Model S reviews

If that doesn't sound promising!

vfx said:

First review is from Chris Paine

Drove Tesla's Model S production #2 on night streets of LA last eve. What a car! Incredibly powerful, quiet, stable, roomy, luxurious, with gorgeous readouts that actually relate to electronic driving, adjustable suspension, superb handling and safety classifications, lightning speed, and music, art, and maps flowing from cyberspace onto a spacious flat screen nav. Hits a whole new level and 100% electric. This a great summer for Elon Musk and even better for everyone who believes we can rework the future. Wow!​

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Can't wait to see the movie

I've never needed a test drive to buy this car. The test ride alone was enough to hook me as an engineer. The waiting will only get worse once I test drive it hopefully in two weeks

That's great news. Looks like the tesla doubters are going to be eating crow- especially JP, and Oreilly, and all the fox news people. The ice age is over

I can't wait for the day they repay their DOE loan and people can focus on the car and its performance. The first professional review will be interesting too.

vfx said:

Nice review since Chris is someone with a Roadster, Leaf. and I believe, a Volt.

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So he must be a reservation holder, I wonder what # he is? And does anyone know if he has a blog? A quick search turned up nothing...

Discoducky said:

So he must be a reservation holder, I wonder what # he is? And does anyone know if he has a blog? A quick search turned up nothing...

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Yes, he is a reservation holder. After one of the San Francisco screenings of Rotec, he said he reserved two weeks before.

On twitter @ChrisPaine, CounterSpill

vfx said:

First review is from Chris Paine

Drove Tesla's Model S production #2 on night streets of LA last eve. What a car! Incredibly powerful, quiet, stable, roomy, luxurious, with gorgeous readouts that actually relate to electronic driving, adjustable suspension, superb handling and safety classifications, lightning speed, and music, art, and maps flowing from cyberspace onto a spacious flat screen nav. Hits a whole new level and 100% electric. This a great summer for Elon Musk and even better for everyone who believes we can rework the future. Wow!​

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Although nice to read, I wouldn't consider his review exactly objective. Let's be real: He's an environmentalist who loves alternative, renewable energy sources, particularly those invested in electric cars.

As dsm363 suggested, the real victories will be the positive mainstream reviews (Motortrend, Car and Driver, Edmunds, Consumer Reports, etc.). Hearing a great review from Paine is -- pardon the expression -- singing to the choir.

Detroit needs convincing.

Average Joe needs convincing.

Newsweek and Time covers.

That's the victory.

Less that than isn't failure, rather niche.

When will they unleash the Model S on the press? Jalopnik is one source angry about not getting special treatment and writing articles it seems to get revenge in my opinion.

kevincwelch said:

Although nice to read, I wouldn't consider his review exactly objective. Let's be real: He's an environmentalist who loves alternative, renewable energy sources, particularly those invested in electric cars.

As dsm363 suggested, the real victories will be the positive mainstream reviews (Motortrend, Car and Driver, Edmunds, Consumer Reports, etc.). Hearing a great review from Paine is -- pardon the expression -- singing to the choir.

Detroit needs convincing.

Average Joe needs convincing.

Newsweek and Time covers.

That's the victory.

Less that than isn't failure, rather niche.

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Well said, but there will be a certain (hopefully few) that will never admit that Tesla is a good car. Even if the Model S is everything we hope it to be and Elon says it is, there will be those few motorheads that will still hate it just because it is better than a gas car. The Top Gear crowd might be one of those. Rush Limbaugh will likely be one of those. Fox news might come around once Tesla begins paying off the loans next year. I'd love to see them start the pay back a little early to shut up that crowd.

dsm363 said:

When will they unleash the Model S on the press? Jalopnik is one source angry about not getting special treatment and writing articles it seems to get revenge in my opinion.

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Jalopnik has pretty well lost credibility with anyone who has seen their comments in Revenge of the Electric Car. (If you haven't seen it they call the Model S vapourware and state that Tesla doesn't have the resources to design and build a sedan.)

AnOutsider said:

Agreed. Not sure where my post went in the read split, but I'd said this review seemed flowery. It's all praise and no objectivity. I want to hear from someone who has had the car for at least a week. The pluses, minuses, quirks and idiosyncrasies. We all know the car won't be perfect, I just want to see how the good weighs against any potential "bad".

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Well...you have a low number. I think people like yourself will be giving us the reviews we need to hear: the real life analysis and not the controlled course and controlled conditions reviews.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

Most car reviews tend to be a combination of:

1. We like the cars who's manufacturers advertise with the magazine we write for (and conversely we don't much like anything else).

2. We take the car to a track and see how it does there (as if a track simulates actual conditions encountered by most drivers).

3. We read the other reviews and paraphrase them without actually driving the car (In the 2001 Prius reviews, there were several different reviews that had the same error in them--obviously copied from the first review. The mistake was one that anyone who actually got in the car and started it would catch--although I now forget just what the error was:redface.

The only real place to get good information on a car is in forums like this one. The only thing is that the problems are usually overstated because people who are having problems often post to forums and people who have no problems don't bother.

dsm363 said:

When will they unleash the Model S on the press? Jalopnik is one source angry about not getting special treatment and writing articles it seems to get revenge in my opinion.

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My common sense prediction is they will have to let the automotive and mainstream press drive it during the weekend of June 22nd thru June 24th. They can't give out 1,000 test drives to Reservationists and keep the press away. When I asked for a pass to cover it for TMC, George B. told me the 1st 10 car delivery is a "Company Event" with no press. (I think they will record it themselves for their website.)

Therefore, I think they will have short press "First Drives" either Friday afternoon, June 22nd, or Sat. before us reservationists get to drive the production demo cars. The reason they will let the press drive it first is because after 1,000 ~ 8 min. test drives 6/23 to 6/24, the demo cars will get beat up and need cosmetic work to put them back in pristine condition.

The above is purely an educated guess on my part.

My hope is the press will love the car, and it will get a lot of front covers and TV coverage. I predict reservations will go through the roof, with 15K+ by my birthday, August 1st, and 20K+ by Halloween. (We should start a thread with 20K+ reservation predictions.) Our TSLA stock will do very well. When I mentioned to my 79 y/o Mom we planned to take our son to the TSLA annual meeting, even she knew who Elon Musk is, because she watches 60 Minutes religiously and apparantly they did a segment on him recently.

Can't wait for 6/23 to 6/24!! I just thought of buying one of those head-mounted HD video cams to wear when I get my turn to test drive the S!

-russ

dsm363 said:

Jalopnik is one source angry...

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I've stopped reading their stuff, they always seem angry and snarky.

engle said:

I just thought of buying one of those head-mounted HD video cams to wear when I get my turn to test drive the S!

-russ

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Wow, now THAT sounds interesting! Please do, I'd love to see the video (especially the footage of the dashboard gauges and the full production firmware menus on the touchscreen).