Was Clarkson Right About The Original Tesla Roadster?

[@Flibster]

Wasn't it the Tesla engineers themselves that calculated that it would have run out of power after 55 miles of top gear track driving? Charging from a normal household plug was incredibly slow. Found it... "Wilman responds to Tesla's claims that the show lied about the car's brakes being broken, that its range is only 55 miles and that an overheated motor immobilized the car. Top Gear says the 55-mile range claim came from Tesla engineers who studied data gathered from the car after the test day. Wilman stands by his show's claim that the brakes broke, saying a blown fuse in the vacuum pump made pedal effort abnormally high, and that Tesla wouldn't let them continue the test until the problem was solved." Friend had an early one and sold it within 6 months and bought an Exige to replace it. Still has the Exige.

[@TSERJI]

Yeah, the claims about reliability, the 55 mile range and the 13hr charge time didn’t really seem like Clarkson was exaggerating or faking anything. It seemed that he was trying to be as objective as possible. I’d have completely expected that the car would have lasted just a quarter of its stated range after a hard day of track driving. Plus, any car from a brand new company is going to have reliability problems.

[@Moray2023]

Why are you crediting Elon so much for this car? He only brought in well into the development of this car by Martin Eberhard, yet you don't even mention him once.

[@-.-_-.]

Trying not to get sued again lol

[@ericheick7044]

i mean, its not like Tesla was a very profitable company at that point. But i do agree people forget that

[@cmcb92]

Utter nonsense. Tesla was nothing but a name on a piece of paper before Elon joined. Educate yourself.

[@ericpisch2732]

elon was the third member off staff at tesla, joined in 2004, car launched 2008

[@steventhompson4013]

Because not much from AC Propulsion worked and he tried to run the company to the ground. It’s fun to be a contrarian though

[@LastOnSunday]

14:39 or just buy a similar age Lotus Elise for £18K

[@roccovanhunsel2506]

Which is a better driver's car

[@vipe650r]

Probably better for most people, but some might want a piece of car history in terms of a step forward toward market-ready electric cars. This was a pretty big deal when it came out. They'd been car-show darlings and nothing else for so very long. This was a promise of greatness to come. It's obviously changed since then as far as the future, but this was pretty exciting when it came out. It was a big deal.

[@supermiaoumix]

@@vipe650r Indeed, even if i'd prefer having a lotus elise i understand why someone would buy one of these if it impacted them when it came out.

[@-chrisburke]

@@roccovanhunsel2506 mate, I've got millions of streams. Pipe down.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

Just looked and here in the US you're paying $40,000 for a decent car with less than 50k miles, about the same as a C6 ZO6....

[@alanperry8676]

Around 2010 (looking for photos to confirm the date), I participated in a local Lotus club track day on a go-kart track (apparently the last time cars were allowed on that track). I had my S1 Elise there. There was also a S2 Exige. And then there were four Tesla Roadsters. The Teslas were fast in a straight line but they didn’t turn. Despite my lack of driving skills, I was faster around the track in my 118 bhp S1. The Exige driver knew how to drive and was faster around than me. BTW, the Tesla Roadster is nearly twice as heavy as my S1.

[@viljamikoivunen6297]

You nailed reason why electric cars aren't fun to drive on backroads. Weight makes everything worse on sporty cars.

[@devvoff]

"I disagreed with Clarkson's thoughts on this" 7 minutes into the video one of Clarkson's complaints about the vehicle happens.

[@markcoopers1930]

The part he disagreed about was the courts' decision that people can reasonably be expected to understand when Clarkson is being cheeky vs serious.

[@harnisett]

Exactly. It was about the courts not the about the car review But was hoping it would be more about if the accusations from tesla were correct or not. He remaind disappointlently diplomatic through the video

[@nazmieminoglu6718]

@@harnisett i definitely agree. This is the problem with current automobile channels. They are all "politic" around literally anything. I wish at least Mike was himself in front of the camera as he has a connection with the top gear trio but with as seen in this video, he talks in a way Tesla would want him to.

[@ButterfatFarms]

Meanwhile 2008 Lotus Elise owners are enjoying the same range they had when new and filling up in a few minutes at the pump today. lol

[@Ted_Kenzoku]

@@nazmieminoglu6718 gottta keep the brands happy to get the long term review loans. badmouth them and you're blacklisted from getting any press car to review

[@sugoi4983]

ran out of budget for the cgi cybertruck a minute in

[@RichardMontgomeryYT]

Yeah what qS up with that?

[@jeffshootsstuff]

LOL

[@MrGareth616]

Or did Elon sue again?

[@Moray2023]

I think that's the joke because it looked like something from a 2003 video game truck.

