Stand beside a Tesla Model S and you might consider it an attractive car but not one that is dramatically out of the ordinary. Rarely has the motor industry produced something that delivers so much more than its looks promise.The Model S could be described, depending on which of its many aspects you're considering, as a sports car, a luxury car and an MPV. That last one seems unlikely, but although the S quite low it will happily seat five tall adults, and if you go for the third-row seating option you can get a couple of children in there as well. Fold down all but the front two seats and you get a most unlikely luggage capacity of 1795 litres.Other cars have that much space, but to have an extra 150 litres' worth under the bonnet and maximum power of over 400bhp (the highest of three available outputs in the range) at the same time is, to say the least, uncommon. Every bit of that grunt comes from an electric motor, as is always the way with Teslas, and of course it is produced almost, though not quite, silently.0-60mph takes only a little over four seconds, but perhaps even more notable is the way you can conjure up dramatic acceleration so suddenly. If you're doing 20mph and stamp on the accelerator pedal, you'll be up at 40 in less than a second and a half - and if those figures don't seem dramatic, I'll just say that you have to go through the experience yourself to understand it fully. I did so six times in rapid succession and would not have become bored if I had repeat it another ten.It's not unusual that the Model S has favourable weight distribution and a low centre of gravity. This is normally the way with electric cars, and their manufacturers invariably make a big deal out of it. But the benefits in ride and handling that should come to pass as a result hardly ever do.Well, they do here. The ride is smooth, and the chassis deals with abrupt applications of power so well that despite several attempts I was able to make the tail squirm only once, when giving it large out of a roundabout. The air suspension devoted some concentration to that for a moment and then got on with the job of hurtling down the next straight.The battery is long and wide and mounted at the bottom of the car, and actually contributes to the stiffness of the aluminium bodyshell. Of course it needs to be charged, and of course it doesn't provide the range that a fuel tank would in a car with an internal combustion engine (though the official figure of 265 miles is well out of the ordinary), but it seems harsh to blame Tesla for not revolutionising battery technology when nobody else has done this either.The smartly designed interior has two stalks brought in from Mercedes-Benz, which has had a relationship with Tesla for some time, but any sense of familiarity they may bring evaporates when you catch a glance - you can hardly avoid doing this - at the huge central touchscreen. This controls nearly everything, but my favourite feature is the way you can open or close the UV-blocking panoramic glass sunroof to a desired degree by swiping the screen.That's worth a pause for philosophical reflection. Now that we're well into the internet age, why is such a method of opening a sunroof worthy of special comment? And why is only one manufacturer combining this amount of performance, practicality and refinement, with an eight-year unlimited mileage warranty, in a package that can be yours and charging less than the price of most houses for it?We may still not have the rocket-powered skateboards that people jokily complain science once promised but has so far failed to deliver, but we do at least have the Tesla Model S, a car that makes almost all others seem tiresomely twentieth-century. Engine Electric motor Power 416bhp Transmission 1-speed Fuel/CO2 0mpg / 0g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 4.2 seconds Top speed 130mph Price £74,135 Details correct at publication date
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