Dennis, how was your Model S drive?

SoCalGuy said:

Curious of your (or your wife's) impressions of how the Model S drives compared to the Karma!

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I was playing in a golf tournament, so my wife and son went for the Model S test drive, with my son doing the driving since she knew he would drive more aggressively. His report:

1) They were given a Model S Performance to drive, which is great since that is what she ordered.

2) Acceleration was awesome. He said that when he floored it on the freeway onramp, the torque felt like my McLaren!

3) Handling was comparable to the Karma, which he drove about a year ago on the test drive tour (he is not insured on my car so he doesn't drive it). Like the Karma, the Model S felt very planted and cornered well for such a heavy car. He liked the low center of gravity. The Tesla rep told him that the 85 kwh car weighs 4600 lbs.:exclamation:

In keeping with your dictate that if there are no pics it didn't happen, here is the photo that they emailed us:

dennis said:

SoCalGuy said:

Curious of your (or your wife's) impressions of how the Model S drives compared to the Karma!

Click to expand...

I was playing in a golf tournament, so my wife and son went for the Model S test drive, with my son doing the driving since she knew he would drive more aggressively. His report:

1) They were given a Model S Performance to drive, which is great since that is what she ordered.

2) Acceleration was awesome. He said that when he floored it on the freeway onramp, the torque felt like my McLaren!

3) Handling was comparable to the Karma, which he drove about a year ago on the test drive tour (he is not insured on my car so he doesn't drive it). Like the Karma, the Model S felt very planted and cornered well for such a heavy car. He liked the low center of gravity. The Tesla rep told him that the 85 kwh car weighs 4600 lbs.:exclamation:

In keeping with your dictate that if there are no pics it didn't happen, here is the photo that they emailed us:

Click to expand...

Excellent report - I watched all of the review footage and read the written ones - seems clear that the execution was very good on the Model S. What I didn't take away from the reports was the emotional factor - many of the Karma reviews talked about how emotional it was to drive/ride the Karma (partly the looks, but also on the driver experience/handling). I read that the Model S has very cool tech, great acceleration, handles like a much lighter car, but I haven't seen much emotion in the reviews. Wonder if others agree or if I'm tainted/bias by my Karma ownership. I envy the Model S' infotainment unit, it's flatpack battery, but not its looks or interior trim.

PS I think it is funny that people overlooked the fact that the production Model S came in at a portly 4,643 lbs, a lot heavier than the estimated 3,800 - 4,000 lbs from the Beta events!

SoCalGuy said:

PS I think it is funny that people overlooked the fact that the production Model S came in at a portly 4,643 lbs, a lot heavier than the estimated 3,800 - 4,000 lbs from the Beta events!

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It's possible that the 40kwh cars weigh less than 4000 lbs. Of course very few people are going to buy those.

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Weird Fishes said:

The Model S looks better and better each time I look at it. It'll never be as sexy and gorgeous as the Karma, but the technology behind it (beneath it?) seems to be better thought out than the Karma's technology.

I hope Tesla succeeds with the Model S, but, since the Karma was sort of my first 'crush', it makes me a little sad that the Karma is still working out the bugs, isn't as fast as the Model S and seems to come with a couple of compromises that many people consider deal killers. I still want a Karma (I think), but the Model S looks more attractive each time I encounter new information about it.

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There is no perfect car. So you have to decide what is more important to you:

- some ICE use with infinite range vs. high performance pure EV with range anxiety
- gorgeous sport sedan lines vs. family sedan practicality
- beautiful interior materials vs. intuitive UI on a giant screen

That's why there are several hundred distinct car models for sale at any given time. You pay your money and you take your choice.