[@R3TR0J4N]

@@Moray2023PS2 era 😂

[@MrSlowly63]

Tbh I do struggle to understand why Tesla fanboys keep harping on about the range and charging time statements. They are realistic. If you watch the episode back (S12 E7) you'll find that Jeremy explicitly refers to track driving when stating that 55 mile figure. Quartering the car's real world range on a track is EASILY possible. As for the charge time, 13 h is actually an understatement when you do the maths. 56 kWh / (230 V * 16 A)=15.2 h. And that doesn't even include charging losses which would probably make it closer to 20 h. As far as I'm aware, the gripe Musk had with Jeremy actually referred to a part of the script that had some unfavourable line about the car in it that a Tesla staff had allegedly "found lying around". Make up your own mind about how likely that story is.

[@evostu7814]

Track driving is another thing entirely, I used to have a Mitsubishi evo 8 which would empty the tank in less than 50 miles around a track.

[@johnbrobston1334]

@@evostu7814 Early on Elon tried to force journalists to do their mileage test in a specific manner--BBC wasn't the only organization that was sued for allegedly misrepresenting the range of Teslas.

[@Zirion123]

If u watch the car trek episode they did laps with a model 3 base car at a nascar track and it did like 4 laps of an oval at full speed before it was empty so i dont find jeremys claims that untruthful

[@CheapBastard1988]

​@Zirion123 If I remember correctly, the basic Model 3 they used on Cartrek ran out of power in 18 miles.

[@exotic444]

Yeah I think Jeremy's review was fair, if they did find the script, they probably were already writing about what sorts of problems your likely to have with an EV.

[@penguin32383]

I wish the host would quit crediting Elon Musk for the Roadster. That car had already been released when Musk became CEO and he had very little, if anything, to do with the design of it.

[@smorris12]

The one thing Musk has actually achieved is to be credited by all and sundry for the many, many things he has had no real involvement in. It's quite a feat in its way.

[@ericchild3363]

Untrue

[@tHebUm18]

He was the investor that got Tesla off the ground because he himself wanted an EV sports car--pretty dang important for it ever making it to market in the first place.

[@tHebUm18]

@@UwU-pk6nv From Wikipedia: "In February 2004, the company raised US$7.5 million (equivalent to $12 million in 2022) in series A funding, including $6.5 million (equivalent to $10 million in 2022) from Elon Musk" I'm sure singlehandedly financing 87% of the company's initial funding round was totally inconsequential towards their ability to both create and ship their first vehicle. 🙄

[@ericchild3363]

@@UwU-pk6nv If you can, try reading one of the several biographies which show in detail how wrong you are

[@SuperLEGOMADNESS]

The Elon love thing going on here is a bit silly considering he was largely not involved with the development of this car until the very end. He forced the original tesla founders out of the company and took credit for this.

[@Spidouz]

Typical B.S. from Musk-haters… but not accurate. But hey, haters are gonna hate…

[@jamescameron6819]

Shocked he didn't rename the company x

[@ferna182]

Maybe they're just playing it safe and not want to be sued by mr. rockets... You know how sensible he is...

[@karambiatos]

@@Spidouz Nothing written is wrong though...

[@Gambit0590]

​@@Spidouzare you stupid on purpose

[@latrinedveen]

NSF Hot Pursuit 2 back in the day showed me how quick the Vauxhall VX220 was. Americans missed out on that one.

[@bghoody5665]

Not really. The Pontiac Solstice GXP was based on the Opel/Lotus design that the VX220 also shared and the GXP had 260 hp. Saturn also had a version called the Sky Redline.

[@jamesengland7461]

​@bghoody5665 the Pontiac/Saturn has NOTHING in common with the Vauxhall or Lotus. It's an entirely different front- engine chassis.

[@bereketterefe829]

Based.

[@brumsgrub8633]

150k, if your spending that you have to much money. Donate it to charity

[@bghoody5665]

@@jamesengland7461 Yes, you are correct. The Solstice and Sky do use the same chassis design as an Opel but it's not the Speedster although they do all look similar.

[@hecklepig]

The problem was the roadster didn't get 200 miles to the charge which is why Tesla sued anyone who said differently. One road test in the states said the car ran out of juice just outside the New York city limits and nowhere even close to 200 miles. Tesla's excuse, well they didn't drive it the way we told them to do it and went through stop start traffic. Well hold on isn't that the everyday running of most cars? Not to mention the Elise is a poorly constructed piece of plastic that leaks like a nightmare in the rain. In short the criticisms of the cars were just. Most of the stats by tesla were in fact lies or just wrong.

[@AdamBuckley1964]

Many of these 'poorly constructed pieces of plastic' are running well after 28 years 😀

[@danmayberry1185]

£150k for a collectable seems odd when it's a degraded adaptation of an off-make chassis.

[@ButterfatFarms]

The Lotus Elise was the better deal then and now.

[@ButterfatFarms]

cost 2-3 time less then, more affordable now, still gets the same range it did then, you can fill up at the pump, and nearly as quick as the Tesla Roadster.

[@teabagmcpick889]

An off-make chassis? What are you driving that makes an Elise look meh?

[@danmayberry1185]

@@teabagmcpick889 Wrong term? Off-brand? Only meaning the originality of the car isn't 100% design-build. Maybe car valuations have changed and it's a non-issue.

