tonybelding

There's been some quibbling over the exact 0-60 MPH time of the Roadster -- it's under four seconds, but exactly how much under? 3.86? 3.8?

It doesn't worry me. I'm sure it's PDQ.

What I want to know is, how fast can it do the quarter mile? We've heard nothing at all about this. Why not? Is it because the numbers are really bad and pathetic?

We've all heard about how the electric motor produces maximum torque from a standing start, and I'm sure Tesla chose to focus on the 0-60 time for that very reason. Still, they've got to know as soon as any of the car magazines put the Roadster through track testing, all the other pertinent performance numbers are going to come out. Wouldn't it be a good idea to get this out in the open already?

Kardax

On the 0-60 thing... it's probably still a little fuzzy due to ongoing tweaks to the prototypes. If they announced it today, they might have to revise it for production.

On the quarter mile thing... I'm not expecting anything amazing here. The high torque at zero gets a Tesla off the line faster than just about anything, but once a high-end ICE car gets up to the meat of its power curve and can start working up the gears, the Tesla will quickly fall behind. (At least, that's what always happens to me in PGR4 on long straights.)

-Ryan

TEG

See here where Don Auker said he heard approx "12.5-12.9sec" range.

A bit disappointing compared to some other cars that can do 0-60 under 4 secs, but still not too shabby otherwise.

For instance, all of these cars do 1/4 mile in about 11.7s:

• McLaren F1
• Lamborghini Murcielago
• Porsche 911 GT2
• Corvette Z06
• Viper SRT
• Mercedes SLR

And these can do 1/4 mile in less than 11.5s:

• Ferrari Enzo
• Ford GT
• Porsche Carerra GT

TEG

vfx

Something to shoot for:

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/11...-quarter-mile/

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The world loves to be deceived.

malcolm

So is this a call for a third gear?

Kardax

Depends on how you plan to use the car. The two gears, with their ratios, make them well suited for use on roads and highways, but for tracks that enable speeds above 100 MPH, the Tesla Roadster has problems.

At such high speeds, even in second gear, you're well past the peak HP point of the motor and see a steady loss in power until you hit the redline.

I think the two-speed transmission can be made to work by making both first and second gear significantly longer... your 0-60 time will suffer but your high-speed performance will improve.

The other choice is, obviously, to add more gears. I wouldn't stop at 3 gears, though; I'd go for 4 to have a good set of choices for various track and road conditions. 1st gear for 0-60 demos, 2nd and 3rd for racing, 4th for top speed demos and very long straights in races.

The other thing I'd like to see is more horsepower. Most of the cars that have comparable 0-60 times as a Tesla Roadster will easily defeat the car on a track. I think getting more horsepower is mainly limited by battery technology, at the moment...

In any case, I expect Tesla to do all of the above if they survive long enough. (Maybe for a $200,000 track-optimized edition of the Roadster or something).

-Ryan

tonybelding

My estimation is that the Roadster will perform fantastically well in the realm where most people actually drive, on real streets and highways. The characteristics of the electric motor appear to be a good match for the way people drive.

However. . . Some gearheads are bound to gripe about the quarter mile times, or the top speed, or the lack of engine roar, or that you can't run it all day at the track without stopping for a recharge, or that it's just an electric, overweight Lotus Elise at twice the price, etc.

In other words, they'll whine that it's not just like the cars they already have. Which, to me, would be the whole point of the thing.

In my weaker moments, however, I remember the thrill of winding up the Esprit to 140+ MPH. . . and how effortlessly it got me there, and how even at those insane speeds it always felt like it was eager to pump out some more.

Kardax

Right. Obviously, the way the car is set up today, you can't market it to gear-heads.

On the other hand, the Tesla Roadster is the ultimate rich people car. It's "green", it's quick, it looks good, it's expensive (a plus to rich people), has enough trunk space for a golf bag, theoretically low-maintenance, unique engine non-sound, etc. It's the kind of thing they could use as a daily driver. I expect sales will pick up considerably once rich people start giving all their rich friends rides. (Naturally, Tesla has to get the first batch out the door for this to happen :) )

-Ryan

William3

If the Roadster had a limited-slip differential then wouldn't the 0-60 time, 60 foot time, and 1/4 mile time be reduced? Wouldn't you have twice the traction off the line? A limited-slip differential probably has more drag though, which would result in slightly reduced range and top speed. Just wondering...

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other $100K+ car that has skimped on this. Having the narrowest tires of any car in this price range, combined with only 1-wheel-drive, seems odd.

If it really does a 3.9 0-60 as is then they probably made the right choice, as every extra mile of range is pretty important. If the 0-60 time is any slower than that, and is traction limited, then I think they might have made the wrong choice. The public (in the U.S.) seems very focused on these 0-60 times, and they seem to think there's a big difference between 3.9 and 4.1 seconds.

Personally, I'm more of a 1/4 mile guy. I don't really care about 0-60 or top speed. I've got a 2009 Roadster on order, but I must admit that it's claimed 12.9 qtr mile time isn't very impressive for a car in that price range.