Kick ass Tesla Model S car review
I'm sure they will only cost $450,000,000 in Australia
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01:10pm 27/10/12 Permalink
front bumper is aweful.. I like the huge screen in the dash though..
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01:35pm 27/10/12 Permalink
It has an "infotainment system" and a "go pedal"...
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01:44pm 27/10/12 Permalink
front bumper is aweful.. I like the huge screen in the dash though..Really? I hate it! It must suck power (nothing compared to the engine but it still strikes me as bizarre). I also wonder what sort of screen tech it is and whether you can see it in full daylight. I believe the radio etc is all in that screen as well, which would drive me bats*** - I like having physical, tactile buttons so I can mess with the radio while I'm driving without taking my eyes off the road. Maybe it solves this by having physical buttons on the steering wheel? Also the door handle thing looks like it would be fun for about 5 seconds and then get really irritating as a barrier to entry for your car. Only got a little into the review; I'm not interested in how fast the car goes or how fun it is to drive. |
12:33pm 01/11/12 Permalink
My tablet draws something around 1amp at 12v. It's 1080p and runs a quad core. I'm sure whatever giant f*****g screen that thing has, it draws less power than my tablet.
If you're not interested in 'fun' and 'enjoyable' then go back to your 1987 swift and public transport IMO. Like my phone does more than calls, my clothes do more than cover my beauty, and even my place does more than shelter me from wind rain and elements, my car will too do more than just move me from point a to point b. Thinking in any other way is actually treating that object completely unique from every other item you probably purchase. Then again i know you're not part of the system trog. Throw it on the ground. |
01:39pm 01/11/12 Permalink
I agree with trog but I think they've nailed the market for early adopters for this type of vehicle - and people like myself and trog are not that market.
I love electric vehicles though. The appealing thing to me is the potentially diverse number of sources of electricity. I'm really looking forward to seeing EVs become more and more popular, which I believe is inevitable. |
02:06pm 01/11/12 Permalink
My tablet draws something around 1amp at 12v. It's 1080p and runs a quad core. I'm sure whatever giant f*****g screen that thing has, it draws less power than my tablet.It's a 24" screen or something - display is usually the biggest drain on a battery, isn't it? Again, I don't think its even relevant compared to what the engine draws, I just thought it was a weird addition to an electric car. If you're not interested in 'fun' and 'enjoyable' then go back to your 1987 swift and public transport IMO. Like my phone does more than calls, my clothes do more than cover my beauty, and even my place does more than shelter me from wind rain and elements, my car will too do more than just move me from point a to point b.ummm ... like what? 'Fun' and 'enjoyable' in the context of that review are things like going from 0-60 in 4 seconds and how well it handles slaloming through cones. Those are totally useless use cases for me. I was just pointing out that review didn't cover things that ARE of interest to me - e.g., can I operate the radio easily without having to blindly stab at a useless touch screen? Can I open the car without having to wait an extra second for the handles to appear? I agree with trog but I think they've nailed the market for early adopters for this type of vehicle - and people like myself and trog are not that market.Actually I'm quite interested in being an early adopter for electric cars. I think they are ZE FUTURE and I would be happy to put my money where my mouth is there. I drive tiny amounts so be perfect for me. The Tesla options though are simply too over the top for my uses - I don't want a big luxury sedan, I just want a nice small compact car. So while you're totally right that I'm not in this particular side of the market I definitely consider myself as "in the market" for electric cars :) |
03:06pm 01/11/12 Permalink
shouldn't you own a prius then or something
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03:08pm 01/11/12 Permalink
I don't want a big luxury sedan, I just want a nice small compact car. So while you're totally right that I'm not in this particular side of the market I definitely consider myself as "in the market" for electric cars :) But the electric car market has been targetted at THAT basically forever. The whole point of the S is that its a great big muscle car. they're not electric cars! I don't drive enough to get the benefits of one of those anyway as far as I can tell Buy a Volt, its an electric car and only uses petrol as backup when it has no battery power. |
03:18pm 01/11/12 Permalink
trog buy a volt so you can offset my excessive petrol usage
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03:22pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Buy a Volt, its an electric car and only uses petrol as backup when it has no battery power. hoggy, that is the worse advice ever, the volt is overpriced, and crap it also has a few design faults that are coming out, like limited time that you can drive at highway speeds, (the reason being that the engine/generator can't provide enough power to keep the power levels up, (this means that you could in effect drive from bris to warrick, stop for a feed, back on the highway and you'll be stopping to charge the system in 30mins, and by stopping i mean pulling over and letting it charge, or driving around in limp home mode till it is charged) the amount of energy used to make the damn thing negates any green savings the car might make over 15 years (which is way longer than the car will last) you are far better off buy and running something like a passat, greener (short and long term) cheaper to run (unless you are running a full solar set up at home to car, and then again, the outlay/cost for that would again negate any savings) sure in theory the volt sounds nice, but it would have been better with a smaller battery, and a small 800cc diesel motor as this would not only cost less, it would be greener, not only that the little petrol engine in there (when running) is a noisy, rough running dog, and the A/C is s*** at keeping up with our mild so far spring! |
03:28pm 01/11/12 Permalink
hoggy, that is the worse advice ever, the volt is overpriced, and crap He asked for an electric car that he could buy that wasn't a big S. I didn't say it was a good car. you are far better off buy and running something like a passat That's not an electric car. |
03:34pm 01/11/12 Permalink
im glad for this review.