[@Ted_Kenzoku]

more importantly the lotus Elise was pretty much half the weight of the tesla. which was the main point of the lotus, being extremely lightweight

[@WoodsPrecisionArms]

They had regen braking on golf carts since the mid 90’s

[@skylined5534]

Are you thinking of braking via resistor packs?

[@WoodsPrecisionArms]

@@skylined5534 no - it was a club car design on their 48 volt system it was regenerative braking through the ESC

[@razor_ramon_]

1880s! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_braking

[@o0Donuts0o]

My 2013 Kia doesn’t have regenerative braking. What’s the point of this thread?

[@WoodsPrecisionArms]

@@o0Donuts0o the point is they talk about it as if it’s new and it’s not

[@turbogeek.421]

Why the digital Cybertruck at the start??

[@leehawleyphotography9326]

The 2008 Exige did a Top Gear lap of 1.25.1. Sooooo 2 seconds quicker than the Tesla

[@DittoGTI]

Despite the Tesla having much faster acceleration

[@TwoShoedDude]

Exige was a track-focused car.

[@yota8325]

​@@TwoShoedDude thats besides the point it's still a roadlegal sports car with the same base chassis and a ice powertrain

[@leehawleyphotography9326]

@@TwoShoedDude have you driven one? I wager it's more comfortable than the Tesla owing to it's hugely lower weight and therefore softer springs.

[@TwoShoedDude]

@@yota8325 You are comparing the Exige, the track version of the Elise, to the Roadster? Why stop there? Why not use the 340R as the comparison instead? Or the Hennessey Venom GT? These all are road legal sports cars with the same base chassis. (Of course, you would never make these comparisons if you understood the phrase “horses for courses”, or the concept of intended purpose.)

[@SRS-GAMES]

So Mike, What range did you get? What is the Miles/KWh? Why didn't you launch it and see the 0-60 time? How long does it take to charge on DC? What is its charging rate on DC? What did it cost you to charge it for an hour and 12 miles range? Did you do any tests on the battery to find out how much power it had lost? A drag race with a 2008 Elise or similar would have been great. A lot of missing information in this review, if that's what it was, but I enjoyed it anyway.

[@sIightIybored]

It's bonkers this thing is just about the only electric convertible sports car yet made.

[@lsh3rd]

MG Cyberster? Too bad for me, not available to Americans. The first company to offer something like this will get my money.

[@warol_kojtyla2137]

@@lsh3rd it just shows how much 'electric car enthusiasts' actually care about cars.

[@thecursed01]

The Chinese are selling the mg cyberster. But it's china. So...

[@demonhighwayman9403]

Certainly in Europe convertible cars are in decline, manufacturers have pretty much given up on them now.

[@lsh3rd]

@@warol_kojtyla2137 no… it’s because manufacturers are scrambling to make vehicles in the category with the highest sales.

[@LocksLondon]

Jay Leno was right in asking can you drive it in the rain. Google the case of the couple from Edinburgh who were shocked after receiving a £17,374 bill to replace the battery on their Tesla Model Y, after the vehicle wouldn’t turn on after driving through heavy rain.

[@Courtesyflush52]

It wasn’t covered by warranty?

[@LocksLondon]

@@Courtesyflush52 nope

[@Courtesyflush52]

@@LocksLondon that’s crazy. In the US there’s a federally mandated 8 year warranty on batteries

[@imperialace156]

Wasn't expecting what felt like a Tesla/Elon fluff piece from Drivetribe. I'll admit I don't usually watch when it doesn't have any of the Top Gear team in it, but now I don't find myself feeling as bad about that.

[@miniscenesgb]

It is me or is the original Tesla way better looking than recent ones? I actually like that car, whereas most electrics are as dull as ditch water. if you bought one like you test drove second hand now - how much would it cost and how much would battery replacement cost? I am wondering if this is a future classic. btw - I have 4 cars, 3 classics, one modern, all petrol lol

[@mdjey2]

Model S was created by chief engineer Peter Rawlinson. Now he is CEO of Lucid Motors. Might be one of the reasons why latest Teslas are not looking all that great.

[@gnes04]

This is the only tesla ever that doesn't look like a nerdfest built completely by software engineers and no actual designers or artists

[@gnes04]

Makes sense that Elon wasn't around for most of it

[@tHebUm18]

Almost like the entire time since has been aimed at mass producing EVs to achieve the mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy and sports cars are niche because many people can't afford a separate toy car from their daily driver.

[@Dex60]

No surprise since it is basically a stretched Lotus!

[@JB-Voices]

@@Dex60 and especially the fact that Toyota helped building the Elise and even the Roadster, it's what they call a public secret that Toyota and Tesla were in cahoots before the official investment in 2010 In my opinion it's the only decent Tesla (in terms of quality) ever made up until this day

[@jameswoll]

@@JB-Voices I suspect the new refreshed Model 3 would be on that short list now too.

