Rabid

The batteries weigh in at 450kg each, so I think adding more would actually hurt performance, not help it. I guess you could argue this way though. Do you really need to make a car, with a 4.0sec 0-60, faster?

Already answered that question.

Currently the Tesla takes about 4 hours for a full charge. But like I said theres another company out there that claims it has a car that will be good for 350 miles on a 10min charge. That car is called the Zap-X and its a 644hp AWD, 4.8sec 0-60, 155mph top speed, 7 passenger SUV. The Technology will only get better as time goes on and since mass production of electric cars of any sort is still a few years off its very likely that charge times will improve significantly. Here is the ZAP-X

If every car was electric, and we needed X more powerplants that burn say, coal, to power them. We would still be letting out 50% less CO2 emissions than we do right now. So it's cleaner than what we have currently. And as powerplants become more efficient at making electricity, those numbers will go down even more. The point I'm trying to make is that someday (soon), there just isn't going to be any gasoline. It's never a bad time to think about what type of alternative fuel your interested in. Electric cars are just one of the many options, but since most of you here are interested in performance, not just gas mileage, electric is probably what your going to want to keep your eyes on. Also like I said before, the Roadster is going to drop down to about $50k which is only a fraction more than the Elise's that are running the Toyota motors in them. Theres also another company (who's name I can't remember at the moment) who is going to produce an electric 7 seater crossover sport utility (also with help from lotus). It's expected to get 350 miles per charge. Also it is AWD and runs a high 4sec 0-60. The best part about this car though, is they claim it will only take 10min to get a full charge. That's about how long it takes to fill up on gas and get a drink right now. Not bad at all. The other thing is, batteries are getting about 8% more powerful every year. So if this trend keeps up (and it is expected to) a car that gets 400 miles per charge now, in 6 years will get 600 miles per charge. In 12 years it will get 900, in 18 it will be close to 1400. Also the batteries are recyclable.

The batteries are the expensive part right now. It's also the main reason why the $30k sedan wont be out till 2009. I'm guessing that by the time you see some of these cars on the road, the batteries will be affordable enough to replace. The Roadster price is expected to come down by then as well. It will be someplace in the $50k price range.

Here's a couple video's for anyone who is actually interested in seeing them. An electric go-kart will make your skyline look stupid, and only costs 1cent per mile to run.

Heres a little bit on an American car company called Tesla. They will be making electric cars starting with a Roadster this year and including a sedan and an economy model by 2011. The Roadster is around $90k american, The sedan is expected to be $30k, and the economy car in the $10k range. Currently the Roadster gets 250 miles per charge, sedan is expected at 400-500miles. They are estimating about 500 full charges per battery, which means the roadster should hit 125k miles before it needs new AA's. Theres only 1 schedualed maintainence period every 150k miles. These cars have 0 emissions, and the engine only has 1 moving part. The Roadster does 0-60mph in 4.1sec, it's fast as f**k. It runs with a 2-speed manu-matic tranny. 13,500rpm redline with max torque from 0-7000rpm. 130mph top speed. It's based on the Lotus Elise chasis, but its a little longer because it needs to carry a battery. Still technically a mid-engine rear drive car. Weighs in at about 1300kg. Anyways heres some pics.

Great game. Getting better with every update too. Played that waaaaay to much when I first got it. My friends and I are all big into bikes, so many arguments ended with races in TT. I've recently gotten back into GT4. I've been trying a lot of other games, but nothing is catching my interest at all.

Ughh @ chrome. Save yourself 100lbs or more and get some forged wheels, just powder coat them white. Pink and white should look good. And I wouldn't think you would want two of the same car, have her get something different so you can swap rides. How about an Evo, or a MX-5?

A lot of the muscle cars (Trans Am's, Vette's, Mustangs etc) around here use the MT's and they seem to do pretty well. I think that personally I would go with the Nitto's though. Can't say that I've ever heard anything bad about either ones, and from what I've seen/experienced on my own, they both offer crazy grip. Just don't get picked up by the fuzz with slicks on your car. Even the 'street drag' tyres are pushing the limits of legal.

Yes, lets encourage people to run from the cops, cause that always ends well. Idiot.

I would like to see a 3 car battle between the Euro-Spec Type R, the Jap-Spec Type R, and the American-Spec Si. Our Si is only 2hp less than the Type R, so it might make for an interesting battle. Looks better too, in my opinion anyways.

Maybe look into an older BMW 3-series. They were good cars in their time, and shouldn't be hard to find with a manual tranny.

