When you're offered the chance to drive a Tesla Model S P85D, you take it. It doesn't matter if it's only to whip the car around the parking lot of Citi Field for 15 minutes. It doesn't matter if said lot is covered in ice and snow. And it certainly doesn't matter if you'll be accompanied by Tesla employees the whole time. You take it.

The company is currently parading a fleet of its super sedans around the U.S. for potential buyers to drive, and they invited me for a quick spin. And so I did.

A modified version of the rear-drive all-electric Model S, the P85D is equipped with a new 221-horsepower front motor in addition to its 470-horsepower rear motor. In addition to a ridiculous grand total of 691 hp, that setup gives the vehicle all-wheel drive (the P in P85D stands for performance, the D for dual motor). This boosted power and stability also makes this Tesla preposterous off the line. With the car's accurately named Insane Mode selected, it can achieve 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds. We did that.

There has been plenty of praise for the P85D's ability to rocket off the line, but it really is something you have to experience for yourself. Bury the pedal and all 691 horses and 686 lb-ft. of torque instantaneously appear as though you've conjured some demon from another dimension. The car lunges forward and continues to pull hard as you tear a hole in the universe and consider keeping the car, even if it means kidnapping the PR guy in the back. Your body snaps into the seat. Your eyes widen. Your stomach lurches. It's so much fun we did it three times.

Your body snaps into the seat. Your eyes widen. Your stomach lurches.

The car's saner purpose, its all-wheel-drive system, was also impressive during my limited test drive. Because it has an electric motor in the front and the rear, the car can distribute torque as needed in a split-second. Riding through a puddled chicane and some slick turns at a decent clip, the P85D remained balanced and composed. Once, when I goosed it a bit too much (easy to do in this car) and felt a wheel slip on a patch of ice, the car immediately found itself, no steering corrections required. On the last stretch of the course, which was covered in snow, the P85D had zero traction issues, even when I tugged the wheel back and forth.

After the drive, I sat down to talk with Paul Thomas, Tesla's vehicle engineering manager, and Andrew Gray, senior manager of driver assistance and Autopilot. Because of Tesla's modest size and nimble manufacturing strategy, I was curious how quickly the P85D went from idea to conception. According to Thomas, it only took a year, and that's because they had to modify the front-end architecture to accommodate the additional motor. Thomas also says the new motor is much more efficient at delivering power than the older one in the rear. "The front motor isn't working as hard," he says. "We've learned a lot."

The P85D also introduced Tesla's Autopilot mode, the company's new suite of safety and driver-aid systems that rely on a forward radar, a forward-looking camera, and 12 long-range ultrasonic sensors. Autopilot currently provides assistance such as traffic-aware cruise control, forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, and intelligent speed assist.

With this hardware in place on all Model S sedans now being produced, Tesla can add features to the system through over-the-air software updates. In the next year, it should have emergency braking, blind-spot warning, side-collision warning, side-collision avoidance, and Autopark. These are all features many other vehicles already have, but Gray says Tesla wants eventually to enable highway Autopilot from exit ramp to exit ramp. In other words, the car will drive itself down the road at 70 mph.

Andrew Del-Colle

Since I had the man in charge of Tesla's autonomous technology sitting in front of me, I wanted to know the company's position on driverless cars. There's an unsubstantiated theory in some automotive circles that traditional carmakers secretly don't want fully autonomous cars because it could completely upend their businesses. Tesla, though, is anything but a regular car company. "We want to go as far as we can go," Gray says.

Despite my limited time behind the wheel, there's no question the P85D is an exceptional piece of technology. Because of its second motor, the car weighs a hefty 4,936 pounds, but it still manages to handle like a much smaller sports car. The extra weight and power does take a toll on the battery life, though, with the P85D having an estimated EPA range of 253 miles—16 less than the 85D and 12 less than the standard 85 kWh Model S. So we're looking forward to getting our hands on one for a longer period of time for some real-world testing—and, of course, a few more Insane Mode launches.

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