
Tesla's Elon Musk Swipes at Porsche-Buying Bill Gates - caution
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51546891
======
Ajedi32
A whole article written about this one single Tweet?
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1229568241552502784](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1229568241552502784)

> @elonmusk My conversations with Gates have been underwhelming tbh

~~~
lunias
Journalism dawg.

1\. Copy something divisive that was posted publicly

2\. Add unnecessary setting i.e. state the obvious: "posted on Twitter last
night" when there is a timestamp on the tweet. Did you know that Bill Gates is
a Microsoft founder? Elon likes to tweet Etc.

3\. ??? aka run ads

4\. Profit

My experience with this "article" has been underwhelming tbh.

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whalesalad
It’s _Bill Gates_ ... let the man have his Porsche.

Regardless, the Taycan is a hell of a machine and is going to have better fit
and finish than a Tesla. It’s also the hot new thing, whereas the Model 3 is
old news.

Assuming you can afford both, I can’t think of anyone who’d take the Tesla
over the Taycan.

~~~
andrewtbham
Tesla has world class fit and finish... even Bob Lutz agrees.

"But, when next to the car, I was stunned. Not only was the paint without any
discernible flaw, but the various panels formed a body of precision that was
beyond reproach. Gaps from hood to fenders, doors to frame, and all the others
appeared to be perfectly even, equal side-to-side, and completely parallel.
Gaps of 3.5 to 4.5mm are considered word-class. This Model 3 measured up."

[https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a28008116/tesla-
model-...](https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a28008116/tesla-
model-3-build-quality-bob-lutz/)

~~~
ryanlol
> Tesla has world class fit and finish.

Anyone who genuinely believes this is lying to themselves.

How come you’ve copypasted this same comment 3 times in a row?

And anyway, the quoted bit is about panel gaps, that’s only a relatively minor
part of fit and finish. Try sitting in a tesla and an actually nice car.

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myrandomcomment
I have driven all the Tesla models. They are really quite cool, however I
cannot reconcile fit and finish vs price point. I reached a point in my life
where I could buy MB, Porsche, etc. and I did. It sets the bar higher on what
you like. The Tesla’s are not there. Most of price on the Tesla is because of
the batteries, I understand that. This is why the Porsche properly equipped is
~180K. I will never buy another gas car so I am hoping the prices point on an
electric from the luxury manufacture comes down rapidly. For me, I cannot
rationalize paying 180K for the Porsche. That number is just over some line in
my head, even if I can just write a check for it.

~~~
theluketaylor
You can equip a Taycan 4S quite nicely for $130K US, but what you probably
want is the electric Macan next year. Taycan is priced (and roughly sized)
around Panamara, which sells for 90K to well north of 200K. Macan starts much
lower at 50K. The BEV version will likely start higher than that, I'm betting
even well equipped ones will be under 100K.

~~~
myrandomcomment
Thanks for sharing that! My wife has a Macan with 80K+ miles on it that we
have started to think about a replacement for. I did not know this was in the
works.

------
melling
Bill has owned a lot of Porches. It was his first big purchase:

[https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/20/the-first-big-purchase-
bill-...](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/20/the-first-big-purchase-bill-gates-
made-when-microsoft-started-taking-off.html)

[https://www.motor1.com/news/76136/driving-a-
porsche-959-in-t...](https://www.motor1.com/news/76136/driving-a-
porsche-959-in-the-us-thank-bill-gates/)

I forget if that’s what he was driving when he was arrested:

[https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_mugshot...](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_mugshot.png)

~~~
MrFoof
Gates was arrested in his 911, back when Microsoft was still out of New
Mexico.

As for Gates buying a Taycan, I'm _pretty sure_ he's the most important
customer of Porsche of Bellevue. Not just because he's Bill Gates, but that
he's still regularly buying 911s.

------
lm28469
Hasn't Gates been driving Porsche forever ?

Plus when you have Gates' level of money you probably don't give a fuck about
autopilot (which is tesla's only advantage) since you can hire as many drivers
in rolls royce as you want.

~~~
sschueller
Yes, he also had a Porsche he purchased stuck in customs and got a law passed
to allow him to import it. He is a huge Porsche fan.

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roflchoppa2
the tesla hype machine must continue...... Bill's been a Porsche guy, does he
still have the 959?

~~~
tibbydudeza
Afaik he still has it , making sure to keep the annual millage under 2500 for
that special import law he and some motoring aficionado's got passed.

~~~
bochoh
This special import law is called "Show or Diplay" and is a statuary amendment
to the Unite States Federal Motor Vehicle Saftey Standards (FMVSS).

"Because of the expense and effort required to import a vehicle with this
exemption, the approved vehicle list is mainly limited to high-value sports
and touring cars."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_or_Display](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_or_Display)

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Traster
Once again, Elon Musk proving that no matter how smart you are, you can still
choose to be a total asshole.

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Tiktaalik
Top Gear recently reviewed the Taycan. It roasted the Tesla so there's one
reason to pick that over the other.

~~~
elteto
I don't know how the Taycan compares to a Tesla, but Top Gear has had an anti-
Tesla bias for a very long time, going back to when they did a negative review
of the Roadster that was entirely fake and staged. So take its reviews with
(un)healthy doses of salt.

~~~
mhh__
This is a totally totally different generation of top gear. The serious car
reviews are now mainly done by Chris Harris who is a very respected automotive
journalist.

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drummer
Not only is Elon brilliant but he also has a great sense of humor.

~~~
defterGoose
If you're a misanthropic edgelord, yeah, he's the top of the heap.

