About that 99 score

Advocates of coal-burning vehicles are understandably abuzz about a recent Consumer Reports review of the Model S which gave that model a rating of 99 out of 100 possible points.  Now, given what I've presented about this vehicle, you would be correct to assume that your host would give the vehicle a score closer to 10 than 100 on a scale of 100.  So what gives?

What gives is that the automotive writers are placing the Tesla in its own niche where adverse comparisons to competitive vehicles--its extremely low range, tight rear seats and poor rear visibility, and nasty environmental effects--simply do not matter.  It's not about how the vehicle really stacks up--poorly even in terms of performance--versus other sedans priced at $70,000 and above, but rather about how the writers react to bright shiny things.