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Tesla
Hey , guys
a couple of days ago I drove my bosses Performance Tesla 3. Ever since that time I'm kinda wondering what the h#ll I'm doing with the GTO. I've bought that car 20 years ago because of the performance possibilities it presents when building it yourself as a hobby. Performance wise I'm no competition for a Tesla , it will leaf you burning rubber without any sound or drama. And I have to say I really love that and respect the tecnology behind it. Because they don't blow hugh amounts of unburned fuel into the air , leak oil everywhere and need very little maintenance. Only thing is the batteries , don't know about the future implications of those . It just kinda put a negative spin on my hobby. Just venting. |
You can’t beat the torque of a DC motor!
Not sure I could deal with no sound though. |
There’s not many new cars out there, that don’t outperform an original GTO in every way. A few days ago, some guy was riding my butt in a ‘67 Chevelle like an idiot. I just left him behind on the turns and other street conditions. I was driving my Subaru Impreza.
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You'll want to be far away from one if it gets into a good wreck...
"We do not have the battery technology to support an electric car safely and cost efficiently"... A retired engineer from Westinghouse who worked on the electric sky way system told this to me. He is a customer of mine.. |
I think it’s a completely different side of the car culture. Our Hellcat will blow the doors of of anything else o have bone stock- with cooled and heated seats. It doesn’t leave you smelling like exhaust and everything works. Style wise it does not compare to my GTO. Some people notice it- but nothing like the old car.
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Well, if 0-60 performance is the only thing you care about, then you’re definitely driving the wrong car.
I drove one of the “super performance” Model S’s some time back and started a thread about it. I liked it more than I expected, but if I was the type of guy who would spend $150,000 on a car, I’d make a different choice- because that’s not the only thing I care about. |
When I got my GTO I wanted to turn it into a nasty pro touring style beast that could blow the doors off most cars..
Now that I am little older I'm no longer interested in that but the big thing to me with these cars is.. a newer car will look dated in 5 to 10 years and tech and performance they will be dated while our cars will still be classics and still look good.. a tesla 3 will never be that. In the end you truly want a fast performance car.. in my opinion just get a used 911.. |
There is nothing like the sound of an American V-8 muscle car.
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My wife test drive a standard Model Y and 3 last weekend. She loved the performance but didnt love the rest of the car. I dont want to bash the brand because I admire what Tesla is doing and their innovative methods. But from one car guy to another.....there are other EV options that might peak your interest. They are very exciting to drive....and the motors do make noise. It does take skill to get the max performance from them as well. A good driver will learn the traction limits and be able to apply just the right amount of throttle to get maximum grip and acceleration without spinning the tires. Tires dont last long though because the very high torque at low speeds is hard on the compound. But quite fun still. A strong EV can be a driver's car just as much as any internal combustion engine car can.
I am going to purchase my 3rd EV next week. I shopped around and did try the Tesla models but they aren't for me. There is more to a car than just being quick. If straight line performance is all that mattered then I would be a Challenger or Cuda kind of guy. To me, "performance" is acceleration, braking, handling, style, comfort etc. Which is why we like Pontiac models because they think the same way when they built the GTO and Firebirds. It is only a matter of time before EVs become mainstream. They are superior in almost every way compared to an ICE vehicle. I decided my next EV will be the Mustang Mach E Premium AWD Standard range. I dont want the extended range battery because it makes the car heavier and that affects performance (acceleration, handling etc). Range anxiety is something that affects new adopters mostly. Those of us that have lived with an EV for a while realize that 200-250 miles of range is plenty. I really liked the Jaguar I-Pace First Edition. Pricey but very very nice and fast. Many dealers are offering about $20k off MSRP so that gets it closer to my budget but still about $18k more than the Mach E. Another nice choice is Polestar 2 (Volvo subsidiary). That thing is pretty cool and also very fast. Battery life is not an issue as long as the model you choose has thermal management system with liquid or gas cooling. Air cooled batteries will degrade but liquid cooled batteries will likely last the life of the vehicle as Tesla has proven. The Model S has been in circulation for almost a decade and even the early models are still going strong. EV batteries will have a second or third life in other applications so they will be recycled for certain. They remain valuable even when the vehicle eventually wears out so there isnt much environmental concern about the batteries ending up in landfills. Hopefully late next year the Rivian truck will be available. I will gladly sell my RAII convertible to buy one of those things and hopefully still have quite a nice sum left over. I guess we will see what happens. I like the deuce but I dont really enjoy driving it that much because it gives me anxiety to pull it out of the garage. Kinda sucks because they are meant to be driven... |
I recently had a ride in a Tesla Model X in Ludicrous Plus mode and I was blown away. It actually pulled harder than the 850-horse LSX Solstice I was in back in 2007, mostly due to the AWD system. It could run a 0-60 in about 2.8 and we ran it up to 81 mph in about four seconds. Keep in mind, this is a car that weighed over 6,000 pounds with three people in it. You owe it to yourself to try one out but be forewarned, it will make you question every belief you have about performance cars. If you aren't ready for that awakening, I would suggest not doing it.
