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It's Top Gear. From a journalistic point of view, they are akin to the Daily Mail or Harry Potter. The outcome is decided up front. They won't win a rematch, e

by meaty 14y ago

It's Top Gear. From a journalistic point of view, they are akin to the Daily Mail or Harry Potter. The outcome is decided up front. They won't win a rematch, even if they do.

kenkam 14y ago
If we assume that Tesla knew "Top Gear", by that, I mean 3 guys cracking jokes and having a laugh while driving expensive cars around; one of them known to be screaming things like "Powerrrr" while driving, then it would seem to be a foolish move on their part to ask BBC TG to review their electric car or to have accepted to have their cars reviewed. Also, and I could be way wrong here, but the population of the Top Gear demographic is unlikely to be your average Tesla buyer.
- Nursie 14y ago
  Unsure on this - In the UK at least, Top Gear seems to be popular across a large range of people, male and female, ecologically sensitive or gas-guzzling, wealthy and poor. It has been (may not be now) one of the most popular shows in the country. Not that that's necessarily saying much, because crappy reality shows (which I just cannot tolerate) are huge too.
- pja 14y ago
  The Roadster cost what, £90k whereas the car it was based on (Lotus Elise) was £30k or so? The proportion of any demographic that has £90k to spend on a "fun" car is always going to be tiny, but there's a reasonable chance that those people watch Top Gear along with everyone else. It's not as if all the other high-end manufacturers are refusing to let Top Gear put their cars on the track is it?
- ptaipale 14y ago
  I think the average Tesla buyer would more likely than not be in the "Top Gear demographic" - although the sample size of Tesla buyers might be too small to say much about averages. But Top Gear is surely watched by car enthusiasts. I'd say your response to a bad Top Gear review should be to go back home, think of something funny, impressive and outrageous, and offer that for a re-run. It'd make a lot more sense than an appeal which just shows you to be dull. Who wants a lawyer car?
gadders 14y ago
Well, apart from if you read the judgement, Top Gear was correct and Tesla wasn't. EG "..Tesla admitted that the range of the Roadster on the test track was about 55 miles and that if it ran out of charge it took several hours to charge it up again." "Finally, although malice was in issue, the judge assumed that if Tesla proved any relevant falsehood, it would also succeed in proving malice (paragraph [30]). He observed, however, that in relation to each statement which Tesla alleged to be false there was a true statement relating to the same matter which was unfavourable to the Roadster (paragraph [32]). " Not sure that their strategy of suing anyone that says anything bad about them in a review is really working out all that well for them...
- youngtaff 14y ago
  This Tesla claim is quite fascinating: "At no point were the brakes of the first Roadster broken;" "whereas what had actually failed was a fuse in the equipment providing power-assistance to the brake pedal" It's a bit six of one, half a dozen of the other but Tesla do seem to 'have a way with facts'
  - sp332 14y ago
    Having to step on the brakes harder is not nearly the same as having broken brakes. And a fuse is exactly where a system should break, if it's going to.
    - jasonlotito 14y ago
      I don't know, having the brakes suddenly stop working as they should would qualify as broken to me. > a fuse is exactly where a system should break, That system being the brakes?
      - sp332 14y ago
        No, power-assistance to the brake pedal means you have to put the pressure on the brakes yourself. Most cars have a hydraulic assist; not sure if the Tesla has hydraulics or some kind of electric assist, but the result is the same: the brakes still work! You just have to push the pedal harder.
alan_cx 14y ago
Please don't make stuff up. Cars have already failed, taken TG's advice, been back, been improved, and Top Gear have been more than happy to say so. The outcome was not decided up front, you made that up. That is known as lying. Problem now, is that Tesla kicked off accusing TG of being dishonest, and then completely lost in court. So why would TG want them back for a rematch? So they can sue again if they don't like the out come? Tesla blew it. And very stupidly too as far as the UK is concerned. TG on side would have been a massive advantage for them. Tesla will get it right in the end, electric cars will be the future. Even TG know that, and would have been on side later down the line.
- eksith 14y ago
  TG was being dishonest. They use hyperbole everywhere so Tesla is by no means getting special treatment in that regard. I've seen them trash perfectly good cars because of stupid names and/or because the company CEO looks funny, but in this instance they took an up and coming (read: promising alternative) and kicked it to the curb : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/bbc_top_gear_tesla/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/bbc_top_gear_tesla/ ...according to the Top Gear spokeswoman, the tested Tesla was filmed being pushed into the shed in order to show what would happen if the Roadster had run out of charge Edit: Straight from the horse's mouth... http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2011/04/02/tesla-vs-top-gear-andy-wilman-on-our-current-legal-action/ http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2011/04/02/tesla-vs-to... This was published when Tesla first sued. And accrording to Andy Wilman, the executive producer : "Just so you understand there’s nothing devious going on, you need to know how this filming business works. When you film a car review, the reviewer is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind the lens is a film crew, and only a day’s worth of light to shoot the eight minute film. This means we have to prepare in advance a treatment – a rough draft of a script so that the director and film crew can get to work right away, knowing what shots they will need to capture. It will contain the facts about a car, and what we think of its looks and so on, but how well the car actually drives is added on the day. If we’ve driven it ahead of filming, as we do with most cars, we will also have an idea how it feels to drive. But, and this is crucial, as we uncover fresh information about a car whilst filming it, it is entirely normal for the treatment to be modified as the day unfolds. Jeremy is always tweaking the scripts to reflect what his driving experience has actually been on the day."
darkarmani 14y ago
Except in Harry Potter the brooms don't have the limited range and reliability that it appears the Tesla cars do.

by meaty 14y ago

It's Top Gear. From a journalistic point of view, they are akin to the Daily Mail or Harry Potter. The outcome is decided up front. They won't win a rematch, even if they do.

kenkam 14y ago

If we assume that Tesla knew "Top Gear", by that, I mean 3 guys cracking jokes and having a laugh while driving expensive cars around; one of them known to be screaming things like "Powerrrr" while driving, then it would seem to be a foolish move on their part to ask BBC TG to review their electric car or to have accepted to have their cars reviewed. Also, and I could be way wrong here, but the population of the Top Gear demographic is unlikely to be your average Tesla buyer.

