Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is the car that kickstarted the EV revolution we're living through right now. For a while, the Model S didn't have any true rivals because automakers were playing catchup in the electric vehicle market, but now the competition has finally arrived. The Porsche Taycan, Mercedes EQS and Lucid Air want a piece of the market the Model S has owned for the thick end of the decade.

This four-door, five-seat saloon is the car that established Elon Musk’s California-based company as a force to be reckoned with, a company whose products deserve to stand alongside the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

The Model S might have a fairly conventional silhouette – but what lurks beneath is far from it. Or at least it wasn’t in 2012. Two electric motors draw power from a 100kWh battery pack, driving all four wheels through a single-speed transmission.

In reality, the Model S ought to run for over 300 miles on a single charge. And if you do find yourself running low, owning a Tesla gives access to a network of high-speed chargers called ‘Superchargers’ that can top you up in minutes, not hours. There are more than 30,000 stations worldwide, including 780 in the UK at the time of typing.

Charging costs vary as some Teslas include an annual allowance of free charging, but if you’re paying in the UK you’re looking at 28 pence per kilowatt-hour. Tesla reckons this amounts to £81 for every 1,000 miles, which is cracking value against most combustion-engined cars. And if you have the freedom to charge at home, you'll slash those running costs further still.

It’s impossible to talk about the interior of the Tesla without addressing the elephant in the room – the vast, dashboard-dominating touchscreen that controls virtually every function but for a handful of physical buttons. It used to be a 17-inch portrait affair, but the latest update has introduced a landscape screen as per the smaller Model 3.

It handles everything from climate control and audio, via navigation and the hands-free phone, to things like the headlights and sunroof. Happily, despite the size of the screen, the interface/UI is so polished and easy to navigate it’s no more distracting on the move than competitors’ systems. Certain features can also be controlled with buttons on the steering wheel or through voice commands.

Tesla’s issues with build quality are well-publicized – but cars we’ve sampled recently have felt more solid and well-built than those we’ve driven in the past. Supple leather, acceptable plastics, textured wood trim on the dash and an Alcantara headliner – these things aren’t without flaw, but for the most part they feel like premium items nowadays. Just as cars that cost this much money should. That said, the more you spend, the more they struggle. Get into six-figure territory and the Model S feels out of its depth. You can get a new Bentley for that kind of money, after all…

The driving position is rather good and the seats themselves are comfortable enough. The headrests are of the non-removable variety, so they obscure your view out of the rear-view mirror (which isn’t great to begin with).