RE: Tesla Roadster Sport: Spotted

RE: Tesla Roadster Sport: Spotted

Wednesday 11th April 2018

Tesla Roadster Sport: Spotted

The Roadster has already earned its place in history. But that doesn't mean the dust has settled on it just yet...



When a new manufacturer came along in 2008 with what appeared to be a Lotus powered by electricity, weighing 1.3 tonnes and costing £86,950, people scoffed. It wasn't just a silhouette which this upstart had borrowed from Hethel, either. For better or worse its car shared its switchgear, dashboard, steering wheel, windscreen and roof with an Elise. This lead to many a (rather unfair) comparison to the lightweight British roadster. But it shouldn't be forgotten just how revolutionary the Tesla Roadster was. It showed that electric performance was ready for the road, that it needn't be the preserve of the G-Wizzes of the world, and that, like it or not, a genuine alternative to petrol power was on the horizon.

This is no ordinary Tesla Roadster though, it's a Roadster Sport. For £15,000 more than the standard car you got lightweight alloy wheels wrapped in performance-orientated Yokohama tyres, adjustable anti-roll bars, and 10-way adjustable Ohlins dampers, all contributing to a ride much more suited to British B-roads. The Sport could also draw an extra 200 amps from its lithium-ion battery than the regular Roadster - resulting in an extra 40hp and 20lb ft of torque, and a 0-60 time of just 3.7 seconds. Inside, meanwhile, you'd find more leather and extra carbon fibre trim.


Above and beyond that, this particular car has also received the 3.0 battery upgrade. This being one of the major advantages of electric performance vehicles; as battery tech improves, so older cars can be given renewed relevance. Swapping the supercharged V8 from an F-Type SVR into an E-Type would be blasphemous, not to mention incredibly tricky; replacing the batteries in something like the Tesla is just common sense.

As simple as it sounds, though, it isn't cheap. In exchange for a 35% (100 miles or so) increase in range, Tesla requires $30,000 (around £21,000) worth of your hard earned cash. And that's without any profit, the manufacturer claiming that it offers the upgrade to owners at cost, with the high price a result of the bespoke nature of the batteries required versus the units mass produced for the Model S.


Still, aside from being an indication of what a potential 4.0 upgrade might set you back, you needn't worry about that, it's already been done. Leaving you to enjoy 340 miles of charge-free driving. £80,000 isn't an inconsiderable amount of money, but should Tesla turn into the market conquering manufacturer of tomorrow that its supporters hope it will, a rare right-hand drive version of the company's first car - of which fewer than 2,500 examples were sold - will surely be worth its weight in gold. Or batteries. Whichever's heavier.


SPECIFICATION - TESLA ROADSTER SPORT

Engine: AC induction motor
Transmission: single-speed, fixed gear
Power (hp): 288
Torque (lb ft): 295
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 2012
Recorded mileage: 3,000
Price new: £101,950
Yours for: £79,950

See the full ad here.

Author
Discussion

myhandle

Original Poster:

1,178 posts

173 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
I drove one of these in about 2011. Not the S version. It was ... ok . The guy from Tesla kept on about how it was faster than a superbike , which it absolutely is not . It had approximately the same performance as a 997 Carrera S, I would say. As Howard Hughes would say, the way of the future; it would seem that electric cars are the way of the future, however the original Tesla Roadster was ... ok. It did not deserve to be sent into orbit around Mars however, there are far better candidates for that treatment.

Edited by myhandle on Wednesday 11th April 01:45

howardhughes

972 posts

203 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
myhandle said:
As Howard Hughes would say, the way of the future.

Edited by myhandle on Wednesday 11th April 01:45
Nice to see that people still remember me wink

stuckmojo

2,946 posts

187 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
I like it. I still want a Model 3, or the next Roadster smile

NorthernSky

980 posts

116 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
howardhughes said:
myhandle said:
As Howard Hughes would say, the way of the future.

Edited by myhandle on Wednesday 11th April 01:45
Nice to see that people still remember me wink
Hahahahahahaha! Very good!

scarble

5,277 posts

156 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
alorotom said:
You’re pleasant aren’t you ... blimey are the kids still off??!
For another week. At least the roads are quiet, dreading the return of the park-where-I-like breeders rolleyes

The article makes out that battery upgrades are simple, they're not.
Unless the old car happens to support the temperature control system of the new battery, which seems unlikely.
Then all the control modules have to talk to each other, and the mounting points have to be the same and so on and on.
Tesla are good in that respect that they do make some effort to roll out upgrades to old cars, but then they don't make any profit.

