Tesla P85D Better Than Perfect: Consumer Reports

Cars and Drivers

Published: August 27, 2015 10:20 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 5:52 am

When Consumer Reports road tested the Model S P85D from Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), the car earned a score of 103 out of a possible 100. That led the consumer magazine to adjust its scoring system, giving the P85D less credit in some areas where the previously tested Model S had already outshone competitors. After the adjustments, the P85D scored a perfect 100.

Describing the car’s acceleration as “brutally quick,” the magazine’s testers added some details:

[T]he P85D is the quickest car we’ve ever tested, needing just 3.5 seconds to go from zero to 60 mph. And the P85D delivers 1.02 g’s of horizontal accelerative force in less than a quarter second. … A quarter second is basically as quick as you can twitch your fingers to start and stop a stopwatch. And the only other approximate sensation to the P85D’s sudden jarring force is jumping off a building. That’s not hyperbole. That’s fact.

After a gush like that, what else can the testers say? Well, for one thing they note that the running costs for the car for 200 miles of travel works out to less than $0.05 per mile. Of course a well-equipped P85D will cost north of $125,000 to purchase.

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The P85D’s scores on some cabin features were a bit more down-to-earth. Interior fit and finish were rated “excellent,” as was the cabin’s noise level. But rear-seat comfort was rated just “good” and controls and displays were rated “fair.” Safety ratings were all “excellent,” and there are no reliability ratings yet because the car has not been available long enough.

Tesla’s stock traded up about 4.6% early Thursday, at $235.10 in a 52-week range of $181.40 to $291.42.

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