Twan Sloot

My ole man is fan of the teslas and he owned two now both top models and I have driven them pretty much.

First thing I can assure you is that if you spend less than 4 hours a day in a car on average range won't be a problem to you. But it might be smart to check the supercharger density within your region. In case you want to make a trip.

Getting a home charger is a must in order to use the car properly.
A P100D will get you 280 miles realistically with 80 mph on freeways without watching your throttle constantly.

As far as the quality of the car. The first thing to mention is you'll be amazed with after purchase service tesla provides. They will do their absolute best to help you out at no cost. Yes your car will have a slight issue but it will be fixed at the first service interval. There might be one panel alignment issue that bothers you, also will be fixed at no cost.

Apart from that my dads teslas have been extremely reliable, he has driven over 80.000 miles with his latest model s and it hadn't had one drivabillity issue. Running costs are very low on a tesla, no oil changes, less tire wear because of lineair acceleration, brakes wear less because of regen. And of course gasoline vs electric but you thought of that.

As for the interior it gets as nice as you option it. I have seen a lot of base interiors that indeed look bad for the price they paid. But if you choose the right color and trim it can be really good. The premium package is a 'must' if you want to come close to your audi's interior. Mostly all black including the headliner works best for a nice appearence in the model S. But despite that it will not be as good as a high dollar german car. But Tesla improves very rapidly you can't compare a 2015 model S to a 2018 model. Under the skin they change and improve every week.

The biggest pro for the P100D you'll love driving it. The tech and performance of the car is incredible and the smoothness of the driveline will make you think gasoline cars are ancient. It really drives very pleasant. The acceleration in traffic is simply unreal and will be much faster than your S8, much faster! The instant torque and the lag of changing gears and getting the rpm up will make the model s way faster than the S8. Around 60 mph and up the difference won't be big. And 100 mph and up the S8 will probably start to win.

The Model S makes driving easy, real easy. Sounds stupid but it's a big differnce with traditional cars. In the tesla you really get in and the only thing you do is put your foot on the brake it starts up and off you go. No key turning or starting an engine. Simply go. Once driving you will only use the gas pedal 90% of the time because it starts to regen once you release the gas pedal. This makes the brake pedal unnecessary 90% of the time which brings great comfort once get used to.

Then there is the autopilot. It makes driving very relaxing. I can't comment on how it will work in the US. But here in the netherlands it can drive me all across the country over the highways with little input from myself, but keep in mind our roads and markings are pretty much perfect everywhere. Also driven the Mercedes S class autopilot and it doesn't come close to the stabillity of tesla's autopilot.

As for the tree hugger mentality, that is something that might live under US owners here in the netherlands people just drive em because they like the model S and it's cheap in taxes. My dad also doesn't care about the environmental aspect of the car. Just likes the drive of the model s.

All I can say is get a test drive in a p100d and think very well about the colors and trim in the interior you take. My dad drove Mercedes and audi before going to Tesla and despite the interior being maybe a bit less, he would buy the Tesla again in a heartbeat

MVR 155

Go drive a new S8 Plus with the TT 4.0L V8 engine and I doubt you'll be thinking of the Tesla again. It's a full sized rocket with an absolutely stunning interior. It's also about $20K cheaper than the $140K price tag on the Tesla.

Twan Sloot

Oh I have to admit that I hadn't thought about the low taxes on gas cars in the US. Here an audi S8 plus starts from 235.000 dollars. But if it is 20k cheaper than a P100D it becomes hard to justify. Because the overall quality of the Audi will be more premium.

MVR 155

Base price of a 2018 S8 here is $119,000.... At the $140,000 price point you can add carbon ceramic brakes as well as some other nice extras.

One of my clients has a P90d and it's a rocket from 0-60 with some really cool tech. I still think the S8 is a much more desirable car from a visceral and quality standpoint.

davepl

I'm sure several do.

I live next to and would recharge from an actual hydro dam 365 days a year, so its clean for me. Not if you drive one in New Jersey, though.

Yes, I've had S8s forever and was planning on the 2018 S8 Plus, but after driving the Tesla, think it'd make a better third car.

Not a better first or second car, and not a road trip car. But for my niche I think it'll be perfect. I won't post my full review, this isn't the place and there wasn't sufficient thoughtful interest, but it's an interesting machine, that's for sure!

The Audi interior is light years ahead though. Sitting in the back of a Tesla rivals many Crown Victoria cop cars, er, I mean Taxis that I've seen before.

Twan Sloot

Despite the audi's interior and luxury being light years ahead. The Tesla does look way cooler from the outside!

At least that's my opinion

Cygnus

As the owner, you're the only one that has to be happy with it. If it works for you, there is nothing wrong with that.

This to me is where Tesla really fails, so it would be interesting to know what part of the car overrides this for you enough to pull the trigger on it.