Tesla Model S 90D All-Wheel Drive auto 5d Owner Review

Firstly, when this car is working properly, it's great. Nothing is faster off the line and up to around 60mph no other car can keep up. Beyond that speed, acceleration tails off a little and fast saloons (M3/C63 etc) are quicker. The official 0-60 time is 4.1 seconds but initial acceleration feels faster than this. The car feels big and heavy in the corners but the grip is excellent. The quality of the interior is reasonable if you pay for the next generation seats but not as good as German rivals which cost the same. Charging is easy if you have a wall unit installed at home but Superchargers are too few and far between to make this car a sensible choice for lots of motorway miles. Incidentally, the range is good but unless you drive at 50mph with the aircon switched off, expect to achieve around 70% of the official range. On a recent motorway trip I managed around 150 miles of range compared to the 250 miles suggested by the read out in the car. Now for the bad part. Tesla customer service is the worst I have ever experienced from any company... ever. Due to a manufacturing defect, water leaked from the aircon into the car body control and the car stopped working 48 hours after I took delivery. The car was recovered and I was told by Tesla to take a taxi home!! Following this, the active suspension failed as did the folding wing mirrors and I eventually rejected the car and asked for a new one. As there had been a price increase since I bought the original car, Tesla demanded an additional £10,000 from me in order to build the new vehicle. There was no negotiation and Tesla's attitude was very much "if you don't like it, buy from a different manufacturer". It may be that I was unlucky with the car that I bought and I cannot comment on the reliability of the Model S in general. From my experience, this has been the most unreliable car that I have ever owned and due to the attitude of Tesla customer service, the most unpleasant new car experience that I have ever had. I should add that if the car had been free from defects and I had not required the help of Tesla customer services, I would have been perfectly happy with the car but personally, I cannot recommend Tesla or the Model S.