Tesla Model S
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Joined: Apr 2002
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From: The hell where youth and laughter go
Tesla Model S
I have to admit, sometimes we get some nice metal in at work, this time it was a Tesla. Been seeing a few of these driving around recently. Very understated from the outside and easily missed of course I had to take a closer look...
Have to say I'm impressed, although with what they cost it bloody well should be. Love the interior. Huge boot (front and rear).
Some niggles with typical American chrome plated plastics and the driver's door dropped so the panels don't align, but given this is such a new company and for them to make something without resorting to pilfering out of other manufacturer's parts bins (like Aston Martin used to do).
Underneath is like a lotus Exige; totally flat. Front suspension looks like the typical ZF-Lemförder affair as found on F10 BMWs, Mercs and Jags (why do all the big manuafcturers have identical suspension deisgns these days?
).
Ok I only drove it 50yards to park it up but wow, its weird. This is a car that can match my Golf's 0-60 and makes zero noise. the automation of the door locks and ignition is superb, no messing with buttons, handbrakes, keys etc - just open the door and put it in D and drive it! If they can make more electric cars like this that are affordable and go a bit further, then this is the future.
Meanwhile I serviced a Auris Hybrid and was quickly shown exactly what electric cars should NOT be. Horrible, dull to sit in, dull to look at, dull to drive, and pointless too. Can't plug it in, and it has a small boot.
Ban hybrids that can't be driven for more than 50miles without resorting to firing up the engine (or a few hundred yards for the Auris), or at least the tax incentives. Yesterday's tech.
Have to say I'm impressed, although with what they cost it bloody well should be. Love the interior. Huge boot (front and rear).
Some niggles with typical American chrome plated plastics and the driver's door dropped so the panels don't align, but given this is such a new company and for them to make something without resorting to pilfering out of other manufacturer's parts bins (like Aston Martin used to do).
Underneath is like a lotus Exige; totally flat. Front suspension looks like the typical ZF-Lemförder affair as found on F10 BMWs, Mercs and Jags (why do all the big manuafcturers have identical suspension deisgns these days?
).Ok I only drove it 50yards to park it up but wow, its weird. This is a car that can match my Golf's 0-60 and makes zero noise. the automation of the door locks and ignition is superb, no messing with buttons, handbrakes, keys etc - just open the door and put it in D and drive it! If they can make more electric cars like this that are affordable and go a bit further, then this is the future.
Meanwhile I serviced a Auris Hybrid and was quickly shown exactly what electric cars should NOT be. Horrible, dull to sit in, dull to look at, dull to drive, and pointless too. Can't plug it in, and it has a small boot.
Ban hybrids that can't be driven for more than 50miles without resorting to firing up the engine (or a few hundred yards for the Auris), or at least the tax incentives. Yesterday's tech.
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From: 5 beats 4 - RS3 Rulez!!!
They don't interest me from a motoring perspective in their current form. But from a business and technology perspective, it's absolutely amazing what Elon Musk has achieved.
He reminds me of another Steve Jobs type guy.
He reminds me of another Steve Jobs type guy.
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,280
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From: Glasgow
I have to admit, sometimes we get some nice metal in at work, this time it was a Tesla. Been seeing a few of these driving around recently. Very understated from the outside and easily missed of course I had to take a closer look...
Have to say I'm impressed, although with what they cost it bloody well should be. Love the interior. Huge boot (front and rear).
Some niggles with typical American chrome plated plastics and the driver's door dropped so the panels don't align, but given this is such a new company and for them to make something without resorting to pilfering out of other manufacturer's parts bins (like Aston Martin used to do).
Underneath is like a lotus Exige; totally flat. Front suspension looks like the typical ZF-Lemförder affair as found on F10 BMWs, Mercs and Jags (why do all the big manuafcturers have identical suspension deisgns these days? ).
Ok I only drove it 50yards to park it up but wow, its weird. This is a car that can match my Golf's 0-60 and makes zero noise. the automation of the door locks and ignition is superb, no messing with buttons, handbrakes, keys etc - just open the door and put it in D and drive it! If they can make more electric cars like this that are affordable and go a bit further, then this is the future.
Meanwhile I serviced a Auris Hybrid and was quickly shown exactly what electric cars should NOT be. Horrible, dull to sit in, dull to look at, dull to drive, and pointless too. Can't plug it in, and it has a small boot.
Ban hybrids that can't be driven for more than 50miles without resorting to firing up the engine (or a few hundred yards for the Auris), or at least the tax incentives. Yesterday's tech.
Have to say I'm impressed, although with what they cost it bloody well should be. Love the interior. Huge boot (front and rear).
Some niggles with typical American chrome plated plastics and the driver's door dropped so the panels don't align, but given this is such a new company and for them to make something without resorting to pilfering out of other manufacturer's parts bins (like Aston Martin used to do).
Underneath is like a lotus Exige; totally flat. Front suspension looks like the typical ZF-Lemförder affair as found on F10 BMWs, Mercs and Jags (why do all the big manuafcturers have identical suspension deisgns these days?
).Ok I only drove it 50yards to park it up but wow, its weird. This is a car that can match my Golf's 0-60 and makes zero noise. the automation of the door locks and ignition is superb, no messing with buttons, handbrakes, keys etc - just open the door and put it in D and drive it! If they can make more electric cars like this that are affordable and go a bit further, then this is the future.
Meanwhile I serviced a Auris Hybrid and was quickly shown exactly what electric cars should NOT be. Horrible, dull to sit in, dull to look at, dull to drive, and pointless too. Can't plug it in, and it has a small boot.
