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patrick_y
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Long Report of Tesla Roadster

This year, the March issue of Robb Report magazine announced its favorite car of this year. Every year, this magazine hosts a car contest where several judges are assembled in Napa Valley to sample choice wines from different vineyards and to drive cars from different makes. The judges are usually captains of industry (out of the car industry), big advertisers in the magazine, and car fan people who are well connected with the magazine's executives.

I'll start off with the winner, but my report soon follows.

The Winner: The 2009 Lamborghini LP-560-4 won because of its dramatic styling, modern design, and amazing performance.

My Sentiments: Personally, the design of this car, particularly the design of the rear of the vehicle is astounding. In the front, I actually prefer the original longer headlamps from the previous Gallardo rather than this current short boxy taillight structure. The adding of the LEDs is a nice touch but seems nearly obligatory after all the car companies are adopting a "lighting signature" usually incorporating LEDs or fiber optic strips.

I haven't driven this vehicle, I'm sure that I would find it absolutely astounding to drive given the right road and the right conditions. Michael Beaudry (the jeweler) stated in this magazine that the Lamborghini was so fun to drive that he forgot to pay attention to the interior design, (not my first choice of words for someone who is supposed to be detail and design oriented) attributing to the fine balance, handling, power, and braking abilities of this vehicle.

The One I've Driven: Coming in at 10th place of this year's magazine contest, the Tesla Roadster. The Tesla Roadster is a car built by a start-up company called Tesla Motors, named after Nikola Tesla who pioneered the alternating current (AC) despite remorseful remarks from other famous inventors such as Thomas Edison who said it couldn't be done. Today, our electricity is delivered based on this AC concept. I took a personal interest in this company since I did a science project and book report based on the works of Nikola Tesla back in grade school.

The car is very small, sits on a Lotus Elise chassis, has a fully electric propulsion system (doesn't take gasoline at all and is not a hybrid), and is fueled by an electric charge stored by a giant battery pack. The car's panels are made of carbon fiber and are tremendously light in weight, flexible, static charged (attracts dust), yet still very resilient.

The Tesla Roadster also defies traditional electric-car impracticalities with the following features; - A 240 mile range
- Requiring only 5 hours to fully recharge
- Capable of carrying two persons and golf clubs
- Very quick acceleration that is near equivalent to a Porsche
- Carpool lane access
- 1 year or 12,000 mile maintenance intervals

On Friday, 27th of February, I stopped by the Tesla dealership near Beverly Hills, California to view the cutting-edge Tesla Roadster and I was invited to drive this vehicle. The Tesla dealership facility is run by a highly dedicated and highly educated crew employed by the company directly; far from the unknowledgeable sales person just trying to sell you a car.

I was presented with a silver Tesla Roadster with a red/black leather interior. Getting into the vehicle is somewhat difficult since the car is so low to the ground, the thick door sills, and the steering wheel is in the way of your legs upon entering. I am about 5 feet 7 inches and I would imagine persons who are very tall would not fit very comfortably in the Tesla Roadster. The cabin design is simple yet modern. Choice materials such as leather is used in a modicum amount and the cabin does not seem to have any offensive materials nor large gaps. A leather dashboard may be offered upon future models to give the roadster a more luxurious feeling that is more reflective of its six-figure price tag. After I got settled in, it was time to drive.

The car is silent upon start-up. You put the transmission into drive and you have only one single forward gear. The car does creep forward when you release the brake.

Hit the accelerator and the Tesla Roadster gives off this spaceship "warp" whine from the motor that increases in intensity the faster you go until the wind noise overpowers the motor noise. In about 4 seconds, you have arrived at 60 mph and you haven’t even changed gear. The acceleration and torque is extremely consistent as this is an attribute of electric motors, this translates to your acceleration being very similar from 20mph to 30mph as it would be for 60mph to 70mph. The suspension is surprisingly soft and supple, especially for a car with such a short wheelbase; the vehicle also has very little body lean during cornering. The very sticky tires contribute to the handling, but there weren't any hairpin turns so it wasn’t possible to fully test the car for handling ability. An important aspect to consider, this vehicle has a steering mechanism without power assist, meaning the steering wheel does get very heavy during parking lot maneuvers and transmits every detail of the road through the steering rack (you can feel the pebble under the passenger side tire through the steering wheel) without transmitting too much vibration. This may be somewhat difficult for some drivers who live in rugged or hilly terrain to operate their vehicles.

As I got onto the I-405 freeway, the car’s feedback and acceleration was extremely satisfying. However, the vehicle does have a large blind-spot on the driver’s side, so merging into the inside lanes was actually somewhat difficult. On the freeway, the power and acceleration was still corrupting as the car still felt like a normal car in first gear with the full power of first gear; acceleration at any speed range was instantaneous and immediate.

As I exited the freeway, I took my foot off the throttle but did not hit the brake. The Tesla Roadster again feels like it’s still in first gear and decelerates considerably on its own. This rapid deceleration without braking is caused by a regenerative motor that actually recharges the battery as you decelerate which increases resistance that slows the vehicle, similar to engine compression would in a low gear of a normal petrol-powered vehicle. This one-gear gearbox and deceleration feeling are very strange attributes unique to the Tesla Roadster and perhaps the biggest aspect one must become accustomed to when driving such a vehicle. A benefit of this deceleration feature is that you will hardly have to use the brakes at all, resulting in a longer brake pad and brake disc service life.

Throughout the rest of my driving experience, I could find nothing of fault with the Tesla Roadster. The small and low-to-the-ground vehicle even got into driveways with steep angles without scratching its front underbody. The vehicle simply performed every aspect of driving with confidence and with efficiency.

The driving experience came to a close, but the Tesla Roadster still has more goodies in store. The vehicle has its own computer with touch-screen LCD display that displays your range, estimated time to recharge, various settings, and (my personal favorite) a password protected valet parking mode that records the time, average speed, highest speed, and mileage the valet drives in your vehicle.

Overall, the Tesla Roadster experience was phenomenal; a choice vehicle for many, even the most avid petrolhead. I strongly suggest my other PuristS members to experience this electric vehicle when given a chance. Breguet President, Jean-Marc Bories said, “Honey, sell the Prius” in the Robb Report Magazine after he test-drove this vehicle.

Cheers, Patrick

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