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2010 Non-Sport Roadster 2.5 Model For Sale

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daniel

Well-Known Member
May 7, 2009
5,732
5,508
Kihei, HI
My Model 3 just arrived and I love it. Sadly, I cannot justify keeping two electric cars. The Roadster has been great fun for the 6 3/4 years I've had it, but it's time to let it go.

This is a one-owner car. I bought it new from inventory in 2011 and it has been my daily driver ever since. It is not pristine because it's been driven almost daily, but it is in excellent condition and I've had all annual maintenance performed on schedule. One of the heater knobs is missing, but this does not make it any harder to operate the control. That's its only flaw.

Color: Very Orange. Absolutely gorgeous!
Miles: 14,980 as of this writing. (I don't drive a lot.)
Options: Alpine Infotainment System and leather seats. The Alpine (with GPS) is frankly not a very good system. The sound is fine to my 69-year-old ears but the GPS is not as good as my old Garmin. It has the old-style iPod connector, which works fine, but I could never get the bluetooth to connect reliably. YMMV on the bluetooth.

When not being driven it's always been kept in my garage.

It has just one set of wheels, but comes with two sets of tires, winter and summer. The front winter tires are very new, in excellent condition. The summer tires and the rear winter tires are in good condition. These tires were all purchased from Tesla, and so are the Tesla-recommended tires. I just replaced the tire-pressure monitors this month (February 2019).

It comes with:

The standard 120-v charger, which I've never used.

The Tesla mobile charger which plugs into a NEMA 14-50 plug on a 240-v, 50-a circuit. On this circuit it will draw 40 amps (9.6 kW charging speed).

It has the Tesla cloth top. It does NOT have the hard top.

It also comes with the aftermarket mesh top. This top lets in about half the wind and about half the sunlight. It is wonderful for hot sunny days. I find that with the top off, driving on the freeway is too windy. With the mesh top it is perfectly delightful. It has the feel of being open while still protecting you from the full force of the elements. Switching tops is easy.

The heater is powerful and instantaneous. Hot air is blowing in less than a minute, and the cabin is toasty warm in just a few minutes even in the coldest Spokane weather. (It seldom gets very cold here, but it does occasionally, and the heater handles it like a champ.) I cannot speak about the A/C because I've never used it. In warm weather I just take the top off or use the mesh top.

Tesla upgraded the cooling system from the original one after the car reported being too hot on one scorching hot day after a very long drive, the first summer I had it. (Or maybe the second summer.)

Original price as configured was $117,000. I am asking $75,000 for this very low-mileage, excellent condition car.

I am posting pictures from when the car was new because yesterday it was raining and today the forecast is snow, and no sun in the forecast until Monday. I will post current pictures as soon as we get some sunlight here. These were taken at a friend's rural home.

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I will welcome respectful comments regarding my asking price, which I think is toward the high end of reasonable for this car. If it does not sell in a month or two I will entertain reasonable offers. Buyer is responsible for picking up the car and the off-season tires. Winter tires are on it at this writing.

Please let me know if there's anything I need to add to the description. Thanks for reading.
 
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As noted, the pictures in Post 1 were from 2011, when the car was new. We got some sun today so here are pictures taken this morning. Comments welcome. PLEASE NOTE: On the right rear, the pictures appear to show a discoloration or very large scrape, blemish, whatever. That's just the sunlight reflecting on the car. Note that it moves with the point of view in different pictures. I am not a very good photographer.

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I've regretfully come to the conclusion that my asking price for this car is too high. Though I'm not in any desperate hurry to sell it, there's no point in listing it so high nobody is interested.

So I'm lowering my asking price to $65,000. And I will consider any reasonable offers. I also welcome comments if anyone would care to suggest what a reasonable price would be.
 
Based on further comments and some stuff I'll comment on later when I have more time, I'm raising my asking price back to $75,000. I marked it back up on eBay (there's only one day left there) so to avoid a discrepancy I'm noting it here also.
 
The Roadster is no longer for sale. I'm going to keep it a bit longer. It's been a bit of an emotional Odyssey: My first time using AP on the freeway was disappointing. I did not find it restful using AP because I still had to keep my hands on the wheel and stay super-alert, and this seemed more tiring than driving. And the car's slight left-right-left-right as it worked to stay centered in the lane made me a bit queasy. I get motion-sick very easily. I wondered if I really made the right choice in buying the car. I considered selling it and keeping the Roadster.

Then I discovered that there's a Tesla supercharger in Kelowna, BC, thanks to some TMC members in another thread. While not on my most direct route to my hiking in Canada, that supercharger makes it possible for me to make that trip on electric. The route is a half-hour longer, plus a half hour at the supercharger, but I think I can handle the extra hour if it means making the trip on electric. This would mean I could sell the Prius instead and keep both the Roadster and the Model 3, at least until I move to Maui, when I'd have to decide which of the two to keep and sell the other. I've kept the Prius only because of that trip to Canada, and hauling recycling to the collection center, and hauling the Roadster's tires to be switched twice a year.

During the next few weeks I'll be driving the Model 3 and seeing how I get used to it, especially AP. Until I make a decision I'll be keeping all three cars.

Of course, I could reconsider if someone makes me an offer too good to refuse on the Roadster.
 
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Good move, Daniel. How could you contemplate letting go of that orange beauty?!! The Model 3 has nothing on it! :)

The Roadster may be a great car for Maui too give that the distances there would be even more magaeable.

