The 2007 Porsche 911 GT2 does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. That's with first reving the engine up to 5000 rpm, waiting for the turbo to rev up, and then dropping the clutch, subjecting it to most of the 530 horsepower and 505 ft-lbs of torque (ouch!). Any idea what a clutch replacement costs on a 911 GT2? Base price on that car is $192,000. A clutch has to be $5000 easy, maybe $10,000.
When I was doing the homework for my Esprit purchase, the one must-have mod that everybody pointed me toward was the torque chip. This would re-program the engine computer to produce more torque, particularly in 1st gear.
As I did more research, I found out the engine was programmed the way it was for a reason. It was designed to produce all the low-end torque that the clutch and transmission components could withstand! Later cars had upgraded powertrain parts, and the upgraded chip was meant for those cars. You could put the new chip in the older car and it would work. . . for a while.
The first Esprits in the 1970s came with a normally aspirated 4-cyl engine. Later they added a turbo, and then in 1997 they moved to the twin-turbo V8. But the transmission was the same! They had to program the engine to go easy on the transmission because it had never been designed to handle that much power.
I've heard a lot of horror stories about Esprits with mechanical problems. I think it's because a lot of people abuse the cars -- doing a lot of those hard launches, for example. Or chipping them and neglecting to upgrade the rest of the drivetrain. My Esprit hasn't been abused, and it's been rock-solid reliable (aside from the rat problem, which is now being fixed) for over two years. In fact, it's the only one of my three cars that doesn't drip some kind of fluid onto the floor.
Diarmuid made an interesting comment when I spoke to him. He said that some people have told him that Tesla could get away with charging even more for the Roadster, but they aren't really interested in doing so.
It would appear they aren't charging everything the market will bear. However. . . If you look at the Roadster as a "halo car" for their brand, they have to keep it from being too far out in fantasy land for most people to take seriously. They don't want to label Tesla cars as "those things nobody can afford".
For which I am thankful. I'm going out on a limb as it is. If it was any higher I would be waiting and hoping to maybe get a used one someday before I become too gray-haired.
