Quote:
Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
It's supposed to be a sports car. They advertise it as a sports car always followed by what the 0-60 times are. The 60 mile range came from top gears test on the track when driven like the sports car it is advertised as. If I drove up to the mountains to drive the car like I do my Elise- I would not be making it home. If I drove it like Grandma on an EPA test cycle (I've personally driven EPA test cycles on chassis dynos- and it isn't like how you are going to drive your sports car) I still would not be making it home from the mountains (a 30-40 minute drive away- but spending some time in them even driving along at 45 mph to get any kind of range the hills are still gonna put a hurtin to the range)
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I have personally driven a Tesla Roadster up into the canyon roads here with two people in it, and drove the wheels off it. We did an 80 mile trip in it and only used just over 1/3 of the charge.
Top Gear is an entertainment show and they exaggerate for the sake of entertainment, it's a bit foolish to take everything they say on that show as fact.
The car is not meant to be a track car, nor is it supposed to be as hardcore as an Elise, as a matter of fact, Tesla surveyed its potential clients in the beginning and discovered that they didn't want a car that is just an Electric Lotus (hence probably why they distance themselves from Lotus). The car is intentionally softer and less focused than the Lotus, so comparing it to the Elise is just silly. Just because it doesn't do well on a track or is hardcore like a Lotus, doesn't mean it is not a sports car.
Besides, most people are just using it as a sporty car to run about in, or to go to clubs and such, no different than most of the Porsche's Ferrari's and Lambo's I see driving around here