite being the second car Tesla has built,

07:11 has transitioned from a niche product

07:14 to one that competes on the world stage.

07:16 It may very well be the most important new car

07:19 since the Model T.

07:20 (dramatic music)

07:27 (dramatic music)

07:30 (dramatic music)

07:32 (dramatic music)

07:35 (dramatic music)

07:38 (dramatic music)

07:41 (dramatic music)

07:44 (dramatic music)

07:47 (dramatic music)

07:50 (upbeat music)

07:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]

2013 Tesla Model S - The Quickest Sedan Built in America - Ignition Episode 38

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