New cars: 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport

What the critics say about the $128,500 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport

Slate.com

Although 2010 is being touted as the Year of the Electric Car, “Tesla got to the party” in 2009. Its silent-running Roadster sports car set “a high standard, as it was supposed to.” Other electric vehicle makers are all playing catch-up. Now comes the recently added Sport model, which justifies an even steeper price tag with a 200-mile battery range and a spectacularly satisfying driving experience that’s “like having sex while being sprayed with Champagne.”

Automobile

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“As you might expect from a start-up, Tesla is continually refining the design and manufacture of its cars.” This all-new update “addresses almost every concern we had” about the original Roadster. The Sport’s 288-hp motor obviously makes for a more aggressive ride, but the car’s “exemplary body control” was a welcome surprise. Unusually for a Sport version, it “actually rides better than the regular car.”

Road & Track

With the Roadster Sport, Tesla hopes to move beyond creating pioneering engineering, to produce a vehicle that can truly compare with top-of-the-line gas-powered sports cars. Inside, a center console has been added, push buttons have replaced the shifter, and “there’s more leather and carbon fiber.” Touch-screen icons simplify battery conservation by allowing drivers to “toggle between performance, normal, and extended range mode.”

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us