Yeh, get one of those so you can do wheelies and stopies like every other squid that rides them. A 600 is about all you can really use on the road. They still do the 1/4 mile in roughly 10.5sec right out of the box and they offer better handling than a 1000 because they are lighter. The new CBR600 is prolly the best bike on the road, at least reviews and people I know that have em say it is. My first choice for a bike would be a Daytona 675 though. Also stay away from the new Yamaha's. Even though they are superior track bikes, they are hard as shit to ride on the street because you need to flog em to 15000rpm before they do anything (they don't redline till 17500). This makes them very hard to ride in traffic and start off at lights. If you can't afford a new bike, you might want to look at Kawasaki 636's or older Yamaha R6's. Even the gixxer 600's are good bikes, but I would avoid them unless you enjoy the stereotype of being a wanker. As for the car, just get something reliable that you can afford, then get a nice bike. Cars will take a back seat anyways once you start riding.

It has a lot more options than the older Type R's. 18" wheels stock, with options for 19's and I don't think the wheels are where its picking up the weight. With forged wheels you only gain about 1lb per inch, so for example 20" wheels weigh in at about 20lbs, so 18's are roughly 18lbs. It also has Electronic Brake Assist and Vehicle Stability Assist and a super nice interior with Alcantara seats. But its also loaded on safety options like 6 airbags and thats a lot for a car with only 2 doors. Even at 1267kg it still manages to have 156hp/tonne and pulls off a 6.6sec 0-60, so its not exactly slow. It's still a 2.0-litre VTEC motor rated at 198hp @ 7800rpm and 142lb-ft torque @ 5600rpm. It's a pretty nice car overall and the 'hot hatch' category is by far my favorite (I've owned 6 zippy hatch's in my life), but I still think id go with a Ford Focus ST over the Type R, even though you cant get either one here in the states .

Top Gear rated it as their number 1 hot hatch a few months ago. But a lot of readers don't agree. Its like the Yamaha R6 of cars. Fast as f**k on the track, pretty bla on the street. It's also only 2hp more than the Civic Si we get here in the states.

If your running a system, it might be drawing to much power from your battery/alternator, and that could affect anything else that needs to run off those as well.

You can lock the camera to follow the ships, or zoom all the way out similar to what Supreme Commander does. It's also a full 3D range of movement, you can go anywhere you can see pretty much. You will be moving around a lot. Locking the camera on a ship, issuing orders, going to other ships, watching the pretty battles, etc.

Should be able to get the demo with minimal effort. Then at least you would know if your interested or not. I actually just finished beating the single player campaign again. I seem to want to play the full campaign about 3x a year.

I guess these would be my favorites, in no particular order. Homeworld 2 (can't believe no one has mentioned this yet) Supreme Commander Total War series Dawn of War series Company of Heroes (even though the multiplayer was f**ked) for older games Age of Empires 2 Total Annihilation Homeworld Warcraft 3 Starcraft

I owned a FWD Eclipse Turbo and an AWD Talon Turbo (same thing, different badge) and I can tell ya from experience that they are pocket rockets. They are a bit on the heavy side for their size, but they respond very well to modifications. I know for a fact you can get them into the 10-11sec area very easily. The 4G63 is a friggen amazing motor. Completely bulletproof. Same thing in the Evo and they aren't exactly slow. There is a video of a 4G63 powered Mighty Max pick-up truck floatin around on the internet too. Worth a look if you can find it. That's a ridiculously ignorant statement by the way. I've seen full interior Eclipse's running high 9's, but 6's are a long way away from 9's.

Yeh, that doesn't go over to well in the southern US, cause they are all f**king bigots. They are the main reason NASCAR is popular too. Wish an earthquake would just remove that part of the country from the rest. I'd say you got f**ked over pretty bad, but it doesn't seem like you helped your cause by swearing at the cops. I know cops around here will intentionally find something wrong with your car if your rude to them. I always try to be very apologetic with them. "Yes officer, it's my fault your an asshat". I've also always kept my cars pretty close to stock, other than suspension. The only thing they will get you for here really is tint, loud exhaust, and if you have any neon or anything thats an instant ticket (as well it should be cause it looks like ass). I've got a good buddy who racked up a solid 20+ tickets last summer with his car and the only thing illegal on it is the muffler. If you give them a reason to pull you over, you can expect plenty of tickets. On another note, I can't believe you get demerit points for mechanical violations. What kind of messed up system is that? And a ticket for a dirty engine bay? Prolly one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard of. The other thing thats different here is that they can't search your car without your permission unless they have a warrant or actually see/smell something in your car. So if you were pulled over here and they said to pop your hood you could tell em where to stick it, and theres not much they could do. At least your fines are cheap. I got my last ticket 6 years ago for 78mph in a 55 zone. Cost me over $300 not including court fee's. I'm sure its gone up considerably since then. Look on the bright side though, you get all your shit fixed and you wont get any more fines.

Excellent choice. You wont be sorry. The whole 'zoom zoom' thing really is true. Mazda makes cars that are hella fun to drive and very well built.