[@TheDude3007-dd7fg]

Martin Eberhard & Marc Tarpenning .. please show these men the respect they deserve .

[@pendragon6207]

Yup. The REAL founders.

[@robdavies82]

Teslas aren’t owned by car fanatics in general. It’s just a quirky brand, and attracts the image people who need the latest things (like Apple, Ring etc). If a real car fanatic had to have an EV, they’d get a proper car brand

[@JamesDavis-mb1jw]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@dannypatrick9361]

A real car fanatic would never want an EV.

[@haydenw8691]

A real car fanatic doesn't need to tell people that they are a real car fanatic.

[@drunkenhobo8020]

​@@haydenw8691No this is the internet. You've got to gatekeep everything to make yourself feel special.

[@jamesengland7461]

Tesla IS the proper car brand when it comes to EVs; most other brands can't do the software or the charging network or build their own motors or control systems.

[@neildee9834]

I just cannot get my head around the weight. A VX220 (NA with lighter alloys) weighs under 780kg and is super sharp on turn-in at a tight apex, and therefore deliciously quick on exit and rewarding to drive . The thought of arriving at the same corner with approaching four times the weight is scary, and you must have to brake so far in advance. And you can buy an NA vx for £12k

[@993isgawd]

Four times the weight? Pray tell, what vehicle are you comparing the lithe Vauxhall to? The floaty, definitely-NOT-a-sportscar Cybertruck? I thought this was supposed to be about the Roadster 1.0.

[@VXGaming]

I could believe the 55 minutes cause on the test track he isnt driving it like an on the road car, he was driving it like on a race track.

[@SiCrewe]

Exactly. If you've got an average hatchback with, say, 150bhp, it only takes around 40bhp to keep it rolling along at 60mph. The only time you'll use all 150bhp is if you give it some welly away from the lights for a few seconds. Same thing with an EV. Most of the time it's, basically, just "coasting" along, using a small(ish) amount of energy to keep it rolling. On a circuit, OTOH, you're probably going to have your foot on the floor ALL the time, unless you're braking. Hence, you use 5x the energy.

[@ohedd]

Yea, but that's true of any car. That's why it's a critique that makes no sense.

[@lutomson3496]

i had one sold it as the batteries were dying kind of wish i would have kept it as prices on these roadsters have risen unlike the other EV prices which are tanking

[@Phuc_Yhou]

2020 Audi Etron £19k, Citroen C4 EV New £22k, both on Autotrader. I was looking after watching Harry Metcalf's video about going back to a diesel car.

[@keszty]

An engineer at the time from Norfolk went on to work on this. That engineer is now the MD of Lotus Cars, Mr Windle.

[@FFVoyager]

Another ex-Lotus engineer is still at Tesla - Malcolm Burgess whose Linkedin profile says he's 'Manager, Structural Concepts and Vehicle Dynamics at Tesla Motors Mountain View, California' (although that might have changed recently). His name can be found on the patents for the gigacasting chassis structures too.

[@Stu_2112]

There were a lot of us from Lotus that jumped the fence to work on the Roadster project. We were all based in the same place as when we used to work for Lotus, but now working for Tesla. Several went back to Lotus after the Roadster project finished.

[@FoCoPuffs]

The VX220 was also branded in Pontiac and Saturn.

[@reliantncc1864]

Kind of a different car. The VX220 was based on the Opel Speedster, while the Solstice and Sky were versions of the Opel GT (and vice versa). The Pontiac and Saturn were successors to the VX220, not the same car.

[@NicofTime...]

He was right

[@cormaccarroll]

Its Space Karen who is crying about free speech and him bringing people to court if its something he doesnt want to hear!

[@craft1322]

Another car based on the Elise is the Melkus RS2000. The successor of the east german Melkus RS1000 from the early 70s.

[@mik15ful]

I’d rather buy the GT3 all day any day than spending 150k for an old fridge which can barely do a lap on the track or buy the Lotus is based on and you still get lot of fun and save a lot of money 😊

[@Danofcanada]

Why do they still talk about Elon like he’s this revolutionary in the company? He must bought into Tesla

[@JamesDavis-mb1jw]

Because he is. The whole ev surge was because of him. Investing in supercharging networks, which they could have used.

[@matty7834]

Because he was the leader of Tesla for every other product after the Roadster? the Model 3 was more impactful than this lol

[@Spidouz]

Because when he purchased Tesla, it was nothing than a bunch of papers and some technological researches but not real products to sell, not real company to produce, etc… This is what happen all the time with technology companies, some people just create companies and do some researches but never come up with anything solid for the market until someone buy them, buy their name, eventually some patents and then build something with it… which is what happened with Elon Musk. If he wouldn’t be at Tesla pushing for EVs, the current car industry would still be way different. Like him or not, Elon Musk is heavily responsible for the whole industry to get serious about EVs and to make EVs performant… prior to Musk, EVs was a synonym for ugly looking cars and very low performance. Now we have PLAID models that beat most of ICE cars on the drag strip…

[@pieterrossouw8596]

Musk is to Tesla what Gates was to Microsoft and Jobs was to Apple. Did he do it all from his personal genius - nope. Neither did the others but there's no point in getting salty that his name is going to be tied to when EVs got going.

