Tesla car gets best-ever rating from Consumer Reports

[Zorro]

Source: AFP

A new Tesla electric car has earned the best-ever vehicle rating from Consumer Reports, sending shares of the automaker racing higher Thursday.

The new Tesla P85D "performed better in our tests than any other car ever has, breaking the Consumer Reports Ratings system," said Mark Rechtin, automotive editor for the consumer group.

"With a six-figure price tag, the P85D is expensive, meaning its virtues will be experienced by a rare few. But its significance as a breakthrough model that is pushing the boundaries of both performance and fuel-efficiency is dramatic."

The four-wheel drive P85D, which is a modified version of the Tesla S sedan, will cost upwards of $125,000 with typical equipment, Consumer Reports noted.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/tesla-car-gets-best-ever-rating-consumer-reports-181838014.html

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Initially scored 103 on a scale from 1-100...

[47of74]

1. I had a chance to test drive a Tesla

During my road trip vacation I stopped in the Twin Cities since there's a Tesla store up there. I just wanted to see one up close. The people were very friendly and showed me a Model S.

They actually let me take this one out on a test drive.



And damn those things can move too. The salesman directed me on to a side street and had me floor it. It was up to 50 before I knew it.

If I could've I probably would have bought it and took it home with me.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. EVs can MOVE

I drive a Leaf, and while not as impressive as a Tesla (and only about 1/8 the price), it pops from a dead stop to 40 seemingly instantaneously. Once you spend any time driving an electric, driving an ICE car is like driving a ratty old pickup full of scrap metal.

[47of74]

3. Yes they do.

I have a Chevy Volt and it can go from a dead stop up to 60 pretty quick. Even when it's in extended (gas) mode it's pretty quick. I generally don't floor it though since that uses more energy.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. When the time comes to replace our ICE

it will be a leased or used Volt.

[NutmegYankee]

5. Indeed they can. It's a characteristic of electric motors.

Nearly full torque at zero speed. Back when I was in college I was part of an EV hybrid vehicle team for mechanical engineering. Our primary vehicle was a hydrogen fueled ICE with electric drivetrain, but we also had a few EV only vehicles. One was a converted Neon that we liked to show off on rally strips.

[Lizzie Poppet]

10. Yep. And certain hybrids are among the highest performance road cars in existence.

Two gasoline/electric hybrids have recorded the fastest-ever lap times for production road cars around Laguna Seca Raceway in California. Sure, they're ultra-expensive exotics (Porsche 918 and McLaren P1), but the performance potential of this technology is astounding. Formula One and World Endurance Championship (Le Mans) cars are hybrids, too. Formula E (all-electric) cars are turning lap times in international competition that are a fair ways off F1, but still pretty impressive As the technology improves, the FE cars will get a lot closer (currently, they can't "crank up" the motors to the sort of power they are capable of because they'd exhaust their batteries in just a few laps at that output).

[Kelvin Mace]

11. Yes, I've seen those

The Tesla is hard to beat in the quarter mile, but it can't maintain that kind of output for long.

But hell, in everyday life it is hard to beat 2 cents a mile fuel cost.

[SunSeeker]

4. Sigh. My dream car.

[Johnny Noshoes]

7. You gotta love a car...

You gotta love a car that has a setting called "ludicrous speed".

[90-percent]

8. Please refresh my memory hole

Wasn't Tesla one of many companies that received bail out money to keep it in business after the crash of 2008?



(Remember when Romney did an op-ed calling for irresponsible Detroit auto makers to die back at that time? Yeah - kill two of the big three because they got snookered by Wall Street smoke and mirrors. Shame on Mitt. His daddy was President of American Motors in the 50's and 60's! Doesn't he even know how vital the American auto industry is to our American middle class?)

-90% Jimmy

[truthisfreedom]

9. Repaid it 10 years early.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/22/autos/tesla-loan-repayment/