Help me choose a new car

[SpykerOwner]

That's not gonna help with a 55 miles range (at Top Gear) :lol:

[IVR007]

and what do you think of the lotus evora?

[F Spider]

I'm often tempted to take a nice coupe, but when it really comes down to it I know I want a convertible

[F Spider]

I heard that Tesla complained to Top Gear. I guess that exaggerating is their spiel

[SpykerOwner]

I heard that Tesla complained to Top Gear. I guess that exaggerating is their spiel

What are the complaints about? About the low mileage or about the fact the Teslas broke down all the time?

[AX lover]

The reaction from Tesla:

For the record: Thanks to The Stig’s impressive turn behind the wheel, the Tesla Roadster gets a higher ranking in Top Gear’s performance board than a Porsche 911 GT3. Jeremy Clarkson, a die-hard “petrol head” with a clear bias against green cars generally, said that it must be “snowing in hell” because he had such a great time driving the Roadster and now considers himself a “volt head” thanks to the Roadster’s amazing performance. This is amazingly high praise from Clarkson, whose entire schtick is to savage even his most beloved petrol-guzzling sports cars.

However, I would like to clarify a couple things. Never at any time did Clarkson or any of the Top Gear drivers run out of charge. In fact, they never got below 20 percent charge in either car; they never had to push a car off the track because of lack of charge or a fault. (It’s unclear why they were pushing one into a garage in the video; I’ll refrain from speculating about their motives and their acting ability.)

The “brake failure” Clarkson mentions was solely a blown fuse; a service technician replaced the Roadster’s pump and it was back up and running immediately. They were never without a car, and the Top Gear testing did not put the Roadster’s reliability or safety in question whatsoever. Again, I’m going to leave out comments as to why the good folks at Top Gear might have mischaracterized the blown fuse as a brake failure, which is was decidedly not.

I am also unclear as to why Clarkson said it took 16 hours to recharge the Roadster without qualifying that statement at all. The vast majority of people who have taken delivery of their Roadsters (and there are more than 100 of them now) have much faster systems that recharge from dead to full in as little as 3.5 hours. However, I really enjoyed and heartily endorse Clarkson’s suggestion that, if people want to race Roadsters 24-7, they should simply buy two.

If anyone continued watching the show until the end, you no doubt also saw the show’s astoundingly uninformed coverage of Honda’s hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, which cannot be purchased at all but rather leased for $600 per month in Southern California to 200 pre-qualified customers in the next three years. Clarkson rips on the Roadster for being three times the price of a Lotus Elise — yet I find it odd that the humble advocates for everyman at Top Gear never even mention the price of the Clarity, which is about five times the cost of a Roadster, according to industry analysts. (Honda refuses to divulge the price of the Clarity, but its previous FCX, first delivered in 2002, cost about $1 million each to produce, and executives have coyly indicated that the new ones are about half the cost of the old ones.)

A conspicuous omission, me thinks. Let the readers beware.

Rachel Konrad
Senior Communications Manager
Tesla Motors Inc.

Source: Tesla clears up some of Clarkson’s claims during Tesla Roadster test drive

[SpykerOwner]

Looks like the people at Tesla think Top Gear is an actual Car Magazine. It is not. It is pure entertainment and they use cars for it.

I love Top Gear and as a die hard fan of brands like Alfa Romeo and Spyker I don't care one bit about their negative comments about the capabilities of the 8C and the C8 on a track.

[Spyker 007]

It's a girl!!
Rachel Konrad
Senior Communications Manager
Tesla Motors Inc.



Range will always be the problem with electric cars.
However, what is the co2 emission level to produce the required electricity for a full battery?

Which produces most CO2 per 1000km?
a- city bus
b- Touring bus
c- Train

a- 30gram.
b- 20gram
c- 50gram!!!!!!!

(tv show Deal or no Deal)

IMO Electric cars may match performance, but can never match the sensation of a petrol car.

Jeffrey

[Spyker 007]

Looks like the people at Tesla think Top Gear is an actual Car Magazine. It is not. It is pure entertainment and they use cars for it.

+1

The owner of the Daytona was not compensated in any way AND had to make sure his car would be in the UK studio.....

YouTube - Top Gear Race Boat vs Car (Part 1 of 2)

YouTube - Top Gear Race Boat vs Car (Part 2 of 2)

Top Gear is still the ONLY entertaining car show. Other shows are just commercials and very boring!!!

[AX lover]

The vast majority of people who have taken delivery of their Roadsters ... have much faster systems that recharge from dead to full in as little as 3.5 hours.

So you need some kind of very special system to be able to recharge your Tesla in 'only' 3,5 hours? And when you want to recharge it regular (like Clarkson did) it will indeed take 16 hours.

[F Spider]

Let's go back to the original premise of this thread. In 2009 I need to replace my car in the Netherlands.

For years, I used to drive a Lotus Elise, but after one particular wet summer replaced it with a Honda S2000. A top that closed in less than 5 seconds looked at the time very attractive

Now, even though an S2000 is a pretty good sports car (especially the US version), it suffers under a lack of excitement.

Please discuss

[SpykerOwner]

No discussion: Lotus Exige S

(you can even park it at my place )

[Spyker 007]

Let's go back to the original premise of this thread. In 2009 I need to replace my car in the Netherlands.

For years, I used to drive a Lotus Elise, but after one particular wet summer replaced it with a Honda S2000. A top that closed in less than 5 seconds looked at the time very attractive

Now, even though an S2000 is a pretty good sports car (especially the US version), it suffers under a lack of excitement.

Please discuss

Ship over the Spyker for a couple of months and do a road trip around europe in the summer of 2009.

A (used low milage, budget??) Porsche 997?

[F Spider]

Ship over the Spyker for a couple of months and do a road trip around europe in the summer of 2009.

In the summer the whole family comes to Europe, so we need a four seater. For the other eleven months a single seater is enough

[F Spider]

A (used low milage, budget??) Porsche 997?

I'm very partial to a convertible. After a long day of business meetings, with a major jet-lag, there is nothing like driving with the top down.

I did look at the Porsche GT3 RS, but that does not come as a convertible