Tesla sues BBC over Top Gear

[zombiess]

Absolutely love the show top gear and their shenanigans. I also love the tesla roadster. No matter what happens (I hope teslas law suite gets tossed) it's a win win scenario for tesla either way. Most people realize the show is entertainment and an editorial at best. It's one of the most viewed shows in the world so tesla got huge exposure. It's not just top feRs that is unreasonably biased against electrics, almost everyone is. People suffer untrainable range anxiety. The number one question people ask me about my bike is how far can it go, the number two question is how much does it cost.

Most are impressed by the range but when I point out that if I go 40mph the battery will be flat in 10 miles then to my surprise I'm asked "what do you do then?". I have to remind them it has pedals lol. I shouldn't be too surprised as most Americans are ignorant, short sited and closed minded. Everyone also balks at the price, even though I tell them it will have payed for itself in about 3 years the way I ride which is only a few times per week.

I really wish electrics were ready for prime time, bikes especially, but it's human nature to resist change.

I also hang out with lots of car guys and everyone has heard of the tesla roadster and almost all seem to really like it, even after seeing top gears bad review which is how most heard about it.

just remember that tg is allowed to say and slant a review any way they want. They absolutely slam some big name super cars as horrible but their manufactures don't sue. They also slam almost every American car they get, many I think are great, but it hardly bothers me. They almost always sing the praises of what is good and then over eggagerate the bad. Just watch the c6 corvette review on the things the complained about. That episode got lots of attention on message boards here, but no one stopped watching the show because of it and I doubt chevy lost a single sale. If someone wants a tesla they are going to buy it no matter what the reviews say, same with any other performance car.

 

[x88x]

For example I had one guy tell me lately on an ebike ride that top gear proved that when a 12 cylinder 500hp gasoline powered bmw was run around a track against a prius, at prius speeds...the bmw got better gas mileage. Out of curiosity i watched the episode on you tube and it was completely obv that they worked really hard to obtain that result...probably multiple attempts with the prius completely dead on charge or something...and now thanks to this thread...i bet they just made the whole thing up.....sickos.

It's a lot simpler than that, actually. They drove the Prius to its limits on their track, and just had the M3 (or was it an M5...either way, makes my point) keep pace with it. Of course the Prius is going to get worse mileage when it's pushing as hard as it can go and the BMW was going at maybe 50-60%. And to be fair, they did actually mention afterwards that the real issue is how you drive it...they just failed to mention that their 'test' was the absolute extreme case of 'how you drive it'.

They also slam almost every American car they get, many I think are great, but it hardly bothers me.

Heheh, yup. The only industry backlash I've heard on that, though, was that when they wanted a new Dodge Charger for their American West roadtrip special, Dodge told them to screw off...so they bought one. Also, not an American car company, but I remember there being one European car company that was bringing over, iirc, a rebranded TaTa City Car, and they wouldn't let them have one.

 

[REdiculous]

Thats the problem imagine how many more cars they could sell if the topgear duche bags drove it and said wow great performance good range and it just worked great all day what a great car!

That would be opposite of what TG is about and a total fabrication/lie*. They abuse the cars on a test track - they aren't soccer moms running errands in the city. It's high speed shenanigans...WTF did Tesla expect?

* There's not a single all-electric car that can be driven "all day", that has "great performance" and "good range"...pick one; great performance or good range.

The world distance record of 501 km (311 mi) for a production electric car on a single charge was set by a Roadster on October 27, 2009, during the Global Green Challenge in outback Australia, in which it averaged a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h).

311 miles at 25mph works out to 12.44 hours of drive time if I didn't hurt myself in the conversion process. I'd consider that "all day" but not "great performance" and the range at 25mph is only good compared to other electric cars. My truck will do 420 miles on a tank at 70mph and the Roadster is rated for 244 miles by the EPA.

 

[Arlo1]

Thats the problem imagine how many more cars they could sell if the topgear duche bags drove it and said wow great performance good range and it just worked great all day what a great car!

That would be opposite of what TG is about and a total fabrication/lie*. They abuse the cars on a test track - they aren't soccer moms running errands in the city. It's high speed shenanigans...WTF did Tesla expect?

* There's not a single all-electric car that can be driven "all day", that has "great performance" and "good range"...pick one; great performance or good range.

The world distance record of 501 km (311 mi) for a production electric car on a single charge was set by a Roadster on October 27, 2009, during the Global Green Challenge in outback Australia, in which it averaged a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h).

311 miles at 25mph works out to 12.44 hours of drive time if I didn't hurt myself in the conversion process. I'd consider that "all day" but not "great performance" and the range at 25mph is only good compared to other electric cars. My truck will do 420 miles on a tank at 70mph and the Roadster is rated for 244 miles by the EPA.

