The Tesla Roadster was a groundbreaking car and launched a company that has altered the course of automotive history. What we hear less about these days, though, is how it actually performed as a sports car.
Developed with Lotus’ help, the original Tesla Roadster was meant to be based on the famed brand’s sports car, the Elise. A good starting point for any car with sporty aspirations, the beloved English car is also a high bar against which to be measured.
In a recent video, Fifth Gear decided to put the 2008 Tesla Roadster in competition against a Lotus Elise on a racetrack to see if the extra power and instant torque could make up for the extra weight of its batteries.
Read: The Original Tesla Roadster May Be Old But It Isn’t Cheap
One might believe that extra weight added by Tesla’s batteries is anathema to the mission of Lotus’ founder, Colin Chapman, but that is to forget half of the legendary engineer’s famous equation for making fast cars. Sure, he was a believer in adding lightness, but he also believed in simplifying, something electric motors certainly do.
So, can the motor’s 63 hp (47 kW/64 PS) advantage make up for the 360 kg (794 lbs) of added weight? In terms of how much fun it is to drive, unfortunately not, according to Fifth Gear host, Jason Plato.
“By any standard, it’s pretty good,” Plato says of the Tesla Roadster, but he complains that he can really feel the weight, especially in the slower corners, where it has a tendency to understeer. To be fair, though, it’s being compared against a Lotus Elise.
“These [are] by any standards, one of the finest handling and well-balanced road cars that’s ever been created,” says Plato, adding that he doesn’t really care what the stop watch says, he’d rather drive the Lotus.
His feelings, though, are backed up by that stop watch, which says that, around a short circuit, the Elise’s lack of weight and handling excellence make it 3.6 seconds faster than the EV that was based on it.