Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Consumer Reports takes delivery of their Model S

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hope they don't run into a bunch of software issues.

I was kinda hoping they'd get the car a little bit further into production.

Lol.. that was exactly my thought. I was hoping they had put down a deposit sometime after the June rollout and wouldn't get it for a few more months. No matter I guess. The fundamental issues with the Model S are 90% software, and I think its pretty certain that Consumer Reports will suss those out and report on them.

But they own the car and so will be getting updates just like everyone else and will get to watch as problems are fixed and new problems crop up. They will report on that as well. It might well be the first time in their history that their evaluation will improve over time instead of being static for each model year. For that the happen, the burden is on Tesla to fix their gremlins and make the car better.

And if Tesla delivered a car with scratches, misaligned panels, faulty charge connectors, due bill items or any of the other physical problems that have been reported then the world is about to find out. I also assume they purchased Ranger service which might be a positive counterbalance over time.
 
Looks like their car has 19" wheels. The air suspension preview looked like they were on 21" wheels. Not sure if this was stock footage or not.

Interested in their feedback. My review is simple: The Tesla Model S is the best car on the road. Period.
 
They said they want to test out distance travel. Where are they located? Are there any superchargers out there?

Per Consumer Reports -

Consumer Reports operates the largest and most sophisticated independent automobile testing center devoted to the consumer interest anywhere in the world. Situated on 327 acres in rural Connecticut, the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center is home to more than 20 staff members, including automotive engineers, technicians, and support staff. Consumer Reports buys, anonymously, all the cars it tests, about 80 per year, and drives each for thousands of miles.

Formal testing is done at the track and on surrounding public roads. The evaluation regimen consists of more than 50 individual tests. Some are objective, instrumented track tests using state-of-the-art electronic gear that yield empirical findings. Some are subjective evaluations-jury tests done by the experienced engineering staff. These videos will provide further insights into the ways that Consumer Reports evaluates new cars to help its readers make smart, informed choices.

I assume they'll end up using the Boston to New York Superchargers when they are all available (I know some are up, but not sure the whole line is up).

Knowing this, if I was Tesla I'd have made sure that ANY deliveries made to the Connecticut area were made with a best foot forward mentality :)
 
Looks like their car has 19" wheels. The air suspension preview looked like they were on 21" wheels. Not sure if this was stock footage or not.

It looked like they ordered a standard S with the 85 kWh pack. They said they bought all of the extras (except rear jump seats) and that equals out to the $89,650 they paid.

It will be good to get the nitty gritty details of a standard Model S. Most of the reviewers have had performance cars.

Kick some @ss, Tesla.
 
Because of Tesla's different sales/shipping/support model, there is an interesting wrinkle here. Tesla can probably figure out just which car is the one that belongs to CR. I doubt that Ford/GM/whoever could do that. And then they could give different service to that car, for example by pushing (or failing to push) updates quickly. Theoretically they could even do special updates for that car, but I think the overhead for that would be prohibitive. They could dispatch rangers more quickly, without having to admit that they figured out whose car it was.
 
Because of Tesla's different sales/shipping/support model, there is an interesting wrinkle here. Tesla can probably figure out just which car is the one that belongs to CR. I doubt that Ford/GM/whoever could do that. And then they could give different service to that car, for example by pushing (or failing to push) updates quickly. Theoretically they could even do special updates for that car, but I think the overhead for that would be prohibitive. They could dispatch rangers more quickly, without having to admit that they figured out whose car it was.

Oh, I'm sure Tesla knows exactly which car CR has... Between the pictures posted, the general area it's in, when it was delivered, and by getting GPS coordinates of what car has been in or around the CR campus, it wouldn't be hard at all.

I'm guessing there is an intern assigned solely to look at the logs for that car on a daily basis! :biggrin:
 
"...twin on-board chargers, which allow the car to be charged to full in just thirty minutes."

They probably mixed that up with the LEAF'S optional 2nd charge port for DC quick charging with an advertised charge speed that resembles that value. Real world LEAF findings differ quite a lot:
US 2 DCQC Inaugural EV Rally - Tom Saxton's Blog
Tom Saxton said:
When using a DCQC from under 50% to get to 80%, the LEAF's charge rate averaged 400-500 Wh/minute. When charging from over 50% to "full," the charge rate averaged about 200 Wh/minute.

So please note down, CR: Twin chargers in a Model S are good for 19.2kW at 240V, equivalent to 320Wh/minute, and will charge your 85kWh Model S from empty to full in around 4h. :wink:
 
So please note down, CR: Twin chargers in a Model S are good for 19.2kW at 240V, equivalent to 320Wh/minute, and will charge your 85kWh Model S from empty to full in around 4h. :wink:

Looks like the written article does not make the 30 minute claim, or it got fixed. But even with a supercharger, is misleading to say you can charge the car to full in 30 minutes. Tesla say 30 minutes for half a charge, and that's probably from 0-50%, not 50-100%, since it slows down as the SOC increases.
 
Oh, I'm sure Tesla knows exactly which car CR has... Between the pictures posted, the general area it's in, when it was delivered, and by getting GPS coordinates of what car has been in or around the CR campus, it wouldn't be hard at all.

I'm guessing there is an intern assigned solely to look at the logs for that car on a daily basis! :biggrin:
It's far simpler than all that. Just send a PM to TEG a week after it's delivered and he'll have spy cam shots of the vehicle, including VIN.