[@juckyvortex]

Stuff we take for granted today like can you drive it in the wet. Cybertruck: *starts to sweat* Cybertruck: *starts to rust from the sweat*

[@bowencreer3922]

Yes. He was.

[@desmondlau4632]

The amount of fanboism seeping through my monitor is terrifying with this one. I have expected better from drivetribe but I guess I am wrong. Maybe a different intro , or a simple title like revisiting the roadster at 15 years might rub me , and many others apparently in the comments , a better way.

[@DonMiguelito69]

Lol, priuses had always regenerative braking

[@reliantncc1864]

But only tossers drive a Prius.

[@johnwilliams-ih3pv]

Why does a prius need brakes ?😁

[@marcel4821]

The deal with Lotus wasn't Elon's idea and he didn't make the deal.

[@flyer152]

Can I ask, when you got to the second charge point where you use the AC socket. Why didn't you use the Chademo plugs on them???

[@_j_j]

It'd be great if Porsche could work out how to modularly package the battery cells such that an average person could remove and add them. You could have a light boxter with 100km of range most of the time and a heavier one with 500km of range when needed. On a track day you'd only need enough cells in the car to do a stint rather than having the weight required to complete the full days running onboard for every lap.

[@cookiedoughdynamo2747]

You dont want an average person handling them.They're fairly dangerous. Packaging them not to be is impractical at best. Also a quick electrodynamics lesson will tell you that you are going to significantly reduce a car's power by removing that much battery. It doesnt just work like a fuel tank, imagine it as if a larger fuel tank also brought with it more fuel throughput.

[@tsimmersjr]

The 'Elon Musk Apologist' label is not one I had lined up for Mike. But at this point, if you're not discussing Elon the man while discussing Elon the product, it's debatable if you're doing anything close to journalism. I realize Drivetribe is primarily entertainment, but it also takes itself far too seriously to ONLY be entertainment.

[@shoryuXE10]

when it comes to s2 elise based cars, one has to bring up the rinspeed squba! absolutely ridiculous thing and its no surprise it never made production, but the fact that a functioning prototype was even created at all is so cool

[@JR-fw2jo]

The BBC’s argument was that Top Gear wasn’t a documentary, it was an entertainment show and thus it wasn’t actually a review. They admitted it was staged.

[@GarryMcGovern]

Uhhhh, no, he's NOT the richest man in the world, and it really wouldn't have taken much effort to find out that in fact, Bernard Arnault is the richest man in the world. Though judging a man's integrity, stature, character, ethics, morals and overall positive benefit to the world based purely on the their net worth, is just a wee bit pathetically sycophantic. (But then again, isn't every Musk fan boy?)

[@Okurka.]

That's "Bernard Arnault & family", not Bernard Arnault on his own.

[@xtherealhughesy]

The issues you had with charging is exactly why I won’t buy an electric car. The U.K. doesn’t have the infrastructure to deal with everyone to have an electric car and never will

[@TrevorDennis100]

Your 'heated seats draining the battery' comment is actually very valid, albeit a little bit exaggerated. It was something that had not previously occurred to me, but driving your EV on a cold and rainy day can have a significant effect on milage, because the heater and wipers draw a fair bit of current. A friend told me that he was unable to do the 250 kilometre (155 miles) round trip from Blenheim to Nelson and back in a fully charged Nissan Leaf on a cold wet day. Granted, there are a few mountain passes to climb, but 155 miles? WTF! I followed a Tesla from Kaikoura to Blenheim recently, and the driver was taking it very steady. He ignored some easy overtake opportunities, and was cruising 20kph under the 100kph limit. We started to wonder if he was nursing his batteries, and when we later came to some bendy bits, and saw that the drivers window was down on a 30°C day, we decided that had to be the case. I totally put me off owning an EV, and that's without the limited lifespan of the battery packs, and huge cost of replacements.

[@FFVoyager]

My EV has a tiny 28kWh battery and heated seats and a heated steering wheel. Using them makes no measurable difference to the efficiency. After motion, the most energy is used by the cabin heater but that only takes 3 or 4 % off the range.

[@terryc4144]

How much did it cost to fully charge and how much did it cost per mile. The government need to remove their blinkers

[@JD.Martin]

What would happen if there was a complete moratorium on the use of fossil fuels tomorrow? Well, we'd be out of food in a matter of weeks, and hundreds of millions, more likely over a billion, would be dead inside of 6 months. Making an EV sports car wouldn't even be on the list of concerns.

[@lilPOPjim]

Why do people praise Elon Musk? Like 90% of his wealth came from subsidiaries

[@lsh3rd]

No... his wealth comes from the value of Tesla stock.

