New cars: 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

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“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.”