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Tesla S

Ray
Jul 31, 2016
2 min read

I bought it for the acceleration. I stayed for the smoothosity. Being coal powered, this car only has one gear and it is seriously smooth. Then again it's always in Insane Mode and it is insanely quick. Zero to sixty in under four seconds. The new version has Ludicrous Mode which gets you there in under three seconds. Think about that for less than three seconds. One potato, two potato, three ...

It's actually dangerously quick. I can't believe the company lets new owners out into the wild without any kind of training. I almost blacked out in an intersection when I tried an insane lane changing maneuver. All's I can say is I have new found respect for naval aviators and astronauts. They be pulling twice the G's as in a Tesla.

There are less than ten cars quicker than a Tesla in Ludicrous Mode. But here's the thing. In everyday driving those cars will drive you crazy. It'd be like bullriding trying to keep one of those great snarling beasts under control. Wrestling with your car all the time gets old faster than it can accelerate. OTOH, the Tesla is perfectly behaved at low speeds. So a pussycat in town and a tiger when unleashed on the Nurbergring.

Update, the Third of September this year of our Lord Two Thousand and Sixteen.

I've been using the Autopilot a lot. (Tesla hates it when you call it Autopilot. They prefer Steering Assistance.) In stop and go traffic, it's a godsend. Adaptive speed control is already a big step up. Most of the stress of stop and go is in the stopping and going. You cannot let up your concentration for one second. Being relieved of the stopping and going and only having to steer, the relief is instantaneous. Taking the next step and having the car steer itself is definitely an improvement, but not as much as that first step of speed control. The ultimate, of course, would be entering a destination and kicking back while the car takes you there. Real soon now.

#Ray