Well… what’s it like?
My friend with the Model S also has a Roadster Sport. He’s a good friend who knows I’m a car nut so he let me have the Roadster for a week. So, being Phaeton-less, I made it my daily driver. These are my impressions.
Plugging it at home: My garage only has a 110 connection. And with a 110 connection, the Tesla charges at just three to five miles of range per hour. That is molasses slow. I considered getting an extension cord for the 220 connection in my laundry room on the other side of my house (if such a cord exists), but apparently, the Tesla does not like extension cords. I am a liberal arts major, so I can’t explain why that is the case. But there is actually an error message that reads, and I’m paraphrasing: Extension cord detected. Therefore, all of my trips were for short distances, i.e. less than 40 miles round trip. Otherwise, it would take days to fully recharge the car.
Plugging it outside of the home: You know all those charging stations at Whole Foods? I assumed you just pulled your Tesla up and plugged your car in, for free. Wrong. You have to pay for it through a service. Plus, you need a special adapter for the Roadster.
Performance: The Sport goes from 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds. It handles like (if not better than) a Lotus Elise/Exige. It is phenomenal. And with every grin, I think to myself, this is essentially a fancy golf cart that I plug in at home.
Noise level: The only reason I did not receive any speeding tickets is because of the wind noise. It reminds me of my soft top YJ Jeep Wrangler. At 65 mph, it is so loud, you don’t feel like going any faster. After a long ride, my ears hurt because I had been listening to the radio at “11” to compensate for the loud wind noise.
Ride: You feel every road imperfection and going over Botts’ dots is a tooth filling rattling experience. But after a few days, you get used to it. Really.
Parking: With its extremely low ground clearance, I hesitated to park anywhere that had angled driveways. I often just parked the car on the street, and my biceps got a workout due to the lack of power steering.
Lack of storage space: During the first half of the week, I was unable to test the handling limits of the Tesla because I placed my garage door clicker on the passenger seat (I didn’t want it to fly out the window while performing J-turns). There was not a single cubbyhole in the cockpit for the clicker. Plus, the car does not come equipped with sun visors. It was only after the fourth day that I was able to take out some papers in the “glove compartment” and wedge the clicker in there.
The wow factor: Every time I was at a red light, at least one fellow driver turned his (and it’s always a he) head and stared at my car. On average, one to two people a day would ask to sit in the car. Despite being a few years old, the Roadster is still a novelty.
Ergonomics: After the first couple of days, I was sore all over from just getting in and out of the little car. Standing at six feet tall, the top of the Roadster was a bit below my belt. I wore fancy slacks once and was surprised that I did not tear it while getting out of the car. Inside, the space is confined. It took a little getting used to having both feet in the footwell. I was at first afraid that my right foot was going to push the accelerator and brake pedal simultaneously. The lack of a tilting steering wheel also made the driving position awkward.
Range anxiety: With 35,000 miles on the clock, the battery on a full charge maxes out at around 160 miles. That takes care of the overwhelming majority of trips that I take in a typical year. The car has two range read-outs. One tells me the maximum ideal range. The second tells me my realistic range, taking into account my driving pattern during the last 30 miles. They were both pretty spot on.
I had to return the Tesla to my friend yesterday. He lives 100 miles away. I thought I was going to be fine, until I found out that the forecast called for rain. How much would the accessories– wiper, headlights, defroster– drain the battery? Answer: Not very much at all. I was worried over nothing. My friend put it best: When you buy a Tesla, as long as you tell yourself at the outset that this car isn’t for road trips, you will be 100% satisfied.
Verdict: This is an amazing car that truly opened people’s minds about electric cars. And without the Roadster, there would not have been the phenomenal Model S. I imagine that in a few decades, near a darkened corner of an automotive history museum, this Roadster would sit next to a Gen II Prius as true game changers. Most of my gripes about the car are related to the fact that this is a tiny sports car with a cloth top. I can’t fault Tesla for that.
Images source: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Jim Yu
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