According to Car and Driver, the Tesla sedan is quite possibly the best car ever built. You read that correctly. The vehicle has been dubbed as the best car of all time, and that's quite a feather in the cap of Elon Musk. Since the car's unveiling, it has been put up against some of the meanest, baddest hot rods around on the quarter mile track to see how well it performed against some serious muscle. The results might surprise you.

Tesla Vs. 2014 Stingray

On the quarter mile track, the Tesla started out with a lead, but ultimately lost toward the end, by 0.077 seconds. That's not bad for a sedan versus a souped up sports car, and is, by any account, a respectable showing.

The car was also tested against the Lamborghini, which it lost handily to, despite getting off to an early lead, and the Dodge Viper, which it bested in the competition. Again, that's not bad for a family car. Some fairly impressive bragging rights to take down a Viper.

Let's Hot Rod!

Given the above, it was only a matter of time before a company jumped headlong into the fray to begin tricking out the model. Saleen Automative is that company, and it's welcome addition in that it opens up a whole new class of vehicles to hot rodding. Of course, it's a bit of a different challenge, working with an all electric vehicle. There's nothing to tweak where fuel or combustion is concerned, and there's little to be done between the battery, motor, and drive shaft, so right from jump, this car presented Saleen with some technical challenges.

They opted not to touch the induction motor, but did add a custom locking differential and upgraded the drive train. This allows the rear tires to spin a bit more freely, which makes smoking the tires easier. Of course, it doesn't add power or acceleration, but it does make it easier to drive the car a bit more like a hot rod.

Make It Look The Part

Other improvements made the car look sportier and offer better handling. The addition of sideskirts reduced lift and they gave the sedan a rear wing and a more aerodynamic hood. The suspension got an upgrade as well, and the Saleen rendering of the Tesla Sedan has it sitting on 21 and 22 inch rims.

The one thing the Tesla can't replicate though, is the smell of exhaust and the rumble of the engine. Since there's no exhaust and the engine just doesn't rumble, there's little to be done there. Sadly, that means that while the Tesla certainly has the chops to beat some of the fastest cars on wheels today, the concept of a Tesla Hot Rod probably isn't going to go mainstream anytime soon.

That's not to say that people aren't trying, and kudos to them for doing so. Anything that helps bring more attention to this fantastic car has to be seen as a good. Just don't expect to see Teslas on too many quarter mile tracks. It's been a fun series of experiments, but probably a bit too far off the beaten track to ever become truly mainstream.