The "total fabrication/lie" is when they pushed it into the shop it was not dead but they pretended it was.

 

[REdiculous]

I didn't get the impression that they had actually run out of juice but if Tesla wants to piss and moan then that's their business I guess. TG's conclusion was what I expected.

 

[itchynackers]

Absolutely love the show top gear and their shenanigans. I also love the tesla roadster. No matter what happens (I hope teslas law suite gets tossed) it's a win win scenario for tesla either way. Most people realize the show is entertainment and an editorial at best. It's one of the most viewed shows in the world so tesla got huge exposure. It's not just top feRs that is unreasonably biased against electrics, almost everyone is. People suffer untrainable range anxiety. The number one question people ask me about my bike is how far can it go, the number two question is how much does it cost.

Most are impressed by the range but when I point out that if I go 40mph the battery will be flat in 10 miles then to my surprise I'm asked "what do you do then?". I have to remind them it has pedals lol. I shouldn't be too surprised as most Americans are ignorant, short sited and closed minded. Everyone also balks at the price, even though I tell them it will have payed for itself in about 3 years the way I ride which is only a few times per week.

I really wish electrics were ready for prime time, bikes especially, but it's human nature to resist change.

I also hang out with lots of car guys and everyone has heard of the tesla roadster and almost all seem to really like it, even after seeing top gears bad review which is how most heard about it.

just remember that tg is allowed to say and slant a review any way they want. They absolutely slam some big name super cars as horrible but their manufactures don't sue. They also slam almost every American car they get, many I think are great, but it hardly bothers me. They almost always sing the praises of what is good and then over eggagerate the bad. Just watch the c6 corvette review on the things the complained about. That episode got lots of attention on message boards here, but no one stopped watching the show because of it and I doubt chevy lost a single sale. If someone wants a tesla they are going to buy it no matter what the reviews say, same with any other performance car.

If you are going to call an entire country ignorant, you may want to at least type with proper grammar and spelling. Or are you American?

 

[zombiess]

If you are going to call an entire country ignorant, you may want to at least type with proper grammar and spelling. Or are you American?

When you run out of valid arguments... pick on someones poor spelling and grammar. Yup, I do have bad spelling and grammar (unless writing something for work) and that was all typed on an iPad which was a chore, so deal with it. The point I made was quite understandable.

Yes, I am an American, a USAnian (I live in Lost Wages, Nevada) at that... America... frock Yeah! I stand behind my people are ignorant comment as well, it's not an insult, just a general statement of opinion. One of the richest, most prosperous countries on the planet full of buffoons with entitlement issues that can't even balance a check book or understand simple concepts such as loans and mortgages. Do I love my country, hell yes. Do we need to fix many many things with our society, you bet ya. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Kin]

Yeah, I respect that. Sometimes being critical is caring about something; america has a lot to fix when you care about it.

 

[MikeFairbanks]

Statistics are funny creatures.

I once heard a pollitician whine about public schools, insisting that all of the students in our state should score better than average on standardized tests.

 

[Green Machine]

I would agree on principal with the statement that if you call anyone ignorant you do so with proper grammar and spelling....for the record...that was a pretty wise statement. Just if you do call someone ignorant in a post you should go back and do quick spell check or something...or have your english teacher wife read over...something.

 

[Miles]

I would agree on principal...

 

[TylerDurden]

I would agree on principal...

:lol:

 

[Green Machine]

Yeah i gotta work on my spelling...

Thats why i am really trying not to go around calling people ignorant..

As soon as i get my spelling and grammar down i got a hit list of idiots i am going after. :lol:

But don't worry big guys i have been around a long time and always had a spelling problem...so im sure its not going to fix itself overnight...so dont expect me flushing out idiots anytime soon. By the way i am a published author and a Berkeley english literature graduate (with honors) believe it or not. All i can say is thank god for spell checkers.

I had my brain tested recently at uscf via mri and eeg and there is something up with my brain where it ticks different...they discovered it based on my handwriting....i forget the scientific name for it but it just means my brain ticks different and is prone to simple slips like spelling errors and cutting off the top half of my sloppy handwriting. To brain researchers it is interesting phenomenom. I saw it opportunity to get mri for free (and i got stoned just before just for fun). If these forums were handwritten my posts would be appalling and it would be hopeless to read. In fact thats how i failed out of high school ..because of my idiot highschool teachers who couldnt read misspell-laced handwriting...(woops)

Sorry to take thread off track..just had interesting story to relay regarding spelling...I got valid excuse and never mentioned though i have been flushed out for bad spelling here several times.

