Tesla Model S Dual Motor 2015 Review

Tesla Model S P85D (Dual Motor)
Road Test

Tesla is on a roll – and the rest of the global automotive industry is either racing to catch up or staying put, firmly in denial. The Model S has already made a much greater impact in markets around the world than the company's Lotus-developed Roadster. With a motor driving each axle, the P85D variant delivers stunning performance – hitting 100km/h from a standing start in 3.3sec. But the car's virtues don't end there...

The range-topping variant in the Model S line-up, the P85D Dual Motor, is so far removed from other electric vehicles sold in Australia in recent years it might as well be flying in formation with Voyager 1.

Tesla's prestige sedan provides an insight into how cars in the 21st Century might have been if not for the dark ages period of EV development between the 1920s and 2010.

This is a car that's sleekly styled and modern, but not especially quirky in its presentation. There are surprise-and-delight features in its design, and it is comfortable, refined and generally well built. These are all good reasons to admire the Tesla, but it's the astonishing acceleration of the flagship model tested that leaves folks flabbergasted.

Effortless torque makes the Model S very tame to drive, until the user stomps on the accelerator pedal. Then it's a rabid thing of voiceless fury. But that's about as much as one can say of the P85D's performance. With an electric motor for each axle, the Tesla has unimpeachable traction to match the output. While not up to the same standard as the P85D's performance, the handling and roadholding will meet the expectations of most owners.

For a car weighing in excess of two tonnes, the Model S is impressively stable during high-speed cornering manoeuvres. On a trailing throttle it will step out at the rear in a predictable and measured way, and the aggressive regenerative braking strategy pretty much ensures any corner is entered on a trailing throttle until such time as the driver re-applies power.

It is initially difficult to moderate the power precisely for exiting a corner because power delivery in the Model S is not like that of other cars. And its ultimate roadholding is not up there with a Porsche Panamera GTS's... but then neither is a Mercedes S 500's.

All that said, the Model S with the Dual Motor system is a pretty safe handler – and it takes a reasonable amount of provocation before the car will signal it's losing the conflict with centrifugal force.

Steering is communicative and the Model S is easy to place accurately on the road. Turn-in is not as fast as some similarly priced cars, but nor is it that tardy. It feels very much like a car intended to be used at higher speeds on the autobahns of Europe.

The car tested came with $2900 worth of air suspension, which certainly appeared to help the ride quality. Overall, the ride/handling balance with this set-up was pitched finely to suit most drivers. By no means was the ride punishing, but nor was there so little body control that the Model S pitched and rolled restlessly in corners.

Naturally the Model S is a quiet car – so quiet in fact, that the electric steering could be heard, whirring away at parking speeds. On freeways there was some rustle of wind, and the tyres were noisier on country roads at lower speeds.

During the course of the week, the Tesla's projected range – the 'distance to empty' for an EV, if you will – started at 416km and finished a week later at 258km. It was recharged three times, with the last occasion being at least 24 hours hooked up to a 10-Amp outlet while I was away interstate. On my return, the Tesla was fully recharged.

Following one eight-hour recharging session, the rated range – which is based on what the battery in a theoretical drive cycle can provide – improved by 107km. But the projected range, which is extrapolated from my typical urban commuting scenario, improved by just 63km. The projected range varied with the driving conditions. A freeway drive at the weekend raised the projected range from 95km to 117km – an increase of 22km, indicating that how you drive and where and when will have a major effect on the Tesla's range. That's true of any car, of course.

A 57km drive at night, which tested the car's dynamic credentials and involved plenty of uphill motoring, halved the Tesla's projected range from 200km to 99km. But a quiet Friday morning commute (with reduced traffic and more green lights than usual) saw the projected range 'drop' from 162km to 161km – after travelling 20km.

The lowest point the projected range reached during the week was 84km.

And the take-out from all this? The Tesla was – and will be – a perfectly practical and realistic daily driver for anyone with a powered-up garage. Only those intending to travel more than say 400km on the open road will really need to consider fast charging at one of Tesla's Superchargers to stay on the road.

According to the energy meter in the instrument binnacle, 15kW is what it takes to maintain a steady speed of 100km/h on a perfectly flat and straight stretch of freeway in a two-tonne EV with slippery aerodynamics. And 60kW will hold speed up-hill on a steep section of suburban road that would prompt most petrol-engined vehicles to kick down two gears.

The instantaneous energy meter is one of those gadgets that might be a distraction in other alternative-energy cars, but it's no more distracting than a tachometer in a conventional car. That's one example of where the ergonomics in the Model S have been handled well, but they're not entirely flawless.

