It’s one thing to read about a car’s performance numbers, but another thing entirely to experience it yourself. The Tesla Model S P90D features two modes of acceleration, ‘Sport’ and ‘Ludicrous’. To be perfectly honest, both are stupid fast, but if you want to ask the car for the best performance, you select Ludicrous mode. There’s an extra step where you can request absolute maximum power from the batteries.
The batteries will then either heat or cool to the optimum temperature to deliver the best acceleration available. The first time I did this, it took 20 minutes, but later attempts, this was only 5 minutes and others it was simply ready to go.
Of course, given the opportunity to drive this car, I had to test it out. First on my own and then with others. The first time I really accelerated properly with the Model S, I was blown away with how smooth it was, how easy it was to handle. The car just hooks up and goes with no fuss, smoke, no sliding, no stress and delivers the power without any impact on the steering wheel. This is so easy and repeatable, it’ll make you look like a rock star.
This process is so easy, it makes you appreciate why it was banned in Formula 1, its just too easy for driver’s to get it right off the line.
Despite a vast cross-section of ages, split of genders and occupations, the result was the same every time, they all left the vehicle with a massive smile on their face, I’m calling it, the #TeslaGrin. Some of the guys may be hardened car guys, and knew they were being recorded on the GoPro, but their cool veneers weren’t enough to dampen the smile.
Watch the video below and enjoy their reactions as they rocket from 0-100km/h in around 3 seconds. These runs were performed under controlled conditions.
