The Ferrari 458 Italia is a pretty quick car, right. In a straight out drag race there’s not many cars that can beat it. Surely a miserly four-door Tesla Model S can’t do it?
Well, off the line, yes, it can. And by some margin. This is thanks to the Tesla’s near-instant torque and all-wheel drive grip.
And the Tesla’s not just happy hosing Ferraris off the line either. See below for more.
[Thanks to John for the tip]
Here we bring you an almost pointless video from Automobile magazine who have lined up a Tesla S and BMW M5 for a drag. But it’s a bit of harmless fun and on paper both manufacturers claim 4.4 seconds are required to reach 100km/h. So let’s see that theory put to practice. Which car do you think will win a straight out drag?
Although, regardless of this result, we think it would be more fun to drive both cars hard around a track or mountain road and see which one runs out of juice first. The Tesla S, with its predicted 480km range (when driven at 90km/h), or the M5 and its 80 litre fuel tank. Bit of a no brainer, perhaps?
US businessman Steve Jurvetson is the first person to get his hands on the new four-door Tesla Model S, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule too. You can see a short video of him driving away in his new car from Stanford University’s business school. There’s a bit of fanfare with people lining the way as Jurveston drives off in his US$90,000 plaything, but it’s nothing like the fanaticism whipped up at an Apple Store opening.
We’re sure you’ll agree the Model S is a very smart looking car. True to Tesla form performance is key to its character. We think Jurveston has picked up the Performance model, so the 85kWh battery can propel the rear-wheel drive saloon to 60mph in a mere 4.4 seconds.
More impressively, Tesla claim the Model S Performance can travel 300 miles (480km) at 55mph, roughly 90km/h, on a single charge. That’s actually pretty good, don’t you think?
[Thanks to Michael for the tip]