241–250 of 295 posts
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The Ariel Atom 500 (with the V8) is a little bit faster at 2.3 seconds 0-60. However it's not really a daily driver kind of car like the Tesla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIiWhWpzFQQ
I wouldn't describe the Atom as a true production car.
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>I believe this is the fastest production car under 300k that you can buy. The 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S was tested by Car and Driver at 2.5 seconds 0-60, and it's ~$200K, depending on options: http://www.caranddriver.com/porsche/911-turbo-turbo-s I suspect the 2015 Turbo S might be a bit quicker.
the new S is quicker than advertised, for two reasons: 1. next year's needs to be quicker on paper by a small margin 2. the 918 needs to be the fastest on paper by a large margin what's remarkable about the S is it can do launch-controlled full throttle runs to 60 repeatedly. most other cars in this acceleration class (this new tesla, gt-r, veyron) are simply incapable of that, for various reasons. well, maybe the ve…
The car computer actually prevents you from doing too many launches to avoid damaging the car.
I'm sure you've seen this, but it's amazing nonetheless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5DRCTW-Q7o
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I'm trying to imagine a personal car without a steering wheel without an infotainment system. Of course such vehicles will have infotainment. I've long been thinking about what sort of content would work best. Short, serialized content released on a weekday schedule would certainly be an opportunity. Perfect watercooler fodder.
Ads, of course, for some definition of 'works best' (extreme variant: self-driving car offers to pick up what you order while you are at work) If I were an employer, I might pay my personnel to have the infotainment part replaced by educational material on their way to work.
As an employee you could get the ride in the car free, as a perk, iff you watch the educational material and pass a test on it. This would be assessed during the ride via onscreen multiple-choice questions; get less than 50% correct (or, turn it off) and you have to pay for the journey!
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With the OP's requirements I'd recommend a '94 Volvo 240 Turbo. (If we ever need a second car I'm getting one; my first car was one). New enough to be safe (airbags etc), some tinkering will get you 300 bhp, it's rear-wheel drive and has a perfect 50-50 weight distribution if you move the battery to the trunk (standard rally trick). Stereo still has a cassette player, so a $5 adapter lets you plug in your phone for m…
> Sure, it's more expensive in gas money, but when you factor in the reduced depreciation that's peanuts. What a disappointing attitude to have toward fuel consumption in 2015. :/
An older functional car may be better for the planet than destroying and replacing it.
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Why do you say the other makers are passive? BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, VW, Ford and Fiat all have fully electric cars. Sure none of them get near the range the Model S does, but they are getting involved in this. A Nissan Leaf offers roughly one third the specs of a Model S, but also at one third the price. Seems like progress to me.
Problem with the Leaf is that a 75 mile range is unusable for most people. A 30 mile commute is pretty common, to and from work and you're almost out. Pick up kids and groceries and you'll probably be stuck on the side of the road somewhere. Forget to charge the car overnight and you're screwed. If we take the base Model S, which has a 230 mile range, 315hp, and 0-60mph in 5.5 seconds, it goes for $70k minus $10k in…
On the downside, range is closer to 75 miles in the winter (driving normally for MA, meaning fairly fast) and a pretty regular 90-95 miles in the summer.
Overall, I love it. It's no Tesla and is not a economic winner over a good used car, but it's a damned good car and I think it's one of the most economic of the new cars, even with MA insane cost of electricity.
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I feel like the limit of what these motors can do now is being held back by something they can't control anymore, tire grip. I think a lot of these software updates on the acceleration speed aren't because they all of the sudden figured out how to get more power from the electric motor. I think it's from tweaking the "no-slip" system or whatever they call theirs. Basically when the car detects it's losing grip, it cu…
What if the car actually used the suspension to 'drop' just a fraction of an inch lower to the ground (to increase its momentary, apparent weight) as soon as you punch the accelerator to get some extra grip? I wonder how much of a difference the momentary 'downforce' would make.
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Agreed. The 2015 Mazda3 we just bought has a horrible info/nav system that crashes and frequently stops responding. I'm guessing the actual chance of it ever being fixed at 0%. Tesla's get an automatic OTA update that would fix that kind of thing and it wouldn't be something you'd have to 'deal' with for the rest of your ownership of the vehicle.
I have been researching mazdas (CX-5) lately and they do get updates to the info/nav system. I think I read there is a crashing problem in v.51 or something, but its fixed in v.55. Not the same as tesla, but better than others.
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Has long irritated me that car audio systems have a discernible boot time, having come from the days of instant-on radios. There really is no excuse, between optimizing the boot process and starting it the moment the car starts (not like there's that much of a draw, speakers off, from the alternator).
Even better, there's already a sensor to let it know the driver's side door has been opened.. that should give it a head start.
But the overall state of infotainment systems is laughably bad, there's a few that are merely ok, most are bad, and some are rage-inducing. (Hello Cadillac!)
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Problem with the Leaf is that a 75 mile range is unusable for most people. A 30 mile commute is pretty common, to and from work and you're almost out. Pick up kids and groceries and you'll probably be stuck on the side of the road somewhere. Forget to charge the car overnight and you're screwed. If we take the base Model S, which has a 230 mile range, 315hp, and 0-60mph in 5.5 seconds, it goes for $70k minus $10k in…
I bought a LEAF SL in Dec for $31K and change before $10K in credits. That was less than a third the cost of a Model S after rebates, IIRC. On the downside, range is closer to 75 miles in the winter (driving normally for MA, meaning fairly fast) and a pretty regular 90-95 miles in the summer. Overall, I love it. It's no Tesla and is not a economic winner over a good used car, but it's a damned good car and I think it…
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With the OP's requirements I'd recommend a '94 Volvo 240 Turbo. (If we ever need a second car I'm getting one; my first car was one). New enough to be safe (airbags etc), some tinkering will get you 300 bhp, it's rear-wheel drive and has a perfect 50-50 weight distribution if you move the battery to the trunk (standard rally trick). Stereo still has a cassette player, so a $5 adapter lets you plug in your phone for m…
> Sure, it's more expensive in gas money, but when you factor in the reduced depreciation that's peanuts. What a disappointing attitude to have toward fuel consumption in 2015. :/