After an hour or so of explanations and technical data I’m given some info about how to drive it and the keys. This is a very expensive, technological and rare car and the naturalness shown by the person who handed over the keys remarks the quality of Anglo-Saxon people I appreciate more: the lack of paranoid obsessions and a very healthy lightness of spirit.
The Tesla Roadster I’m about to drive is on and ready to go. And I can be certain about this because I know it is, I myself turned the keys in the ignition in the steering column. The engine is completely silent. Not soft, not well deafened. Silent.
However pleasant this feature may be, it may as well be its first flaw. Horacio Pagani objected that driving a silent supercar that utters no grunt, no exciting rumble, is a bit like sleeping with a beautiful woman who just won’t scream. No noise, nothing. It might look like a detail but it really spoils the whole point.
Horacio Pagani could complain about the lack of a captivating sound but he wouldn’t probably say anything about the grit of the car.
The Tesla Roadster does 0-60 in 3,7 seconds. Which is even faster than some Zondas. And while the driver of the Pagani will have to fiddle with the gearbox and the RPM, the only thing the driver in the Tesla has to do is push the pedal. The Roadster has a single gear gearbox, which means vigorous and full acceleration from rest to apparently infinite. The throttle, when released, works as a constant and powerful engine brake. To make it plain: if you push it, the car goes forward, if you lift it, the car decelerates and noticeably brakes by itself.
The acceleration: let’s talk about it. This car doesn’t accelerate, it teleports. A backstreet is enough to realize. Eyes start to hurt, every muscle in your neck has to work overtime to keep the skeleton in one piece.
After playing with the enormous torque and power on a couple of backstreets I dive in the London traffic. Near Harrods, to be precise. London is a beautiful city and the Tesla is an amazing car, but driving a low and sporty convertible, with no power-steering, in an European capital city it’s a bad idea.
Everyone stops to stare, even because although it is true, when the car is still or moving slowly it is very quiet, but when you really get going it gives out a hiss, much similar to that of a turbine. It’s not a loud sound but it’s so peculiar and unusual that it’s perfectly audible. At the light, cyclists and pedestrians ask questions and take pictures. A couple of young men are encouraging me to rev the engine a bit and let them hear the sound. “It’s completely electric.” “Come on! Rev it up!” “It’s electric, there’s no sound!”
At the next light some more weird questions come along. “Wow, is that a Lotus?” “No, it’s not. It’s a Tesla, it’s made in Silicon Valley.” “Is it made in Cheshire?” “No, mate. It’s made in California, USA.”
Tesla say that, even though it’s actually based on the Lotus Elise, it only shares less than 10 % of components with the Elise, and it’s mainly parts of the steering column because they’re expensive to make. However, the Roadster drives and looks like a Lotus Elise, it even shares a fair amount of merits and drawbacks with it. It’s wider and longer and has a boot which can contain a couple of duffel bags, but apart from that, it’s as uncomfortable as the Elise, you sit very low on a couple of very thin bucket seats, the rear visibility is ridiculous and the interior feels plasticy.
Despite the carbon fibre body it’s heavier than an Elise, that’s because while the Elise has 1,8 litre Toyota engine, the Tesla runs on the same batteries that you would find in a laptop, only it has 6831 of them. This affects the weight, the handling and the braking. However, on a normal road, driving at a normal speed, the difference of weight (1,140 kilograms for the Tesla, 860 for the Elise) doesn’t particularly worsen the car. The lightness and agility feeling is the same.
There would be many things to write about this car. About how it works, how you “recharge” it. Tesla say it will do about 250 miles before running out of juice and when that happens, you just plug it in and there you go. Easy to say. There is so much to say in fact that perhaps it’s best to just concentrate on the sensations it gives and how it feels.
Despite the particularity and cost of this car, customers are queuing to get one, and after I’ve taken it for a spin, it’s really not hard to see why. There are two main reasons why I would suggest you buy one. First of all, it is truly gorgeous. Don’t be fooled by the pictures, it is much prettier in reality, although maybe a bit “toyish”. It’s a well made blend of Jessica Rabbit and Jessica Biel on wheels.The second reason is the oomph. It doesn’t matter what you drive, it doesn’t matter what you’ve driven. I promise you, this will feel faster.
If you fancy a drive, visit the Tesla Store in Cheval Place, just near Harrods.
