Stories of the all-electric Tesla Model S P85D’s spine-jarring acceleration are definitely not exaggerated. While viral videos showing the glee and/or terror of passengers being rocketed from a standstill to 60mph in 3.1 seconds by the new all-wheel-drive, dual-motor variant of Tesla’s flagship sedan adequately convey the rush you get from stomping on P85D’s accelerator, I’ll leave it to the raw, unbridled honesty of a child to sum it up best. Whenever my four-year-old daughter, safely and very securely strapped into her car seat in the back, gave me her permission to “go fast,” her response every single time was, “Whee!” accompanied by a look of pure delight that melted my heart. If I could afford to write Tesla a $125k check to cover the fully loaded P85D they’d loaned me, they’d have never gotten the car back.

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Fast to the Future

“ The car shuts itself off and locks itself down as soon as you get out of spitting distance from it.

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Driving Range

“ It has a physical effect on your body.

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Shock On

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“Astoundingly, this is only the 1.0 version. Remember how quickly the iPhone evolved, for instance, and it’s almost terrifying (in a good way) to imagine what the 2.0 of this car will be capable of.”The P85D is that 2.0 version and, well, “terrifying” is an apt word for it. And yes, it’s still the good kind of terrifying. Following that, I concluded by saying: “Tesla has repeatedly indicated plans to build a $35k mid-sized electric sedan that’s a bit smaller (think BMW 3 series) in about 3-4 years from now. If they pull that off while building upon the Model S’s successes and (few) failures – and at this stage there’s no reason to doubt what they’re capable of – then God help the rest of the automotive industry. And my wallet.”

