Tesla has some deals in December, and I really enjoyed autocrossing a friend's 3 Performance, so I thought I would go and take a look. If I gave them the Elantra, I would essentially rent a 500+ HP track-ready EV for the next three years for $700 a month. For that kind of bad financial decision, I had to really love the car. I did not.
Don't get me wrong, the 2025 Model 3 Performance is an AMAZING car. But at my age, what I love about driving is pretty set in stone. I want to hear the exhaust, have gauges feeding me information, feel the shifts (even in a DSG), and feel the responsiveness of the steering wheel. The Tesla is faster, everywhere, in all scenarios, but the Elantra N is more alive and engaging. I felt like I sat on the Tesla, compared to sitting in the Elantra. The Tesla felt heavy, the Elantra light on its feet.
AN EV may be in my future, but not for a while. Not until the Ionic 5N depreciates a lot.
You would likely like my idea / concept of the "Acme electric car". The car is setup almost like a video game. When you get in, you get a menu of cars to select from of a variety of cars (copyright / trademark is clearly a major issue here, unless you go with generic "equivalents", like the Porka Turbo). That would give you all the sounds of that vehicle.
But wait, there's more!
With the amount of control and manipulation an (especially 4 wheel drive car) electric car can have over its own driving dynamics, it could theoretically make itself drive like most any car! So, not only the sound, but the driving experience!
Clearly there would need to be a (fully only for simulation) clutch pedal and shifter that are integrated into the simulation.
Wait, want more?! Make a race version, that has a easily replaceable outer body, so you can even get the look! Next weeks in the Acme racing series, the drivers will all be racing RUF Yellowbirds!! Wait until they find that out!!
I honestly don't think there would be much of a market for such a car, but I suspect most of the GRM audience would be into it!
In reply to aircooled :
That could be doable and I wouldn't be interested in owning one, but it would be a very interesting technical exercise. Getting the suspension to emulate another car would have a lot of compromises and probably end up feeling more like a caricature of the car it's trying to emulate, but with adjustable toe arms, active shocks, airbags for springs, and maybe that active camber technology BMW was trying out, it could be doable. Rear adjustable toe arms could change actively while driving to emulate different wheelbases. Brake-by-wire would also be handy for changing the brake feel and allowing brakes that are physically highly capable to feel like weaker ones if needed, even steer-by-wire could be a good addition for allowing steering ratio and feedback to be emulated. Steering ratio could be anything imaginable and feedback could range from an attempt to replicate the liveliness of a Europa to easily emulating the disconnected deadness of a modern SUV or even worse.
For weight it might be best to make it a very lightweight EV with ballast tanks it can fill from or empty to a water reservoir system it can connect to in the pits. That way it could go from being as light as an S2000 (probably a realistic goal) to as heavy as a new M5 if needed. And of course this would be active aero's time to shine, active wings on both ends would be a good idea, on top of an AM Valkyrie style high-downforce underfloor with active dump valves in the diffuser to reduce downforce as needed. Dedicated air brakes for increasing drag to match bigger cars would also be a good idea. AWD with individual wheel motors each with huge power would give it the most range for emulating other cars. It could even make sense for the motors to collectively have more power capacity than the batteries could put out - if you can't match the total power of some of the most powerful AWD cars, you can at least match that of the most powerful 2WD cars.
I think who might actually buy one of these, other than a few of the world's richest car guys, would be auto manufacturers. They wouldn't need to actually buy a bunch of competitors' cars for performance testing, just one of these that can emulate whatever car they want to test against while hiding which car that is from any spy photographers. Session 1, test the Corvette C9 prototype against a Ferrari 488. Session 2, pit for ballast adjustment, top up batteries and then test against a Yangwang U9.
New purchase financials may be hard to justify, but used Model 3 Perf's can be found under $20k. There may be one in my future if I ever need to replace my Boxster.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
I was thinking there could be some sort of movable weight. Being able to shift the battery pack, or part of it, would be a good way to shift a lot of weight.
I have an EV. I love it. I also love my crappy old A4 with its manual transmission and now-broken (loud) exhaust system. You can love both.
I was at the Dodge Charger Daytona launch last week and a few of the other writers and I were having a very similar conversation. The technology clearly exists to have all sorts of DLC customizations for a modern EV. You could add cams, turbos, superchargers and easily change power delivery and sound and feel characteristics with existing technology.
The problem is there's no manufacturer on the face of the earth that would give consumers that much control over the product experience. They spend way too much money and effort on curating the exact experience they want to deliver (frequently to the detriment of the actual product, but that's a different discussion), to let Joe 12-pack "ruin" it with DLC that materially changes what they specifically developed. This stuff is pretty rigidly defended IP.
JG Pasterjak said:
The problem is there's no manufacturer on the face of the earth that would give consumers that much control over the product experience.
This is how we would get fart exhausts. No, not an old Civic. Literally fart noises from the electronic synthesized exhaust speakers.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Waaaaaiiittt a minute. You saying Elon is an everyman, and that's why these Teslas can all fart? (The elementary school car line kids love it!)
