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.