http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Loverboy+founder+Paul+Dean+blown+away+Tesla+Model/8852951/story.html Loverboy founder Paul Dean blown away by Tesla Model S By Andrew McCredie August 30, 2013
[images http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/cms/binary/8852952.jpg Loverboy lead guitarist Paul Dean pilots a top-of-the-line Tesla all-electric four-door hatchback with a massive touchscreen on the dash. The North Vancouver-based musician, who has owned a number of high-end performance cars, said he couldn’t remember ‘a better ride, ever, than this car.’ Photograph by: Mark van Manen, PNG http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/cms/binary/8852953.jpg Big Wheels drive with Loverboy bassists Paul Dean in a 2013 Tesla Model S. http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/cms/binary/8852954.jpg Big Wheels Loverboy ‘s bassists Paul Dean creates some black magic starring into the deep black hood at a cloud reflection of a 2013 Tesla Model S. http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/cms/binary/8852955.jpg Big Wheels drive with Loverboy bassists Paul Dean in a 2013 Tesla Model S. ] Amid all the cutting-edge propulsion technology, the massive dashmounted touchscreen and the otherworldly cabin design, one of the coolest aspects of the Tesla Model S is its stereo. It goes to 11. In a move that puts the audio in audacity, the California-based carmaker borrowed a line straight out of popular culture and placed it squarely in the all-too square realm of car design. Imagine a German engineer pitching to his button-down bosses that he wanted to calibrate their sound system with a nod to the movie Spinal Tap. Gunther will show you the door. To Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean, the whimsical reference is just another reason to fall in love with the Model S we’re taking for a spin. Thing is, five minutes into the drive from his North Vancouver home en route to the top of Cypress Bowl Road in West Vancouver, he’s already smitten. “This car is incredible,” Dean enthuses as he grips the meaty sport steering wheel. “The torque in this thing. … This reminds me of a ride I went for in a friend’s Viper. I had a fast ’Vette and a fast (Porsche) 928, but nothing like this.” Dean, the lead guitarist and songwriter for the Canadian rock group that ruled the airwaves of the ’80s, is a self-confessed car freak with an ownership track record to prove it. Porsches, Bimmers, ’Vettes, Mustangs, you name a performance machine and the rock star has either owned it or driven it. But as a young lad growing up in the wilds of Invermere, his tastes ran a little humbler. “The very first car that I wanted was a 1952 Triumph TR2 I’d found for sale,” he says with a laugh, noting the nearest place to get it serviced was either Calgary or Cranbrook. “Fortunately my dad talked me out of it. He said ‘over my dead body.’ “As a 16-year old who just got his licence, all my buddies from Calgary would drive their sports cars — just drove me crazy. So I had it in my mind that I had to have a two-seater British sports car.” That dream, like the one of musical stardom, would be realized, but would have to wait awhile for the Vancouver-born rocker. The all-electric car that Dean is piloting on our drive is also a dream come true, though in its case the dreamer is Silicon Valley wunderkind Elon Musk, who founded Tesla Motors in 2003 with a vision of mass-producing electric performance cars. Skeptics abounded, and still do, but Musk has proven them wrong time and again. The company employs almost 3,000 full-time workers, and is involved in a number of joint ventures with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Freightliner. Model S sales reached 12,700 units in June since going on sale late last year, and it has garnered a number of awards, including 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year, Time magazine’s Best 25 Inventions of 2012 and Automobile Magazine’s 2013 Car of the Year. Silently zipping up Cypress Bowl Road and carving the sport sedan into a tight switchback, Dean is far from a skeptic — his eyes, despite being shielded by sunglasses, show all indications of an all-too willing convert. But surely a guy who’s spent a great deal of his life standing mere metres away from Marshall amp stacks misses the burble and bark of a performance machine’s exhaust note? “I don’t miss it at all,” he offers matter-of-factly. “The other extreme is the 1965 Corvette Stingray, 327 four-speed fastback with Lakers (exhaust pipes) I owned for a while. I ended up getting rid of it ’cause I was tired driving with my knees.” Driving with his knees? “Like this,” he says, cupping both hands over his ears. “That car was way too loud.” The only discernible sound in the cabin is some road noise from the low profile tires, but once Dean gets his hands, more pointedly, his finger, on the sound system via the steering wheel controls, the