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DorkTwat, your fantasy S8 doesn't exist in this universe.

2012 Audi S8 ( from http://www.topspeed.com/cars/a... ) 0-60 in 4.2 sec ( about the same as the non-dual Model S P85 )

2013 Audi S8 ( from http://www.caranddriver.com/re... )

zero to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, needs just 8.5 seconds to reach 100, and tricks through the quarter-mile in 11.9 seconds at 118 mph. Never mind that the S8 is a 4620-pound car that comfortably seats five

A Model S weighs as much or more and also seats 5 comfortably.

The reviews I've seen for the 2014 S8 puts its 0-60 at 3.9s so it may have gotten SLOWER.

The Nissan Leaf will really be competing with the Tesla E, not the Tesla S,.

But Nissan being Nissan, there'll inevitably be a "boy racer" body kit.

vehicle that can drive, at most, 4 hours and then needs to recharge for 5 hours??

Quote:

Despite all these challenges, a full seventy-six hours after leaving Los Angeles, the team rolled into New York City. The total trip was 3,427 miles and the team only spent 15 hours and 57 minutes tied to a charger.

So lets do the math: 76(Total time) - 16(charge time) = 60 hours drive time.
60h drive time is 4.75 greater than 16h charge time.

So somewhere your math went off the rails.

Of course most people sleep.
So they can charge at home or on the road at a slower rate without inconveniencing themselves.

It is unbelievable that this article is taken seriously. The writer refers to the shift paddles as "flappy paddles behind the steering wheel". This tells me that the person writing the article knows nothing about cars and did very little research to reach their conclusions.

If the author had been willing to do some actual research, instead of generating a fluff piece, we would have a comparison of the features between what's included with the Volt and the Cadillac version. Perhaps there are a few more things under the hood than a re-badged Volt.

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/cadillac/2014-cadillac-elr-ar128653.html

I drive a Toyota Tercel in Seattle [...]

Well, there's your problem right there! I'd hate driving, too, if I was driving a car they haven't made for 12 years (so I assume it's a pretty old car) in Seattle. :^D

I've decided I hate cars with tops. The Wrangler and the TT are both convertibles and the tops were off/down most of the time. But I'm with you--I hate big cars and I'm actually having a hard time finding a small convertible. I'm looking at the Mini Roadster at the moment. Conversely to you, I hate automatics. On the other hand, I'm down here in SoCal which is mostly flat. If I was in stop-and-go traffic on a hill with a stick, I'd probably bite the bullet and get an automatic.

No, driving is just not enjoyable. I have better uses to put my mind to. Even day dreaming is more useful than thinking about driving...

Do you find yourself daydreaming while bicycling?

I'm somewhat similar--the car is the decompression chamber. Once I stopped "fighting" traffic ("Who is this idiot driving 55 in the left lane and why can't I kill them?!") and just accepted the fact that I'll get home when I get home, I get in my car, turn on some tunes, and just relax, think peaceful thoughts, run issues through my brain, and daydream. There are usually enough other cars on the road that I can get hints as to whether my behavior is outlandish or not (if lots of people are passing me, I'm driving too slow--move over).

Whereas, when I'm riding a bicycle, I'm far more in-tune with my self and my surroundings. Is there someone in that parked car ahead who might open the door in my path? Is that kid going to run out in front of me? Is that glass on the road? Are those real? (beach bike-path only) How fast am I going? Is my pace where I'd like it to be? Can I step it up a little? Damn, I'm thirsty.

In other words, I don't usually have time to daydream on a bicycle. A bicycle is work--fun, but work. Lots to do, lots to keep an eye on. Driving is a bit more relaxing.

I actually eventually decided that the most interesting challenge for the game would be to see how far I could modify things without anyone calling me out - and thanks to the blatant cheaters, it was amazing what you could get away with (think 600 horsepower pickup truck, mobile antiaircraft cannon that could depress its turret by 10 degrees below horizontal, etc...) without anyone accusing you at all.

What's wrong with a 600 HP pick up truck?

Also, it's "for its weight class". Otherwise, there's this 315mph electric car, also built by students.

http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/crop/200807/2010-chevrolet-camaro-37-1_1600x0w.jpg

Going to go ahead and disagree with you there champ.