im not interested in any of the lame things that trog is, i am interested in what performance can be wrung from an electric car. its great to see that performance vehicles can be electric. id love to drive a car liek this, if had 1 squillion dollars. |
03:36pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Wake me when cars can drive themselves,
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03:39pm 01/11/12 Permalink
With me I consider cars only essentials and not entertainment. All I want from a car is that it handles well, drives well, is comfortable and is economical for getting me from point A. to B. I tire of driving quickly so no joy for me in being a petrolhead.
As for a phone all I use it for is making and receiving calls and text msgs and playing my MP3's. I couldn't give a rats what else it does which is a reason I never buy a top line model. I wear clothes only to not frighten the kids. Now a boat is completely different. I would live on a boat if I could convince the missus as I love the sea. Unfortunately she doesn't want to. |
04:39pm 01/11/12 Permalink
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Reason: Not Relevant |
04:40pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Really? I hate it! hate is a very powerful word! Regarding the screen, I was thinking of it as a huge GPS screen in comparison to the 2" little s*** things that people stick to their windscreens. |
04:45pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Again, I'm like Trog. I drive infrequently and prefer to use public transport (in my case rail) when home in Brisbane. A full tank of petrol can last me a month.
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04:51pm 01/11/12 Permalink
I guess I am imagining driving at night with that screen on and blinding me out of the corner of my eye. Maybe it goes off when you drive or something? it would dim like every other "built in" GPS unit on this planet.. |
05:03pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Can't see how auto drive cars would be better than a good public transport system? I think some of you guys are in the wrong thread voting for the wrong party when systems exist which are already what you want.. you just don't like to admit that you're in the same boat as the people who already use them.
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05:07pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Can't see how auto drive cars would be better than a good public transport system?You'd have to be literally retarded to not see how it would be better. |
05:11pm 01/11/12 Permalink
I want better public transport too; it's just a requirement for any big / dense city I reckon, and that's before you even start talking about spiraling costs of fuel, etc.
But public transport can't serve everywhere all the time and to everyone's precise schedule - having a magic automatic car that I can just get in and it will take me wherever, whenever I want... that's practically as good as a hoverboard |
05:22pm 01/11/12 Permalink
I reckon even if it was fully automated you still wouldn't be allowed to use it drunk though, which is a shame.
