First Drive of the Tesla Roadster

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
From our front-page news:
If there is one car that has been getting a lot of publicity over the past year, it would be the electric-powered Tesla Roadster. It's all for good reason, too. Easy on gas, better for the environment... and best of all, it's gorgeous. Until now, not many from the press have been able to take the car for a spin, but Damon at Autoblog managed to get behind the seat for a good 100 miles.

The car, being electric, responds to the road far different than what seems normal. The Roadster can accelerate while going uphill without skipping a beat - no need to shift. On top of that, it's fun to drive, just like the Lotus Elise, on which it's based. The comfort level is not mentioned, but it must be better than the Elise, which is like driving a box.

The review is good, and so are the included videos. If only I had $98,000 hanging around...

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First reaction: My God, I'm in a Lotus. No surprise considering that the Tesla is built along side the Elise at the Hethel production facility. The MOMO steering wheel, seats and dash are all carryovers from the donor car, but the carbon fiber transmission tunnel, carpeting and gauge cluster are all specific to the Tesla. And about that gauge cluster... A 13,500 rpm redline causes a grin reminiscent of Jack Nicholson, post-chemical plant explosion.

Source: Autoblog
 

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
It's on Modern Marvels tonight.
" Batteries "

200 miles per....errr uuuuh .....charge ( 400 ) volts
0 to 60 in 4 seconds
And charge it over night for 3.00 USD

And to boot, only 17 moving parts


Merlin
 

slugbug

Coastermaker
If they could build an electric car and make it more affordable, more people would buy them.
 

madstork91

The One, The Only...
I honestly want to see one of these modded with a more powerful motor and 1.5 x the battery capacity. Then drag race it.

On another note... If I had the $ to buy one right now and I knew of a place i could charge it on the other side of dfw... Id get one.
 
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