But the P85D’s temporary stay in my garage wasn’t ultimately about shaming Lamborghinis when stoplights turned green. It was about re-evaluating the Model S and its technology’s place in your life. For all its futuristic wonders – door handles that pop out from the body to greet you but otherwise stay tucked into the full-size sedan when in motion for maximum aerodynamic efficiency, floor-mounted batteries that free up the entire front and rear sections of the car for storage, a gigantic 17-inch dashboard touchscreen that controls nearly all of the Model S’s functions, an always-online data connection that can receive over-the-air firmware updates that improve the car after you’ve already purchased it, and more – it wasn’t perfect when we first reviewed it two years ago.Above: Our original Model S P85 review from 2013.Our 2013 Model S P85 review loaner frustratingly lacked parking sensors, power-folding sideview mirrors, and guiding lines on the backup camera – things standard in other cars at this price point – and it was saddled with sluggish 3G connectivity for the car’s Internet radio, web browser, and Google Maps-based navigation features. Meanwhile, Tesla’s proprietary, free-to-use network of fast-filling Superchargers – which can pump 150 miles of range back into a Model S battery in about 20 minutes – wasn’t much good to anyone outside of California. The Model S was workable, but less than ideal, for road trips.So, have two years of evolution made Tesla the obvious choice for any tech-obsessed person shopping for a new car, or is it still best suited for early adopters only? That’s a yes to the former.The P85D’s other features are equally impressive. The optional new “next-generation” seats are the most comfortable I’ve ever experienced in a car. The just-added traffic-adaptive cruise control lets you set your desired speed and distance from the car in front of you, and a pair of forward-facing cameras make sure you don’t have to put your foot back on either pedal – even when the car in front of you slows down or even stops. When it can, it will cruise at the speed you set, but when it can’t, it will brake accordingly. However, even at the maximum distance setting, the car didn’t start slowing down quickly enough for my comfort level, making me a bit skittish about trusting a six-figure car that didn’t belong to me to stop itself.The forward-facing cameras on 2015-build Teslas also read speed limit signs and can be programmed to beep or vibrate the steering wheel when you’re going too fast, and later this year, Tesla will enable the first wave of autopilot functionality via that built-in hardware. The promised features include the ability for the Model S to pull into and back out of your garage by itself which, in my close-quarters San Francisco neighborhood, I’d pay money to see it do.And thankfully, nearly all of the missing goodies I wanted two years ago have been added: Parking sensors and auto-folding power mirrors are now standard hardware, while the backup indicator lines overlay on the backup camera came early this year via a firmware update. 4G LTE connectivity is starting to show up in the very latest cars rolling out of Tesla’s factory, though my loaner was still on 3G (and so thus I wasn’t able to evaluate how good the 4G signal is). The only thing missing is third-party apps. As nice as the included Slacker Radio is, it’s a shame that $20,000 Fords have Pandora integrated but the Model S doesn’t. Spaceballs’ “Ludicrous Speed” in the P85D. It has a physical effect on your body – a pleasurable one for me and my daughter, but a nauseating one for my wife. Unfortunately, Tesla’s engineers forgot one thing: the acceleration is so insane – that’s literally what the button in the Driving settings controls is called, by the way – that the open, texturized rubber-coated cubby underneath the 17-inch touchscreen console is borderline useless in the P85D. My sunglasses, parking passes, and toll transponder came flying out of it every time I stood on the accelerator.The P85D’s absurd power also comes with two other, more notable caveats. First and foremost is range. Like a comparable gas-powered supercar, its per-charge driving distance (250 EPA-miles per charge) is actually less than both its P85 predecessor, which got 265 miles per charge, as well as the new 85D model, which gets 270 miles per charge but ‘only’ goes from zero to sixty in in 4.4 seconds. (The 85D also costs $70-100K, making it much more similar to the P85 in specs and cost.) Second is state-of-charge. The P85D requires a fully juiced battery to hit that 3.1-second 0-60 time. Doing acceleration runs with 50% of a charge noticeably affects the gut-punching effect, though it’s still a hell of a ride and enough to beat nearly every other car on the road (including other Teslas). Regardless, you almost never have to hit the brakes once you get used to how the car drives, as Tesla’s regenerative braking recaptures energy and feeds it back into the battery when you lift your foot off the accelerator, slowing the car in the process.As for long-distance travel, Supercharging has changed a lot since our first review two years ago. This is thanks not only to a vastly expanded free-to-use charging network around the US and Europe, but also navigation updates in the Model S software. The version 6.2 firmware in my review car shows Superchargers and “destination chargers” (i.e. high-amperage plug-in spots at luxury hotels and other places you might want to be for a while that aren’t as fast as the Superchargers) right on the car’s Google Maps-based navigation app. Better, the Model S can now route you to your destination through the Superchargers needed to get you there, including how much charge you’ll have when you arrive at each and how long you’ll need to stay there before you’ll have enough to juice to comfortably complete the next leg of your journey. While I wouldn’t quite agree with Tesla CEO Elon Musk that this “ends” range anxiety , it certainly makes trip planning significantly easier and, in my experience, it’s exceptionally easy to use.And so, yes, this full-size sedan has become even easier to live with than when it was an upstart wunderkind two years ago. It’s still the safest car in the world. It still rides beautifully on its air suspension that raises and lowers itself at your command. It still uses “negative space” in lieu of a center console to make the Model S feel even roomier. It still has acres of storage space (though not as much in the “frunk” anymore, as the addition of the second motor between the front wheels eats into the front trunk’s cargo volume). It still presents as much or as little information about your driving experience as you’re comfortable seeing on its 17-inch touchscreen console, which is still intuitive and instantly responsive. And it still costs exponentially less to operate than a comparable gas-powered car (about $8 of electricity for a full 250-mile “tank”).Two years ago, I compared the initial Model S P85 to the original iPhone:While it remains to be seen if this prediction comes true, Musk remains a man I wouldn’t bet against. After two weeks with the Model S – even when they were two years apart – I’d buy one tomorrow if I could afford it. And it’s not even about going green or sticking it to the oil companies, regardless of the Model S’s 93 MPGe rating (make no mistake, however: the P85D is a five-thousand-pound middle finger to Tesla’s detractors and doubters). With the Model S, the tech is the car, and vice versa. They are inseparable, and they each make the other better. As such, this is a tech junkie’s dream car. It’s smart, it’s efficient, it’s safe, it’s fun, and it gets better over time via over-the-air firmware updates. Oh, and one hard stomp of your right foot brightens up a bad day real fast.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. His dream car is a DeLorean, which he was lucky enough to own from 1999-2012. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan , catch him on Podcast Unlocked , and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.