Roadster on Top Gear

I just got the Top Gear Awards 2008 issue of their magazine (this is basically a way to sell 13 issues in a year). It also comes with a 2009 Supercars calendar.

No sign of Tesla anywhere, but in the awards section there is an article called "Why I Love the FCX Clarity", by James May. This includes the following:

At heart, the Clarity is simply an electric car, but there are two fundametal differences between it and the apologetic electric car snotboxes we have been used to. The first is the speed and easw with which it can be refulled... The second is the small matter of power...

But a good electric car is thrilling for other reasons... Powering a car with an electric motor makes complete sense, because it's mechanically very simple. Everything just goes round and round...

In kick starting the debate with the Clarity, Honda may have just produced the car of the century.

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dpeilow said:

No sign of Tesla anywhere, but in the awards section there is an article called "Why I Love the FCX Clarity", by James May. This includes the following:

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Now you're making me kind of worried they'll make a big deal out of the charge time.

We'll see, I guess.

Yes... considering they are reviewing the FCX Clarity on the same episode as the Roadster, but the print edition only mentions the FCX -- I worry that doesn't bode well for Tesla.

He loved it - until flattening the battery after 55 miles. Then we got stories of 3 days to Scotland (with charging) and the long tailpipe argument.

Then the second car overheated and went into limp mode. This was explained as being "unreliable". He was driving like an idiot of course.

Stig did it in 1:27.2 on a mildly moist track. Same as the Porsche GT3.


Concluding remark was "impressive, but as James will explain later, completely irrelevant". (FCX Clarity to come, obviously).

Video will be up later.

dpeilow said:

Stig did it in 1:27.2 on a mildly moist track. Same as the Porsche GT3.

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That's impressive enough. Looks like my guess of 1:26.1 on a dry track (+2 seconds if wet) was almost spot on.

"impressive, but as James will explain later, completely irrelevant

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When it comes to actual car evaluation, their opinion is completely irrelevant. They are entertainment show. .
Completely irrelevant is FCX and that hydrogen myth. Time will and is already proving me right on that.

1:27:20 is very good time. Maybe dry tarmac would shave half a second or even more.

Bit disappointing really. The overheating was kind of expected with the way it was being driven. Loved seeing the Lotus getting thrashed in the drag race. I'd be interested to see how it would lap in the dry.

I guess we get to hear how hydrogen is the future and all that now.

WarpedOne said:

When it comes to actual car evaluation, their opinion is completely irrelevant. They are entertainment show.

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Unfortunately not - my brother used to work at a dealership and said a model was basically sunk by a bad review on Top Gear

Completely irrelevant is FCX and that hydrogen myth. Time will and is already proving me right on that.

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Because TG say it, the myth will just be perpetuated in the car fan community.

my brother used to work at a dealership and said a model was basically sunk by a bad review on Top Gear

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Do you remember TG review of Porsche Cayene? Hammond stepped out of it and wouldn't want to drive it any further because it was to ugly? Guess what, I see those ugly cows on the road each day. TG is big but is not big enough to completely destroy a car. They trashed many cars before yet they continued to sell, even sell very well.

Because TG say it, the myth will just be perpetuated in the car fan community.

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Maybe, but we still need 10 miracles before we can go and actually buy a hydrogen car. No TG review can bring about those 10 miracles. As for electric car, we only need 100.000 USD. For me, this is only one miracle

"Filling up with hydrogen is a bit like filling up with petrol, only hydrogen will never run out, because it is the most abundant element in the universe."

Oh dear.


Ah now we are getting the truth in the studio summing up. But they are still saying that producing and transporting hydrogen will be as easy as drilling and refining oil...

WarpedOne said:

Do you remember TG review of Porsche Cayene? Hammond stepped out of it and wouldn't want to drive it any further because it was to ugly? Guess what, I see those ugly cows on the road each day. TG is big but is not big enough to completely destroy a car. They trashed many cars before yet they continued to sell, even sell very well.

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I'd really like to believe you, but with the Cayene (which I absolutely hate), I think the type of people buying them are doing so because their banker friends have them - regardless of Top Gear.