speakers take care of that aural distraction. There is, however, an issue with the Tesla that is making the lanky Dean squirm a bit in the well-bolstered driving seat. “It’s something I really appreciate, and something this car doesn’t have,” he says of the fault. “When I drive I rest my right knee on the console, and if its got a rounded curve I’m a happy guy. If it’s square — like this one — I’m always moving around and I can’t relax.” He’s also got an issue with the dead pedal: “It’s in the way so I can’t stretch out my left leg. “And those are always deal breakers.” He recalls a Porsche 928 he owned, remarking, “it was like sitting in your living room. The most amazing car.” However, it also had a fault. “It’s didn’t have ABS, and was scary in the rain and snow. I slid through so many intersections in West Van in that car when it was raining.” Speaking of rain, it’s starting to drizzle a little outside as we’re making our way back down the snaking mountain road, and the descent gives Dean the opportunity to experience the regenerative braking of the Model S, which slows the car without the driver applying any brake. “It takes some getting used to, as there is no gliding when you take your foot off the gas,” he observes, recalling he once got 100,000 kilometres out of a set of brakes on his BMW. “You really don’t even have to use the brakes really.” Arriving at Ambleside Beach and awaiting the Sun photographer, we have a chance to poke around the Model S, and Dean approaches it as an experienced showroom shopper. “Just as a general rule, with all my cars I never go with a lower profile than 55 for the ride quality, but this profile is a 35. I can’t believe the ride is so good with such a low profile tire; the suspension is amazing. We hit a couple of potholes and they just melted like butter. I can’t remember a better ride, ever, than this car.” Popping the rear hatch and contemplating the cargo space with the 60/40 split rear seats folded flat, he nods with approval: “I could get my big Marshall stack in there.” The particular Model S we’re testing is the P85+, the top-of-the line model with all the performance add-ons and the biggest battery pack available (the 85 refers to the 85 KW-h lithium-ion battery pack, good for an estimated full charge range of 426 km). Other models include the 65, the 85 and the P85. After the photo shoot, we head back to Dean’s home in a quiet North Van neighbourhood, and he’s still jazzed about driving the Tesla. Clearly, his many years of driving performance cars have not diminished his joy in discovering something new. He also still loves performing, and Loverboy has half-a–dozen shows still to do in 2013, including three in Vancouver — this coming Labour Day Monday to close out the PNE and a couple of corporate gigs at the Commodore and the Red Robinson Theatre. There’s also a new studio album coming out soon, one that features unreleased songs spanning some three decades. “I had 220 tapes that I’d been hauling around forever, and I got them digitized and started going through them,” Dean says of the new record’s genesis. “The first tune was written before we had a record deal, in 1979, and the last tune was written when we didn’t have a deal, in 2007.” Dean identified 25 potential songs for the new album, and the band has since whittled that down to 10 that have made the cut. Dean is also part of a new Streetheart live album that is due out soon, recorded in Winnipeg in 1993 during a reunion of the band famous for their cover of the Stones’ Under My Thumb, along with a handful of hits of their own. “The bottom line for me is are we playing together? Are we cooking? Is everybody in the bubble, in the moment? Is it amazing, or are we just going through the motions, struggling with technical problems, fatigue, attitude? “But when it all comes together, and all five of us are in the bubble for an hour-and-a-half, nothing can touch it.” Sort of like turning it up to 11. 2013 Tesla Model S P85 Style: All-electric four-door hatchback sports sedan Seats: Five Engine: Three phase, four pole AC induction motor Transmission: Single speed gearbox Fuel economy (Le/100km): 2.7 city; 2.6 hwy. Full-charge range: 426 kilometres Price (base/as tested): $103,000/$122,620 Options as tested: Performance Plus ($6,950); 21-inch Grey Performance Plus wheels with high performance tires ($4,900); panoramic roof ($1,600); Tech package ($4,000); Sound Studio package ($1,000). [© The Vancouver Sun] [© 2010 - 2013 Postmedia Network] http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Loverboy+founder+blown+away+Tesla+Model/8874370/story.html Loverboy founder Paul Dean blown away by Tesla Model S September 5, 2013 - So I had it in my mind that I had to have a two-seater British sports car.” That dream, like the one of musical stardom, would be realized, but would have to wait awhile for the Vancouver-born rocker. 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