Tesla releases Model S, the first four-door electric saloon with the highest mileage recorded – Part 3

Cabin Tech

Tesla has kept the outside shell to minimal gimmicks with no-nonsense, simple design. Even the door handles are designed in such a way that they reduce the air resistance to the minimum.

The interior is even more simplistic but with all requisite technology that at luxury car needs. The centre of attention on the dashboard is the 17-inch touch screen that covers all things from stereo to navigation to phone connectivity. It only has a home/toggle button at the bottom, like an iPhone.

The only other buttons accompanying the stereo are climate controls. In light of ease of use and urgency to use them, it comes handy more than looks that the climate controls are outside the stereo box.

The driver’s seat is power-adjustable unlike other cars that save the battery juice for moving forward. There is a stick control for adjusting the steering wheel to a optimal position. The steering wheel houses a volume rocker to control the stereo remotely.

Performance

Though it is an electric vehicle, but apart from the absence of gear transmission and pin drop silence in the cabin, the car offers the same quality drive as other luxury sedans do. The accelerator is extremely responsive, in fact too responsive for its own good. A slight touch to the pedal accelerates the car so much that it is difficult to handle it in thick traffic and streets, for that matter.

Putting the  car in drive in idling state moves it in a snail’s pace. Though it looks abnormal and some sort of a malfunction but this particular feature is installed in the Model S to assist the drive on traffic signals and tight parking slots where extremely slow speeds are required.

However, stepping down on the pedal makes up for the slow pace. As I said before, the accelerator is extremely responsive. A slight nudge throws the driver to the back of the seat. The rear-mounted electric motor takes the car from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds. However, EPA estimates that the 85 kWh model takes to 60 mph in about 5.6 seconds. The motor fires 416 horsepower (310 kW) and 443 feet-pound of torque to the rear wheels.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Jun 25 2012. Filed under Automobiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.