People buying supercars are generally into their cars, may well be seeing Tesla for the first time on TG and will not know that the car will protect itself if driven constantly at 125mph. Their £92k may well then end up elsewhere.

dpeilow said:

I'd really like to believe you, but with the Cayene (which I absolutely hate), I think the type of people buying them are doing so because their banker friends have them - regardless of Top Gear.

People buying supercars are generally into their cars, may well be seeing Tesla for the first time on TG and will not know that the car will protect itself if driven constantly at 125mph. Their £92k may well then end up elsewhere.

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That totally sucks, all the autoblogs and commenters (and Tesla haters) have a field day with this. I kind of expected Top Gear to do a negative review since they have always been negative about EVs.

On the other hand, they have always been optimistic about hydrogen, even though it seems hydrogen still hasn't really been going anywhere.

I guess I'll have to see the episode first and judge if overall it would have been better if Top Gear never reviewed the car, or is there some postive things to get from the review.

I'm working on processing the video now (it takes forever to get out of the PVR because for some reason the USB port is limited to 650kb/s).

What annoys me is that TG present the Tesla as something that will improve with development / fall in price and that the FCX is ready now. I thought more of James May, but he has totally swallowed the line from the hydrogen lobby. His only concession was that the FCX is not as fun to drive as the Tesla.

because for some reason the USB port is limited to 650kb/s

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Sound's like USB1.0/1.1 port. This is standalone PVR unit?

What annoys me is that TG present the Tesla as something that will improve with development / fall in price and that the FCX is ready now. I thought more of James May, but he has totally swallowed the line from the hydrogen lobby. His only concession was that the FCX is not as fun to drive as the Tesla.

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He'll get hatemail, don't you warry :biggrin:
He may present FCX as ready as he'd like, anyone trying to buy/rent it will immediately see the dark sides of it.

dpeilow said:

"Filling up with hydrogen is a bit like filling up with petrol, only hydrogen will never run out, because it is the most abundant element in the universe."

Oh dear.


Ah now we are getting the truth in the studio summing up. But they are still saying that producing and transporting hydrogen will be as easy as drilling and refining oil...

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I knew they would do that kind of thing: During the review of the GM hy-wire concept, also done by James, they said it was powered by "sea water".

They just seem to have so much bias about BEVs. The long tailpipe argument for them conveniently ignores where the hydrogen comes from. If anything, the tailpipe for hydrogen is even worst (any source you can use for hydrogen, a BEV can use more efficiently, including the renewable sources). They really have bought the whole line from the hydrogen lobby. I normally don't mind Top Gear not being factually correct, since it is an entertainment show, but I fear all it'll do is continue to spread misinformation about EVs vs hydrogen.

Not sure which it is, but I think the issue is that the PVR (yes it is standalone) has a slow CPU, so they limit other functions to make sure the important business of showing TV isn't affected :smile:.


Indeed on the FCX - if they'd bother to do their research they would have found that there are 2 filling stations, both in London, and I'm pretty sure one of those has gone since the hydrogen bus trial finished.

This episode just appeared on my computer a few minutes ago :tongue: (don't you love when that happens). Anyway, I looked at the Tesla portion without sound (in the TV room, didn't want to disturb others) and noticed the part where the Tesla just came to a stop on the track. I figured something like that was going to happen and am assuming they made some comment about that.

I really hope that this does not affect Tesla too much. Of course I would not be surprised if a good majority of the viewers of TG believe everything that they say (referring to what you guys were saying about the Hydrogen since I haven't seen the episode yet). And that wasn't a remark about you guys, that is just what I'm referring to the majority of viewers believing.

-Shark2k

TG is painful to watch. They're terribly entertaining, but at the same time they perpetuate idiotic myths and aren't at all informative.

Thanks for the (coming) video, dpeilow.

Planet Tesla has some pictures from the episode. They seem more upbeat about the episode than I was expecting...
Top Gear review is in... And the verdict? - News - PlanetTesla

It was great! I was worried that Clarkson would bang on about flat batteries and no V8 roar however "Shame it doesn't come with a CD of V8 noises" was only uttered once. but he liked the technology and the idea. I can't believe that they broke them though!

"This car is biblically quick" - JC

I shall choose to ignore the nonsense about the Hydrogen bubble car though.

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