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05:24pm 01/11/12 Permalink
You'd have to be literally retarded to not see how it would be better. You'd have to be literally retarded to feel anything for something which both doesn't exist and hasn't been regulated yet. |
05:33pm 01/11/12 Permalink
You'd have to be literally retarded to not see how it would be better. you are trolling on that one right 1 bus is better than 30 cars on the road, 1 auto bus is going to be better than 30 auto cars, 1 train or well run subway better than 100's of car, auto or other wise, |
05:38pm 01/11/12 Permalink
You'd have to be literally retarded to feel anything for something which both doesn't exist and hasn't been regulated yet.well, a) Google's automated cars exist and have done hundreds of thousands of kilometeres in real world conditions and b) the US is already starting to regulate it; Nevada has licensed Google to operate their cars on their roads. The regulation is just an inevitable part of the process (as it should be); the law will catch up to the tech one way or the other - frankly I'm surprised that someone in the US lawmaking system has even thought about it at all. edit: or, to put it another way - electric cars didn't exist until they did. Automatic self-driving cars was future s*** a while back but it's just a matter of time before they're a real thing - might not be any time soon (sadly). |
05:41pm 01/11/12 Permalink
you are trolling on that one rightI was talking from purely a personal convenience perspective. |
05:46pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Wake me when cars can drive themselves, thankfully i'll be long gone by the time things get to be this brain dead |
05:47pm 01/11/12 Permalink
Pros of driving cars - nothing
Cons of driving cars - everything Pros of cars driving themselves - everything Cons of cars driving themselves - nothing |
05:58pm 01/11/12 Permalink
fknoath; can't wait for the Google Autocar. Driving is for chumps Yup, totally agree. Keep your eye on Volvo - they are running around conferences at the moment saying they are the tech leader in these areas. Their current focus is highway platooning - vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication that allows some limited automation of tedious functions. https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/enhanced/en-gb/Media/Preview.aspx?mediaid=46386 Also have a look at the Ann Arbor SafetyPiloty research which is current: http://www.its.dot.gov/safety_pilot/index.htm They've fitted about 1000 or so vehicles in one town with V2V communication and they are discovering a lot of interesting trends in the data. They plan to do 2000 or more but they had to slow down because vehicles were interacting a lot more than they expected. |
12:43am 02/11/12 Permalink
Pros of driving cars - nothingCons of driving cars - everythingPros of cars driving themselves - everythingCons of cars driving themselves - nothing unless you enjoy driving, also, while some forms of motor racing are a little bland, could you imagine how boring it would be if it was all autobots doing that you fail and just get a taxi as it is clear you suck |
03:30am 02/11/12 Permalink
nwo doesn't let you enjoy driving
no one is allowed to enjoy driving |
08:19am 02/11/12 Permalink
Motor racing sure is the same thing as driving to work.
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02:40pm 02/11/12 Permalink
what if you use your car to do both?
would this be acceptable under fpot's government? |
02:55pm 02/11/12 Permalink
the one thing i look forward to every day is my drive home from work. I actually add about 5-10kms to my drive home to go an alternate drive home through winding roads. the problem with my last car was it was an automatic. I didn't have enough control over my car :P
and the only reason i'd jump to electric is for that instant torque. |
03:00pm 02/11/12 Permalink
yeah i enjoy my drive to and from work, as much as other peoples driving pisses me off sometimes especially around the new tunnel entrances and exits
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03:06pm 02/11/12 Permalink
would this be acceptable under fpot's government?You can simply tow your racing car to the track with your self-driving vehicle. |
03:26pm 02/11/12 Permalink
gee i hope these self driving cars are good are reversing with trailers
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03:53pm 02/11/12 Permalink
gee i hope these self driving cars are good are reversing with trailers . They should just make more self driving buses so you won't have to worry about driving at all. It'll make less traffic for people who enjoy driving. |
03:54pm 02/11/12 Permalink
Probably better than most people tbh QFT. From a vehicle dynamics/maths perspective reversing a trailer is no problem with the right sensors. Particularly some kind of potentiometer on the tow-ball connection so you can determine the trailer angle. |
04:56pm 02/11/12 Permalink
gee i hope these self driving cars are good are reversing with trailers i should probably program them |
08:27pm 02/11/12 Permalink
heh, just remembered I was in a self-driving car in Tokyo in 2004!
http://trog.qgl.org/up/1211/toyota_tokyo.jpg ....although this was lo-tek; basically a car on rails thing. Still was pretty weird to be in a car that was driving around by itself. |
08:46pm 02/11/12 Permalink
lol trog - this would be complete if they said that everyone will drive them in "3-5 years" (the always wrong, 'go-to' token prediction estimate).
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09:36pm 02/11/12 Permalink
Seeing that the thread has been derailed into a rant about automated vehicle technology, I've posted this vid that shows an Electric Nissan Leaf self parking over a wireless charging station.
Which shows that electric cars are great for people who are really f*****g lazy and cbf parking the car and plugging it in. http://green.autoblog.com/2012/11/02/nissan-leaf-self-parking-in-action/#ooid=w2ZGdkNjpTtt8RJe7nX0Z4M1aPQrs9yd |
09:09am 03/11/12 Permalink
An electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one electric motor or more, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device.
"brake service":http://www.trulineseattle.com |
06:34am 17/11/12 Permalink
Watched a documentary (Megafactories) on Telsa earlier in the week about their manufactoring of the Telsa S model. Very very cool. Missed the first 15 - 20 minutes of it though.
They need to sell about 20,000 of the Telsa S model so that they can build a high volume, low cost car into production. I like the car! Would be very handy in Sydney 3 minute Trailer - Megafactories Tesla |
12:11pm 17/11/12 Permalink
