"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
10/15/2018 at 08:41 • Filed to: None
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"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
10/15/2018 at 08:41 • Filed to: None | 2
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I got invited a few weeks ago to go drive the i-Pace at a Jaguar brand event. I doubt I’ll be invited back after this but frankly, if that car is the future then I don’t want it. There isn’t any emotion to electric cars. And before some says “but Tesla” - go drive that back to back with a Miata (hell, go drive it back to back on a tight road with a WRX) and tell me that it elicits the same kind of emotional driving response. It doesn’t. So why?
The same reason 380 lb Trent Brown doesn’t play Quarterback: with his weight, he simply wouldn’t be good at it. Different strokes and all of that.
So while electric cars are wonderful at straight line speed and getting your butt quietly around a city, they aren’t an enthusiast experience. When you pitch an i-Pace into a corner, what you get is the disappointment of weight-induced understeer (a body in motion stays in motion) and a bit of tightening of the rectum as you realize the straight line speed isn’t matched by cornering prowess.
Now, I think the combustion car is just about dead. Unfortunately, we’re all eventually going to have to live with the idea that our daily drivers, at least for a while, will be the soulless minions of orthodoxy that are the electric cars. Worse, with impending autonomy, they won’t even really need us as drivers - just as fleshy bags of water to move around like anything else.
Let me say it before you do - get off my lawn.
If there’s any solace, I sincerely hope for a future where everyone else can go about their EV business on their highways and byways, leaving the curves of the road less traveled to us - people who appreciate the motoring experience.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Goodbye Jaguar. Thanks for the moments.
nerd_racing
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 08:49 |
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I have long feared that the future will kill any sort of driving enthusiasm. I wonder what the regulations will be like for existing combustion engine cars? Will they be outlawed like Lawn Darts/Jarts or more aptly, leaded fuel? Will the government come for your Ford Festiva that just won’t die? OR will they just slowly starve out the fuel supplies, so that you have no other choice? Will fuel (ethanol more than likely) bootleggers emerge? Will ultra quiet exhausts become a must have, to keep the police away? The next half century will be very interesting.
That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 08:51 |
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I feel basically the same way. EVs are great, but I don’t want one. I hope it gets to a point where they’re cheap and practical and normal like ICE vehicles, and I hope once they do they don’t make me drive one.
KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 08:53 |
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The future is inevitably Autonomous Electric Single speed transmission C apsule-P ods but I think as electric cars become more and more mainstream, there will be “ drivers” cars among them as well. Of course nothing will match the sensations , sounds and emotional appeal of a good ol’ fashioned ICE sportscar with a manual.
Speaking of the Tesla lineup, I am curious how the upcoming new Tesla roadster will drive.
Dru
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 08:53 |
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Have you seen the VW funded but non-branded commercials for electrics? Billing them as “fun to drive”? Sure, I imagine they’re fun insofar as mashing to go pedal and instant torque is fun, but tossing them into a corner as you’ve described is at best underwhelming and at worst, dangerous due to their weight. Don’t get me wrong, I would 100% DD a Model 3, but my ZHP would remain the weekend queen.
f86sabre
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 08:55 |
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Not doubting your comparisons between cars, but the fact is that the majority of IC cars gave up any pretense of fun a long time ago as well. They have become rolling home entertainment centers.
Take a moment and remove our Oppo colored glasses and one realizes that those people who even want a drivers car are very few. Sad, but true.
Cash Rewards
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:00 |
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I think f86's point is valid. You say compare to a Miata or a wrx. Well, that's not what jaguar built. Even with a Ice, that comparison is gonna be flawed. With the exception of the original Tesla (an Elise with a battery pack), no one has made an electric car targeted at enthusiasts. Which they shouldn't, as the value isn't there.
HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:01 |
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wh o else cried after reading th at last line
Chuckles
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:04 |
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I agree with you, but I think we’ve still got some time before we’re forced into an electric car. Even if the new supply of internal combustion cars dries up, we’ll still have the used market for a while. If most people want electric, autonomous cars, I imagine that they’ll ditch their old cars for new tech. And the average age of a ca r on the road is what, 7 years? So if every manufacturer switched to 100% electric today, it would still take years before the average car on the road is electric.
Maxima Speed
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:09 |
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The answer is the motorcycle. Even when evything else turns into an automated electric conveyance pod motorcycles can still be relied upon to give driver feedback, engagement, and fun. You can’t automate a motorcycle. Even if bikes switch to electric there will still be a level of engagement that a car doesn’t have.
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Chuckles
> nerd_racing
10/15/2018 at 09:10 |
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I wouldn’t expect anything active like a ban, with the possible exception of major cities. I just think that new internal combustion cars will be phased out, and we’ll have years of people driving a mix of electric/non-electric cars. We’ll reach a tipping point where it just won’t make economic sense for people to drive gas powered cars, and I imagine that most gas stations will shift their business model accordingly.
M.T. Blake
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:20 |
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It’s currently the automotive equivalent of the 1950s for electric vehicles. Just wait to see what happens in the 60s...!!!!
Tekamul
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:29 |
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I think your experience has two parts. 1, yes it’s electric, and therefore extra heavy, but also 2, it’s an SUV. Thy all feel like they’re trying to kill you in every corner.
