[94SilverCab]

Fastest production car ever made!

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-tes...=buffer-bi

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[flash]

oh yeah - i'm there

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[ds968]

You couldn't  pay me enough to drive an electric piece of crap like that.   But hey, to each his own, so line up because there''ll be a long wait for those ..   

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[Rap]

Production?

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[flash]

lol - dan may be one of the last petrol powered car drivers on the planet.  they have already begun scheduling the discontinuation import of all petrol powered cars here in europe.  diesels too.  this was all based on older projections of environmental change.  with the newer projections, which are considerably less optimal, those dates are likely to push up.

 

having owned 2 electric cars, i can say for certain that they are far better to drive than any fossil fuel powered car.  they are faster out of the hole, much more responsive, and incredibly quiet.  range has been the biggest issue.  also, styling has not been great thus far, due entirely to the need for internal space, in order to sell them.  the tesla that is out there now is doing incredibly well, with less than half the range they are talking about.  if they manage to get 620 in a small car like that, think of what they will get in a car that can have larger batteries.  if they start making cars with that kind of styling, and range to go with it, it's over for petrol powered cars.

 

of course, for it all to actually work, they need to stop making the batteries overseas, and having to ship them in container ships that end up creating more carbon than the cars would save.  that balance will tip with increased production, but if they could figure out how to make them in the country in which the cars were built, it would be a lot better.

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[ds968]

Meh, here's the only suitable use for cars which run on batteries ( and most people driving electric cars probably have the same reaction when switching from petrol automobiles , lol )


   

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[flash]

your age is showing.  inflexible, old thinking, out of date.  come on man - catch up.

 

the only reason petrol motors ever caught on was cost.  they are incredibly inefficient.  they just don't cost much to run, and the infrastructure is easy.  that's all changing now though.

 

keep up, or get out of the way

 

we loved our electric cars.  we want another one.  it's really the only way to go.  once we move into the next house, it will be free to run.  the panels on the roof will charge the car.  zero cost to run.

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[94SilverCab]

Production?

Yes, F1 cars are faster....0-60 1.9 seconds

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[ds968]

your age is showing.  inflexible, old thinking, out of date.  come on man - catch up.

 

the only reason petrol motors ever caught on was cost.  they are incredibly inefficient.  they just don't cost much to run, and the infrastructure is easy.  that's all changing now though.

 

keep up, or get out of the way

 

we loved our electric cars.  we want another one.  it's really the only way to go.  once we move into the next house, it will be free to run.  the panels on the roof will charge the car.  zero cost to run.

Complete hogwash argument . Has nothing to do with age or out of date thinking , and certainly not inflexibility ; it's all about preference and choice . That's like telling people listening to anything other than rap is old fashioned , because rap is what's taking over and if you don't join new " thing ", get out of the way. IMO, electric cars are nothing more than glorified golf carts meant for old and lazy people who lost their desire to drive a real car and now want "serenity" in all aspects of their lives. Furthermore, praising the values of electric cars as the cornerstone of a utopia, which seems to be the common thread for most owners is not dissimilar from the cult mentality you see with Apple - oh, it's the new wave, get with the program, keep up, if you don't have all the gizmos you're archaic ..yada , yada , let's all drink more Kool-Aid , because we're saving the environment and you're not . It started with all the smug Prius owners, and now graduating to Teslas, and the rest of the lower status electric cars. The manufacturing process of car batteries, not to mention the disposition of old ones has a major adverse environmental impact, so before you pat yourself on the back for buying an e-vehicle, do a little research . Anyway , as I said , to each his own, but I need FUEL , the vroom vroom which comes with it and a decent exhaust note in my cars to know they're cars, not sewing machines . And not the fake exhaust sound piped in the cabin via the speakers. Lol, on that topic, the only thing Teslas and other electric cars are missing is elevator music Ugh.


Maybe when there will be as many charge stations as there are gas stations, AND when charging your car requires no more than 60 seconds , a decent case could be made for electric cars. Until then tne inconvenience of having one just adds to all the other reasons for not owning it. And even then I still won't be caught dead in one, lol.

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[Rap]

People should be listening to me. Do these cars need subsidies ? I forget?

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[968Syncro]

We probably need to get the electric car companies to offer a manual transmission / stick to convert the holdouts.  :glare:

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[ds968]

We probably need to get the electric car companies to offer a manual transmission / stick to convert the holdouts.  :glare:

Now that would be a compelling incentive / motivation to consider one ...


But I must admit the alleged 600 miles range is a very impressive leap . I presume that's at a consistent 65 mph, because the moment you accelerate a bit too much you'll watch the battery drain as fast as watching the gas gauge needle of on an old muscle car move as you're stepping on the gas ..so particularly with the hyper-fast Tesla roadster it'd be difficult not to take advantage of that power all the time, so I would say the realistic range for most drivers will be more like 100 miles , not 600 ..

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[flash]

anyone who doesnt like electric cars clearly hasnt spent any time in an electric car.  you would feel very differently if you spent a month in one.  they are so much more fun to drive than a gas car. the instant-on power is intoxicating. same goes for non-stick transmissions, like the pdk. they make driving fast so much more accurate and easy. you just haven't given them a chance, and refuse to do so.  ok. no worries. i am stuck in the mud, old and cranky about some stuff too. i still havent used any social media, and do not intend to.

