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First Tesla Model S P85D owner says it's 'night and day' improvement

The first public owner of a Tesla Model S P85D says the model's autonomous-driving feature that more-or-less allows for the all-electric sedan drive itself hasn't been activated yet. We should all have such troubles. Southern California resident Kevin Babineau was indeed the first customer to take delivery of a Tesla Model S P85D, which features a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup. Babineau is a longtime car collector, with Humvees and a '69 Chevy Impala in his garage. He previously owned a Tesla Roadster, as well, according to an account he gives to Business Insider. Compared to a standard Tesla Model S and its already-impressive performance standards, the P85D is "night and day" different, Babineau said. The souped-up version is said to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a tidy 3.2 seconds. Babineau paid about $130,000 for the quickness privilege, but as you can read in the article, it sounds like it was money well spent. "The emotions that come out of that kind of speed, in that short a distance, your body's not used to it," he said. Tesla unveiled the P85D in October. As you can see in the video below, it can be fun. A P85D driver (no, it doesn't look like Babineau) goes up against Ferraris and Lamborghinis in drag races, and takes them all down. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Tesla takes New York Times to task for damning Model S review

The social media tête-à-tête between the New York Times and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, stemming from a defamatory review by John Broder of the Model S and Tesla's new "Supercharger" network on the East Coast, is heating up in a major way. Just yesterday we summarized the Twitter spat, and now Musk has expanded upon the data recorded during Broder's test drive - adding major credence to the criticism of the NYT writer.
The smoking gun in this case is the information that was captured by the data recorder in Broder's loaned Model S. The data recording function is one that is only activated for consumers when permission has been expressly granted, says Musk, but is always turned on in the case of media vehicles. Thusly equipped, Broder's vehicle was keeping track of speed, charging data, map data and more, presumably without the writer's foreknowledge.
The evidence recorded by the in-car systems happens to contravene Broder's most damning claims of the Tesla, says Musk in his article titled A Most Peculiar Test Drive. First, and perhaps most shockingly, the Model S "State of Charge" log shows that Broder's test car "never ran out of energy at any time." Broder's reporting indicated that the car ran completely out of juice at one point and had to be evacuated on a flatbed truck. The data log also points out that the trip was made at speeds ranging from 65 to 81 miles per hour, where the writer claimed to have set the cruise control at 54 mph, with periods of driving as slowly as 45 mph.

Tesla wants court to dismiss Georgia dealer lawsuit

Like the fire that forced Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara to flee Atlanta in Gone With the Wind, the battle between Tesla Motors and Georgia's auto dealers is heating up. In late August, the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association (GADA), which represents about 500 dealerships, filed a petition to prevent Tesla from selling its electric vehicles in the state. Tesla is now requesting a Georgia judge to throw out the petition, the Atlanta Business Chronicle says. The issue, as with states such as Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and Arizona, is that dealers say Tesla violates state law by selling vehicles directly to consumers instead of through third-party dealerships not owned by the company. Tesla insists that the company is best suited to oversee all distribution channels because of the uniqueness of the product and plans to open stores in Atlanta's Buckhead area and Decatur next week. The judge won't hear the case until next month. For now, Tesla is allowed to sell as many as 150 vehicles a year in Georgia under a zero-emissions vehicles provision. There's precedent elsewhere for things to improve in states where Tesla and dealers clashed. In August, the company reached a compromise with the state of Pennsylvania that will allow Tesla to open five stores in that state. Of course, there is a precedent for things to go the other way, too.