When it comes to doing product reviews, Consumer Reports is the 800lb (362kg) gorilla, and that extends to their car reviews. Most publications, Ars included, will borrow test cars from OEM press fleets, drive them around for a week or two (maybe several months in the case of a long-term test) and then give them back. Consumer Reports, on the other hand, goes out and buys (anonymously) all of the cars that it wants to test, so it gets the full customer experience. The publication has done just that with Tesla's Model S P85D, and it's fair to say the car blew it away, scoring a maximum 100 points.
In fact, the Model S actually scored 103 points in Consumer Reports' test, requiring the publication to recalibrate the score somewhat since its scale only goes to 100. And in an attached post, the publication points out that even though the Model S gained a perfect score, it's not quite the perfect automobile.
The excellent performance of the Model S, its low running costs, and the fact that the 2015 models now have a full complement of active safety technologies all helped the car achieve top marks. So did the extremely high owner satisfaction rating—98 percent of Tesla owners would buy their cars again. Consumer Reports was effusive about the Tesla buying experience as well, praising the fact that the cars can be specced and ordered online and delivered to you at home (and picked up there for servicing). Even the car's hefty price tag, spartan interior, and lack of comfort features common to vehicles in this price range didn't act as demerits.
Is the Model S that good? So far, only Lee Hutchinson has driven a Model S here at Ars, and until this writer has spent some seat time with one we'll hold off pronouncements of "Best Car EVAR," a title that for 2015 we think belongs to BMW's i8. Even Lee was less charitable with the Model S than Consumer Reports, finding it hard to overlook the car's flaws given the cost. But it's hard to escape the legions of happy Tesla owners everywhere.
reader comments
183