 

as for subsidies, no, they do not need subsidies.  i bought our first one with no subsidies, rebates, or discounts whatsoever.  yes, it certainly helps, but they won't be around for much longer, as the sales numbers are soaring, and the technology gets better, making them more and more attractive.

 

as for range change, it's not that severe at speed.  yes, there is a loss, but i blasted around in the i3 at full throttle almost all the time, and i still got 80% of the range of what it would have been at 55mph.  by the way, you can get even better range, if you learn how to take advantage of the brake charging.  i was able to stretch the 110mile range to 140.

 

they are the way of the future, and not so far off.  by the way, apple is better too. i have no idea how anybody could put up with those clunky windows machines. it must just be that they wont spend the money on better products.

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[ds968]

It is true I have not spent any significant time in electric cars, just drove a couple of Teslas for maybe a total of ten minutes, including the latest P 100 S or whatever that model is which does 0-60 in 2.6 seconds in ludicrous mode and was a passenger in a few also, but I simply don't need more time than that to decide if I like anything or not . Maybe with cars it's different and one does not know immediately if they'll grow on you, as you spemd more time in them, but I've heard the same argument used relative to PDK / paddle shift vs, manual shift, and after six months of driving a spectacular car ( as a daily driver ) which in every other respect is one of the most revered models in the word , it has a paddle shift and I can categorically say that it does not even hold a candle to stick shift / clutch pedal use in terms of the driving fun factor...to me, that is. Yes, as you say it's faster, it's more convenient, and no doubt so is the electric car, but just not my cup of tea, and don't think driving one for three months or more will change my opinion. Same with convertibles, lol. More than anything I absolutely detest super quiet cars, and thus, electric ones . Yeah, the benefit of the stereo sound inside a quiet car is undeniable, but that does not make up for the " vroom vroom" fix I need :-) :-). I will test drive the new Tesla Roadster when it's available, just to see how it feels, but don't hold much hope that i like it nymore than I (dis)like the sedan version.


P.S. I just posted an article on the antithesis to electric cars on the " 650 HP, the new norm ? " thread . I say that in jest, because even I feel a 5,000 HP ( yes , five thousand ! ) car is both silly and obnoxious. Also useless ..except in Dubai I suppose .

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[Chris Vais]

I've driven a couple of Tesla's and they are impressive. I have two issues, however. The storage batteries these cars use are not easily recycled. I worked on a project for a large tech company, looking at the environmental issues surrounding the safe storage and recycling of Lithium Ion batteries. Much more work needs to be done on both these two issues.

 

At this point in time I don't see electric cars as an answer to some of the environmental issues we face, especially climate change. As long as we burn fossil fuel to general the power we use to recharge car batteries, we really haven't addressed to issue of CO2 emissions. While I applaud the idea that some European countries would like to ban the use of petrol powered cars, they also should be generating all of their electric power from clean renewable sources.

 

I thought that Tesla's take on the tractor trailer was interesting as well.

 

Here is an interesting business opportunity. Design a system that can be installed in your Tesla that synchs the sound of the high performance car of your choice with the speed the car is moving at. I have a friend who owns a Tesla who would love to have it souns like a Ferrari.

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[flash]

i think the largest difference here is a philosophical difference in what is fun.  for me, fun is running though a series of corners as fast as i can, and feeling the lateral g-force changes.  i am not interested in the things i have to fight along the way.  i am not interested in distracting things like engine noise.  it's more like flying a fighter for me.  the best rush i ever had was in an F5.  that is what i seek in a car.  not reasonable.  not likely.  still, that's the rush i want.  i have "been there done that" with shifting, loud exhaust, and all that nonsense.

 

the idea of an electric car, insulating me from all distractions and peripheral insertion of annoyance, and being able to focus on surfing through the corners, is incredibly attractive to me.

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[Chris Vais]

Flash, I don't disagree. I found the Tesla's I drove to be great fun. Unfortunately, I was not able to wring one out on a mountain road, but I did pull some Gs on exit ramps. BTW, they handle constricting radius exit ramps just fine.

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[az968]

Spent an hour with a friend and his new GT3 on our local mountain loop road. I have to confess that the sound of the engine spooling up accellarating out of corner adds a lot to the fun. I'm not sure pure silence will be as much overall fun.

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[flash]

i love the sound of some engines as much as anybody (always hated the sound of all porsches though, including my targa gts).  however, i have had the opportunity to experience what it is like to not have to listen to that.  i have also come to realise that most of the time, you are not in a situation where you can listen to that anyway, even if you wanted to.  most of the time, you are just going from point a to point b.  it is foolhardy to buy a car for the 15% use.  one should always focus on the 85% use.  unless you plan to have multiple cars, one of which is purely for fun, it just doesn't work.

 

i have no issue not having to deal with shifting.  i never like that part of driving anyway.  i have no issue not having to listen to the constant drone of exhaust.  that's one of the reasons i hate the B&B, as well as a couple of other tin can exhausts.  that constant drone would drive me crazy.  i went through a lot of time and money trying hard to find the balance between noise and performance.  no magic bullet found either.

 

electric cars do the best job of providing the a to b solution.  this new tesla looks like it can also be fun as well, and it sure is pretty.

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[ds968]

Yes I agree it's pretty but way too small , and for 1/10 of the money I'd rather buy a Miata ( no too dissimilar looking, lol ) and probably almost as much fun to drive , though not nearly as fast .

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