Is it possible to use the Tesla 2020 Roadster as a daily driver ?

[brianman]

oof, (1) was the founders version always full price within 10 days?
i see the standard one is $45,000 within 10.

(1) IIRC, Yes. $250k.
(2) Clarification: $5k initial + $45k within 10

 

[John W. Ratcliff]

I currently daily drive my 2010 Tesla Roadster. I intend to put as much as 20k miles per year on my new Roadster. I have zero intention of worrying about a single penny of resale value. It has a huge range, and I plan to drive it all over the country all of the time in my retirement.

 

[Kgorilla37]

I agree with John, drive the car like you own it!

 

[Phoenix1]

I’d love to use one daily, but I suspect the back seats will be too small to really be useable for big kids (or car seats).

 

[Joelgjr]

To the OP, I’m surprised no one brought up the obvious answer to his question. You’re talking about a car that is new $250k. Your expenses are not going to be gas (or electrons) or maintanence or dings. It’s DEPRECIATION. Every mile you drive is going to be literally like throwing $20s out the window. Practically all hyper car owners drive their cars only a few hundred miles up to a couple thousand per year to limit their losses in depreciation at the time of sale.

People in the hyper car community essentially drive cars for a couple thousand miles and then sell. They continually do this. This is why you commonly see hyper cars with 3-4 owners in as many or even less years.

So yes you can daily it but if you’re buying it new your expenses will be obscene depreciation.

 

[SanDiegoGuy]

To the OP, I’m surprised no one brought up the obvious answer to his question. You’re talking about a car that is new $250k. Your expenses are not going to be gas (or electrons) or maintanence or dings. It’s DEPRECIATION. Every mile you drive is going to be literally like throwing $20s out the window. Practically all hyper car owners drive their cars only a few hundred miles up to a couple thousand per year to limit their losses in depreciation at the time of sale.

People in the hyper car community essentially drive cars for a couple thousand miles and then sell. They continually do this. This is why you commonly see hyper cars with 3-4 owners in as many or even less years.

So yes you can daily it but if you’re buying it new your expenses will be obscene depreciation.

First of all, the Roadster 2020 is more like a supercar than a hypercar. Hypercar tends to be ICE car (with the exception of the Rimac Concept II) and the car parts depreciate less if it is in a newer condition. The Roadster is more electronic than other ICE car and its main component is the battery. It is the battery that is most valuable. Since car battery technology will improve fairly quickly as the years go by, the exotic electric car will tend to depreciate faster because who would want to have an old battery. It is like owning a cell phone. Even if you put that Galaxy Note 8 in the drawer and not use it, two years later, that phone would become obsolete.

So I think that I will try to drive the Roadster 2020 as much as I can. If it was a Ferrari 488, then I would try to drive it as less often as I can so I can have a good resell value.

 

[CarlK]

Depreciation is not that big a deal for a lot of people who buy those cars. Their $20 depreciation is not as significant as $1 for most people. The fact is just those super/hypercars are not that comfortable to drive in most situations. Many people who keep their late model Lambos or Ferraris for weekend drive likely also have a S Class or Cayenne (and now Model S) to drive to work everyday. The hope here is the new Roadster would not have any of those drivability issues. I for one have no interest of putting the car in the garage so I can look at it everyday and to sell it in a couple of years for a 20% depreciation.

 

[ICUDoc]

It is a crazy myth that people who buy expensive things are not interested in losing money. Oftentimes, people really stretch to buy such goods, and then money is even MORE important to them.

 

[-JJ-]

From this video -

- it does look awfully low to the ground. If that's production ground clearance, no way that's properly daily drivable where I'm at.

 

[AMPd]

That’s exactly what I’ll be using it for.
Gonna xpel wrap it and hope for the best. At the end of the day it’s still only a car meant to be used as a mode of transportation

 

[mkspeedr]

That’s exactly what I’ll be using it for.
Gonna xpel wrap it and hope for the best. At the end of the day it’s still only a car meant to be used as a mode of transportation

I would slightly change your statement.

At the end of the day a model 3 is meant for transportation but the roadster is to make you smile (perhaps giggle) during transportation

 

[Beltsbear]

From this video -

- it does look awfully low to the ground. If that's production ground clearance, no way that's properly daily drivable where I'm at.

Raising the car while not trivial is certainly doable for a few thousand dollars. It might even be a setting.

 

[Brando]

Raising the car while not trivial is certainly doable for a few thousand dollars. It might even be a setting.

air suspension a known solution offered by Tesla
3rd party springs are common. Model 3 Performance Accessories
Even suspension arms adjustable offered. google: tesla performance accessories

 

[Brando]

Raising the car while not trivial is certainly doable for a few thousand dollars. It might even be a setting.

air suspension a known solution offered by Tesla
3rd party springs are common. Model 3 one company already offering 3 sizes.
Even suspension arms adjustable offered.

 

[Johann Koeber]

Today we heard about the performance version with rocket propulsion.

I wonder how that works out in normal traffic. Can I blow the car tailgating me away?

 

[AMPd]

Today we heard about the performance version with rocket propulsion.

I wonder how that works out in normal traffic. Can I blow the car tailgating me away?

Link?

 

[-JJ-]

air suspension a known solution offered by Tesla

I did not even know this was a thing, thanks. Watched some videos on it, definitely looks promising.

It seems it can be configured to do things automatically, but it is unclear to me to what extent. If it could be configured to something like automatically raising below 25mph/40km and lowering above, and the high setting is sufficient to clear the speedbumps here, that would tick all the boxes.

 

[ggr]

In the Model S, it has 4 settings: Very High, High, Normal, and Low. You can set it to go to Low above a certain speed (we have ours set to 50mph) for highway cruise. Also, when you set it to Very High or High, above a certain speed (can't remember) it reverts to Normal. But here's the great thing: if you set it to Very High, it remembers where you did it, and it will automatically go to that as you approach the place. Fantastic for places with drainage channels and stuff. I assume the new Roadster will do this or even better.

 

[Babaron]

I absolutely intend to use my roadster as a daily driver.

Except I won't drive it if it's snowing,… Or raining… Or too windy. Oh, and I wouldn't drive it to work because it could get dinged. I wouldn't take it to a grocery store because it might get scratched. And no gravelly or bumpy roads.

But seriously, I'll have to wait until it arrives to determine whether or not it's comfortable enough for daily driving or just Fairweather Fair road driving.

 

[Rupe]

I did with my Roadster 2.5 and will with the newer Roadster. I plan to sell/trade in my P85DL. It probably won't have track tires when I do. I assume the tires will be a selectable option at purchase as it was in the 1st Roadster.