Originally Posted by mrblister

Did you put in the carputer.yet

Originally Posted by Habious

There are a lot of factors that affect the range; how aggressively you drive the car.

Originally Posted by JohnnyCake

Habious is lucky to have sufficient range to make it around the block. After my test ride, I suggested barf bags be placed in the glove compartment.

Originally Posted by Habious

The answer to both question is...it depends.

As for range, "ideal" range, when new, is a little over 200 miles on a charge. This reduces slightly over time, as the battery pack ages. Also, "ideal" range is tough to achieve. There are a lot of factors that affect the range; how aggressively you drive the car, how fast you're going (wind resistance is one of the biggest factors that affects range), passengers (1 person or 2), accessories (if you drive at night...the headlights draw a lot of power, and reduce your range. If you drive when it's cold...the heater draws a lot of power, and reduces your range).

Mine, at full charge, shows a little over 180 miles of "ideal" range (it's a 3 year old car/battery). I expect to be able to get 140-150 miles of realistic range out of it, depending on how I drive it.

As for charging, it depends on the charger you opt to use. You can use the 110V, 15A cord that comes with the car. Plugs right into a standard home outlet. But, at that rate, assuming the car is just about dead, it'll take something like 35+ hours to charge it. Not exactly convenient.

There's a "Universal Mobile Charger" that runs 220V, 50A (comes with the car). Looks like a home dryer power plug. That charger will charge the car up (from about dead) in around 8 hours.

Tesla also sells a high-current (70A) home charger. And, with that, you can charge the car up (from around dead) in under 6 hours.

Of course, the idea is not to drive it until it's dead. If you put it on the charger when you're not using it, you'll get maximum range, and max life out of the battery.

Also, the charger doesn't charge the battery up to 100% (unless you ask it to) because this is hard on the batteries and reduces the lifespan of the battery pack. It does have the option to do a "Range" charge, which DOES charge the pack up to 100%, to maximize your range with the car (for a given trip), but this is hard on the battery pack, and Tesla doesn't recommend doing this on a regular basis.

My commute to/from work is about 25 miles, round trip. So, I could get by with charging it a little over once a week. But, I've just been keeping it on the charger at night. Also, right now I only have use of the super-slow 110V charger. I get the high-current circuit installed on Friday; then I can use the 220V/50A charger.

For sure it's not the most practical car on the planet...but I don't care! It's a toy, and I will not begin to pretend otherwise.

Originally Posted by mrblister

I may have to screw something up on my garage queen sc430 to make a road trip to see this new rocket of yours.

Originally Posted by mrblister

Is there enough room for you to play your left hand guitar?

Originally Posted by Habious

I've had my 2003 SC430 since Oct 2006, and loved the whole ownership experience.

However, it's now 11 years old...and over 120,000 miles on the odometer.

Time to look for something new. I considered a 2010 SC430, just to get a bump in tech. But, even though they did bump up the tech a bit, it still never got up to the level of something like the IS-C.

The IS-C was high on the list, but I felt it wasn't quite was I was looking for. I had 6 wonderful years in a luxury hardtop convertible "sporty" car. I wanted something with more performance, more handling, more of that, I don't know...car driving experience.

I'm 43 years old, and I tend to keep cars 6+ years. If I'm going to ever own an impractical, no-compromise SPORTS car, this is very likely my last opportunity.

I'm not a Corvette guy. I'm not much a fan of American Muscle. I have an idea what maintenance/ownership costs would be of an older Italian car (Ferrari/Lamborghini) would be.

So, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted...then I took a Tesla Roadster for a test drive. Oh my holy momma!

The acceleration is just...brutal. 0-60 in under 4 seconds. The performance is simply off-the-hook. Plus, with it being a single-speed transmission, you're basically tooling around in first gear the entire time so, the power is just...there.

From a stoplight, stomp on it, and it throws you back into the seat. From 40 MPH, stomp on it, and it throws you back into the seat (with zero hesitation). From 60 MPH, stomp on it, and it throws you back into the seat.

I've had the car about 4 days now and the hardest thing about driving it around is not giggling like a 12-year-old girl every time I press the "go" pedal!

I think probably the most-impressive engineering bit of it is Tesla somehow managed to design a WORSE cupholder than the SC430. That takes skill, let me tell you.

It's a 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5. Only has about 4,000 miles on the odometer. Very clean one-owner car (I'm now 2nd owner).

Originally Posted by sorka

I've spent 5 or 6 hours driving a friend's roadster. The most impressive thing about it is how fast it accelerates in a straight line without making any noise.

However, unless the top is off, getting in and out takes contortionist skills. Once you're in, it's like sitting on the ground. It's that low.

Originally Posted by sorka

The biggest downfall of the roadster is it's unfortunate handling characteristics. It's weight leaves a lot to be desired. I drove a P85 and it handles better all the way around.

Originally Posted by mrblister

The only downfall to that car is I dont have one