[@F103Pro10S]

What disturbes me the most is the thing has Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 front tires (summer high performance, OE on the Elise) and Pirelli Sotto zero Winter tires in the rear.... Must behave quite.... Interesting.... And if the car even so handles well, how well does it handle with performance tires on all four corners? ;)

[@phuketexplorer]

From producing a fantastic looking, futuristic sports car, to a truck that looks like a five year old drew. This company is so heading down the pan when Chinese vehicles become the global number one.

[@brucefraser4778]

sorry but the apprentice is not overtaking the master 🙄

[@MrSlowly63]

I'm usually a fan of the drivetribe content but this video is kind of embarrassing. It's like Mike is trying to make excuses for his embarrassing uncle to people cause it's fashionable these days to be positive about EVs and Elon when really there's nothing to be excused. Jeremy's statements were realistic when you actually do the maths. And btw it would have been nice if they had actually watched the Episode before putting out this content. Jeremy never called it a brown rice eco car. That's what he called the prius and g-wiz which he was CONTRASTING the Tesla with.

[@brucefraser4778]

i agree and the name dropping [Jeremy}doesnt help. he is not and never will be a match for Clarkson so should build on his own strengths@@MrSlowly63

[@robert-king-d7t]

The missus works for Tesla

[@gumpyoldbugger6944]

@@robert-king-d7t Give her my condolences....could be worse I guess, she could be working at either Walmart or Amazon, tho I am not sure if working for Tesla could actually be much better.

[@robert-king-d7t]

@@gumpyoldbugger6944 not my missus, Mike's -- the person in the video.

[@bernardlloyd2000]

Got to love that classsic analog dash with the power consumption/regen gauge

[@andrewpeek5785]

I'm guessing it's just an ammeter in disguise.

[@MickeyMishra]

Here is an Idea. Put an APU in an electric car. OR Just throw in a Prius drivetrain in. Never worry about range again. You know I'm right.

[@sharpvidtube]

I thought the Cyber Truck wouldn't be road legal in the UK? Doubt it would be much use on a track, or off road.

[@stevemawer848]

Or on road. CyberUrinal.

[@tug1345]

I noticed you didn't mention how much 1 hour charge for 12 miles cost you

[@joonassummanen6130]

Wasn't the original Hennessey Venom based on the Series 2. Along with every lotus made back then and the Opel Speedster/ Vauxhall VX220?

[@jeremyfong5684]

He did mention it around the halfway mark

[@ShaqFuGuru]

The expensive degraded batteries will be a huge issue a decade down the road when EVs are in the used market. You can still get tons of life out of a 100k+ mileage gas car engine.

[@f36443]

There's already 3rd party packs for the Roadster available, it's not a problem

[@Ted_Kenzoku]

@@f36443 yeah and they cost money. might as well buy another car that's not an EV. or better, buy a lotus elise, that's cheaper, still runs just as great today and is half the weight of the tesla

[@f36443]

​@@Ted_KenzokuRoadster is worth way more than any Elise, pocket change

[@xmarcika]

I wish Tesla would offer a battery replacement with the latest technology. It would give this Roadster much much more enjoyable miles😎 Great review! Never seen one Roadster on the road

[@terravarious]

If ic engines were banned tomorrow, I'd electrify a Miata or Super 7 before I'd overpay for a Tesla. Of course I don't have any overpriced iPoo devices either. Fanboys are gonna fanboy.

[@jfriar]

Of course Clarkson was right. The one person in a room everybody disagrees with is always right in the end. 😂

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

No mention of the Tesla employee spotting the script that had both cars breaking down, before filming started? The car you're riding in shared about 6% of the Lotus it was based on.

[@BRZDR]

Still in love with my BRZ Edit: If they try to ban combustion engines - Do Not Comply :D

[@reliantncc1864]

I'm going to like your comment for the edit, but the BRZ is soooo slow. Looks cool, admittedly.

[@Chris.Davies]

Love the fact the Cybertruck is teaching owners that "StainLESS steel" does not mean "StainFREE steel". Love the fact that once stainless steel changes colour, it will not change back. Love the fact that stainless steel can't be repaired or resurfaced in any way. Enjoy your CTs, fanboys!

[@maxrei8786]

Can we get this straight please: Musk is not an engineer, he was not involved in creating any technologies for any of the companies he's been part of and the engineering was always done by other people. He financed his way into the CEO ranks and did his marketing wonders, which, props to him, no one can do quite like him. Tesla got many parts and design help for their first cars (Roadster, Model S) from established car manufacturers like Lotus, Mercedes and Toyota. The battery technology came from the original founders of Tesla which brought in the Lithium Ion technology from their previous E-Reader business. Please stop saying "well done Elon" when it comes to engineering, this just creates this fake "he's a genius"-mantra around him that Musk-lovers repeat so often. He is just used to be very good business man. Give him credit for that.

[@everything777]

He is literally an engineer.

