Comments on: Tesla Death Watch 3: Matt Damon Test Drives a Tesla

By: David Dennis

David Dennis — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:00:55 +0000

I stand corrected, and thanks for setting the record straight.

I’m definitely looking forward to hearing about Martin’s new car. It is, to say the least, way overdue.

I’m afraid Martin will always be Tesla for me … I’d like to like his successor, if nothing else because he did put in the big bucks to get this dream going, but alas, I don’t :-(.

By: doug

doug — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:14:04 +0000

WorldPress seems to have eaten my last comment.
Maybe it had too many links??

By: doug

doug — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:06:12 +0000

David Dennis,
You got that all mixed up. The car that Matt Damon was driving is VP16 (Validation Prototype #16). It is being used at the LA store for test drives.

P4 (silver with black and red seats) was shown in Monaco sans battery pack. The car that’s been used for test drives in Europe is VP12 (black with brown seats).

P2 aka VIN#3 (red with black and brown seats) was originally a VP (and was built after P1), but was re-designated a production car and delivered to a customer (rumored to be guy from eBay). This car was also used for test drives at the LA store open house.

Martin’s car is VIN#2 aka P3, hence this controversy. The car has a custom paint job. Martin says he thinks it’s possible he’ll get his car “in the next week or so.”

You can see pics of most of the Validation Prototypes here, and the Production models here.

By: jkross22

jkross22 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:18:23 +0000

Nice color – baby shit blue.

By: Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:11:59 +0000

“questionable taste in cars”??? Now that’s going a little too far. If I had his kind of money I’d be first on the waiting list for a Lotus Elise-derived electric sports car, too.

By: David Dennis

David Dennis — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:54:02 +0000

It looks a lot like production car 3, which was supposedly delivered to a customer at long last after serving as a demo car in Europe.

I recognize the pale blue color right away, which I don’t think was in any of the earlier prototypes.

Remember, P3 was originally one of the prototype cars assembled right before P1, and then a customer decided he wanted to take P3 instead of his car that was scheduled for later assembly.

So technically you could say it was a prototype car delivered to a customer, and Tesla did not actually lie when they told Damon this was a prototype.

But it’s one of those non-lie lies that make the company operations look slimy and deceptive. I have to assume the intent of this is to show Martin that he still has the second “real” car even though this is obviously not the reality.

Why can’t they just deliver a car to Martin?

By: bunkie

bunkie — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:57:33 +0000

“..only if Microsoft hyped up a new operating system with zero bugs, was 500% faster than Vista, virus proof, then never delivered it to a single paying customer.”

Isn’t this business at usual in Redmond?

By: GS650G

GS650G — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:55:51 +0000

Next up…. Pimp my Tesla

By: lewissalem

lewissalem — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:27:15 +0000

gsp,

..only if Microsoft hyped up a new operating system with zero bugs, was 500% faster than Vista, virus proof, then never delivered it to a single paying customer.

By: blankfocus

blankfocus — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:23:38 +0000

the bourne movies rock, and i know if i were him i would have easily accepted a drive in this thing.

By: shaker

shaker — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:08:48 +0000

I eagerly await the day when Teslas are so common that the term “Step on the electrons” will supplant “Step on the gas”.

By: Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:16:27 +0000

gsp–

no flaming the site, its authors or fellow commentators. One more misstep and you’re out.

By: gsp

gsp — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:52:41 +0000

Give them some time. TTAC sometimes sounds like a typewriter company making fun of that silly upstart Microsoft.

By: bbscan

bbscan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:43:55 +0000

that is strange that off the line acceleration is slow since I always hear that electric motors have all of their torque available at 0 rpms…you would think off the line acceleration would be great

By: rodster205

rodster205 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:41:05 +0000

Come on, you are just jealous you can’t get a drive in one. You would turn one down? He obviously didn’t buy it (yet).

And he is my, and my wife’s, favorite actor. Have you even seen the Bourne movies? He gets a pass from me just based on those.

By: SherbornSean

SherbornSean — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:59:53 +0000

Is Sarah Silverman jealous?

By: Landcrusher

Landcrusher — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:59:50 +0000

I wouldn’t say it’s bad taste in cars. More like it is poor judgement with money.

By: N85523

N85523 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:56:34 +0000

The acceleration was probably weak because the transmission was programed to only use second gear while they mull over how to get a workable low-end tranny in the car.

“Matt Damon!”

By: romanjetfighter

romanjetfighter — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:49:39 +0000

They should totally butch this thing up a bit.