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Really, Price is the only thing you can compare. If you want complete luxury: S-Class, A7/A8, or 7-Series are going to be decidedly better in every way, at a s
by 013a 9y ago
Really, Price is the only thing you can compare.
If you want complete luxury: S-Class, A7/A8, or 7-Series are going to be decidedly better in every way, at a similar price bracket. To be honest, Tesla doesn't even compete in this category.
If you want the status symbol: Maybe Tesla is the best. You'd also probably be cross-shopping a Panamera or maybe an XJ.
If you want performance: The best will be an E63S, RS5 (kind of a different category), or M5. A P100D is stupidly fast off the line, but most enthusiasts don't put it in the same class as high-end german performance cars due to driving dynamics and the price. It gets an honorable mention.
If you want tech: Tesla, Audi, or the Cadillac CT6. Tesla wins on automated driving, but Cadillac isn't far behind at all. Audi has some of that, but their interior tech is easily on-par with Tesla when you option it out.
If you want all of them: You'll need to go upmarket. The RS7 would qualify, especially the refreshed 2019 model, but really you'll have to enter "optioned out Porsche" territory ($150k+) and even then you'll make sacrifices in the tech department.
There are a few generalities you can make, though: First, BMW isn't as competitive as they used to be. MB and Audi have recently started outpacing them in most categories. Second, Tesla definitely isn't competitive at its price bracket without tax incentives, unless all you care about is how other people perceive you, which can't really be quantified like the other categories.
- OhDagny 9y agoThis seems like obsolete dirtburner Car and Driver logic based on soon-to-be-outmoded standards. Same antipattern would appear with aerodynamic designs to save fuel in the 80s. The Car and Driver old stodgies would complain about the nontraditional styling, despite the clear direction and engineering advantages. Reality eventually overcame the car review collective delusion. Teslas are the only car that fundamentally is a totally different driving experience than every other dirtburner you listed. You can tell the second it almost magically and constantly accelerates. Faster than supercars for 1/10th the price in real world driving (people buy HP and drive Torque, remember?). Sure the economics of the battery mean there isn't a spare $50,000 for the interior. Oh, and just wait for the maintenance bill differentials. Those high-end dirtburners assume you don't mind $5,000/year in repairs and maintenance. They hardly even engineer them for reliability.