Cars.com auto review.
Hi i'm joe weisenfelder with cars.com.
we're doing our first evaluation of a 2012 tesla model s.
telsa is a company that had only one model before this and that is the roadster.
now tesla is getting into the mainstream or at least closer with a five seat family car
the model s so far we found that its outrageously quick it has more range than any other electric
car and it charges faster too.
tesla is getting closer to mainstream i say that because this car eventually will be available
for just over 57 thousand dollars that doesn't include the destination charges it also doesn't
account for the 7500 dollar federal tax credit that all model S will be eligable for.
now so you know the cheap one is coming soon first you've got the model s signature.
the signature represents the first 1000 copies of this car it comes completely loaded and
also with a performance package which makes it quicker than any other this also has a
range of up to 300 miles thats because it has the largest of 3 batteries its 85 kilowatt
hours.
you want to talk acceleration?
0 to 60 times the slowest model S the one with the smallest battery does 0 to 60 in
6.5 seconds the one with the medium sized battery 5.9 seconds.
the full sized batter 5.6 seconds but then theres the performance package which our smart
car has that does 0 to 60 in 4.4 seconds.
this car is outrageous right off the line now once you get over the intoxicating acceleration
you find its a good car to drive not necessarily a great car the weight distribution is nearly
split 50 50 nice balance rear wheel drive gives it a good sporty feel but at the same
time feels kind of heavy in turns in terms of the ride quality a little bit firmer i
heard a fair amount of low frequency rumble hard to tell whether it was the suspension
or the body or something else it got a little fatiguey after a while otherwise pretty quiet
except lots of Tire noise once you get inside sitting in the driver seat the car wakes up
Kind of goes into accessory mode to turn it on you don't push the start button or anything
like that as long as you have the key in your pocket or purse or something step on the brake
and that turns the car on so its ready to drive um one interesting thing about this
car i've recognized there are more buttons on the key fob than on the dashboard there
are three here 2 here.
physical buttons include the hazard lights and the ones that open the glove compartment
all the rest are seen on this enourmous 17 inch touch screen let me show you how this
works right now its picking up the entire screen with a map really is enormous you have
some options on the top and it splits the screen here you can see you can swap where
they appear you also get a bit of an energy read out to show you how efficient you're
being.
phone controls for your cellular phone theres a backup camera slash rearview camera this
actually can stay on while you're driving forward its a little distracting because it
it such a wide view look at this a full web browser one of my favorite websites on it
seems weird to have this on a car that works while you're moving i don't know if they'll
get away with that for long so far it doesn't run video though and for one thing it uses
3g instead of 4g they say 4g is coming that will make it faster.
one of the best things i can say about this system is its very quick its a lot like an
ipad.
when its brand new tap around instant although you probably won't be able to use it with
gloves on in the winter unless you get that special kind in many cars we complain when
too many features are incorporated into a touch screen kind of feel the same way here
although one thing about it is the climate controls down at the bottom are always there
which is good and also once you call up some of the other feature adjustments i have to
say the menus are really clear and easy to understand well designed interface again quick
reacting and they have so much space that its easy to see there are a number of things
that make this car special because this is a top trim level it comes with a navigation
system driven by google maps this will look familiar to many of you but it does have a
turn by turn navigation system.
one small annoyance is that the map on the touch screen doesn't show direction up it
only shows north up however the display is repeated up here with the turn by turn instructions
and a direction of travel up so you know which way you're going.
there are other things that are familiar from any other car one of the many cupholder thank
god and of course the glove compartment which is unfortunately though the only covered storage
in the entire car.
there's a lot of room in here but a lot of it is arguably wasted theres no big covered
counsel here no space in here little cubby there no door pockets.
yeah they could probably change that but its not the case yet.
the tesla model s has a backseat this is intended to be a family car thats one of the reasons
tesla got substantial federal subsidy to build it and it does deliver in that regard bench
seat, flat floor there is no excuse on the other hand for the lack of cup holders.
this is an american company what are they thinking likewise just like the front seat
storage no door pockets no any other pockets no center counsel at least as this one is
equipped.
a little bit weird.
the backseat isn't the only back seat you'll notice this is power lift gate thats an option.
now here you have a cargo area but tesla also offers the seats that face rear with two spaces
for kids.
it actually has 5 point harnesses you know the type child seats have.
that is an option.
without that you've got almost 30 cubic feet of cargo space back here behind the rear seat.
nice deep well.
and if you want to fold the back seat you can do that too gives you almost 60 cubic
feet of space.
the back isn't all the cargo space.
there's also a front trunk or as tesla calls it a frunk.
its actually quite roomy by the numbers its less than 6 cubic feet but it seems bigger
than that theres no question this is a very compelling car.
theres also a lot to cover so what we're gonna do is we'll do a separate video we'll cover
the issues of range, charging speed and some of the unintended consequences of those nifty
features i showed you.
for more car related news go to cars.com or our blog kicking tires.net