There's no other way to put it: Tesla's Model S luxury sedan is spectacular.
The electric wonder's attributes go far beyond its claim to fame as the longest-range production electric car, EPA rated at 265 miles. (Tesla says it will go 300 miles at a continuous 55 miles per hour.) Most electric cars can't do much more than 100 miles a charge, unless they have backup gas engines, like the Chevrolet Volt. Tesla has no backup.
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Driving the performance version in the hills around Tesla's headquarters, south of San Francisco, was exhilarating. The car is a flat-out joy to drive. And you'll want to run it flat-out. Like Tesla's previous electric roadster, the Model S invites you to experience a rush of acceleration at every on-ramp or empty stretch of back roads. When you do, you'll get what seems like an effortless push-you-back-in-the-seat thrill that extends through the power range. In the performance version, the Model S rockets from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds (although top speed is 125 mph, relatively modest by luxury-car standards). But what's even more impressive is how it keeps going at a breakneck pace. That's important if you're trucking along at 60 mph and suddenly want to punch it up to 80 mph to pass.
The battery pack is built into the floor, giving the Model S an absurdly low center of gravity. That pays off when it comes to cornering, allowing the Model S to hold the road.
It wasn't just the car's performance that amazed us, although that alone probably would have done the trick. It's the car overall.
The exterior design by former Mazda designer Franz von Holzhausen is simply beautiful, the four-door coupe style now linked to Audi A7 and Jaguar XJ. Inside and out, there are little touches that impress everywhere -- from a big space between the front seats where women can place their purses to outside door handles that are flush to the car until they magically appear when a hand brushes against them. There is no scrimping on materials in the cabin. The dashboard is stitched leather and the door pulls are sculpted aluminum.
It's as if every detail of the car became a matter of weeks-long deliberation. Case in point: Instead of a power port that opens like a gas cap, like on a Chevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf, the Model hides the port behind the left rear taillight. And when you open it, it's not only circled in LED lights, but you can tell how much the car is charged by how many of them are lit.
This luxury doesn't come cheap. The Tesla Model S starts at $57,400, not counting the federal tax credit, for a base-level version that has about the same range as today's electric cars. By the time you get to the longest-range version with all the extras, the "signature performance" version, you're at $105,400. Initially, Tesla is only making the premium version. The wait to buy a Tesla, if you plunked your $5,000 deposit today, would be for delivery next May.
There are so many things to talk about this car, it's hard to know where to begin. Let's try three:
There are a few things we didn't like, but they are minor. The rear window is so sloped that it looks distorted through the rear-view mirror. At first, it was confusing to figure out which is the turn-signal stalk. A quick test drive doesn't answer other questions about the Model S, such as the one that's most important: What is it like to live with a car that needs to be plugged in at home every day, or every other day.
All in all, the Model S makes us think it is the electric car by which others will be measured. The question is whether buyers of luxury cars will seriously consider it before buying a conventional car.
Chris Woodyard is an auto writer for USA TODAY who covers all aspects of motoring. He revels in the exhaust note of a Maserati and the sharp creases of a Cadillac CTS. Chris strives to live a Porsche life on a Scion budget. More about Chris