Quote :

"I've been called a lot of things in my day. Emo is not one of them. "

lol...Called out.

pg 13.

[Edited on March 30, 2009 at 2:48 PM. Reason : l]

3/30/2009 2:47:53 PM

Saw my first Tesla today. Blue with black hard top.

Thought it was an Elise until I got about 10ft behind it. It was kind of a letdown, but very cool to see

3/31/2009 1:49:41 PM

^^ HAHAHAHA funny as hell!!!

Tyler, I was a bit disappointed at the Tesla IRL too.

3/31/2009 2:15:27 PM

^^If tesla is the car I'm thinking about that thing spanked a lotus elise in a drag race and if the handling was a bit better around a track too. (made up for the poor handling with its acceleration)

but sucks it only gets 270 mile range

3/31/2009 2:42:20 PM

^I think you are referring to the Top Gear episode when they tested the Tesla. Not only does it have mediocre range but the time required to recharge the batteries was something like 16 hours. It would take 1 1/2-2 weeks to make a cross country trip in that thing.

It's complete junk.

3/31/2009 3:13:57 PM

peeked one of these unit this morning on the highway

3/31/2009 4:13:59 PM

Quote :

"^^If tesla is the car I'm thinking about that thing spanked a lotus elise in a drag race and if the handling was a bit better around a track too. (made up for the poor handling with its acceleration) but sucks it only gets 270 mile range"

It is an elise... but with 900 more pounds inside it.

A S240 is faster than the Tesla in a drag, and ANY Lotus model will absolutely eat the Tesla alive on the track. The poor handling can't be "a bit better" unless you rip out the batteries and put in a gas engine... which would make it an elise with a bodykit.

3/31/2009 6:52:15 PM

^I didn't comment on how it could be improved. I just said if it was better at handling which obviously it isn't because of the much added weight in batteries.

I was referring to the top gear episode so I guess I was right. It was the tesla. And it did destroy the Lotus in the drag race and made up for the poor handling in the straights. Although their test track is a fast track.

Quote :

"^I think you are referring to the Top Gear episode when they tested the Tesla. Not only does it have mediocre range but the time required to recharge the batteries was something like 16 hours. It would take 1 1/2-2 weeks to make a cross country trip in that thing. It's complete junk."

yeah i agree...it is complete junk because its pretty much useless.

[Edited on March 31, 2009 at 7:21 PM. Reason : .]

3/31/2009 7:20:20 PM

^And it might have beat it off the line in a drag, but that single speed gearbox makes me doubtful it would hang for the full 1/4 mile.

3/31/2009 7:45:28 PM

Quote :

"Not only does it have mediocre range but the time required to recharge the batteries was something like 16 hours."

I'm pretty sure that's a charge time on a standard outlet. If you can afford one of those, you'd have an upgraded socket installed.

And what's wrong with a 270 mile range? My car only goes about 260 miles on a tank around town.

3/31/2009 8:24:07 PM

^^ I'm pretty sure it was a 1/4 mile.

You can charge it from fully dead in as little as 3.5 hours using 240v on a 90 amp breaker. Nobody who is buying this car is going to sweat the cost of getting an electrician to add a sub-panel and 240v wiring in their garage. Besides, how many people will run the car until it's fully dead anyway? That would be poor planning.

Obviously it's not suited to distance driving, but I bet I drive more than 270 miles in a day about one time per year on average. You can always rent a car for $40, but who is going to own a Tesla as their sole form of transportation anyway? You guys are missing the point of this car.

From what I've read the car on Top Gear never actually got below 20% charge and the "brake failure" was a popped fuse. It did look more like a Civic through the corners than a Lotus, but again I think you're missing the point of the car if you're trying to look at it as a track car.

