Have you seen Top Gear?

The Reliant Robin, while obviously a horrible design, does not roll over every time you drive one a half mile (and it is not the primary reason for the decline in population in the Sheffield region in the decades since its release). The Stig is not really "half man, half machine with petrol running through his veins". And a race against a jet or helicopter is not a realistic test of auto performance.

The Tesla episode was cheeky, but no more cheeky than many episodes. It's not a "straight" review show. It is a comedy that happens to have a lot of cars in it. If it is occasionally true, that's just a bonus.

> The Reliant Robin, while obviously a horrible design, does not roll over every time you drive one a half mile

But it is absolutely hilarious when it does.

Reliant Robin show was epic. Only in England.

Agreed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8

To explain for Americans and non-Brits, A Reliant Robin was a 3-wheeled car that was designed so that it could be taxed as a motorcycle with side car (ie 3 wheels).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliant_Robin

There is a big difference between the outright comedy sections and the supercar reviews though. Much like the parent, I enjoy the show generally but the Tesla piece left a bad taste in the mouth. They intentionally misrepresented what happened - as well as the actual facts about the car - to leverage the stereotype of electric cars being crap/short-ranged. The biggest selling point after not requiring fuel is precisely that it is not like other electric cars. Here, their use of comedy crossed into outright dishonesty - an audience who don't know the facts will definitely be left with the impression of 3 day trips and 50 minute lifespan.

They will probably win the court case, as they were careful not to say anything literally untrue. Yes, if you ram it as hard as possible around a race track for an hour, you will probably need a charge. Yes, if you choose to make a very long journey and only recharge via the slowest means it will take you a while. But that would be idiotic, wouldn't it? Few people - even those who buy sports cars - make those kind of uses. We know it's not for long-distance journeys, but we also know the statistics about the distribution of journey lengths.

Do the Top Gear team mention every fuse that blows? Do they honestly not see it as a huge step forward? I think there is a difference between being cheeky about a Ferrari and Tesla. Top Gear have given positive reviews to previously unfashionable brands in the past, despite the comedy.

They didn't take worst case mileage, they took mileage on their track. They said, quite clearly, in the show, that it would have only gone 55 miles on their track. It was being driven like a maniac, they clearly showed it being driven hard, they're not a walking tesla advert pretending that it'd go 211 miles at top speed.

The 3 day journey reference was debunking claims you could charge it with wind power and again was clearly stated in the segment of the show. It's specifically addressing claims tesla are making, from their own literature:

The Roadster, which consumes no oil whatsoever and plugs into conventional 220-volt sockets throughout Europe, can be charged with solar, hydro or wind energy.

http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-debuts...

See other reviews spouting pie-in-the-sky about how the tesla could be recharged by renewable energy:

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/tesla/2011-tesla-roadster-race-...