"If one of the more extreme responses to global warming comes true, driving a sports car anywhere but on a racetrack might be relegated to history's dustbin.

Fast, powerful cars within a few years may be outlawed in Europe, an idea that has been raised ostensibly because Ferraris and Porsches produce too much carbon dioxide"

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aijQ0.2BMGw8

 

No problemo!!

There's this electric car (forgot name) looks kinda like that small Lotus (?).

It does 0-60 in some phenomenal time (3.0?!) and had 300 miles between charges.

Anybody know specifics?

 

Looks like a Lotus 'cause its based on one

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php

Saw one in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, looked pretty good but I didn't get to hear it go, I don't even know if it makes a sound at all actually.

 

Let's play a game. Match the car to the city/hwy mpg rating:

1. Porsche 997 Carrera C2
2. Toyota 4 Runner, 2wd, v6
3. Toyota 4 Runner, 4wd, v8
4. Porsche 997 Turbo
5. Porsche Boxster
6. Ford Freestyle (SUV/car crossover)
7. Ford Taurus
8. Mazda MX-5 Miata
9. Lincoln Town Car
10. Chevrolet Silverado
11. Lotus Elise

A. 18/22
B. 23/32
C. 25/30
D. 17/25
E. 16/22
F. 20/27
G. 18/25
H. not listed
I. 16/19
J. 18/26
K. 24/29

Kinda tough, don't you think?

Answers:

J-1, A-2, I-3, G-4, B-5, F-6, H-7, C-8, D-9, E-10, K-11

 

Yeah! Thanks! That's the one. If gas-powered sports cars bite the dust there'll be a bunch of these babys to choose from.

Sound? Maybe whine like a turbine. Would be fine with me if they amplified it with fans or something. BTW, I believe cooling fan of first 911s gave it much of it's characteristic whirr.

 

I drove 350 miles today in the 997. All highway - I-294, I-94, I-196/US-31, I-96.

Average speed - 72. Average MPG - 25. I drove the last 70 miles on I-96 at 90+

Tell me that producing hydrogen or recycling batteries could be more efficient that this car is today.

We need an engineering-based reality check before Al Gore really screws up what's left of this planet...

P.S. - last weekend, drove my wife's Volvo S80 V8 about 200 miles at supralegal speeds. Average mpg 26.8. My buddy's Prius returns an average of 32 mpg. Who's more efficient, overall?!?

 

This is ridiculous, my wife's x-country Volvo gets worse mpg than my 997S. This idea will get shot down quick if any reasonable study/analysis is done. Why not outlaw SUV's? 90% of the time I see 1 person in the car.

 

Rubbish! I bought my first Porsche in 1974 in reaction to the Middle Eastern gas crisis,--as the Porsche got better mileage than anything else. (Got up to 34 mpg on that 914-4). Even my 997 gets better mileage than my other cars.

 

My 997S continuously gets about 16 MPG although I think I might have something to do with that.

 

This is yet another example of trying to solve a problem and going about it all freaking wrong. Inevitably these "problem solvers" find something that the perceived "rich" use and go after that. Nevermind that burning natural gas for electricity because we refuse to build any new power plants or still use heating oil for all those homes on the Eastern seaboard causes far great damage than the few hundred thousand porsches and ferraris on the road, but lets not be rational. Lets justbash those with the money to buy things that make others jealous. Problem solved!

 

This won't work for two reasons:

1) Yuppie families will NEVER accept the MiniVan as an acceptable mode of transportation.... (What will the neighbors say????? It makes me cringe juts thinking about it)

2) I NEED an SUV & trailer to carry my GT3 to the track where I get a tremendous 6mpg.

Keep those priorities in order! (tongue in cheek)

-B

 

Here's an idea:

Why not take trucks off of the highways and move the freight transportation to the railroads?

Benefits: significantly lower emissions, better roads, less expenses for the government (seems more efficient to me!)

Drawbacks: The teamsters would NEVER let that happen....

Maybe someone should recommend that idea to Mr. Gore for his take.... Oh, that is right. We can't tick off the teamsters as their unions = votes. Got it...

-B

 

One of my ex-employees went to work there a few months ago.
They are very quiet with a slight fan like whir sound. They are 2 speed transmissions i think.
He said the acceleration was outstanding. 0-60 in 4 seconds i think.
BTW they are $100k and all sold out on the first production run. I dont think any have shipped yet, so you probably saw one of the test vehicles (they are in San Carlos i think)

 

Wonder what Ayn Rand would have to say about all this?

 

IMHO the Porsche is one of the few sports cars with great mpg. I beleive that Porsche will continue to improve the mpg and performance as an answer to the climate issue. Have we not been trying to use alternative energy since the 1970s crisis? The hybrid cars are not that much better in mpg than regular cars, so we are a long way from solving that one.

The focus should be industrial pollution. China and India are the biggest conrtibutors. Why don't we treat companies that pollute the same way we treat companies that use child labour?