Nursie 14y ago
Unsure on this - In the UK at least, Top Gear seems to be popular across a large range of people, male and female, ecologically sensitive or gas-guzzling, wealthy and poor. It has been (may not be now) one of the most popular shows in the country. Not that that's necessarily saying much, because crappy reality shows (which I just cannot tolerate) are huge too.
pja 14y ago
The Roadster cost what, £90k whereas the car it was based on (Lotus Elise) was £30k or so? The proportion of any demographic that has £90k to spend on a "fun" car is always going to be tiny, but there's a reasonable chance that those people watch Top Gear along with everyone else. It's not as if all the other high-end manufacturers are refusing to let Top Gear put their cars on the track is it?
ptaipale 14y ago
I think the average Tesla buyer would more likely than not be in the "Top Gear demographic" - although the sample size of Tesla buyers might be too small to say much about averages. But Top Gear is surely watched by car enthusiasts. I'd say your response to a bad Top Gear review should be to go back home, think of something funny, impressive and outrageous, and offer that for a re-run. It'd make a lot more sense than an appeal which just shows you to be dull. Who wants a lawyer car?

gadders 14y ago

Well, apart from if you read the judgement, Top Gear was correct and Tesla wasn't. EG "..Tesla admitted that the range of the Roadster on the test track was about 55 miles and that if it ran out of charge it took several hours to charge it up again." "Finally, although malice was in issue, the judge assumed that if Tesla proved any relevant falsehood, it would also succeed in proving malice (paragraph [30]). He observed, however, that in relation to each statement which Tesla alleged to be false there was a true statement relating to the same matter which was unfavourable to the Roadster (paragraph [32]). " Not sure that their strategy of suing anyone that says anything bad about them in a review is really working out all that well for them...

youngtaff 14y ago
This Tesla claim is quite fascinating: "At no point were the brakes of the first Roadster broken;" "whereas what had actually failed was a fuse in the equipment providing power-assistance to the brake pedal" It's a bit six of one, half a dozen of the other but Tesla do seem to 'have a way with facts'
- sp332 14y ago
  Having to step on the brakes harder is not nearly the same as having broken brakes. And a fuse is exactly where a system should break, if it's going to.
  - jasonlotito 14y ago
    I don't know, having the brakes suddenly stop working as they should would qualify as broken to me. > a fuse is exactly where a system should break, That system being the brakes?
    - sp332 14y ago
      No, power-assistance to the brake pedal means you have to put the pressure on the brakes yourself. Most cars have a hydraulic assist; not sure if the Tesla has hydraulics or some kind of electric assist, but the result is the same: the brakes still work! You just have to push the pedal harder.

alan_cx 14y ago

Please don't make stuff up. Cars have already failed, taken TG's advice, been back, been improved, and Top Gear have been more than happy to say so. The outcome was not decided up front, you made that up. That is known as lying. Problem now, is that Tesla kicked off accusing TG of being dishonest, and then completely lost in court. So why would TG want them back for a rematch? So they can sue again if they don't like the out come? Tesla blew it. And very stupidly too as far as the UK is concerned. TG on side would have been a massive advantage for them. Tesla will get it right in the end, electric cars will be the future. Even TG know that, and would have been on side later down the line.

eksith 14y ago
TG was being dishonest. They use hyperbole everywhere so Tesla is by no means getting special treatment in that regard. I've seen them trash perfectly good cars because of stupid names and/or because the company CEO looks funny, but in this instance they took an up and coming (read: promising alternative) and kicked it to the curb : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/bbc_top_gear_tesla/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/22/bbc_top_gear_tesla/ ...according to the Top Gear spokeswoman, the tested Tesla was filmed being pushed into the shed in order to show what would happen if the Roadster had run out of charge Edit: Straight from the horse's mouth... http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2011/04/02/tesla-vs-top-gear-andy-wilman-on-our-current-legal-action/ http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2011/04/02/tesla-vs-to... This was published when Tesla first sued. And accrording to Andy Wilman, the executive producer : "Just so you understand there’s nothing devious going on, you need to know how this filming business works. When you film a car review, the reviewer is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind the lens is a film crew, and only a day’s worth of light to shoot the eight minute film. This means we have to prepare in advance a treatment – a rough draft of a script so that the director and film crew can get to work right away, knowing what shots they will need to capture. It will contain the facts about a car, and what we think of its looks and so on, but how well the car actually drives is added on the day. If we’ve driven it ahead of filming, as we do with most cars, we will also have an idea how it feels to drive. But, and this is crucial, as we uncover fresh information about a car whilst filming it, it is entirely normal for the treatment to be modified as the day unfolds. Jeremy is always tweaking the scripts to reflect what his driving experience has actually been on the day."

darkarmani 14y ago

Except in Harry Potter the brooms don't have the limited range and reliability that it appears the Tesla cars do.