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Buying a Roadster, need advice please

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Hello Tesla drivers. I am putting an offer in on a 2008 Roadster in Austin TX and wondered if there was anyone in the group that could tell me what to be careful to look out for. Who knows if I am lucky someone may live in the area that may know the car what with the community being as small as it is. I live outside of Chicago and can't get to TX so easy.
 
Hello Tesla drivers. I am putting an offer in on a 2008 Roadster in Austin TX and wondered if there was anyone in the group that could tell me what to be careful to look out for. Who knows if I am lucky someone may live in the area that may know the car what with the community being as small as it is. I live outside of Chicago and can't get to TX so easy.
Good luck and I hope you enjoy it half as much as I have mine. For the most part if the battery charges to say 145 miles in standard mode it should be just drive and go.
 
Thanks, the CAC is 122, that had me worried but you may be right to look at the mileage figure. When you say look for a 145 mile reading for the ideal range is that on a full charge? If the car is at a 50% charge should that number be at about 72 miles?
 
Thanks, the CAC is 122, that had me worried but you may be right to look at the mileage figure. When you say look for a 145 mile reading for the ideal range is that on a full charge? If the car is at a 50% charge should that number be at about 72 miles?

Yes - he’s referring to a full charge in standard mode. The numbers you’re seeing sound correct to me, as a CAC of 122 will likely yield a standard mode charge of of 139-144 ideal miles.
 
Hello Tesla drivers. I am putting an offer in on a 2008 Roadster in Austin TX and wondered if there was anyone in the group that could tell me what to be careful to look out for.

Find out when the last time the Roadster received an annual from Tesla, or any kind of service/repair history. The large black box in the trunk with the "PEM 185" label is the Power Electronics Module. It is the brains of the powertrain which handles charging and driving the motor. It is air cooled from below with a squirrel-cage fan and has no filtration. As such, it acts like a vacuum while driving on the road and pick up leaves, debris, etc. and jambs them up under the PEM. It's imperative to clean out the build up as the collected debris blocks airflow and stresses the electronics inside the PEM.

During the winter in Chicago you may find yourself not driving the Roadster. Be sure to keep it plugged in and preferably in storage mode and the internal systems will take care of the battery through the winter. Check in on the Roadster often as storage mode will keep the SOC around 50%, so if anything happens to interrupt the charging it's a quick drop to the bottom. I've seen the GFCI trip for unknown reasons on the spare connector (yellow 120V/15A cable), or breakers trip.

There are also many aftermarket products for the Roadster, such as the OVMS for remotely monitoring the Roadster. There is a clear polycarbonate hardtop, slotted rotors, LED headlight bulb conversions (which can be done much cheaper yourself), etc.

Have fun with it and enjoy the Roadster!
 
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Reactions: BBone and Mark77a
That CAC seems pretty low - my 2008 has a CAC of 156 and charges to 182 mi in standard mode. When I shopped around I found many with CACs in the high 140s (160-170 mi on std charge).

Given the cost of a replacement battery I'd hold out for a better one unless this one is just priced too good to pass it up.