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Motor Trend: 2010 Roadster Sport

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They seemed to indicate that they actually measured 0-60 at 3.7 sec.
The recent Car and Driver test drive came up with 4.0 sec:

This number totally depends on the state of charge and if the car is warmed up.

During our 1/4 mile drag racing, the difference in peak performance (12.6 seconds) versus really good performance (12.9 seconds) drops quickly.

To achieve the best result, you really need to be at 100% full charge in performance mode.

From my experience, the best results are acheived by driving the car around for a bit to warm up. Then place the Roadster Sport back into a high power charge while set in performance mode. Top off the battery pack. Then go do your testing.

My car set it's best time (12.643 seconds) at the end of the night after many runs. In between it was always plugged in at 240 volts / 40 amps to keep topping off the battery pack. Performance mode charging profile.

If the car magazines were not doing these things and did their testing with a 50% to 75% battery charge, then I think 4.0 seconds for 0-60 was very likely what they recorded.

The car guys think with a background of gasoline vehicles. It doesn't matter how much gas is in a car. Less fuel actually means less weight. They might not have been thinking about topping off the battery pack before their 0-60 tests.
 
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The article says:
its motor produces the base unit's same 288 horsepower
Everything else I've seen shows the base model having 248hp.

I have been noticing and quibbling over the HP reports for a while as they seem to be inconsistent.

Here are a couple of pictures to show where they mention non-sport, but then say 288hp:
4108263342_5c5638a134_b.jpg
(Notice how they differentiate 0-60 in 3.9 for base, 3.7 for sport, but only show one HP number of 288?)

And this:
4102574516_8ac317abb4_b.jpg
185kW is the base model power, 215kW is Sport power.
So why does this motor label show 288hp ( 185kW)?
 
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Yeah, I know. So is there something we don't understand, or did someone actually go to the trouble of making a label that doesn't make sense?

Sometimes I wonder if there are issues with peak vs sustained going on.
The concept of "duty cycle" is a little foreign to automotive power-trains.
 
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Yeah, I know. So is there something we don't understand, or did someone actually go to the trouble of making a label that doesn't make sense?

Sometimes I wonder if there are issues with peak vs sustained going on.

I commonly see the power gauge on my 2010 non-Sport peg beyond 200 kW when I'm doing a hard acceleration. 200 kW is 267hp, so if the gauge is accurate (a big if), then it's delivering more than the claimed 248hp, at least for a few seconds.
 
Which would U rather drive: McLarren F1 or Tesla S?

This was on Motor Trend:
http://wot.motortrend.com/6629343/e...ate-from-creator-kazunori-yamauchi/index.html

Honestly, I'm not a gamer, but this is how the article starts out:
"Kazunori Yamauchi has a thing for all things automotive. Better yet, he has an affinity for all sorts of mechanical creations that happen to travel really damn fast. The man is the type of person that most car guys and gals aspire to be. He owns multiple exotics, tweaks his own tuner rides, regularly mingles with auto industry figures, dabbles in racing, and traverses the globe for the simple pleasure of driving the world's most enthralling machines....Yamauchi-san runs Polyphony Digital, or better known as the Sony-owned firm responsible for each of the ever-popular Gran Turismo racing games."

The trascript of his interview is on that link, but this is what caught my eye:
"One car that you haven't yet driven, but would love to: McLaren F1 hands-down. The new Tesla S too."
 
Ian,
Having owned both model years and now a Tesla Roadster Sport, what stands out to you as the most noticable differences?

I only had a few drives in the first model year and it was mostly VP Roadsters. I didn't have enough experience with the first year Roadsters to compare it to my 6,000 miles with the Roadster Sport.
 
Don't think this is the proper thread for that so don't want to digress too much, but I'd say I don't find much different about the drive, but I'd have to reserve that judgement for the dog days of summer. The 2nd fan to cool the PEM/batteries helped the 2010 guys last summer not get the dreaded "reducing power" alert because of over heating.

I think the biggest change is luxing up the interior and that great glove box that locks with your door locks & valet mode. Nifty. Of course, that being said you may ask, well why did you scrap the interior for an Al & Ed's edition? 1) Since I know how little you are enamoured by that style - ok, just kidding about that being a reason; and James, may I say you are doing a great job for Tesla owners with your company sales - thank you. 2) There are 31 different flavors of ice cream and I like Rocky Road - most people don't!
 
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Thanks for those posts. I am particularly interested in the LEAF, but have been unsuccessul at finding an online version of their full report episode. The above is good, but "just" the "CarKeys" digest version. Is there a YouTube version of the entire LEAF episode ?