The major dial in the instrument binnacle combines the speedo with the energy meter. While the high-resolution graphics are easy on the eye, the calibrations are very fine and not arranged in an arithmetic progression, so they can be hard to read at a glance – for both the speedo and the energy meter.

The car recognises speed restriction signs with the optional tech package ($5500), but will occasionally tell you you're entering a 40km/h zone outside of school hours, when the zone is actually a 60km/h zone. The lane-departure warning system – also bundled with the technical package as part of the Autopilot facility – generally works well, but did get bamboozled on a couple of occasions by tram tracks and a bus stop, the system thinking the car was leaving its lane when the left front wheel crossed over the tracks/lines.

The front and rear parking sensors not only guide the driver acoustically (with a reversing camera assisting as well), there's a graphic display in the instrument panel that not only shows where the nearest obstacles are, but how far away the car is from each obstacle, expressed in centimetres. It's a fabulous, foolproof system that I'd like to see adopted by other car companies.

The huge HMI touch screen (measuring 17 inches in a portrait format) is quite exceptionally flexible and easy to use, even for a fat-fingered person like the writer. Owners/users can opt to set it up in two half-size windows or one full-size display, and the two windows can be swapped around with one appearing at the top of the screen and the other below, or vice versa. Different functions that can be selected to display in either window include reversing camera, energy usage, satellite navigation, contacts (for which you need a special app), phone and music source.

Additionally there's a control button in the lower right corner, giving users the option of calling up and readjusting settings for steering, suspension height, sunroof, overtaking performance and a host of other driving or comfort-related features.

And to my everlasting satisfaction, there are separate touch controls in the base of the screen for climate control and audio. Plus you can adjust the volume and change tracks/stations from the steering wheel too.

In short, not only is the HMI in the Model S intuitive and easy to use – a la an iPad – it's an unconventional and leading edge approach to ergonomics that places Tesla well ahead of the long-established players in the global automotive industry.

Then there's the way the Model S anticipates the user's needs. Approach the car at walking pace and it will automatically unlock for you before you reach the door. The door handles pop out to grab and open the door if the car detects a valid key in the possession of the person approaching. And if that person also has a Bluetooth phone that has been previously paired to the car, the Model S will automatically connect and stream music from the phone even before the driver is seated behind the wheel.

The front seats are firmly cushioned but very well shaped, so the driver and front passenger won't feel uncomfortable. Generally speaking, the driving position was very good, with only the lack of outboard adjustment for the driver's side mirror detracting from the whole. With blind-spot monitoring, the need to adjust the mirror out that far is made practically unnecessary anyway.

Despite the car's frameless windows, the doors closed on a satisfyingly solid note.

In other markets the Model S is a seven seater, with a rearward-facing fold-out seat for two kids, who sit with their feet in what would be the spare tyre well in conventional cars. In Australia the Model S is restricted to five seats only. But it is a genuine five-seater for adults, with good rear legroom and no transmission tunnel to frustrate the centre-seat occupant.

Unusually, the centre seat in the rear is just possibly the best option other than one of the front seats. There's slightly more legroom there, along with significantly more clearance to the sunroof above, providing additional headroom. For the outboard seats, the headroom is limited by the thick cant rail over each door for the full-length sunroof that opens from over the front seats.

The rear seat is a 60:40 split-fold unit for carrying longer items, but without a skiport or centre armrest. The boot is wide and useful, but not especially deep, unsurprisingly. Of course there's additional luggage space in the 'frunk' (the front trunk).

And all of that is what makes the Model S so great; where it needs to be more like the best the traditional automotive industry has to offer (performance, cornering dynamics) it is. But when it needs to head off on a tangent because the traditional automotive industry is not offering best-practice principles (packaging, ergonomics) Tesla has made that leap... and successfully. The Model S in this variant is a car that will rock your world with its 3.3sec dash to 100km/h, but it's also much more than that.

For all the hate that the Model S attracts from motoring enthusiasts who believe any great car must be one emitting a high-performance V8 rumble and should only have two doors, the Tesla is seriously – and one might almost say 'wilfully' misunderstood. It's not perfect, but it is stupendously good.

2015 Tesla Model S P85D Dual Motor pricing and specifications:
Price: $237,274 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: Twin electric motors
Output: 568kW/967Nm (combined)
Transmission: Reduction gear
Fuel: N/A (per Green Vehicle Guide)
CO2: N/A (per Green Vehicle Guide)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP

What we liked:
>> Saturn V-style acceleration
>> Very clever ergonomic thinking
>> Comfort, refinement and packaging

Not so much:
>> It's what the market will bear, but still pricey
>> Minor issues with driver-assist systems
>> Range anxiety remains hard to dispel