Tag Archives: Review

Road and Track Review

Posted by txcattledog on

IMG_2102“Beautiful, well-crafted, cool, and seriously fast, the Model S isn’t just the most important car of the year. It’s the most important car America has made in an entire lifetime.”

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-reviews/road-tests/road-test-2013-tesla-model-s

NY Times – What They Say What They Doesn’t

Posted by txcattledog on

John Broder has replied to Elon Musk:

txcattledog has repied to John Broder (actually twice, this is the latest, link and text):

John – As I wrote to you this weekend, if you simply had acknowledged in your first article that there were things you could have done better, I believe we wouldn’t be at this level of claim/counterclaim. In your response to me, and again above, you seem reluctant to do that and place ALL the blame with Tesla. Why?

I was, and am, simply seeking balanced reporting. Did your brother enjoy the ride? Isn’t the acceleration amazing? And the silence – wouldn’t the world be better without engine rumbles? How about the beauty and simplicity of the touchscreen interface? Handling in slippery conditions? Did you like charging for free at the superchargers? Is anyone else along I-95 giving gas away for free? Come on John, you missed the white while you were staring at the black (and blaming it all on Tesla). And all the shades of gray.

For the rest of you reading my response, I am a Tesla Model S owner. I disagree with John’s original premise that a Model S requires more effort to own/drive than a gas car. It requires different effort, and in many, many ways it requires less effort. On the net whole I believe it is easier to own and operate. And it is a dramatically better driving experience.

That’s Journalism?!?

Posted by txcattledog on

John Broder of the New York Times wrote an article today about how he ran out of charge while driving the Model S on the east coast in inclement weather. It appears he did not research to understand that an electric car is DIFFERENT. And…BETTER! Really, I could forgive anyone for making the errors he made, maybe even him, but he is a JOURNALIST WRITING ABOUT an ELECTRIC CAR. If he was going hiking in the Rockies, would he complain that no one in Colorado told him the air was thinner? I am about to rant about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, so I’ll just post what I wrote to him. And go for a drive in my Tesla!!!

Here’s his article:

And my reply:

John – I assume you did the research, or perhaps someone at Tesla told you, that when you go for an extended trip you do a max charge – that would have given you 265+ miles of rated range. When you go on a road trip in your gas car do you put 12 gallons in a 14 gallon tank?

If I go somewhere in my gas car, spend $8 to get 2 gallons and 60 miles of range, but needed 3 gallons to go 90 miles and get there, and run out of gas, shame on me. Plug in overnight, always. It’s EASY.

Here’s the equivalent – you get gas when you need to. You plug in every night when you get to your destination. There are more outlets in America than gas pumps – probably at least 1 million times more. Every outlet in America is a refilling station. Come on!

Why didn’t you point out the basics that you failed on? If you ran out of gas would you blame Ford for not telling you the car’s MPG, or Exxon for not having a station when you needed it?

Driving an electric car is NOT less convenient, it just asks you to think differently. Takes effort, just like a gas car requires effort. If you start simple-mindedly with the gas paradigm as the baseline, you have made a basic mistake. Would get on a bike and write a negative article because you couldn’t make it go 65 MPH? Please make the effort next time and acknowledge when you don’t.