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These things shift:

http://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear- ... s-audi-rs6

Not cheap though!

Going for a long (hour at least) test drive in a Tesla S next Wednesday.

They're an epic car & the P90D is now superseded by the P100D which raises the bar even further.

On top of that, Tesla announced earlier this week that a software upgrade is coming in the next few weeks for the P100D that will lower the 0-62 to 2.4 secs & a 10.2 sec 1/4 mile as well as improving the range by a few miles. Truly outstanding how good these cars are.

When I ordered my RS6 PE it was either that or a P100D Model S. The Model S after discount ends up £25k more than the RS6.

But what really killed the S for me is:

I have a regular commute Suffolk to Heathrow each week as I work abroad, that is a 250 mile round trip.

The Model S range is advertised at over 300 miles.

I asked the Tesla people, "Can I drive to Heathrow and back, the way I like to drive (75-80mph, air con, radio, few rapid starts etc) without any range issues?"

They were very nice and honest and said "No. You should look to get a 25 minute stop at a supercharger when you leave Heathrow".

Even in the less than frugal RS6 I can not look at the fuel gauge for 250 miles.

Now a 25 minute stop at an empty supercharger is not the end of the world, but when the number of Tesla's goes up 500% in the next 2 years and the superchargers do not then I do not think you can rely on finding an empty one.

On that basis I was sadly out because they are a great car (albeit not the last word in dynamics).

btw If you go 3 full bore 2.7s runs 0-60 your battery loses 40% of its charge.

I do have friends with the model S who evangelise it and tell me of the benefits of 25 minute stops and how much fun it is to look for superchargers and what nice chats they have with other converts when they are waiting there. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

RSQ wrote: I do have friends with the model S who evangelise it and tell me of the benefits of 25 minute stops and how much fun it is to look for superchargers and what nice chats they have with other converts when they are waiting there. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Well, that's put me off forever.

They compare their hemp sandals and drink peppermint tea* together...

I wonder how fast the Tesla goes if you put a diesel generator behind it on a towbar. That was my theory for curing range anxiety. Then when the car dies you simply pull over, fire up the generator, plug in the car and re-charge. Simples.

* - I actually like peppermint tea

Why pull over? Just leave it plugged in and run it behind you, leaving everyone in a trail of black smoke.

RSQ wrote:When I ordered my RS6 PE it was either that or a P100D Model S. The Model S after discount ends up £25k more than the RS6.

But what really killed the S for me is:

I have a regular commute Suffolk to Heathrow each week as I work abroad, that is a 250 mile round trip.

The Model S range is advertised at over 300 miles.

I asked the Tesla people, "Can I drive to Heathrow and back, the way I like to drive (75-80mph, air con, radio, few rapid starts etc) without any range issues?"

They were very nice and honest and said "No. You should look to get a 25 minute stop at a supercharger when you leave Heathrow".

Even in the less than frugal RS6 I can not look at the fuel gauge for 250 miles.

Now a 25 minute stop at an empty supercharger is not the end of the world, but when the number of Tesla's goes up 500% in the next 2 years and the superchargers do not then I do not think you can rely on finding an empty one.

On that basis I was sadly out because they are a great car (albeit not the last word in dynamics).

btw If you go 3 full bore 2.7s runs 0-60 your battery loses 40% of its charge.

I do have friends with the model S who evangelise it and tell me of the benefits of 25 minute stops and how much fun it is to look for superchargers and what nice chats they have with other converts when they are waiting there. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I agree with most of that & the range fear is what stopped me taking the plunge for my next car as i do a West Lancs to Suffolk round trip every 2 weeks & the only Superchargers on my route are Keele Services which is only 50miles into my journey & Thetford Forest which is well out of my way as i just travel the M6/Toll/A14.

Was almost sold when i found out that the numerous Ecotricity points were free to use but Ecotricity have pulled that benefit & even if you move to them as a supply customer, you only get 1hr per week for free so kind of killed it for me.

You're incorrect as regards the full bore launches though as i did around 10 during my test drive & used about 40 miles of range which is no different any other performance car. If i'd been doing 0-150 launches then i guess that would hurt more but how often would you be doing those.

I'm yet to be converted, but with better infrastructure i can see it only being a matter of time.

The problem is the batteries. They are always going to be big and heavy, and they are earth rapists as much as crude oil is. It doesn't solve the problem. Hydrogen is the next move.

Zero congestion charge in London towing a diesel generator (running) and a fuel bowser. Sounds like the next Grand Tour script

My 4 full bore launches seemed to damage the range massively in the Model S I borrowed, but maybe it was having a moody cold day

They are still great and the styling has grown on me; just wish the charging points were more ubiquitous and range was an easy rather than an arse-tightening 250 miles. I do feel like a luddite for buying a V8 Turbo car in 2016.....

I looked at these too. Although the RS6 is not the last word in dynamic driving I heard it was a lot better than the model s. And although this like the look of the model s, the c7 for me is much better looking.
I did see a video though where rather than rechargeable the batteries you just drive into a charging station and an auto mechanism built into the floor will change the cars battery pack for a fully charged one in less time time than it takes to fill a car with petrol. If they could standardise the fitment across all cars so that this was available at every petrol station and the fee for a charged pack was reasonable (similar to the price of charging) then this could really take over. But unlikely to happen as there will be too many different variations off batteries across all the different car manufacturers.

Complete
The Top gear test should have been done on the Autobahn coming out of Berlin and carried on driving at top speed. Then let's see how the electric car fairs, the battery will deplete like a melting ice cream on a hot day. Carry on to Blighty and the Tesla will have faded into insignificance before it left the Father Land.

Don't get me wrong I can't wait for the Porsche Mission E to come out. The electric car will one day take over but not for a long long long time.

They also weigh a tonne, one over took me on the Nürburgring, I let him bye as he nearly fell over coming round a bend. I nearly pissed myself laugh watching it sail along. The Tesla is not a sports car by a long stretch, you only ever see it drag racing.

Did you watch the next video with the same RS6 against a V10 plus and S8 plus? The RS6 was slightly quicker this time and beat the 0-100 time of the Tesla in the first video by 0.3 seconds (they were exactly the same in the 1st video).

Covkiller wrote:The Tesla is not a sports car by a long stretch, you only ever see it drag racing.

That's why I'm looking forwards to a proper test drive. I want to see what it's like to drive in normal conditions, the 0-60 stunt doesn't interest me at all.
It's easy to jump to the conclusion that it's designed for straight American roads with wide lanes.
One thing I have found out is that it's at least as wide, maybe wider, than my S8.

Really? I've seen loads of these in central london, probably several per day. But I'd never noticed it as being that big, certainly wouldn't have said as wide as an S8!