My weekend in the Tesla Model S

There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the Tesla Model S, so I was anxious to get a chance to live with it for a few days and see if I felt it deserved the top score awarded by my engineer colleagues. I am happy to say, the car did not disappoint.

I took the Tesla home last Thursday evening with an indicated 167-mile range--a generous amount for a 20-mile commute. The only challenge was fitting the large car in my compact garage to charge. I left the S connected to my 110-volt garage plug until Saturday morning and started the day with 235 miles. (Check out: "Talking Cars: Our experts discuss life with the Tesla Model S.")

We picked up another family of three and all seven of us traveled 50 miles each way to a strawberry farm for picking. My two kids were seated in the 3rd row, another child was in a car seat in the second row and there were four adults. Initially, my kids seemed to enjoy the wow-factor of the rear-facing seat for part of the trip, but then complained about the heat and started to feel nauseous. Unfortunately, the air doesn't circulate very well that far back, and my kids were sweating from the sun baking through the rear window. This novel feature is best reserved for short trips or milder weather. (Read: "Our Tesla Model S gets a third-row seat and now seats seven.")

To learn more about the Tesla Model S, see our road test review.

When we arrived home, the car had about 90 miles left. Rather than charge agonizingly slow at home, we decided to take advantage of the nearby Tesla showroom at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ, to sample a Tesla Supercharger. I had called the showroom ahead of time to find out their location. I was told to call when I arrived, and they would come down and plug it in. In less than three hours at the mall eating dinner and shopping, the range climbed to 200 miles. One thing I did notice was the supercharging plug was quite hot after the charge, and we had to cover our hands with a shirt to release the handle.

We headed home after our mall trip and plugged the car back in the snug garage to top it off for our Sunday excursion to the New Jersey shore. The next morning the S had 235 miles and was ready to go, but this time, we moved the kids to the second row in their car seats. Everyone was much happier.