 

[sk8norcal]

Video: Top Gear crew makes pit stop, has trouble charging electric cars [w/video]

It would seem that the guys from Top Gear are back to giving electric vehicles the what-for. According to The Lincolnite, James May and Jeremy Clarkson were respectively spotted piloting a Peugeot iOn and a Nissan Leaf through England during a cross-country trek (which is exactly what electric cars are for, right?).

The duo stopped by Lincolnshire County to ask about the nearest place to charge their alternative-fuel steeds, only to find that the entire municipality is bereft of chargers. Apparently May and Clarkson then set about driving around the city until their vehicles died and they were forced to get a tow.

If this all sounds familiar, that's because Top Gear rustled up a mess of snakes the last time Clarkson jumped behind the wheel of an EV. After depicting the Tesla Roadster as suffering a brake failure and running out of power, Tesla shot back refuting what happened as pure fiction. That little dust-up has yet to settle.

The truth is that the vast majority of people come to Top Gear to be entertained, and most viewers probably realize that there's plenty of editing that goes into each segment. We seriously doubt that most EV buyers use the UK show as a go-to resource, but that doesn't stop the constant ragging on alternative fuels from growing trite.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/12/top-gear-crew-makes-pit-stop-has-trouble-charging-electr/

 

[Miles]

Yeah i gotta work on my spelling...

So, how would you spell "principal", then?

 

[zombiess]

Is this thread now about spelling and grammar? I distinctly remember reading several posts in here that had valid points (regardless of English errors).

Would people be so fast to pick on mistakes if they found out English was that persons 4th language or would they ignore it and focus on the points made?

 

[TylerDurden]

Nah, most folks here don't really care about spelling.

Some of the finest minds at ES are atrocious spellers. Similarly, some of our finest spellers... uh, nevermind.

Just using it to point at irony.

 

[Green Machine]

Exactly...we are just having fun with the spelling thing...i have only had a few knuckleheads meanly flush me out for poor spelling only 2 times here on the sphere, ....the principal think was just a joke....pretty funny

Tyler and Miles have gotta be 2 of the biggest brains i ever jousted with on a forum...and its always an honor for me whenever they respond to any of my posts...even if poking fun.

Getting back to topgear....in the rare moments i watch TV i literally get depressed when watching whats popular and how low we have sunk. Thanks to this thread i watched a few TG complete episodes on netflix to give it a fair chance. Top gear is actually pretty good compared to most popular TV shows. I still think its plastic and not worth much of anyones time..but Its cool when they get their hands on very expensive machines and review them with such enthusiasm. I like to imagine its me riding in that machine...wow...on a closed track...what a dream those guys are living....i am sure thats part of the appeal.

However, I think its wrong for a tv journalism show to purposely lie...which i think has been proven in this case. The law is cut and dry...and these guys definitely crossed a line with staging car break downs that never happened.

And you cant dismiss how powerful a review is from this show....

I remember beavis and butthead...a popular tv show in its day...could literally make or break the popularity of a music band based on a beavis and butthead cartoon rock video review (sounds fantastic but its true). TV is that powerful...it is brainwashing for the masses. Trust me is some rich guy is out there thinking about buying a tesla...he will watch that TG show on youtube 90% chance. Thats how powerful TV and Internet, youtube, have become. It would be foolish for Tessla not to make a stink about this given what's at stake. Tessla is very obviously playing their cards smart....

When it comes to TV journalism i really believe on principal that they should be held to high standards....and punished severely if they are caught outwardly scamming the public by presenting erroneous data for effect...and it makes sense that the victim of such fictionalism should be paid off for damages if and when it occurs.

 

[REdiculous]

However, I think its wrong for a tv journalism show to purposely lie...which i think has been proven in this case.

TG isn't a tv journalism show, it's entertainment. It hasn't been proven in court unless I missed the news. :|

 

[dingoEsride]

Exactly...we are just having fun with the spelling thing...i have only had a few knuckleheads meanly flush me out for poor spelling only 2 times here on the sphere, ....the principal think was just a joke....pretty funny

Tyler and Miles have gotta be 2 of the biggest brains i ever jousted with on a forum...and its always an honor for me whenever they respond to any of my posts...even if poking fun.

Getting back to topgear....in the rare moments i watch TV i literally get depressed when watching whats popular and how low we have sunk. Thanks to this thread i watched a few TG complete episodes on netflix to give it a fair chance. Top gear is actually pretty good compared to most popular TV shows. I still think its plastic and not worth much of anyones time..but Its cool when they get their hands on very expensive machines and review them with such enthusiasm. I like to imagine its me riding in that machine...wow...on a closed track...what a dream those guys are living....i am sure thats part of the appeal.

