2010 Tesla Roadster Sport first drive

According to EPA numbers, the Roadster Sport goes 244 miles on a full charge. During our day with the car we were looking at 150 to 200 miles of range. But another way Tesla changes the driving paradigm is that, instead of waiting for a near empty battery for recharging, you treat it like a cell phone, plugging it in whenever you have the opportunity. Where you wouldn't refill the tank on a gasoline-powered car at the end of each day's commute, you can plug in the Tesla whenever you get home.

Tesla includes a cord with the car to plug it in at any AC outlet, but using this solution only gets you five miles per hour of charging. A home charger available from the company will give it 56 miles per hour, running the battery to full from empty in less than four hours.

Single DIN cabin tech

The cabin of the Roadster Sport is tight, but a little easier to get into than a Lotus, as Tesla lowered the door sills. Expect to be rubbing shoulders with your passenger while on the road. But Tesla pretties up the cabin with leather, carbon fiber, and aluminum surfaces. It may not have the pure lushness of other high-end sports cars, but it passes well.

The JVC stereo is very capable, with navigation, iPod, and Bluetooth.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

We frankly didn't expect much for the car's cabin electronics, as Tesla currently relies on an aftermarket head unit for infotainment. But we applaud the company for picking the JVC KD-NXD505. This head unit provides navigation, Bluetooth, iPod connectivity, and even an internal hard drive for music storage.

Although we spent most of our time driving the Roadster Sport, we did have occasion to use the head unit's navigation feature. Surprisingly, it was intuitive and easy to input a street address using the minimal controls, all while stopped at traffic lights (the system doesn't allow input while the car is in motion). The screen is small, but nicely rendered, so we could see where to turn, while voice guidance also proved helpful.

Tesla mounts the iPod cable from this stereo on the console. There is no hatch or holder, but our iPhone rested easily on the flat surface, and didn't seem inclined to fall off as we drove.

In sum

Given the 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport's $129,000 price tag and small cabin, it is a niche car for early adopters. But those early adopters will find a car suitable to drive to work every day while not spending a penny on gas. Engineering types can thrill to the car's statistics, such as the electric motor's 92 percent efficiency, while sporting types will get a kick out of the immense acceleration, if not the cornering. The bottom line is that this car has the most technically advanced powertrain in a production car today, with greater range and speed than any other electric car on the market.

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