The EV Apocalypse

[simon_g]

Refreshed Tesla Model S.

Now £84k for 412 miles, 3.2s 0-60, up to £131k for a "Plaid+" with 520 mile range, sub-2 second 0-60, sub 9s quarter mile.

Oh, and you get to live out your Michael Knight fantasies with a steering wheel from KITT.

Model X gets a Plaid version too. £111k, 340 miles, 0-60 in 2.5s.

[mik]

Stats are el-bonkero

[Mito Man]

Can’t wait for the first 1 second 0-60 car
Instant whiplash.

[Simon]

I ran through the configurator and it still shows that stupid steering wheel, but someone on Twitter got a normal wheel. I doubt that'll make it to production. It's beyond unusable. Pointless comparisons with F1 cars forget the fact that they only have half a turn of lock each way. It'll also be uncomfortable to use when reversing.

[Foz]

Knight industries two thousand anyone?

[simon_g]

I ran through the configurator and it still shows that stupid steering wheel, but someone on Twitter got a normal wheel. I doubt that'll make it to production. It's beyond unusable. Pointless comparisons with F1 cars forget the fact that they only have half a turn of lock each way. It'll also be uncomfortable to use when reversing.

Yeah, bit of a attention-grabbing stunt IMO.

With modern fly-by-wire / adaptive steering would it be a big problem though? BMW, Ford and others have been putting in systems to change steering ratios and substantially reduce how much input you need for full lock at slow speeds. Would it be a big step to go from those with 2 turns lock-to-lock down to one?

[Jobbo]

I ran through the configurator and it still shows that stupid steering wheel, but someone on Twitter got a normal wheel. I doubt that'll make it to production. It's beyond unusable. Pointless comparisons with F1 cars forget the fact that they only have half a turn of lock each way. It'll also be uncomfortable to use when reversing.

Yeah, bit of a attention-grabbing stunt IMO.

With modern fly-by-wire / adaptive steering would it be a big problem though? BMW, Ford and others have been putting in systems to change steering ratios and substantially reduce how much input you need for full lock at slow speeds. Would it be a big step to go from those with 2 turns lock-to-lock down to one?

How twitchy would it be? I know you can have a variable ratio but that just sounds like a recipe for hideous computer-game steering.

[V8Granite]

That’s one sneeze away from a head on with a truck

Dave!

[Jobbo]

I guess they're aimed more at self-driving. The wheel doesn't need to turn when in autopilot mode.

Future versions will come like this:

[Mito Man]

The ironic thing is that autopilot can’t do very sharp bends where the steering needs to turn more than 90 degrees.

[simon_g]

I ran through the configurator and it still shows that stupid steering wheel, but someone on Twitter got a normal wheel. I doubt that'll make it to production. It's beyond unusable. Pointless comparisons with F1 cars forget the fact that they only have half a turn of lock each way. It'll also be uncomfortable to use when reversing.

Yeah, bit of a attention-grabbing stunt IMO.

With modern fly-by-wire / adaptive steering would it be a big problem though? BMW, Ford and others have been putting in systems to change steering ratios and substantially reduce how much input you need for full lock at slow speeds. Would it be a big step to go from those with 2 turns lock-to-lock down to one?

How twitchy would it be? I know you can have a variable ratio but that just sounds like a recipe for hideous computer-game steering.

That's the point of adaptive steering - stability at speed, but less wheel-twirling for slow speed around car parks, manoeuvring and the like.

[Mito Man]

I've never heard a good review on adaptive steering, makes it hard to gauge how much to turn the wheel at parking speeds and you end up curbing the wheels by all accounts.

[Mito Man]

Funny I was just reading the other thread on buying a car on an Evo recommendation. I don't think any of my cars have featured in Evo as they're not drivers cars but I just googled the 645 and saw that Harry ran one as a long termer. He specified it with active steering but didn't seem to get along well with it, "The active steering felt odd from the start, especially at low speeds when it was both heavy and completely artificial in feel. It improved slightly at speed, above say 40mph, when it started to feel less heavy but still a bit thin on information for a car with a supposedly sporting bent like the 645."

https://www.evo.co.uk/bmw/6-series/7543/bmw-645-ci

[Simon]

I see that the new Model S doesn't have a gear selector, and instead, according to Elon, will just 'work out' which way you want to go based on cameras, environment, location etc. You can override it on the touchscreen.

WTF Elon? Stay off the drugs man.

[Mito Man]

Just like a video game.

Still better than BMWs which don’t have indicators at all nor the ability to guess which direction they’re going

[Simon]

Brilliant! I've never heard a BMW-Indicator joke before. Keep 'em coming man!

[Holley]

After having a play on the Tesla site, was surprised how good the standard Model S is...670hp, 2069kg, 412 mile range, 0-60 3.1sec, £84k.

More power than an M5 (and M5cs) and same power as the Taycan Turbo (but quite a bit lighter - has the Tesla lost weight?) for substantially less outlay.

670hp for £84k is pretty amazing value. Impressive!