*These objective scores are calculated from the vehicles’ dimensions, capacities, rebates and extras, and/or test results.
FINAL
RESULTS
Maximum points available
- Tesla Model S
- Porsche Taycan
10 10 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 5 20 100 20510101055 20 10 10 10 10 60 25 240
10 9 555969 8 1 2 0 87 19 4109 10 5 2 18 7 9 8 9 51 21 211
97332 10 10 9 10 1 4 68 2 0 4 10 10 8 52 20 9 7 10 9 55 24 199VehicleDRIVERCOMFORTERGONOMICSREAR- S
EAT^ COMFORTREAR- S
EAT^ SPACE*CARGO^SPACE*FEATURES/AMENITIES*FIT^ ANDFINISHINTERIORSTYLINGEXTERIORSTYLINGREBATES/EXTRAS*AS- T
ESTED^ PRICE*SUBTOTALPowertrain1 /^4- M
ILEACCELERATION*FLEXIBILITY*FUELECONOMY*NVH
DRIVABILITYSUBTOTALChassisPERFORMANCE*STEERINGFEELBRAKE^ FEELHANDLINGRIDE
SUBTOTALExperienceFUN^ TO^ DRIVET
O
TA
L
49
Tesla Model S Performance Plus Spacious and airy,
still megaquick, one-pedal driving fun. Minus Dull
handling, feels its size and weight. Equals Eight years
in, the Model S continues to impress.
back—and the brake pedal went soft during
our repeated stops from 70 and 100 mph,
producing a warning message.
Tesla pipped Porsche in our rolling-start
5-to- 60 -mph test by a tenth of a second,
but in every other test, the Model S proved
slightly slower. Accelerating to 60 mph in
2.5 seconds is monumentally quick, but the
clock says that is 0.1 second behind the Tay-
can. And the gap widened to more than three
seconds by 150 mph. For all the discussion of
aUR:\QRY@μ`½RRa[R``VaV`V[P_RQVOYfSb``f
to achieve its max-acceleration times. It
must be fully charged, and using the Ludi-
crous Plus mode requires preheating the
battery for 45 minutes. After the initial hero
_b[aURAR`YNμ`aVZR`SNYY\ß^bVPXYf`Y\dV[T
to the point that we were jotting notes while
waiting for the quarter-mile to arrive.
The Model S excels in the city, where
Tesla’s expertly calibrated one-pedal oper-
NaV\[ V[a_\QbPR` ½bVQVaf a\ `a\]N[QT\
driving. Porsche made a conscious decision
to forgo one-pedal driv ing, and we missed it
ever y time we hopped back into the Taycan,
where the strongest regen setting is barely
noticeable. You drive Porsche’s EV as you
would any other automatic Porsche: with
two pedals. But the Taycan controls the
regen with the brake pedal, making it touchy
and nonlinear.
Tesla wins this one largely on price, but
the Model S’s virtues stand on their own,
a\\ @\ZR `]_RNQ`URRa ¼QQYV[T `bTTR`a`
aUNaaUR¼[V`UV[T\_QR_d\bYQ[μaUNcR
changed had we pitted the Tesla against
the far slower $105,150 Taycan 4S. But given
the Model S Performance comes at a $85,160
discount to the Taycan Turbo S, there’s no
question which is the better buy.