[Edited on March 31, 2009 at 8:27 PM. Reason : ^^]

3/31/2009 8:27:28 PM

Quote :

"And what's wrong with a 270 mile range?"

yeah wtf

3/31/2009 11:07:09 PM

Quote :

"you're missing the point of the car if you're trying to look at it as a track car."

all these lotus fans somehow forget that it is ELECTRIC, that alone makes up for half of it's track-shortcomings

4/1/2009 12:17:27 AM

Quote :

"^And it might have beat it off the line in a drag, but that single speed gearbox makes me doubtful it would hang for the full 1/4 mile."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgD6wharTb8

about 1:09 is the start.

Quote :

"And what's wrong with a 270 mile range? My car only goes about 260 miles on a tank around town."

a lot! even if your gas powered car got 200 miles it wouldn't be that much of a nuisance because it only takes you a couple minutes to fill up. The tesla on the other hand (in a standard outlet) would take over half a day or if you had a 220 outlet it would still take quite a bit of time. You'd be spending more time recharging than driving.

[Edited on April 1, 2009 at 9:15 AM. Reason : .]

4/1/2009 9:12:56 AM

You could drive that car to work 5 days a week and just slap the plug in it every night when you pull into the garage. Most people could do 98% of their weekend driving as well. One could argue that it's more convenient due to the fact that you don't ever have to go to the gas station. You act like normal people don't park their cars for 8+ hours pretty much every night.

4/1/2009 10:33:47 AM

^If i'm going to have a car just to get me to work and back because it can't do anything else it wouldn't be a tesla.

4/1/2009 10:41:54 AM

Quote :

"it can't do anything else"

You're trying to focus on the handful of things it can't do without recognizing the myriad of things it can. It can't drive over ~270 miles without a charge. It can't out handle an Elise or make it to VIR and back for a track day. Yet most of us could do 98% of our driving in one and it's a pretty remarkable car for that fact.

I can't take my 4Runner to an auto-x and I can't tow my boat with the Bimmer. I guess they're both awful examples of automotive engineering as well.

4/1/2009 10:48:59 AM

^I wouldn't lump in autox and track events with normal people driving. so that isn't included in my assertion of this car.

Its useless because of the recharge time. I'd rather the car be at my mercy and not the other way around.

I'm not saying its a bad idea or innovative. Its just not quite there yet.

[Edited on April 1, 2009 at 11:03 AM. Reason : .]

4/1/2009 11:03:32 AM

I'd agree, but you're going to be able to charge it in 3.5-7 hours from fully dead and nobody in their right mind is going to cruise into their driveway with a fully dead battery. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that. At least it's a good proof of concept. We can all hope that this is just the start and cars such as this will be much better within the next decade or so.

On a related note, Epic debuted their hybrid electric wakeboard boat recently. It's actually not a bad idea for a wakeboard boat. The tiny electric motor provides gobs of torque on demand without taking up as much space as a traditional engine. Interior space is always in short supply when you're trying to load up 10 of your best friends, all their gear, and a couple of coolers; so the smaller motor should be nice. Put a 240v outlet in your boathouse and you're good to go. I do worry about the longevity of the batteries considering the typical boat usage (months in storage, weekend use only, etc), but I doubt people who buy a $150k boat are too worried about replacing $10k worth of batteries a decade from now.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/16/aptera-co-founder-debuts-epic-23e-hybrid-electric-wake-boat/

[Edited on April 1, 2009 at 11:32 AM. Reason : l]

4/1/2009 11:23:00 AM

What I don't get about the Tesla, is that on Top Gear they remarked that the handling was off a bit because of low rolling resistance tires. I realize its an electric car, but its a performance car. Why on earth would they give it that type of tire?

If there isn't one, maybe we should make a thread about the Tesla/electric enthusiast cars.

4/1/2009 1:02:36 PM

As for the Saleen pickup.......I remember when I lived in Va Beach back in 98-01, a lady around my girlfriends house had a Saleen Explorer. I loved those things.

If it counts for 'exotic'....a member on HPJ spotted a ///M X5 on I-85 this past weekend.

