Tesla Model S is now the world's quickest car. Yes, Tesla

money.cnn.com/2017/02/07/technology/motor-trend-tesla-acceleration/index.html by Peter Valdes- Dapena

1/3 The Tesla Model S can go from zero to 60 faster than any other street-legal car around. That includes Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bugattis and any other crazy exotic you can think of.

The Tesla Model S P100D, with 760 horsepower and all-wheel-drive, jumped from a dead stop to 60 miles an hour in 2.28 seconds in a test by Motor Trend. It's the first car to ever do that in under 2.3 seconds in the magazine's testing. With this sort of power, merging into the traffic on the highway is less of an issue than trying not to rear-end anyone while you're doing it.

That's quicker than high-priced hybrid like the $1.5 million Ferrari LaFerrari, the $1.1 McLaren P1 or the $845,000 .

For comparison, the Tesla Model S P100D costs about about $135,000. Also, those cars have just two seats each and barely any luggage space. The Tesla Model S, on other hand, has two spacious trunks and can seat up to seven, including two small children facing rearward.

The Tesla Model S, with its Ludicrous Easter Egg mode, can beat million-dollar Ferraris and Porsches off the line.

The Model S is also a fairly heavy car, but in this case that helps. The Tesla's nearly 5,000 pound weight, not 2/3 including occupants, helps its tires grip the road, said Motor Trend writer Frank Markus. Given all the power that's pushed out by the electric motors, the wheels would just spin if it weren't for all that weight pushing the tires down onto the asphalt, he said.

Motor Trend ran its test using the car's "Ludicrous Easter Egg" mode, which provides even more acceleration than "regular" Ludicrous mode. In this mode, the car's battery temperature is raised slightly and the air conditioning is used to cool the motors. Once everything is ready, the driver uses a special "launch control" sequence of brake and accelerator pedal pushes to initiate the crushing ground-level blast-off.

Related - GM's Bolt EV ready to take on Tesla

The Tesla's 0-60 blast is a fairly limited trick, though. Its acceleration tapers off past 60. Other cars -- like the Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche -- can hit 70 and 80 miles an hour faster than the Tesla.

The Tesla would also lose to those cars at the drag strip. The Model S can run a quarter mile in 10.5 seconds reaching 125 miles an hour by the end, Markus said. But the Ferrari LaFerrari is still the fastest quarter-mile car the magazine has ever tested, making the run in 9.7 seconds and reaching 148.5 miles an hour.

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 7, 2017: 12:51 PM ET

3/3 Tesla releases new software update with ‘Chill’ feature to soften crazy acceleration and more

electrek.co /2017/11/05/tesla-new-software-update-chill-feature-to-soften-crazy-acceleration/

Fred Lambert

Tesla started releasing a new software update to its fleet this weekend with two new convenience features.

The automaker has added a feature to give the option to soften the crazy acceleration of the Model S and Model X

and it also pushed another requested feature.

Tesla appropriately called the new feature “Chill: a new acceleration”.

It’s a significant change from the automaker’s previous modes called Insane and Ludicrous, which are more geared toward performance.

As for “Chill”, Tesla describes the option in the release notes of the new 2017.44 update:

“You can now choose between two acceleration options in your vehicle: Chill and Standard. Chill makes acceleration more gradual – ideal for smoother driving and a gentler ride for your passengers.”

While the instant torque is arguably one of the best parts of driving electric, not everyone gets used to it. Therefore, it might prove useful to some. 1/2 In order to activate it, drivers can go to Controls > Controls > Driving and toggle to Chill under ‘Acceleration’.

Keep in mind that Tesla pushes new updates to its fleet gradually and it may take a while for every owner to receive it.

The other feature in the 2017.44 update facilitates exiting Tesla’s vehicles.

The automaker describes it in the release notes:

“Starting in this release, you can get in and out of the driver’s seat more easily. When you park, the steering wheel and driver’s seat will automatically adjust for an easier exit. After you return to the vehicle, they automatically adjust back to the recent driving profile when you step on the brake. Or, if your keyfob is linked to your driver profile, the seat and steering wheel adjust accordingly. As always, you can restore your profile by selecting it from the list.”

This new feature builds on Tesla’s existing driver profile application.

It was actually suggested to Tesla CEO Elon Musk by a Twitter user last summer:

Good point. We will add that to all cars in one of the upcoming software releases.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 19, 2017

In order to activate the feature, Tesla drivers with the latest update need to access CONTROLS > Settings > Driver Profiles and check ‘Use Easy Entry’.

At that point, you will be prompted to adjust the seat and steering wheel and save the change under the Easy Entry profile.

Those are the latest two features that Tesla is adding to its fleet via over-the-air software updates. Most of the automaker’s recent updates focused on Autopilot, but the company also released an update that improved on Homelink and added a feature to run climate control after the car is parked for an extended period of time (aka camper mode) last month.

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