And if you think this http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/panamera/ is not ugly, then you're wrong about that too.

We're talking about Audis, right?

In addition, I've noticed that some newer HID headlights seem to be more focused, which can make a car behind you going over speed bumps / potholes appear to be flashing its brights at you (with a more diffuse beam, this isn't an issue). This can certainly be distracting, especially driving an old car (when someone could very well be flashing their lights at you to let you know you've lost your running lights / your engine's billowing smoke / etc.).

Yeap, on the occasions when the auto-levelling and alignment doesn't work correctly, like pot holes or sleeping policemen, it does make HID and Xenon lights very annoying.

But my pet-peeve, of the moment, is how the current raft of cars have one of the fucking front foglights turn on and off when the driver is turning! The light corresponds to the direction the driver is turning, so I presume that the idea is to light up the inside of a bend, but in reality if there's a car like this behind you it is very distracting. Shit, some of them end up just flashing alternating fog lights when the driver goes around a roundabout!

They could have implemented the same system without having lights turn on and off, but that would have been more expensive (moving head lights - like Citroen tried in the past, IIRC). And when there are already some low down lights on a car that are off most of the time (unless you are one of those cock-gobblers who drives around with their fog lights on when it isn't foggy), I can understand why they did it the way they did. But it has lead to vehicles on the road with lights that turn on and off unexpectedly, and that is distracting for others - which creates dangerous situations.

But here in the UK I have seen buses with flashing blue LEDs all over as part of some fucking advert. Which at a glance and at a distance could look like an emergency vehicle. Its not like road safety is actually practised - posh cars have features that appear to break the rules of the road, and adverts on the side of the privately owned and for-profit operated buses are allowed blueish flashing lights - safety is preached only (blah blah speed kills blah blah[1]) and if you break their preachings they hit you with fines and shit.

Another feature for retards too dumb to work the lights on their cars is automatic headlights. Whilst they sound like a great idea, in reality they lead to flashing lights too. For at least a couple of hours a day the ambient light is such that the automatic headlights are close to turning on or off. And simply going under a bridge, or behind some shelter, or out into the open can cause automatic headlights to turn on or off. When there is someone behind you like this, it can be very distracting and annoying. There are also moments when the car does not have their lights on and yet they really should. Sooner or later these hand-holding features will lead to accidents, and I am surprised that the auto-industry has done this when the blame for not turning on lights could be pinned on the driver. I guess they figure the extra electronics that are there to go wrong will bring in more profit through inevitable repairs than the costs of paying out for deaths and injuries caused by the automatic lights not being on when they needed to be.

What is funny though about headlights is the current fashion for pointless rows of LEDs on the front of some cars. They can't possibly light up shit, but they dazzle others and look shiny-shiny, so the jackdaws and magpies of the roads are drawn to cars with them. Anyway, the funny bit is that really posh and expensive cars have these rows of LEDs currently, but in the UK there is a stereo-type of council houses going well over-board with cheap christmas lights, often in the form of strings of LEDs.

A Range Rover
Some Merc

A quick google search for "Autonomous Audi TTS hardware" turned up these articles, offering various details on the hardware used:
http://sun.systemnews.com/articles/143/2/feature/22601
http://www.audiusanews.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=2CB13CF6B9E286A75E8E2B1663E63318?id=1589
http://www.topspeed.com/cars/audi/2010-autonomous-audi-tts-pikes-peak-ar92542.html

Top Speed has much more information that the article that slashdot linked, as well as an official video from Jaguar.

Koenigsegg CCX doesn't fall far behind Bugatti Veyron:
- price: $2,100,000
- 1018 hp
- top speed of 257 mph

And on top of it: it's buying Saab. Koenigsegg has only 45 full time staff empolyees and sold 18 cars last year,which is 97,982 less than SAAB did.

OutputLogic

It's a sweet little sportscar that Audi is working on. But I have no idea why Nintendo would be upset over that. http://www.topspeed.com/cars/audi/2010-audi-r4-ar16931.html

I fail to see how this is better than the already existing self-parking systems...