I know they’re hard to locate, but I feel if you tried a Tesla roadster you might feel more optimistic . Or track down one of the home brew electric Miatas.
The i-pace is what it is because that’s the niche Jaguar thinks they can turn a profit in. If the EV market gets a little less red and a little more black, ‘ exciting’ niches may actually be populated.
The Dummy Gummy
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 09:52 |
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I think there is a lot of disconnect in what is and what you expect.
The iPace is a crossover. How do you get to an expectation of wanting a crossover to perform like a tiny sports car?
It doesn’t. So why?
Most people just want a commuter and not a hoon vehicle. I think the iPace does well at what it needs to do.
nermal
> M.T. Blake
10/15/2018 at 10:04 |
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I take this to mean that drinking & smoking in
office environments
will be generally accepted like it was back then.
WOOO!!!!
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nermal
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 10:06 |
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I think it’s situational, and different.
A BMW i3 is fun to zoom around a city in. It’s also convenient, from the parking / charging / maintenance perspective
.
It is no where near as much fun as blasting down a country road and banging gears
in a GTI / Miata / BRZ / etc.
Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 10:40 |
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And a Camry is a great way to get to work and pick up the dry cleaning, but that doesn’t mean I’d like to take it through Tail of the Dragon. I drove my dad’s Volt for a few days last month and liked it, but I couldn’t see one replacing my fun car unless gas prices got ridiculous. If my commute was longer than 2.3 miles I might want an electric, but until then I’ll pass.
My car does everything I want and it’s fun. I see what you’re saying about handling and such, because one thing I definitely noticed was the heft, especially over crests in the road. No way was I going to bother pushing it in the twisties because I knew what would happen. But I don’t drive like most commuters, so an electric would be a step backwards for driving pleasure.
npc58501
> nermal
10/15/2018 at 10:56 |
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Offices suck... nothing to take the edge off. As for banning ICE, no one will obey that where I live. Some places you could go 20 miles and not see a power line or an outlet. A few spots are 85 miles between gas stations. Plus no EV 4wd pickups means no uptake here.
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nermal
> npc58501
10/15/2018 at 10:58 |
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I think there is going to be a yuuuuge disparity in EV adoption depending on location. Much like Uber / Lyft.
Densely populated urban areas will see much higher adoption than
spar
sely populated rural areas.
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npc58501
> nermal
10/15/2018 at 11:09 |
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Adoption is probably tied to charging stations...no places to plug in, no sale.
Issue is also time of charging too...
We will arrive at our EV Doom when I can say to the passenger during a charge.
“ Hey man I gonna get a malt liquor slurpee, run across the street and get me some potato chips, alright? .”
...a
nd
the c
ar
is charged when these are done.
syaieya
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 12:42 |
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Ive maintained that gas powered cars will most likely go the way of the horse.
Theyll still be around, theyll still be raced, but you wont see them outside of that except for parades and people who just do that kind of thing.
As much as i fear for our drivers cars,theyll have a place. C onvertibles and roadsters are the real endangered species in our electric, self driving future.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> The Dummy Gummy
10/15/2018 at 17:12 |
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Motor trend put it up against the Model S and the Gulia QV. It doesn't get there unless it's being marketed as such.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> Tekamul
10/15/2018 at 17:15 |
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It’s CUV sized. The Mazda CX-5 doesn’t lose much over the Mazda 3 - neither of which want to kill you!
The Roadster was worse in every way from an Elise. Which is exactly my point. Electricity doesn’t improve it.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> Dru
10/15/2018 at 17:18 |
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I also wonder if they are less safe in a collision for the person being run into. Mass times velocity. Yes, the Tesla may be safe in a collision, but what about the 3200lb car that it hits?
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Nick Has an Exocet
> Cash Rewards
10/15/2018 at 17:19 |
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I think my problem is with the marketing of these as performance cars with BS 0-60 times.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> Maxima Speed
10/15/2018 at 17:20 |
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You get the full Steve Harvey Good Answer clap for this.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute
10/15/2018 at 17:22 |
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I cried all night after writing it. The Jaguar event let you choose (but not both) between driving an F-Type and an I-Pace. It was set up as if the marketing team wanted you to choose past or future. Goodbye F-Type.
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The Dummy Gummy
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 18:51 |
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Well that’s dumb. No, it’s not being marketed that way. Not sure why they wouldn’t put up against the X.
https://www.jaguarusa.com/all-models/i-pace/index.html
“Introducing the first all-electric performance SUV from Jaguar, coming Fall 2018.”
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Nick Has an Exocet
> The Dummy Gummy
10/15/2018 at 22:11 |
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I take issue with the word performance.
Also, if Motortrend had the car, it was marketed that way. The marketing people for Jaguar and Tesla were present (as written in the article). Also, these stories don’t just appear out of thin air - it had the blessing of Jaguar/Tesla.
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The Dummy Gummy
> Nick Has an Exocet
10/15/2018 at 22:31 |
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Ok, I’m going to disagree with you...like everyone else has, but okay. It’s an SUV plain and simple. Saying you’re expecting a performance car because you bought bad marketing is on you.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> The Dummy Gummy
10/15/2018 at 23:19 |
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Yeah, it’s all about the hype. I don’t buy it. When you get in the car, if you know anything about performance, you realize this is not it.