Reviews

Oct 5 2011

2012 Tesla Model S Beta – Review

2012 Tesla Model S Beta Review
Tesla had a big weekend. Some 1,500 Model S hand-raisers and their +1s descended on the company’s recently acquired NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA to see where their $5,000 deposits have gone. The event, which served as both a product extravaganza and a subtle reassurance, sought to prove that the Model S is well on its way to production. And part of the program included rides in three Model S betas.

As Tesla was keen to point out, showing off a prototype – even one that’s 80-percent complete – is relatively unheard of in the industry. Regardless, the EV upstart invited a handful of journalists to go for a brief spin in the passenger seat of the betas. How brief? Less than five minutes.

So… don’t expect to find any mind-blowing revelations, 10/10ths impressions or thorough interior dissections. Here’s all you need to know: It drives, it steers, it stops, it’s practically – and predictably – silent and the interior tech is enough to make gadget nerds forget about the lack of an iPhone 5.

Of the three betas on hand, two were developed for fine tuning the interior and one was set up for rides. There are currently five betas undergoing testing, all of which were built at a contract plant in Detroit and not at the newly refurbished, ex-Toyota plant in Northern California. That said, an extensive tour of the facility revealed that Tesla is almost completely set up to begin Model S production this January before deliveries begin in the middle of next year. The plant currently employs around 180 people, with that number set to hit 250 by the end of the year and then swell to 500 when at full capacity. All in, 300 to 400 people will handle drivetrain production and by 2013, roughly 1,000 people will work between the powertrain and chassis facilities.

So yes, Tesla can build them. And after spending a few hours around the Fremont plant, much of our skepticism about Tesla’s abilities to bring the sedan market were laid to rest. They’ve pulled in equipment and talent from around the world (Germany in particular) to make a modern, world-class facility. And now we get to sample what they’ll be building.

Source: AutoBlog

Oct 3 2011

2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV

2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV
There’s something inherently satisfying about using a blunt force object for its exact purpose, be it ripping the cover off a baseball with a Louisville Slugger or bonking one of those animatronic pop-up varmints with a rubber mallet at the local arcade. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s something equally satisfying about using a precise tool designed for an exact purpose, be it a Montblanc pen or a pickle fork. With the introduction of its 2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV, General Motors is betting that law enforcement customers are willing to trade-in the former brand of satisfaction for the latter.

For decades now, an overwhelming majority of America’s policemen and women have relied on the four-wheeled equivalent of a blunt object, the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, as a primary tool in combating crime. Stubbornly resistant to change since its introduction during the Carter administration, the Crown Vic proudly rode its pig iron and scrimshaw frame into retirement earlier this month, a victim of growing legislative hurdles and slowing sales. Yet despite – or perhaps because of – its antiquated technology and crude construction, precincts far and wide have been clawing over each other to secure the last few examples.

GM believes it has a better way: 2012 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle. Company officials say they are so cognizant of the unique needs of law enforcement that they’ve designed and built this special pursuit vehicle specifically for their use. GM has divulged no plans to park a civilian version in your Bowtie showroom and you won’t be seeing them in New York yellow, either. This is a purpose-built piece of kit. Of course, the truth is a bit more complicated than that. The Caprice PPV is actually a lightly modified version of GM’s long-wheelbase Zeta sedans that are marketed in Australia as the Holden Caprice and in the Middle East as… well, a Chevy Caprice. GM recently offered ordinary U.S. consumers a shorter Zeta, in the form of the well liked but short-lived Pontiac G8, but it expired when its brand was shuttered.

Source: AutoBlog

Sep 29 2011

2012 Toyota Prius Review

2012 Toyota Prius Review
Here’s a game that the first people who buy the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid should play with their other Prius-driving friends: Let them slide behind the wheel and see if they can even tell that it isn’t a standard, third-generation Prius. Very few will be able to tell. That’s how subtle the changes are between the two vehicles, at least, to someone who isn’t looking too closely. After driving the corded Prius in California recently, we can confidently say that from both the outside and behind the wheel, the Prius Plug-in Hybrid looks, drives and feels pretty much like any other example of the world’s most popular hybrid. Of course, this Prius does receive some important advances – ones that hardcore fans will notice them right away – but it’s more than obvious that Toyota’s strategy with its new model is evolution, not revolution.

The changes start with the plug-in’s new lithium-ion battery pack. Much smaller than the packs used in the two most popular plug-in vehicles on the market, the Prius Plug-in’s 176-pound, 4.4-kWh battery pack offers just enough juice, Toyota says, for an “electric-only driving range of up to 15 miles at a maximum speed of 62 mile-per-hour”.

For the sake of comparison, the all-electric Nissan Leaf has an official range of 73 miles from its 24-kWh pack and the Chevrolet Volt is rated at 35 miles on a full charge of its 16-kWh pack before the range-extending gas engine kicks in. Of course, in the interest of self-preservation, none of these plug-ins use all of the energy capacity that their batteries can hold, though. That said, even though the Prius Plug-in Hybrid’s pack is small compared to other plug-ins, it is clearly light years more sophisticated than the standard Prius’ 1.3-kWh nickel-metal hydride pack. If you know nothing else about the changes to the plug-in Prius, this is the one to take note of.

Source: AutoBlog

« 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »