Tesla - Menlo Park

The SO has taken quite an interest in the Tesla Model S. And it is quite an attractive option--roomy luxury saloon car with reasonable acceleration, at a reasonable price point. Furthermore, you can recharge your car at your convenience at any available 110 or 220 volt outlet for really, really cheap (the salesman said a full recharge on the Tesla Roadster is only a couple dollars), and your maintenance costs wold be ridiculously low--there's only one moving part in the watermelon sized engine. Yes, the battery will be at about 70% of it's original capacity after 10 years or 100k miles or so, but why keep the car that long anyways? And even if you do keep it, you could just buy a new battery and give the car a new lease on life (for a rather steep price, though). It's basically the perfect daily driver. Naturally, he signed up to receive updates on the Model S.

Several days later, he started receiving frequent calls and emails from our local Tesla dealership about coming in to test drive the Roadster. We weren't interested, but the SO's boss was, and to Menlo Park we went last Sunday.

The SO immediately let it be known that he had no interest in owning the Tesla Roadster, and was met with attractive deals and options for purchasing a new or showroom model Roadster. I guess sales people really don't ever take "no" for an answer. We walked around the showroom, and asked a battery of questions, all cordially answered to the best of the salesperson's ability. I did find something odd and uncomfortable in the service, though--the boys' questions were met with eager and quick responses, but mine were met with funny looks and more questions. I asked a question about the brake calipers and was met with, "Are you a racing driver?" No, I just want to know why there are AP Racing fronts and Brembo rears. (He then responded by saying it was a one off occurrence where the customer had changed it--but that doesn't explain why every car in the showroom had that setup....) I asked about the weight distribution-- "Are you an engineer?" No.

After that, the guys drove the car off the lot for 45 mins or so, then the SO came back to go for a drive with me in the car.

The Tesla Roadster, to me, was more of a novelty item than something that really served a purpose.  Maybe it's sole purpose was to accelerate wildly to 100mph, and that's it. No slowing down, no turning anywhere, no excessive acceleration tickets once you're on the highway. Maybe it's for those who can drop a 911 on something purely for that acceleration. But I'd rather have a 911 back in the garage again over the Tesla Roadster any day. The problem with the Roadster in my opinion is that it's kind of like a crème brûlée. It's got this hard, sporty shell, but when you crack it open to see what it's really all about, it's all kind of soft and flobbery. As I noted before, the acceleration is out of this world fun. But at 100 mph or so, not only does the power seem to wither away, the car feels kind of like it's lifting, and feels very floaty. It doesn't exactly instill confidence upon the driver through mid-high speed turns. And through the turns, you have another problem to deal with--it's rather understeery. And then, when you want to come to a stop, the worst part hits you--the brakes are crap. Unless you mash on the brakes (forget about delicate feathering) (and even if you mash down), they're not terribly effective. Maybe we're just used to super grippy brakes, but in the Roadster, it felt like we were sliding to a stop--there's an uncontrollable slipping and gliding, like the car was simply too heavy for the puny brakes. It was kind of like ultra cold CCBs. No idea, but it wasn't comfortable. Oh, and the digital readout for the speedometer is down, in the center console, near all the gear change buttons and stuff. I hope the driver isn't looking there--but if your torso is extra tall (like the SO), you'll have another problem as your vision will be somewhat obstructed by a horizontal line--the top of the windshield, and so you won't be able to read the speedometer on the dash either.

The Tesla Roadster just doesn't handle and brake well enough to be a sports car in my book--it's more of a silent muscle car. It goes like hell in a straight line, but don't expect anything else. Also, if you're not listening to anything, all you hear are the fans running. Much less sexy than hearing the resonating growl of an exhaust note eating up your revs.

The Tesla Roadster has potential as their first real car, but I think the Model S will be so much better because I'll be expecting so much less.