4/1/2009 5:39:26 PM

fuck yo tesla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=369h-SEBXd8

4/1/2009 5:57:34 PM

Fwiw, these are the actual pics the guy from HPJ took of the M X5.....he sent them in.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/31/spy-shots-bmw-x5-m-caught-in-south-carolina-but-will-it-debu/#comments

4/1/2009 6:01:57 PM

^^^haha, wasn't there an authentic saleen windstar also? pretty sure i remember reading somewhere (hpj probably) about one selling on ebay a while back...

4/1/2009 6:16:09 PM

there is a black kenne bell areostar somewhere around the triangle

4/1/2009 6:28:14 PM

Where is baonest? I know he is an expert of Aerostars.

4/1/2009 6:30:35 PM

i was behind a black tesla today

i don't know much about cars, but it was driving annoyingly slow...

4/3/2009 6:37:55 PM

because only a retard would drive one

4/3/2009 8:18:44 PM

I was behind a black Maserati Quattroporte this morning on Dan Allen, and then it turned down Cates.

Going to the gym PERHAPS???

4/7/2009 5:38:38 PM

I was glad I say my first SL65 AMG today, but turns out it was fake.

It was actually an SL55 AMG, with the lettering on the car changed, as well as "V8 Kompressor" changed to "V12 Biturbo" on the side grate.

But, it was obvious from the AMG bodykit and the wheels that it was a mere SL55. And the speedo only went till 330, whereas in the SL65 it goes till 360.

4/7/2009 5:42:46 PM

^sounds like something Ari in Entourage would do to his wifes car

4/7/2009 5:49:09 PM

Detroit Electric Elise. Cheaper, faster and a full manual transmission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uex5XDUUsDY&feature=channel_page

4/7/2009 6:54:32 PM

we may need to give you your own thread Tyler. you can consolidate all the lotus posts in one easy location for us all to read.

4/7/2009 7:41:00 PM

recently, i've seen a f355 on a flatbed, the neighbor's silver exige, the silver quattroporte again, a yellow viper, and a few different amg's. this is about as good as fayetteville gets.

4/8/2009 1:03:55 AM

i saw a stripper on tv last night

4/8/2009 12:23:34 PM

2 lotus elises and the lambo lookin lotus on monday

4/8/2009 11:55:31 PM

^ I think you are referring to the Esprit?

4/9/2009 8:49:42 AM

Sunday saw 3 GTR's a GT3 RS, turbo murcielago and a 500hp BMW 135i.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqa3oRsPAAA&feature=player_embedded

One of the GTRs
http://www.nissangtrclub.com/showthread.php?t=1567

[Edited on April 9, 2009 at 9:38 AM. Reason : link]

4/9/2009 9:36:26 AM

Quote :

"LAMBO LOOKING LOTUS"

4/9/2009 11:09:56 AM

^? wtf

4/11/2009 7:41:19 AM

Quote :

"I never thought I'd see one of these on the road. At first glance I thought it was a M1, which about gave me a heart attack. Then after a few more stares (traffic was at a dead stop) I realized it was an 850, which let me live, but I still had to restrain from shitting myself."

I couldn't help but to think of this post when I spotted this 850 on CL today: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/1118036206.html

4/11/2009 6:07:34 PM

Saw an R8 today parked in a semi ghetto asian/mexican strip mall. i took a photo, but decided its not really worth the $.75 to email it to myself.

4/11/2009 6:19:52 PM

this thread sucks without pictures

4/11/2009 7:31:07 PM

What Nazi-ass carrier charges 75 cents to send a picture?

4/11/2009 7:55:26 PM

holy shit phones come with cables to connect to a computer

4/11/2009 8:26:01 PM

yellow 360 in the haymount district of fayetteville (old money). he went screeeaming up the road.

4/11/2009 8:44:32 PM

^^that cable was lost long ago.

^^^i only pay for phone service and a few texts per month. you kids and your new fangled gadgets...get off my lawn!

4/11/2009 8:52:24 PM

Yellow Murciélago at Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem.

4/12/2009 5:23:42 PM

pedo-van at wal-mart

4/13/2009 6:26:47 PM

PMY Aston Martin in my apartment complex, WTF...

4/27/2009 9:09:24 PM