I'm not sure battery electric is the future, without a fundamental break through in battery tech, fuel cell may become the next industry darling as quickly as PHEV and BEV have become favored over diesel, or we may carry on with a mix of all of the above for a few decades yet, and what if alternative fuels suddenly got a boost?

Slipperywang

83 posts

75 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Would pick the lotus over the tesla though! Also going "0-60 in 3.7 sec to 60mph" in silence sounds abit boring.

kuro

1,618 posts

118 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
A friend of mine was an early adopter of Tesla's and ran one of these for a couple of years and now has a model s. It felt very quick and was a strange experience back in 2011 as there was nothing else like it on the road. He used to travel from Nottingham to London and back a couple of times a week and it proved very reliable with something like a 250 mile range.


Fire99

9,844 posts

228 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
I have to hold my hands up that clearly electric technology is 'current' (excuse the pun biggrin ) and maybe I'm a bit of a dinosaur but as a second hand purchase I can't get passionate about a Tesla beyond it being a bit of a 'white goods'. Kinda like buying a second hand Miele appliance.

I think I'm still of the ilk that if I have to embrace electric power, it would be a cheap hybrid or electric car, and have something with a bit of soul (and an engine) in the garage..

treeroy

564 posts

84 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Slipperywang said:
Would pick the lotus over the tesla though! Also going "0-60 in 3.7 sec to 60mph" in silence sounds abit boring.
as would any sane person.

gigglebug

2,611 posts

121 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
scarble said:
alorotom said:
You’re pleasant aren’t you ... blimey are the kids still off??!
For another week. At least the roads are quiet, dreading the return of the park-where-I-like breeders rolleyes
How have you managed to quote someone who isn't there? And who were they responding to? I'm calling witch, whaaaaaaa burn them all!!

kambites

67,442 posts

220 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Fire99 said:
maybe I'm a bit of a dinosaur
I think all of us who grew up with ICE as the only option are, in the same way that train enthusiasts complained when diesels started to replace steam and when electric started to replace diesel... there's plenty of young train spotters who love electric trains, though.

rodericb

6,642 posts

125 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Having the 'battery 3.0' put into that Tesla is not like dropping the SC V8 into an E-type. It'd be more akin to putting a larger fuel tank into the E-type.

98elise

26,325 posts

160 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
rodericb said:
Having the 'battery 3.0' put into that Tesla is not like dropping the SC V8 into an E-type. It'd be more akin to putting a larger fuel tank into the E-type.
One of the benefits of putting a larger battery is in that you can deliver a higher current while keeping the current from each cell the same.

Its like putting in a bigger fuel tank, and extra fuel pump, and turbo.

carl926J

108 posts

140 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Fire99 said:
I have to hold my hands up that clearly electric technology is 'current' (excuse the pun biggrin ) and maybe I'm a bit of a dinosaur but as a second hand purchase I can't get passionate about a Tesla beyond it being a bit of a 'white goods'. Kinda like buying a second hand Miele appliance.

I think I'm still of the ilk that if I have to embrace electric power, it would be a cheap hybrid or electric car, and have something with a bit of soul (and an engine) in the garage..
I'd love a Tesla, but only alongside my classics. Scratching a different itch, so-to-speak. But then I'm a bit of a philistine as I'm also tempted by the concept of electrifying a classic. getmecoat

donteatpeople

829 posts

273 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
treeroy said:
Slipperywang said:
Would pick the lotus over the tesla though! Also going "0-60 in 3.7 sec to 60mph" in silence sounds abit boring.
as would any sane person.
You're entitled to your opinion but there's no need to be a dick about it.

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
When this was first available, Tesla might have charged even more than they did. Such was the novelty, the sheer revolution that it announced. How many times in one's life does such disruption occur?

Now, however, we're on the cusp of some very exciting and affordable BEVs.

We salute you, Tesla Roadster Sport, but you're about to become a bit of a white elephant.


kambites

67,442 posts

220 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
I think it has to be viewed as a classic rather than a means of transport to make any sense... I'm still not sure it makes much sense at that price, mind.

CS Garth

2,860 posts

104 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Given many cars become classics because of their engine and sound (ie the emotiveness) and electric cars are somewhat sterile in this respect I would suggest their collectibility will be limited

Do many people collect old batteries??

Toltec

7,158 posts

222 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
Is it just me or does the 3000 miles on the clock miss the point of one of these?

Europa1

10,923 posts

187 months

Wednesday 11th April 2018
quotequote all
I remember being on a client track day at Hethel when Lotus were building these. During one of the breaks, a few of these were taken round the test track. Very odd having a car blat past you with only tyre noise.