[@calebcurfman4415]

I mean the Top Gear review was pretty accurate. I know from other reviews that Clarkson hates being given supposedly finished vehicles that end up having problems during testing. The figures of 55 miles was supplied by Tesla engineers and actually isn’t too bad considering they were on a track. Especially when you compare the Model 3’s performance of 18 miles of hard track driving. The big thing here is that in the 00’s it was a hassle to live with an electric car. It was extremely expensive when new. And it had some issues during the test that were caused by simple things, yet they still happened. I still look at car companies that become predatory after a bad car review with disdain. It’s an affront to motoring journalism. It’s why no restaurant has a perfect 5 star review. There will always be someone that didn’t like an entree. The issue here with the Tesla is that almost every car magazine said that it was neat. But it just isn’t practical or worth buying over the car it was based off of. Tesla just decided to go after Jeremy and TG at that point in time because Top Gear was the biggest name that put out a bad review. Obviously they have come a long way. But sadly they are poorly built and have the soul of limestone.

[@canadianthought]

heated seats are actually much less energy hungry than the heated air from the A/C system

[@axial1015]

So an interesting thing about the regenerative braking, its quite old technology, however its only recently become commonplace in the automotive industry. Im a train mechanic, and we used to have rolling stock from the early 1970's (Class 313's) that would use a form of dynamic braking (known as Rheostatic braking where the electrical current generated would be supplied to banks of resistors, where the excess energy would be dissipated as heat). there are quite a few differences, however the operating principle is the same, and i beleive its a lot older than what the aforementioned trains where. Its amazing how much just 10 years of research makes.

[@Madnessnunky]

I'm still firmly in the "hybrid" camp, though not like most people would think. I believe all-electric still isn't ready for mass market and most consumer trends also indicate this. Electric works for a lot of people, but our grid in the U.S. is nowhere near capable of supporting the kind of loads needed to charge these things, let along the MASSIVE impact battery disposal/recycling will have in ~10 years. Cars with basic fender benders get totaled out due to potential battery damage, and the fires are no joke. A hybrid with a small diesel drive and a quarter range battery pack (~75mi) would be the perfect setup. Get speed/power with electric takeoff, cruise and generate on the diesel, and regen brake for ~90% of deceleration. Diesel is a very clean combustible if done correctly and typically provides more torque per displacement than gasoline. You reduce battery requirements, vehicle weight, and repair costs while having a vehicle that can realistically get 70+mpg, and maybe over that with some electric assist trickery.

[@wintyrqueen]

I guess the question is: “is it better than just doing an EV conversion on a Lotus?”

[@neildee9834]

There's an interesting EV conversion of a VX220. seems to work well enough

[@PahanBandara19]

Clarkson was right

[@Pignapper123]

Why did you use that slow charger when the chdemo was right there not being used ??

[@mraidymaddful]

Or, you could buy an almost brand new, top of the range Lotus Elise for 100K less and not get range anxiety or have to fork 50K out when the battery dies. Hmmmmm, tough choice...........

[@trevorberridge6079]

Original Roadster batteries are still being used today in conversions and still doing 200 miles.

[@MaD_fX]

It wasn't musk who developed the partnership with Lotus, it was the original founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

[@rickmoody1867]

When electric cars have Mr. Fusion I’ll consider buying one.

[@LordandGodofYouTube]

And a flux capacitor.

[@annebokma4637]

Leno made a joke, he has electric cars from the beginning of car history and those could be out in rain

[@Steve_A93]

I have always liked the Tesla Roadster, but I always believed Elon Musk had far more reason to lie about its performance than Jeremy did. Plus he was not even harshly bashing it, he was just pointing out some glitches with the original cars.

[@anejz1637]

Imagine buying this old Tesla roadster and adding stuff from a modern tesla with better tech. New battery, lighter, more range and power.

[@Vicious..]

I have #206 2010 Sport Roadster in Very Orange with original Battery. Has under 40K miles. I love it still. I am the original owner. It is in excellent condition. This car also has a history behind it. May be only one of 20 or 30 made this way. Hoping new roadster comes out soon.

[@docternoblex]

4:42 regen braking was actually one of the standards for EVs from the start, as early as 1966 with the AMC Amitron, the Nissan LEAF, and even one of Tom Hanks EVs(a modified 2006 Scion xB) had regen braking

[@Funky_Ghost]

Clarkson didn't say it was a complete disaster. He said it failed to deliver on any of it's promises. And he was dead right.

[@narek_kona302]

I'd like to see a track battle between this and a lotus Elise

[@johncrafton8319]

Its had such battles, and it lost. It was even two seconds slower around the Top Gear Test Track.

[@BoostedMike2]

the only model of car to ever leave the planet technically has reached the highest top speed of over 25,000mph

[@nolansdavid]

Thankfully the Cyber Truck won't be legal in Britain.

[@RickTheSpud]

How are the batteries fairing after 15 years? It's a 54 plate, 2004, is that not 20 years?

[@scbond]

Elon Musk is the biggest bell end in history. If Tesla were the only option for a car in the future, I’d walk.

