Tesla Motors’ new all-wheel-drive Model S just started rolling out, and test drivers are already using it to roll up the competition in and above its price class.
One driver took the Model S P85D — which features two of the company’s one-of-a-kind electric motors for a combined 691-horsepower — out on a series of spontaneous drag races against a Ferrari, an Audi R8 and a Lamborghini Aventador according to his YouTube channel.
In the video’s description the driver reports the R8 didn’t fair well, and as seen in the footage captured by cameras mounted on the car, the Ferrari — despite getting a head start — didn’t do any better.
WATCH:
The P85D’s 687 lb-ft of torque and 1G of lateral acceleration propels the car from 0-60 m.p.h. in 3.2 seconds — acceleration that is, literally, puke-worthy.
“But after about a dozen of those 0-60 accelerations, I felt like I had to puke – probably the first time I felt this way in many years,” YouTuber Rego Apps wrote. “It was a different feeling than what I got from an internal combustion engine car, because when you hear the engine roar, you can kind of anticipate the acceleration that comes after it.”
“But since the Tesla is silent, there’s no warning. I think I almost got a concussion from my head suddenly banging into the headrest because of how little anticipation the car gives you. At one point I was in mid-sentence when my driver floored it, and I had trouble getting the words out of my mouth. It really takes your breath away (literally). The acceleration is at the border between fun and frightening.”
The Ferrari in the video looks like a mid-90s 550, which typically feature just under 500 horsepower — not exactly a fair fight. The Aventador took the trophy back for the Italians.
“The Tesla pulled ahead in the beginning by about the hood length,” the driver wrote. “But Tesla never got a chance to pull away. Instead, the Aventador kept up and was slowly cutting the difference between them with each gear shift. By the 50-60 m.p.h., the Aventador caught up. By the 85 m.p.h. mark, the Aventador was half a car length ahead and the Tesla was only at 70-75 m.p.h. So from around 0-60, the Aventador and Tesla P85D were pretty much neck-and-neck. But from 0-30 or so… the Tesla beat the Aventador. This gives you a general idea of how ridiculously fast the P85D is at the jump.”
Tesla Motors confirmed at the time of the D’s unveiling in October that the new AWD Model S is the fastest sedan in the world.