I think the Prius attracts far fewer jerks than large pickups, Mustangs, Chargers, 5-year-old Altimas, etc etc

“I don’t hate the Prius. It’s some of the Prius owners I hate.”

Very good point, I didn’t think of that.

“Should we all limit ourselves to single-cylinder mopeds that don’t exceed 40 mph?”

It’s amazing what can be deduced by holding a straightedge (read: pen) up to a snapshot of a data plot from a video, and using some very simple math, haha.

Yes, but first gear isn’t that much taller than 40mph - looks like it hits ~55mph in first gear based on the video, and with 1200hp that’s a traction limit, not a power limit, so gearing is irrelevant to 0-60 time in this case (especially when considering rally cars are limited to ~300hp).

Thank you, that really means a lot to me (especially as I chug my way through managerial accounting homework today).

You’re correct about perceived reliability vs. actual, to an extent. Competitors definitely have been catching up. I worked on the powertrain side of things, so my experience is limited to that, but for reliability one of the worst things for a customer is to get stuck somewhere (and less likely, but more severe…

Yeah, I’m guessing it’s mostly due to RWD on less-than ideal tarmac, with sort-of chilly weather and overcast(?) skies. I bet it would be sub-3s on a better surface.

“I appreciate this, done just well enough to sound right, and just complicated enough to sound smart, but easy to follow.”

I’m with you on that! I think they will have a hugely difficult time scaling up their production so aggressively, and that’s already evidenced by their delays. Investors definitely are wearing rose-tinted glasses when looking at Tesla, but I think they’re justified in seeing more potential, just too trusting and…

You’re definitely not wrong, but there’s a huge segment of the automotive market that really doesn’t care much about product innovation for cars. You think half of car buyers even know how many gears their transmission has? For a whole lot of buyers, being able to trust in a product’s reliability is the most important…

Profit goes to retained earnings at the end of the year, so yeah, value (owner’s equity) increases for that year, and they have more cash on hand to invest. That’s kind of what I was getting at - if they can increase profit a bunch, they have a bunch of cash on hand the next year to invest in innovation and long-term…

Good point, but we can make a pretty quick and easy calculation. For ease, let’s say the Miata has the exact same drag (coefficient and frontal area of the Agera), although in reality it’s probably a bit less. We’ll go with NA, since it’s the lightest, and estimate 1000kg.

I think you could, actually, especially if you put a wing on the back to keep it nose-down. Peak acceleration of the Agera was around 0.7-0.8G, average of 0.4G, with average decel was around 1.13G. You got this.

While I agree with you, this has been a longstanding metric for automotive, er, endowment measuring, perhaps most famously with the 427 Cobra and its 0-100-0 time of 14.5 seconds. Cars have gotten a lot faster though, so the numbers have become even less relatable. Here’s a 47-year-old article, for what its worth:

Needs more fender mirrors!

Super interesting data - the slope of the speed plot (i.e. the acceleration) is pretty much constant up to about 230kph/143mph - indicating that they were mostly grip-limited to that speed. After that, the curve matches what you’d expect for the significant aero load at such high speed. The car is also still…

I can’t refute any of this.

“I’m actually surprised this isn’t studied more — or at least talked about more — in business schools and by analysts.”