2006 Tesla Roadster "100% Torque"
Type: Automobiles
Model: 2006 Tesla Roadster
Real Name: Ethan Lance
Location: Berkeley, CA US.
Web Site: pistonheads.com/lotus/
Gender: Dude
Age: 34.7 years
Ok here is the deal with this car, it's electric. It's not a hyrbid, it's 100% electric. It's also $100,000 and it does 0-60 in about 4 seconds. Design... by Team Lotus. Sure its expensive, but they are coming out next with a sedan at half this price. It's also a brand new car company, not a spin off of GM or Ford. This is the real deal. Clearly the expense and the awesome design and preformance are part and parcel of their marketing team. What better way to drum up excitement over a electric vehicle? And who better to develop the technology for electric vehicles then electical engineers over in Silicon Valley? Obviously Detroit didn't think this was viable. What the heck, if a small start up in California can figure out the technology to build a production electric car -- and a sports car at that -- why can't Ford or GM do it? I am all for a revolution in the American Auto Industry. Perhaps I am naive, but I think Tesla Motors is going to start that revolution. The only thing that could kill this car would be poor maintenance or recalls, etc. If they can deliver the sedan at half the price, then come out with a hatchback economy at $30K, sheesh, this car company could end up creaming the big guys.
Comments
100% Torque's Stats
ethan owns:
I love my Audi. It's pretty fast for a base model Audi. I sold my Nissan Pathfinder and got this Audi in November 2005.
Best Drive
I drove the A4 to Tahoe last winter by myself and got bad directions from Google maps. I ended up on a side road that started with 5 inches of snow and after 13 miles it was more like a foot and a half of unplowed snow. Before it got too deep though I was flying down the country road, pine trees framing the borders, a thick 6 inches of snow blanketing the road, at about 45-50 mph. My AWD kicking up huge rooster tails of snow behind me.
ethan used to own:
My old GSXR. I bought this GSXR from my friend Thang, and had it for a little over a year. Sold it when Alyx and I got married.
I had a great time threading the needle on my way to work in San Francisco.
I had this 1992 Kawasaki Ninja for a couple years. My buddy Dan sold it to me cause he was being too much of a maniac on it and he was married.
So I bought it and was a maniac on it.
I had to fly out to NY from Chicago to pick it up and then ride it back to Chicago. There is a whole story about this, I'll write it later...This bike was soooo fast.
I once took it up to 175mph. Cuase I was a kid and dumb. Dont any of you kids try that. I could have died a horrible, mangled, death.
My old Pathfinder.
I really loved this truck, and I kept it really clean. I sold it because it was getting older, and I wanted something newer ( Got the Audi A4 ).
Plus the 1997 Pathfinder had only 175 HP. Going up to Tahoe and back was not as fun as it is now with an all wheel drive audi!
test
When I was about 20 years old I asked my Dad to help me find a British Sports car to work on. My Uncle Clark, then living in Mass. donated his MGB GT that was basically on mothballs in his garage.
My Dad drove with me from Chicago to Massachuesetts to trailor the car back. It had a rusted out gastank, an engine semi dismantled, no brakes, etc.On the way back somewhere in Ohio or NY state, some guy at a reststop asked us about the car, and then mentioned he lived just down the road, and had an old MGB GT too, with parts he'd give us. I specifically in need of a rear seat, so we drove over to the guys house and got the seat for free!
Back in Illinios, I spent night after night disasembling the MG; taking the entire engine apart ( every piece ), got the engine sandblasted, painted it, replaced all the gaskets, and inserted brand new pistons and a cam.
Oh the horror that night when cranking hard to tighten a bold on the engine block, I accidentally dropped the entire block off the work bench and onto the concrete floor! I didnt know if I had cracked it or not.Sure enough, a few days later, after finishing the assembly of the engine, and putting it back in the car, hooking up all the electricals, the gas, the carberators, etc... crank the engine.... leak, leak, leak... a steady stream of oil poured from a hair line crack in the side.I had to take the entire engine out and apart again and get a new block.
Eventually I had the entire car running. So what if the breaks were like stepping into mashed potatos, or that the exhaust leaked into the cabin making me stink of fumes! It was a success in my book!
In the end a drunk driver smashed the front end of the MG in pretty bad while it was parked. The collision pushed my car backwards into another parked car. So the front and back suffered some serious body damage.
Seriously, I thought the colors were gonna turn out a whole lot more butch!! This was my first vehicle that I owned. I bought it for around $2000 back in 1990 when I was in highschool. I always wanted to trick it out. So my Dad helped me paint it.
Man those colors are funny. Its hard to tell but we also lowered it about 3 inches with springs and blocks. I was hit by a poor driver and the truck was written off as totaled in the end.
I lived in England in 1998 and bought this MG Metro with Shane. I drove this car all over England, Scotland and Wales.
We took it on the Chunnel Train ( you actually drive the car onto the train ) from England to France. Then drove France, Switzerland, Lichtenstien, Germany, Czechslovak Prague, back to Germany, Amersterdam, Belgium, France and back into England on a 17 day car trip.
There are some pictures here of care camping in Germany, in April. Man it was cold.
I also drove a Pizza Hut delivery driver for about a month while in England. I had a blast mastering the round-abouts in a right hand drive car -- hustling to get the pizza delivered on time. I was actually pulled over twice by local cops for speeding in neighborhood areas, and got off with a warning. Didn't even have to show them my license. I guess they were cool with crazy american drivers.
ethan wants to own:
If I had this car, I'd have to take it to the track and start doing some amatuer racing. Everything I have read about this car says its basically a go kart.
I love that it looks like an exotic, but its not priced like one. I also love that it comes from a company with serious race heritage.
ethan rented:
My wife rented this mini van when her family came to town. It was comfortble for 7 people, albeit small people.
