darelldd is going to be SO envious!

I finally got tired of waiting for Nissan (six months after they promised delivery of the first 4,700 Leafs, and six weeks after they told me mine was in port at Long Beach and "cleared for shipping" and "just waiting for transport!) and the EV Porsche project hit another snag and new unknown delays, I decided to fly to Seattle for the day and test drive a Tesla Roadster. OMG!!! and WOW!!! That is one amazing car. Even in range mode it's a rocket. I never dared put it in performance mode. I expected to dislike the way regen is on the accelerator pedal, rather than on the brake pedal, and I expected it to be uncomfortable to sit in, and I expected more noise from the cooling system (having ridden in, but not driven, an engineering prototype four years ago).

After five minutes of driving I found I actually liked the way the pedal works. And the seat was much more comfortable than I expected, though not as comfortable as the Prius. And it was very quiet, though not as quiet as when the Prius goes into electric mode.

Did I say the thing's a rocket? And 245 miles of range when you drive it gently, which I probably won't ever do. Which if you read that last sentence and the thread title, you may have already figured out that I placed my order. My car is an "orphan" in Chicago. Someone had ordered it built, but then could not come up with the money, so it was available. It's a 2.5 and not a "sport" model. (The sport model is an extra $20,000, and all the available ones have so many options they're way above that!) I figure mine should do at least as well in performance mode as the sport did in normal mode. The one I test drove was a sport.

Darell will be green with envy. Sorry, Darell. But if you care to come to visit Spokane I'll give you a ride in it.

The horrible, intolerable, unendurable part is that it will probably take them ten days to get it here. I'm going to go insane.

The good part is that apparently the 2.5 is a much better car than I'd have gotten if I'd ordered way back in the beginning. And since they're going to stop making them soon, and there probably won't be anything like it available this decade, resale value should be good.

 

Hee hee hee. But I think the Roadster has more appeal than the Edsel. I once was going to write a novel titled Kamikaze Stealth Edsels From the Planet Uranus but I could never think of an actual story line beyond the title and puerile puns on the planet's name.

Can't quite make it there on a charge, or I'd consider it. I do have an 8.8 kW charger, though. I have the charger even though the car won't be here for another week and a half. I carried it with me on the plane. And unlike Nissan, which for a long time was telling people it was ILLEGAL to plug in an EV without a hard-wired EVSE, Tesla sells a variety of portable charger cables. Actually, portable EVSEs I believe. Mine plugs into a 50-amp 240 v RV plug, and draws a maximum of 40 amps, since that's what I had installed in my garage for the Porsche.

The Porsche is for sale. PM me if you're interested. As of last report everything works but some of the batteries are flaky and the chargers may be responsible. So, a new pack and chargers with BMS could make it into one fine car. Or remove the bad cells and put in a better charger.

And, hey, the Xebra is a real EV. It's just not a fast EV.

Okay. But the new ones will not be the "original" Roadster.

 

I'm not sure I want to post what I paid, but I'll say it's a new car (orphan, not used) and pretty near base model. Tesla does not negotiate over prices. I'll post a few pictures. I'm not big on photography, though. It's bright orange, which they call "Very Orange." I like the color, but was more concerned about finding one in my price range. Many of the available ones were around $150,000 and one was $180,000. Those were the sport model with lots of options.

Darell, I know you've driven a Roadster. But I figured you don't own one. Thus I figured you'd be envious. And, yes, I'll try to be as insufferable as I can. I've been driving my REAL electric car for 4 years. Now I'll have a bit more oomph. BTW, the color in your photo would have been my first choice. But choice is limited now, especially at the low-price end. And the orange is pretty flashy.

And I'll claim to be more a REAL EV person for having driven the Xebra as my daily driver for 4 years. Lots of folks lined up for the Nissan Leaf because other than the limited distance between chargings, they won't have to give up anything to drive electric. You have to have REAL commitment to EV to drive a Xebra.

Amusing coincidence: When I got home from Seattle there was a phone message from the Nissan dealer, telling me that "my" Leaf had arrived. (The pollen car that had spent over 2 months in port.) I called him back and said "No thanks. Sell it to someone else." So although I'll have a million times better car, I'll have it a week and a half or two weeks after I'd have been in the Leaf. I'm pulling my hair out (figuratively speaking) waiting to FINALLY have a full-on EV. I sure hope there are no cops on the freeway when it finally gets here!

 

Nope. (I tried to get the Tesla guy to give me the Roadster as an even-up trade for the Zap Xebra. He said No to me also.)

My Nissan dealer has a waiting list of people who want the Leaf. He's a pretty straight-up guy so will probably sell it to the person who's been longest on the list.

Certainly, if you can make it to Spokane. I'll give rides to anyone who wants. I'll be looking for excuses to take it out.

Actually, if you can make it to a Tesla store they may give you a ride, and if you act like you're serious, and you know what you're talking about, you might even be able to get a test drive. I was a little surprised they were so quick to offer me a test drive, but they remembered that I had flown down to their headquarters to see the car and ride in it back in their early days when there were about 4 engineering prototypes total, so I had a history with them.