However, I think its wrong for a tv journalism show to purposely lie...which i think has been proven in this case. The law is cut and dry...and these guys definitely crossed a line with staging car break downs that never happened.

And you cant dismiss how powerful a review is from this show....

I remember beavis and butthead...a popular tv show in its day...could literally make or break the popularity of a music band based on a beavis and butthead cartoon rock video review (sounds fantastic but its true). TV is that powerful...it is brainwashing for the masses. Trust me is some rich guy is out there thinking about buying a tesla...he will watch that TG show on youtube 90% chance. Thats how powerful TV and Internet, youtube, have become. It would be foolish for Tessla not to make a stink about this given what's at stake. Tessla is very obviously playing their cards smart....

When it comes to TV journalism i really believe on principal that they should be held to high standards....and punished severely if they are caught outwardly scamming the public by presenting erroneous data for effect...and it makes sense that the victim of such fictionalism should be paid off for damages if and when it occurs.

I agree with what you say here that media is a powerful tool and that spelling is is not important when putting your point across, (I make mistakes all the time but there is a damn red line under them) but are you joking when you spell Tessla

 

[Green Machine]

nope not joking

In fact i misspell anything the spell checker dont catch...and tesla is one of those (spell checker says its wrong either way)

Tessla, tesla i dont really see big difference...they still convey same point.

 

[Hillhater]

Getting back to topgear.... Thanks to this thread i watched a few TG complete episodes on netflix to give it a fair chance. .

Two episode you should watch to better understand the mentality of the show ..
1) Their first review of the Ford GT.. where they show it running out of fuel on the track, because it only has a range of 65miles when driven hard ..! ..and they prove the driver cannot actually get in or out of it in a car park...but still Clarkson actually buys one for himself !! (really )

2) the show when they build their own EV ..the "Hammerhead i Eagle Thrust " ...a plug in EV with a diesel range extender..

 

[Green Machine]

So remember when the MTV popular TV show beavis and butthead could make or break a rock band? For example back then The Clash was legendary....a few negative Beavis and Butthead rants and the Clash legend is all but dead.

Well anyway pertaining to the Tesla...do you think that top gear episode is what sinked the Tesla?

The Tesla has stopped production on its roadster...

http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/21/autos/tesla_roadster_selling_out/index.htm?hpt=hp_c2

As ridiculous as it sounds i bet the negative review from Top Gear was one of the big factors on why the roadster never took off to the exotic sports car buying public.

 

[x88x]

No, I think there is a much simpler reason why the Tesla never caught on that well. In a word (well, two), limited market. Tesla knew this going in and tbh I'm not sure they really expected to make it for very long. Their business plan all along was to make the Roadster (relatively low R&D costs, very high ticket price, targeted at people who specifically wanted an electric sports car, damn the cost) to fund the Model S (high R&D costs, much lower ticket price, intended to compete directly with high-end sedans like the BMW 5 series, Audi A6, and Mercedes E-class), then the Model S to fund the next one (smaller vehicle, shooting for a $30k base price). The Roadster was always really just an electric conversion of the Lotus Elise, so therein lied their biggest problem. Unless you specifically want an electric sports car, the Elise really is a better choice. It's 400lb lighter and is actually set up for handling instead of rolling resistance, so it handles much better in the curves, it still gets decent fuel economy for a sports car (~30-35mpg highway), but much more importantly it's half the price. The Roadster is more powerful, and is faster in the straights, but really anyone buying it was buying it because they wanted an electric sports car, not because they wanted a sports car. Now, don't get me wrong, I think the Roadster is a great car and I think it did wonders for the popular image of electric cars, but it was always a niche product and Tesla knew that. Plus, like I mentioned earlier, the Roadster was really always just a conversion whereas the Model S is an entirely original car, designed from the ground up by Tesla Motors. Given that fact and their original business plan, I'm not surprised at all that they're dropping the Roadster now that they're getting close to the release of the Model S. I also wouldn't be surprised if a few years down the road they launch their own, completely original sports car that wipes the floor with the Roadster.

 

[REdiculous]

I heard they only ever planned to make/sell up to 2500 Roadsters and despite "low" demand there's always been a waiting list.

According to wikipedia....When the Top Gear episode aired (autumn '08) Tesla Motors hadn't made 100 cars yet. 6-ish months later (end of May '09) they delivered they're 500th Roadster. By mid-January 2010 they produced car 1000. By May '11 they had delivered more than 1650.