[@silenttera666]

Join the club, I'll be power-walking.

[@pieterrossouw8596]

I don't particularly care or keep up with all things Musk but why do you loathe him so much?

[@michaeljamesm]

@@pieterrossouw8596have you not been awake the past year?

[@pieterrossouw8596]

@@michaeljamesm yes, just not addicted to the internet and who it tells me to love and hate. Go outside, touch grass.

[@stevenlawrie7819]

I love my Tesla

[@tHebUm18]

6:47 Amazed me to realize somewhat recently that the 0-60 for the original one was 4.2s, the same as my Model 3 Long Range. Had no idea when I watched Clarkson dunk on the OG roadster as I a wee college freshman that I'd ultimately be driving a Tesla and love it.

[@cripplemadewhole]

Honestly, that range loss on the battery keeps me from getting an ev, at least as a primary vehicle. Now I could see having an ev daily driver for work commute with maybe 150-200mi range but I don't want it for long drives.

[@bnice1374]

Elon didn't have anything to do with the roadster other than a cash injection.

[@Luke_alien420]

9:50 Elon said it was the worst car to pick, when he added weight to the car (batteries) the safety was ruined so the amount of things he had to replace to get it road worthy wasn’t worth it in the end.

[@PaladinOfHope]

Give me the GT3 any day.

[@78Outlaw]

Ahh ye missed Pontiac Solstice which was front rear but purportedly used the Lotus tub 😎 So few affordable EV sports out there, a real shame

[@TenthWizzard]

Ofcourse he was right absolute garbage

[@sgraham9511]

I recently read that if original Roadster buyers had invested that $100k into Tesla stock instead of buying the car, their stock would be worth over $35 million right now...

[@khalee95]

To answer the question you brought up about banning the combustion engine. It's just not economically possible. Everyone would be at the charging station unless Elon figures out how to charge a battery in under 2 minutes. That doesn't even include the battery size for larger vehicles like a semi or industrial vehicles.

[@martinsmallwood9605]

If the electricity grid exists were you are you can charge an EV . Most people live in detached houses and only need to use a charging station on road trips .they charge at home or work when they are not using the car . Those that don't live in detached houses usually are living in more built up places like city's and seldom do more than 50km a day In this case you would only need to charge a modern ev once a week or so . Plugging in your car to a charger for an hour once a week when you do the shopping go to the cafe or the gym or other things people do on weekly basis is easily possible with todays charge rates.

[@stevemawer848]

@@martinsmallwood9605 There isn't enough lithium or cobalt ro make a battery to replace every ICEV that's on the road now. And EVs tend to be written off even after minor damage so that's hardly a sustainable way to go, is it? And when every car on the road is an EV, overnight charging will really stress the grid.

[@martinsmallwood9605]

@@stevemawer848 You lost me at cobalt . The most popular evs do not use cobalt in their batteries at all ... Plenty of lithium available and more useful deposits discovered every year . You can even refine lithium from sea water Girds cope with peak demand today. Switching to ev's mostly charging outside of peak demand will not stress it even now We have forty or so years to upgrade it were it is needed anyway.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

Jason Camissa has effectively dedicated his career to undoing Clarkson's automotive myth spreading lol

[@jamescameron6819]

Clarkson was more of a troll rather than deliberately creating false narratives.

[@drunkenhobo8020]

​@@jamescameron6819Unfortunately he started to believe his own nonsense.

[@MrSlowly63]

That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time

[@studio_beasty]

It is at least a far far better looking car than any of the more recent Tesla's (probably because it is a Lotus)

[@soopafamicom]

Making out that regen braking was something special in the roadster. I had that in the rc I blasted around in about 1990. I don't get the making EV's so fast or have such acceleration as surely it would be better to have them tuned for economy and less tyre wear.

[@ASBO_LUTELY]

I was of the impression Jeff Bezos was the richest man in the world, especially as Elon lost so much money buying twitter...

[@lachlanparker570]

Don’t you mean he flushed it down the toilet? Nothing good has come from that purchase. He might as well have been literally drinking his money.

[@crstothard]

Yet, in fifteen years, lithium and nickel based batteries will be considered the most horrific environmental movement. Look to the Hydrogen. Greetings from NYC!

[@Rick-vm8bl]

Let us know when you figure out the biggest flaw in using hydrogen - storage. I'm not sure many would be happy filling their car up, coming back to it a week later and finding the tank almost empty. Hydrogen isnt the future, theres too many issues with it. Something more sustainable like Na-ion will end up being the norm once they get the output to weight ratio sorted.

[@lachlanparker570]

Radioisotope batteries are what I currently believe will work. Just don’t let Elon get his hands on any.

[@drunkenhobo8020]

Worldwide there were over 10,000,000 BEV sales in 2023. There were around 7,500 HFCEV sales. It's 1994 and you're still telling us how great Betamax is.

[@crstothard]

@@drunkenhobo8020 No, but how great was LaserDisc!?