Ban hybrids that can't be driven for more than 50miles without resorting to firing up the engine (or a few hundred yards for the Auris), or at least the tax incentives. Yesterday's tech.
My uncle has one.
Its the fastest thing i have ever driven.
Have a good vid of it launching on facebook.
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From: denmark
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From: The hell where youth and laughter go
If we can generate and store our own power at home or work for when we need to use it would make arguments for building more power stations like Hinkley null and void.
His "gigafactories" are something we haven't seen on this scale in the western world for a long time, and its good as we need someone to out produce China, which if anyone noticed is hoarding precious metals used for battery production purely in order to capture the market and control prices. Musk has a fight on his hands with the Chinese, I hope he wins.
The one we had in was a 70D (which IIRC stands for a 70KWh battery pack and AWD) which is slower than SmurfyBhoy's P90D. Its 0-60 is 5.2 seconds. Golf "officially" is 6 seconds, its a tad quicker than that though, its not 5.2 though.
Last edited by ALi-B; Aug 25, 2016 at 12:08 AM.
I like Musk's vision of a whole city/country wide energy solution, where car manufacturers just generally focus on the car bit. The solarcity combined with his powerwall technologies makes electric cars feasible and importantly a genuine nod to reducing pollution when using cars (maybe not for production though). Hes one of the few to acknowledge that a electric car powered via the electricity grid, of which is partly fossil fueled is not only inefficient, but polluting in itself.
If we can generate and store our own power at home or work for when we need to use it would make arguments for building more power stations like Hinkley null and void.
His "gigafactories" are something we haven't seen on this scale in the western world for a long time, and its good as we need someone to out produce China, which if anyone noticed is hoarding precious metals used for battery production purely in order to capture the market and control prices. Musk has a fight on his hands with the Chinese, I hope he wins.
The one we had in was a 70D (which IIRC stands for a 70KWh battery pack and AWD) which is slower than SmurfyBhoy's P90D. Its 0-60 is 5.2 seconds. Golf "officially" is 6 seconds, its a tad quicker than that though, its not 5.2 though.
If we can generate and store our own power at home or work for when we need to use it would make arguments for building more power stations like Hinkley null and void.
His "gigafactories" are something we haven't seen on this scale in the western world for a long time, and its good as we need someone to out produce China, which if anyone noticed is hoarding precious metals used for battery production purely in order to capture the market and control prices. Musk has a fight on his hands with the Chinese, I hope he wins.
The one we had in was a 70D (which IIRC stands for a 70KWh battery pack and AWD) which is slower than SmurfyBhoy's P90D. Its 0-60 is 5.2 seconds. Golf "officially" is 6 seconds, its a tad quicker than that though, its not 5.2 though.
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From: Glasgow
Honestly the fastest car I have been in, the instant acceleration has to be felt to be properly understood.
However from 90mph onwards i would say my 400bhp sti feels just as quick,
Couldn't get more than 130mph out it maybe 140 max.
Tesla recently announced P100d which is a better batterey that can be retrofitted for £10k ish,
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-a...upgrades/34845
However from 90mph onwards i would say my 400bhp sti feels just as quick,
Couldn't get more than 130mph out it maybe 140 max.
Tesla recently announced P100d which is a better batterey that can be retrofitted for £10k ish,
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-a...upgrades/34845
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From: Berks
No it wouldn't. You'd never get the required uptake and even if you did, you'd never be able to store enough energy to do away with big powerstations.
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From: Berks
I don't really get the looks myself, almost look like a concept car from the 80's.
Looks really dated already.
The one they had on top gear was quite amusing, was a little car though.
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrolhead and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
Looks really dated already.
The one they had on top gear was quite amusing, was a little car though.
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrolhead and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
I don't really get the looks myself, almost look like a concept car from the 80's.
Looks really dated already.
The one they had on top gear was quite amusing, was a little car though.
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrol head and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
Looks really dated already.
The one they had on top gear was quite amusing, was a little car though.
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrol head and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
We are in the infancy of this era of Technology,
It will go that way, so we have to try and embrace.
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From: Berks
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrolhead and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
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From: North Yorkshire
I think they look more Maserati than Ford. I pass a black one every day, it is a real looker.
Last edited by SRSport; Oct 6, 2016 at 07:38 PM.
Anyone know what work needs done on a Tesla as a service? it has a very low number of moving parts compared with petrol or derv motors, presumably regenerative braking would mean even the pads and discs would last significantly longer than on a hydrocarbon fuelled equivalent.
Has anyone worked out the TCO comparison between the model S and an equivilant other marque?
Has anyone worked out the TCO comparison between the model S and an equivilant other marque?
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From: Scotland
I don't really get the looks myself, almost look like a concept car from the 80's.
Looks really dated already.
The one they had on top gear was quite amusing, was a little car though.
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrolhead and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
Looks really dated already.
The one they had on top gear was quite amusing, was a little car though.
Still, bit of an odd one for me. If you've got all that money and are a petrolhead and want a fast car, would you buy a car that looked like that? Then if you were a green tree hugger with loads of money, why would you want a car that does 0-60 in 2.6 secs? Surely that type of person caring about the planet would rather have a 500 mile battery range than performance? At the end of the day an electric car that goes like a scalded cat is going to need more charging.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 4,224
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From: Berks
Anyone know what work needs done on a Tesla as a service? it has a very low number of moving parts compared with petrol or derv motors, presumably regenerative braking would mean even the pads and discs would last significantly longer than on a hydrocarbon fuelled equivalent.
Has anyone worked out the TCO comparison between the model S and an equivilant other marque?
Has anyone worked out the TCO comparison between the model S and an equivilant other marque?
https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/support/service-plans
