By Syd Taylor

When 'change' strikes a blow and makes dust of building blocks of certainty, what are you to do?

Retire to your moated country residence, raise the drawbridge and pull down the shutters? Or flick the dust away, raise your chin and go with the flow?

There is a third way, of course, which is to suck it and see. This approach is not without merits. You won't be phased by fads for one thing. You'll have a better chance of ducking quackery. You'll also be in a position to know a good thing when one comes along, because you have taken the time to weigh things up and form a considered opinion.

Sometimes the process is easier because novelty and virtue appear to shake hands; this is certainly true of Tesla - a marque that has quickly established itself as the brand to have if you happen to be in the market for a conscientiously progressive style of 21st century motoring.

Recently I chuckled when a friend coined a new term for electrically propelled transportation.

"They're not motor cars anymore," he opined. "They're voltacars."

He had a point. A Tesla is what you get when you wipe the SLATE clean and start afresh. It helps too if in doing so you STEAL a march on rivals via sophistication of design and engineering with outstanding powertrain efficiency, slippery aerodynamics and advanced chassis design. And not forgetting that Tesla has the opposition in a spin with the very best charging infrastructure.

Throughout my acquaintance with the £47,500 Model 3 Long Range I found the experience overwhelming. I was forced to trawl motoring history in search of a comparison for such a leap forward. A Tesla is - well - sui generis. For those who didn't do Latin at school it means it's like nothing else but itself.

Certainly as seen in the sunlight of a June evening it creates a composition of wind tunnel sculpted significance. Another way of putting it is to liken the Tesla to a resonating instrument issuing forth an harmonious paean of deliverance to planet harming emissions - in plain English, it speaks the language of progress.

From the driving seat of this luxury 4 door saloon that's roughly the same size as a BMW 3 Series (but with two 'boots' and lots of passenger space because the powertrain is under the floor) one marvels at the unity of the concept. There's a 15 inch touchscreen that integrates media, navigation, communications, cabin control and vehicle data in one intuitive interface. You even get 'over the air' software updates for possible interstellar developments; all NASA and beyond.

The impression is not so much of a car propelled by a 75kWh battery pack as of a purpose built carriage designed for contemporary connoisseurs of coulomb-packed propulsion. It goes like the wind but not a single hair of the cosseted occupants is ruffled. Indeed, regardless of challenging traffic conditions a mood of zen-like calm prevails in the silence. Refinement is re-written by virtue of Tesla's rigorous attention to details and quality construction. I wondered whether for the first time all the multifarious components that go into the construction of a motor car were here combined in one seamless whole.

This amounts to a ringing endorsement. No longer does it make sense to sit on the fence. The Tesla is that good thing we have been waiting for. It's the 'here and now car' for those in the know. Tesla ownership means you're keeping ahead of the curve, guaranteeing that all your surprises will be pleasant ones. Cynics might think that's going too far but the Tesla experience puts such positive thoughts in your head.

Confident in the range of this 'long range variant' which claims 360 miles (but I think that's 'pussyfooting around' range - I reckon 275 miles when used hard), I left the motorway (where there are Tesla superchargers at all services), to enjoy a sweeping A road.

Farms and villages came and went in an unfolding tapestry of picturesque calm. Any slower traffic was simply gobbled up in overtakes that would make a 911 turbo seem pedestrian - such is the huge mid-range torque of the dual motors driving all four wheels; there's about 434 bhp and elephant torque, and the kick is somewhat akin to engaging full reheat on Concorde.

Think top speed nonsense and it's around 145mph. As for the handling and stability - the low centre of gravity makes it feel glued to the road, offering unparalleled smoothness of progress characteristic of the new icon that goes by the name of Tesla.

What puts Tesla in a different league from other electric cars is the excellent charging infrastructure. With others you need to sign up to charging contracts, give credit card details, go back to university to understand how to use that charger (often broken) and consider giving up.

You just plug in your Tesla... and we can all manage that.