I thought the technology of the Model 3 would make me safer. And that's true, except that I found I don't so much like AP. (I still want a car that will let me sit in the back seat and close my eyes.) I thought that after 7 years it was time to move on to a more practical car and that I don't need two electric cars. But if I can make my Canada trip in the Model 3, then it's the Prius I no longer need.

On Maui the big advantage of the Roadster is the open top. But there's still the problem that it cannot haul anything, and if a couple comes to visit me I'd have to rent a car if we wanted to drive anywhere together. Even here at home, the Roadster needs another car to haul its tires to the tire place twice a year for switching between summer and winter tires. At least on Maui it would be summer tires all year around. (Though tires will probably cost twice as much there because of shipping.)

So I'll enjoy the Roadster for another year. If The Model 3 works out for Canada, I'll sell the Prius. If I end up only spending winters on Maui I'll keep the Roadster and the Model 3. If I end up moving to Maui I'll probably have to choose one or the other. In the mean time, it's going to be a PITA because the Prius needs to be plugged into a battery minder and I don't have space to plug in three cars. There's going to be some juggling of parking space.
 
I've battled similar sell, no-sell juggling-cars decisions for years. There does come a time to sell. I think your main fear is selling a car that cost six figures new, and taking such a big hit at today's prices, and then watching it go up in value as a collectible. That is not going to happen any time soon, in my opinion, or it already would have. Instead, the Gen 1 Tesla Roadster is dropping in price in anticipation of faster and much improved electric cars are on the horizon, plus your car is not a Sport.

If you love it, keep it. Yes, the Roadster is specialty, a head-turner, and holds its place in history, but is not a well engineered car. Buyers fear a big expense having to upgrade the aging batteries.

At 69, I would be selling this Roadster - unless you really love it, which I don't think you do or you would not have put it up for sale. If you are waiting for bigger prices, I think you will be waiting decades.
You owned the car when it was the best time to own it, and now those times are almost gone. Porsche will bring out a 4-door Mission E next year and perhaps a 2-door Mission E at what? I am reading $80,000?
 
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I've battled similar sell, no-sell juggling-cars decisions for years. There does come a time to sell. I think your main fear is selling a car that cost six figures new, and taking such a big hit at today's prices, and then watching it go up in value as a collectible. That is not going to happen any time soon, in my opinion, or it already would have. Instead, the Gen 1 Tesla Roadster is dropping in price in anticipation of faster and much improved electric cars are on the horizon, plus your car is not a Sport.

If you love it, keep it. Yes, the Roadster is specialty, a head-turner, and holds its place in history, but is not a well engineered car. Buyers fear a big expense having to upgrade the aging batteries.

At 69, I would be selling this Roadster - unless you really love it, which I don't think you do or you would not have put it up for sale. If you are waiting for bigger prices, I think you will be waiting decades.
You owned the car when it was the best time to own it, and now those times are almost gone. Porsche will bring out a 4-door Mission E next year and perhaps a 2-door Mission E at what? I am reading $80,000?

Thanks for your thoughts. Very sensible. Except my reluctance to sell the car is not about the price or possible increase in value. My reluctance stems from my concern of being without a car if the Model 3 goes on the fritz. Rationally, that's extremely unlikely. There have been a few dozen (?) this has happened to out of the few thousand so far made. But that's the fear. I could sell the Prius or the Roadster and still have an emergency car. But I no longer have any use for the Prius if the Model 3 can make the Canada trip, which should be fairly easy now with the supercharger at Kelowna. I hate burning gas. I loved the Prius when it was new, as it was a wonder of the latest technology. 50 mph on road trips and SULEV pollution rating. But now it's old tech. And it takes 100% of its energy from gas. And in the Pacific Northwest my Model 3 (and the Roadster) run on zero-carbon hydro power.

I've heard that Tesla provides loaners when the Model 3 is in the shop, but I'm nowhere near a service center. Do they provide a loaner if the car has to go in to Seattle?

I'm really being too paranoid. I could use Lyft in a pinch. I should sell both the Prius and the Roadster. ... But, darn it all, the Roadster is sooooooooooo much fun to drive. The Model 3 is much more comfortable, and much more relaxed. But the Roadster is fun. Selling it feels like shipping mom off to an old folks home.
 
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I also don't want to burn gas, which is why I have a Model S in a four door, although what I like to drive is a sports car - exactly the reason I almost bought a Tesla Roadster a year after getting my P85D L. I'm waiting on my new Roadster, which is a long wait. If the Roadster is that much fun to drive, you are making the right decision not to sell if you don't need the money. I live 350 miles from a service center and they give me a loaner each time I take the car there for service and my annual.
 
My friend in Lubbock, Texas had an older Model S and was on a Ranger program where they came to him and they towed a car along to drop off. That was an older program, though.

Yeah, but with the ranger located here in Spokane, they'd need to ship a car here. Or just pay for me to rent a stinker. The local ranger does not have a supply of loaners.

You have great taste in car colors.

Thanks. It is the best color. But I can't take credit: It was the lowest-priced (least optioned) Roadster in Tesla's inventory at the time I bought it. It was so late in the program that they were no longer taking orders for Roadsters except at the highest-option, highest-price levels because they needed the cash. I wanted a base-model Roadster. The salesman and I looked at his inventory list, and this one had the fewest options and the lowest price.

I just got lucky with the color.