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Thinking that your GTO will be King of the Hill once you get out on the road is not like the era they originated in. There are many cars that will put our GTO's to shame, 4 cyl turbo cars right up to modern day hemi's.
I got to drive a 2020 turbo V6 Mustang my brother rented. Incredible acceleration and the hard, and I mean slam-bang, shifts were really annoying - and I always have an automatic with a shift kit on "our" era cars. No room for me at 6'4" with the pedal/foot area way too small. I don't think I could drive a stick car with so little foot area. The gas pedal was too high and I had to lift my foot somewhat off the floor to push it which became uncomfortable. Electronic gauges actually had 2 mode setting - but it looked more like a video game than a car, and I like analogue gauges and some chrome trim. Different suspension setting you could choose. I would not want to go on a long trip with it, nor purchase one at the prices they fetch. I've rented/drove a Chevy Sonic turbo a number of year back and it was a blast and may have given most GTO's a run for their money. I actually was comfortable in that tiny thing. Then I rented/drove a Mercedes "Wolfburg Edition" that was real peppy, but that thing handled like a slot car as I wrung it out through corners. That car would have left a GTO behind on a curvy road, and I could make my GTO's and others cars "talk" pushing them around the local back roads when I was younger. My brother's 305 HP V6/8-speed auto 2013 Challenger would have put shame to my dads' 195HP 283 V8 "3 on the tree" that I thought was really fast and burned rubber when I wanted it to. These V6's nowadays have more HP than many of the HP V8's we grew up with. So my opinion is that many of the newer cars will outperform our stock or slightly modified GTO's and A-bodies in general. I don't own my car because I think I can hit the streets and put to waste an SRT8 Hemi or turbo Honda (25 years ago that was a different story, I could put to waste most cars on the road). It is about recapturing a bit of our youth, body style and looks, hood scoops and badging, chrome, analog gauges, shifting, burning rubber, the sound of a lumpy cam cackling through dual exhaust, thumbs up, cruising, and car shows. Now if I could just get some MPG's out of it......... |
I rode an electric motorcycle - Zero FX - w/ upgraded battery/motor, for almost 5 years. Clutchless, direct drive. I don't think there was anything that was faster 0-60 in a real-world street race, 2 wheels or 4. No maintenance in 5 years.
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I like and appreciate them Teslas. But would never buy one.
There is a necessary ability to maintain appliances and cars on one's own. Battery Life matters. |
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There was family here that owned three Teslas. Family's three children and their friend in one of their Teslas, car accident, Tesla caught fire, windows inop, witnesses watched a all four perish because they couldn't get out. I have seen several catch fire and one actually blow up in videos. They're far from perfected. |
The quickest 0-100 mph stock passenger car I have ever been in was a Tesla PD90 with ludicrous mode. Something like 2.8 sec 0-60. Guy I work with picked it up used cheap with about 30K miles on it. It was a blast to drive and ride around in. Would I want to own it? No. It just wasn't for me. Too I-pad tech for my taste. But the car wasn't designed for a 60 year old guy like me. It was designed and built for late 30's tech savvy up and coming yuppies. Appreciate the tech, but allot of annoying little things about it weren't for me. My school is now an Official Tesla Training center, one of only a handful in the US. We have a number of donated Tesla's to play with now. I should be learning more about them and getting a feel for the technician pool as well in the coming months. The first group of Tesla students started June 15th, so pretty new to us.
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Coincidentally, Jay Leno just posted a video about the Tesla Model Y: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH79SuivdAQ
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Im sure Teslas are great cars, for the price they should be. I would love the idea of having a vehicle that I dont need to go to the gas station a couple of times a week. Its a shame that they are only available to the upper class. However I think buying one with the premise of saving the environment is completely wrong. The electric comes from somewhere, and I just read that the fed gov is talking about subsidies for installing charging stations!!
I dont drive my Trans Am for performance, I drive it because I like to drive it!! |
Tesla is still trying to figure it out.
The whole electric car "thing" is an evolving experiment. Sure a vehicle powered by an electric motor and a fully charged battery can be a hoot, but it comes with a lot of baggage that starts with the batteries and ends with the batteries and the fact that electricity doesn't just happen in between. I'll pass. I'll keep the GTO and all that comes with it and when I need day to day transport I'll stick with something that burns unleaded. |
If you consider the torque of a DC motor, just think that GE, and Electromotive have been building diesel DC locomotives for many decades. The diesel engine generates DC current, which runs DC motors coupled directly to the drive wheels.
This combination pulls many tons of weight efficiently with no mechanical couplings. The system has been used because of the torque needed to move a train. There are no batteries used in the drive system of these machines, just a gen-set coupled through contactors. If this type of a system was used in an automobile, it would be probably near impossible to beat as a performance car, and no batteries, or charging stations. FWIW, I used to work in the GE locomotive works in Erie PA, so I do have some background in these systems. I also worked for Crown lift trucks as a service tech, which are fully electric lift trucks. I've always thought the DC motor drive system run by a ICE engine would make a phenomenal performance car. 4 wheel drive would be a necessity, IMO. :3gears: :burnout: :focus: |
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