Paper Lawyer

Well, it looks like Top Gear's staged stunts may have gone too far. I'm a little tired of the Top Gear staged events and so I'm quite pleased to see Telsa take action, if what they allege is indeed true.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/t...e-for-comment/

Dembo

Surely any half-way intelligent person understands that 211 miles is a guestimate, and that on a track MPG (or whatever the electric equivalent) will be substantially less. And if I remember correctly, on the programme one or other car developed a fault, rather than running out of power.

Anyone going to be driving "mindfully" in their sports cars?

FurballS2000

It annoys me when people say thing about economy, I always reply 'I didn't buy a sports car for fuel economy'. I would have thought it was obvious.

On topic, why are they making such a fuss now, they tested it a few years ago! Are they releasing a new car sometime soon and want to get their name around?
If Top Gear tested a car with an official range of 300 miles round the track and it only did 120 or so I doubt most car manufacturers would make a big deal, as its being raced round a track...

Nick Graves

It's become well-known that most low-emissions cars never live up to the consumption/emissions promises, because the EU test model is antediluvian and unrepresentative.

The EPA's are equally as loaded & many manufacturers cynically adjust their models to get excellent 'headline' figures. The CR-Z is one exception which proves the rule; many drivers find that in everyday uses, it actually betters its poor test results.

Physics hasn't changed since Einstein's day & Tesla won't like being rumbled.

GarethB

"On the programme Jeremy Clarkson claimed: "Although Tesla say it'll do 200 miles, we worked out that on our track it would run out after just 55 miles."
'Driven aggressively'"

What are Tesla not understanding?

Yes, if you drive it like a milk float you might get 200 miles, but if you drive it like the sports car it (supposedly) is then you're in for a short journey.

And the "we worked out" is very, very important.

Given that it happened two years ago this is simply publicity seeking by Tesla.

gbduo

I think Tesla are miffed at how the car was pushed into the garage when it was supposedly out of charge, when it wasn't, giving the impression that the car was unreliable and useless.

I think this is a pretty good PR stunt, but I am also tired of how much is staged on TG and a factual reviews would be good!

Nick Graves

Nah, factual reviews are mind-numbingly boring and are invariably prejudiced. cf. the whole electric thing.

Top Gear is irreverent and the presenters' personal chemistry is good, which is why it's the only watchable one.

Maybe Tesla ought to fit the car with a range-extender engine. I dunno, a smallish Toyota unit? They could then seriously downsize the motors & battery. Oh, hang on...

Dembo

It also has to be filmed, and Top Gear is very well made. They could never capture everything on camera, so anything like this is staged to some degree. The question is whether it was fair and accurate, and 55 miles round a track is probably 30 laps and say 45 minutes of running (wild guestimate). So if they were filming for several hours, it's fair to say the charge would have run out. And unlike a petrol car, it doesn't take 2 minutes to get it going again.

S2KayGT

jammy_rex

I for one am definitely fed up of Top Gear's staging... It's been the same for the last few series now in that most of the time they're not even funny! Just variations on stunts they've pulled before... Just cringeworthy! This format of TG is well past it's sell by date now...