Driving this car it’s a genuinely epic experience.
Just a tip: don’t park near a National Monument in London, the British won’t like it.
The Tesla Roadster I’m about to drive is on and ready to go. And I can be certain about this because I know it is, I myself turned the keys in the ignition in the steering column. The engine is completely silent. Not soft, not well deafened. Silent.
However pleasant this feature may be, it may as well be its first flaw. Horacio Pagani objected that driving a silent supercar that utters no grunt, no exciting rumble, is a bit like sleeping with a beautiful woman who just won’t scream. No noise, nothing. It might look like a detail but it really spoils the whole point.
Horacio Pagani could complain about the lack of a captivating sound but he wouldn’t probably say anything about the grit of the car.
The Tesla Roadster does 0-60 in 3,7 seconds. Which is even faster than some Zondas. And while the driver of the Pagani will have to fiddle with the gearbox and the RPM, the only thing the driver in the Tesla has to do is push the pedal. The Roadster has a single gear gearbox, which means vigorous and full acceleration from rest to apparently infinite. The throttle, when released, works as a constant and powerful engine brake. To make it plain: if you push it, the car goes forward, if you lift it, the car decelerates and noticeably brakes by itself.
The acceleration: let’s talk about it. This car doesn’t accelerate, it teleports. A backstreet is enough to realize. Eyes start to hurt, every muscle in your neck has to work overtime to keep the skeleton in one piece.
After playing with the enormous torque and power on a couple of backstreets I dive in the London traffic. Near Harrods, to be precise. London is a beautiful city and the Tesla is an amazing car, but driving a low and sporty convertible, with no power-steering, in an European capital city it’s a bad idea.
Everyone stops to stare, even because although it is true, when the car is still or moving slowly it is very quiet, but when you really get going it gives out a hiss, much similar to that of a turbine. It’s not a loud sound but it’s so peculiar and unusual that it’s perfectly audible. At the light, cyclists and pedestrians ask questions and take pictures. A couple of young men are encouraging me to rev the engine a bit and let them hear the sound. “It’s completely electric.” “Come on! Rev it up!” “It’s electric, there’s no sound!”
At the next light some more weird questions come along. “Wow, is that a Lotus?” “No, it’s not. It’s a Tesla, it’s made in Silicon Valley.” “Is it made in Cheshire?” “No, mate. It’s made in California, USA.”
Tesla say that, even though it’s actually based on the Lotus Elise, it only shares less than 10 % of components with the Elise, and it’s mainly parts of the steering column because they’re expensive to make. However, the Roadster drives and looks like a Lotus Elise, it even shares a fair amount of merits and drawbacks with it. It’s wider and longer and has a boot which can contain a couple of duffel bags, but apart from that, it’s as uncomfortable as the Elise, you sit very low on a couple of very thin bucket seats, the rear visibility is ridiculous and the interior feels plasticy.
Despite the carbon fibre body it’s heavier than an Elise, that’s because while the Elise has 1,8 litre Toyota engine, the Tesla runs on the same batteries that you would find in a laptop, only it has 6831 of them. This affects the weight, the handling and the braking. However, on a normal road, driving at a normal speed, the difference of weight (1,140 kilograms for the Tesla, 860 for the Elise) doesn’t particularly worsen the car. The lightness and agility feeling is the same.
There would be many things to write about this car. About how it works, how you “recharge” it. Tesla say it will do about 250 miles before running out of juice and when that happens, you just plug it in and there you go. Easy to say. There is so much to say in fact that perhaps it’s best to just concentrate on the sensations it gives and how it feels.
Despite the particularity and cost of this car, customers are queuing to get one, and after I’ve taken it for a spin, it’s really not hard to see why. There are two main reasons why I would suggest you buy one. First of all, it is truly gorgeous. Don’t be fooled by the pictures, it is much prettier in reality, although maybe a bit “toyish”. It’s a well made blend of Jessica Rabbit and Jessica Biel on wheels.The second reason is the oomph. It doesn’t matter what you drive, it doesn’t matter what you’ve driven. I promise you, this will feel faster.
If you fancy a drive, visit the Tesla Store in Cheval Place, just near Harrods.
Driving this car it’s a genuinely epic experience.
Just a tip: don’t park near a National Monument in London, the British won’t like it.
