Quote fro Yahoo news article Wed Mar 30 12:06PM by Orlando Parfitt
Top Gear sued over 'rigged' test
Wed Mar 30 12:06PM by Orlando Parfitt
'Top Gear' is in hot water again, with the headline-grabbing show now being sued by supercar company Tesla for defamation.
Link to full article
http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/news-extra/article/135376/top-gear-sued-over-rigged-test.html
Time for the BBC to pull the plug?
Oh my god so they're saying this was set up and Top Gear isn't a documentary! Next they'll be saying it's an entertainment show loosely based around cars.....
Sounds similar to the embelished review (cough 'storey' ) about the Stratos Kitcar.
[Edited on 30/3/11 by loggyboy]
I find it a bit upsetting that Top Gear can literally 'make or break' manufacturers. I like Top Gear and it makes me laugh but when they
are doing proper car reviews they should give a fair and factual review. The whole Stratos incident was literally unforgivable and it seems the Tesla
review might have been the same. They are dealing with the future sales of small/medium manufacturers which directly corresponds to the companies
owners/employees. Thats people jobs on the line, people morgages being paid and food on the table.
Clarkson needs a slap.
Lol they're both being silly if you ask me. No publicity is bad publicity and all that. I can see where Tesla are coming from, though - making an
issue of running out of charge was a bit misleading. Any car will run out of fuel if the driver is a big enough moron (Top Gear presenters, for
example?). So why bother showing that for the Tesla? The implication was that it can suddenly and unexpectedly run out of charge, which in reality it
wont any more than a petrol car with a broken fuel guage. I expect that's what Tesla are peed off about.
Having said that I thought they were overall quite fair to the car, pointing out its pros and cons in a less petrol-head-biassed way than they tend to
treat anything else electric/hybrid. Review is on youtube somewhere.
Just out of curiosity... People are comparing this incident with the Stratos show. I have to say that I thought the Stratos episode was great. It just
pointed out that if the builder doesn't do his job right, it might have problems. But "in the end of the day, you may be passing by a store
window and see the reflection of you in your car. And it will seem like a Stratos. And that is all that matters" (loosely quoted from memory).
What was the big problem with the Stratos review that I missed?
By the way, when I found about kit cars was because I found there were Stratos replicas and for some years that was what I dreamed of having. Later
had to scale my dream down to a Seven, otherwise would not make it. But still hope to build one, one day. Specially now that Lister Bell showed up
with a renewed great kit with a smaller price tag (but not small enough 
)
Thank you for explaining it to me... 
HappyFather
quote:
Originally posted by HappyFather
Just out of curiosity... People are comparing this incident with the Stratos show. I have to say that I thought the Stratos episode was great. It just pointed out that if the builder doesn't do his job right, it might have problems. But "in the end of the day, you may be passing by a store window and see the reflection of you in your car. And it will seem like a Stratos. And that is all that matters" (loosely quoted from memory). What was the big problem with the Stratos review that I missed?
By the way, when I found about kit cars was because I found there were Stratos replicas and for some years that was what I dreamed of having. Later had to scale my dream down to a Seven, otherwise would not make it. But still hope to build one, one day. Specially now that Lister Bell showed up with a renewed great kit with a smaller price tag (but not small enough
Thank you for explaining it to me...
HappyFather
In my mind it was merely an opinion of a broadcaster, love it or loath it that is what the programme is all about the opinion of the presenter. We all know that going round a race track uses more fuel than normal road use so maybe it really did only do 55 miles on the track.
From what I've read, Tesla are suing because the BBC won't stop broadcasting repeats of the article. Given that 20 minutes is taken out for re-airing on Dave, it wouldn't be hard to do.
Seems to me that tesla are using this to stir up some interest.
Top gear said "we only got 55miles to a charge" - seems not bad considering the way they were hooning about. Telsa are suing because they
have achieved 250 miles on a "euro approved test", so they are saying the top gear test was wrong. Its a bit like BMW taking top gear to
court if they said the m3 averaged 12 mpg round their track, saying the "euro extra urban" mpg for an m3 is 33.2mpg. Interesting that this
appeared on:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/18/bbc_tesla_edinburgh_e_car_shenanigans/
recently.
Tesla are somewhat economical with the truth as well - see the article above: on their web site that they say they manages london to edinburgh in a
day using standard socket to charge twice. Actually only drove 400 miles, and they used special high current sockets to charge to keep the time down
and only made about 40mph average when moving.
Still like the look of a tesla - just needs to be about 1/4 of the price!
Hugh
I think TG has a lot to answer for!
They are the 'tabloid' of the motoring media world, and a huge number of (potential) motorists take their view as gospel!
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
I find it a bit upsetting that Top Gear can literally 'make or break' manufacturers. I like Top Gear and it makes me laugh but when they are doing proper car reviews they should give a fair and factual review.
quote:
Originally posted by Liam
Lol they're both being silly if you ask me. No publicity is bad publicity and all that. I can see where Tesla are coming from, though - making an issue of running out of charge was a bit misleading. Any car will run out of fuel if the driver is a big enough moron (Top Gear presenters, for example?). So why bother showing that for the Tesla? The implication was that it can suddenly and unexpectedly run out of charge, which in reality it wont any more than a petrol car with a broken fuel guage. I expect that's what Tesla are peed off about.
quote:
Originally posted by smart51
From what I've read, Tesla are suing because the BBC won't stop broadcasting repeats of the article. Given that 20 minutes is taken out for re-airing on Dave, it wouldn't be hard to do.
i'm going to sue 'top gun' for not being a factual film. same with 'teeth', though it was pretty funny.
rediculous. in my mind, tesla are just trying their luck for some free money
If any of the public take notice of any reviews done by the Top Gear lot, they are a very sad lot as the programme has lost all credibility.
it can't be factual, afterll JC did say the Yeti was the best car ever,...
TG is funny - end of!
Like them or not electric cars and hybrids are an important issue they should have known better, while I am pretty sure when driven hard the range of
the Tesla and other current electric cars is nowhere near that of conventional and hybrid cars Top Gear should have done an honest report.
It more worrying illustrates the lack of control the BBC has over content it commissions from external companies.
[Edited on 30/3/11 by britishtrident]
quote:
Originally posted by marcjagman
In my mind it was merely an opinion of a broadcaster, love it or loath it that is what the programme is all about the opinion of the presenter. We all know that going round a race track uses more fuel than normal road use so maybe it really did only do 55 miles on the track.
regardless of the 55 miles or not what TG was trying to say was that with the current infrastructure and technology it would take 3 to 12 hours to
recharge the car and if you were on a track day that would cause a problem unless you had 6 or 7 cars to play with (£700000 to £900000).
as for the statos replica i wonder if the real thing would have been any better - Put together, prepared or reliable? they were a bit unfair on that
guys pride and joy.
I certainly don't watch top gear for its indepth and factual reviews of cars
ditch
When I read this in the news it did seem to me that Tesla are trying to sue TG for something that was actually very plausable and I reckon is true,
that driven round a track it will only do 55 miles or what ever it was which is fairly impressive in it's own right.
TBH did they not think to watch the program before agreeing to be on it? One of the Best things about TG is it's on the BBC so they can actually
give us a coherent opinion because they aren't funded by adverts (Alot of the time 5th Gear does twin test and doesn't really tell you which
one they think is best).
Here's what JC wrote at the time...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article5483422.ece
If that was really Tesla's response at the time, I wonder why they have decided to sue now? Publicity stunt, I guess?