Ever since the Tesla Model S first made its debut back in 2012, it's been leaving its competitors for dead when it comes down to all-out acceleration. In the name of science, Top Gear brought out a Kia Stinger GT S and the slowest Model S you can buy and lined them both up for a drag race. Last year, they put the Model S P100D up against the Porsche 911 R. Though being down on power, the 911 is lighter than the Tesla, but the result was inevitable with the P100D absolutely crushing the R in the quarter-mile.
With this particular matchup, both the Stinger GT S and Model S 75D are much closer in terms of the numbers on the stat sheet. The rear-wheel-drive Stinger has the slight advantage in horsepower with 370 compared to the Tesla's 367 ponies that's put down by all four wheels. However, the 75D wins in the torque department producing 486 pound-feet of torque over the Stinger's 367 lb-ft of torque. Each opponent having an advantage over the other makes it too close to call before the race even begins.
Once both drivers were given the green light, the massive torque advantage of the Model S along with its all-wheel-drive just overwhelmed the Stinger at the start. Even though it's about 440 pounds lighter than the Tesla, the Stinger just couldn't get the jump at the launch. From there, the 75D continues to walk away from its petrol-powered opponent all the way to the finish line.
If there's a lesson to be learned, it's that electric power is extremely hard to beat with its instant torque right off the bat. While the Stinger needed to wait for the turbos to spool up, the Model S had all of its torque on tap at will. Also, we don't know if the Stinger GT S in the video has AWD, but it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference. We'd like to see how the two would fair if the finish line were at the one-mile mark instead of the quarter. Who would take the win?
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