GTP Cool Wall: 2008-2012 Tesla Roadster

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2008-2012 Tesla Roadster

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Wiegert

Wiegert

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2008-2012 Tesla Roadster nominated by @AudiMan2011

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Body Style: 2-door roadster
Engine: 185kW-215kW AC induction air-cooled electric motor with variable frequency drive
Power: 248-288 hp
Torque: 273-295 ft-lb
Weight: 1335 kg
Transmission: Single-speed direct drive
Drivetrain: Mid-engine, rear wheel drive
Additional Information: Based on the Lotus Elise, the Roadster was the first car to come from Tesla. The car received numerous updates as well as the addition of a Sport version before it went out of production in 2012 with the Roadster 2.5. The Roadster was recently brought back to the spotlight when it received a 3.0 upgrade which improved efficiency and boosted range from 200 to 400 miles.​
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tesla-roadster-interior.jpg
 
The weakest looking car built on this platform and by far the heaviest. The extra oomph makes up for this a little. A very low cool curiosity.
 
I thought of it as being cool when it first came out, but it's become a bit forgettable to me in the recent years. I seriously forgot about this car's existance until it was brought up in this thread. With that said, I'm going with a meh; it doesn't have as much of an impact on me as the Lotus Elise it was based on.
 
Looks pretty generic and performance isn't that spectacular either. Meh
 
Cool. Barely a few years ago the average Joe perceived EVs to be miserable little eco-boxes which were embarrassing to be seen in. Then along came Tesla, proving that electric cars could actually be fast and exciting.

Based purely on my own experience, non-car people think Tesla is a cool brand. You could view the Roadster as a less agile, quieter, less characterful Elise if you like, but to anyone but the most die-hard petrolhead it's a much cooler car.
 
The car that showed that EVs could have a hint of sportiness. It might have been nearly £100,000 but it made people sit up and take notice at an electric car that wasn't bogged down by the G-Wiz stereotype. I saw two at a motor show at Knockhill and it was really spooky seeing it pounding the track making no noise at all.

Cool.
 
I see these occasionally. Nowhere near as often as the Model S, but they're still far from vapourwear.
 
Personally I consider them the best looking members of the Telsa family. The Model S looks like just another luxury sedan. And I don't like SUVs.
 
Meh. Performance wise, it is quite impressive but it doesn't look entirely great and in retrospect it looks a lot similar to an Elise and an ugly one if that.
 
Plus points is that it made people sit up and notice that electric cars could be fun and could travel faster than 20mph. It also provided Tesla with the stepping stone it needed to create the Model S and further electric cars.

Loses points for not being that exciting to look at and also that stupidly steep price tag. Low cool.
 
AudiMan2011
The car that showed that EVs could have a hint of sportiness. It might have been nearly £100,000 but it made people sit up and take notice at an electric car that wasn't bogged down by the G-Wiz stereotype. I saw two at a motor show at Knockhill and it was really spooky seeing it pounding the track making no noise at all.

Cool.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
A 'meh' car knocked down to SU by typical EV shortcomings. High price, short range, long charge time, etc.
 
I never liked this car, just looks like a Lotus Elise with a questionable aftermarket body kit IMO. Plus it now looks nothing like the rest of the Tesla range, they need an all new one!
 
This car proved the whole world that electric cars can escape being stereotyped as boring/dull/not exciting at all, and actually can be pretty fast and stylish. Would have been a high Cool, but gets a low Cool instead because it's [un]surprisingly heavy for a small sports car, being an EV you still get range anxiety, and it's bloody expensive. I'm gonna be throwing the "roaring sound" and "manual transmission" factors of a proper ICE-equipped sports car out of the window on this one because EV cars are becoming a thing nowadays, and you can't just simply ignore them now.

Maybe the technology today isn't that sufficient yet for Tesla to deliver us the real "Roadster" experience that they want us to have. Give it some more time, and they could pull it off.
 
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/roadster-30

1. Batteries
The original Roadster battery was the very first lithium ion battery put into production in any vehicle. It was state of the art in 2008, but cell technology has improved substantially since then. We have identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell we have created a battery pack that delivers roughly 70kWh in the same package as the original battery.

2. Aerodynamics
The original Roadster had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.36. Using modern computational methods we expect to make a 15% improvement, dropping the total Cd down to 0.31 with a retrofit aero kit.

3. Rolling Resistance
The original Roadster tires have a rolling resistance coefficient (Crr) of 11.0 kg/ton. New tires that we will use on the Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. We are also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car.

Cost? $29,000 on top of the price of the Roadster.

The going rate for a used Roadster is over $60,000 which means about $100,000 after the cost of the upgrades.

You could buy a 3.2L Honda/Acura NSX or a Lotus Evora/Elise instead. Or an S2000 if you're not rich enough.

I do like the fact that the Roadster can keep up with those cars and doesn't run on a soon-to-be obsolete nonrenewable resource.
 
High Cool from me. Looks like an Elise that's been beaten with an Evora stick (which is fine by me), others have summed up the pluses rather well already, but should address one or two posts that claim poor performance? It hits 60 in 3.5 seconds or something? That is proper fast. Here's hoping Tesla produce another all-out sports car. The Model S is nice and all and inevitably more efficient and usable, but the styling was surprisingly pedestrian to me.
 
Tyger
High Cool from me. Looks like an Elise that's been beaten with an Evora stick (which is fine by me), others have summed up the pluses rather well already, but should address one or two posts that claim poor performance? It hits 60 in 3.5 seconds or something? That is proper fast. Here's hoping Tesla produce another all-out sports car. The Model S is nice and all and inevitably more efficient and usable, but the styling was surprisingly pedestrian to me.
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Power delivery is practically instant with electric cars. So they'll accelerate really quick.
 
The reason it looks like an Elise is because it's based on one, although I think they're only like 5% similar or something like that.

I find it to be cool, it's unique and fairly rare. It also showed the world that we don't need to give up sports cars once alternative propulsion becomes more of a standard.
 
Tyger
High Cool from me. Looks like an Elise that's been beaten with an Evora stick (which is fine by me), others have summed up the pluses rather well already, but should address one or two posts that claim poor performance? It hits 60 in 3.5 seconds or something? That is proper fast. Here's hoping Tesla produce another all-out sports car. The Model S is nice and all and inevitably more efficient and usable, but the styling was surprisingly pedestrian to me.
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The standard Roadster would hit 62mph in 3.9 seconds (it has 990 lbs of batteries) whereas the Sport and upwards would do it in 3.7.
 
I feel the Roadster has rather faded into the background in light of the Model S and Model X coming about. Maybe they should fit Ludicrous Mode to this, too? I mean, Tesla are probably mad enough...

Still though. Just a meh for now.
 

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