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well you could have taken the hardtop off for the summer, but never put it back on. Have you driven in the cold with the soft top? Is there a difference you can notice? Does you hardtop have a liner?
No, I usually have the hard top on unless I'm planning to drive with the top off.
The hard top has some sort of felt-like layer attached to the bottom. I can't tell what is underneath it.
The TM hardtop goes over the roll bar and has an integrated look to all aspects in and out; the Lotus one fits perfectly and doesn't raise the height of the roof line. I like mine because it keeps the lines low IMO. It was a project to install though. Its installation pre-dated availability of the TM solution for me. It was a bit cheaper too.
It just went down to NY on a trailer for service, so I won't have a chance to drive it in this snow.
In general, one of the best things you can do for a car is winter tires. It's the ONLY thing between the car and the road, so it's where you can effect the most change. It's amazing how much better even the cheapest snow tires are compared to the best all-season tires when driving in snow.
You caught me... I still haven't put on my snow tires. I try to wait it out as long as possible. I guess this time I waited a bit too long
As for the Roadster, once you get it back I'd still love to hear how it performs in a real Boston winter. Somehow I feel more reassured when the review is done in my area...
Drove my Roadster in about 1.5" of mushy soft snow (about the worst kind of traction besides ice) yesterday with my snow tires for the first time. While it didn't grab and go like my AWD with snow tires (obviously), it had no trouble going uphill in it. What was jaw-droppingly amazing about the experience was the traction control. Flooring it or giving it partial throttle had no effect -- it was giving exactly as much torque as it could without slipping. It was an undetectable experience (aside from not going as fast as I would on dry road). In an ICE car with TC, you'd feel it slip, pull back, give more, slip, pull back, repeat. Absolutely amazing how well the Roadster controlled the power output.
With the crappy winter weather I've been mostly keeping my Roadster safe in my garage, in Storage mode. I've driven it on the occasional day when the roads were dry.
Judging by the gradual reduction in the range display in storage mode, it is dropping less than 500 Wh per day. Of course the garage is cool so no battery temperature management is needed. Either the touch screen and processor take 20 watts, or there is some internal battery leakage...? At this rate, it would take a couple of months to get to half full. It will probably consume less than a full charge worth of electricity while sitting idle this winter. A full charge is about $7 worth of electricity, so storage costs are negligible.
I was curious about what happens at 1am when the car is scheduled to charge, so one night I watched. At 1am the car came to life with a beep-beep from the touch screen. The HPC contactors didn't switch, but the fluid circulation pump started, the car made a bunch of clicks as if it were cycling the contactors, and then it shut down again, saying "Charge Completed". The sequence took less than 10 seconds. Not sure why this happens; either it's lazy firmware programming or it needs to do run some checks on the systems, or something...
Judging by the gradual reduction in the range display in storage mode, it is dropping less than 500 Wh per day. Of course the garage is cool so no battery temperature management is needed. Either the touch screen and processor take 20 watts, or there is some internal battery leakage...? At this rate, it would take a couple of months to get to half full. It will probably consume less than a full charge worth of electricity while sitting idle this winter. A full charge is about $7 worth of electricity, so storage costs are negligible.
I was curious about what happens at 1am when the car is scheduled to charge, so one night I watched. At 1am the car came to life with a beep-beep from the touch screen. The HPC contactors didn't switch, but the fluid circulation pump started, the car made a bunch of clicks as if it were cycling the contactors, and then it shut down again, saying "Charge Completed". The sequence took less than 10 seconds. Not sure why this happens; either it's lazy firmware programming or it needs to do run some checks on the systems, or something...
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Jaff
Active Member
I look forward to these conditions Ben...finally, tomorrow, we're supposed to get about 5 cm of snow...haven't had any since my vehicle was delivered!
And yes, I agree with you...the fan power on setting #3 "outblows" the heater. :frown:
And yes, I agree with you...the fan power on setting #3 "outblows" the heater. :frown:
I've recently taken to setting the centre vents to almost off; basically pushed until there's a little resistance. This has the effect of pushing a little more air to the sides and around rather than into the occupants. Feels more warm & cosy IMO.
kgb
Member
After having the car 2 1/2 months, I thought that'd I'd update what winter performance is like here: Houston, Texas.
The car runs just like it did in the fall. In fact, since the temperature drops down to the 50's at night, it is finally cool enough to take the top off. :wink:
On a more serious note, I will start a summer performance thread when the temperatures get over 100.
The car runs just like it did in the fall. In fact, since the temperature drops down to the 50's at night, it is finally cool enough to take the top off. :wink:
On a more serious note, I will start a summer performance thread when the temperatures get over 100.
Jaff
Active Member
Finally got about 2 inches of snow last night...Roadster performed very well under these conditions...traction control works very nicely!
What impressed me the most was the "road feel"...the vehicle feels solid as a rock on hard packed snow...Hankook snows providing good traction...very pleased with the results...the Roadster is definately an all season car imo! :smile:
What impressed me the most was the "road feel"...the vehicle feels solid as a rock on hard packed snow...Hankook snows providing good traction...very pleased with the results...the Roadster is definately an all season car imo! :smile:
Efficiency goes up; it slides like a toboggan though, handling is poor when the wheels are off the ground.
Whilst not had the chance to toboggan in the car yet, your point about efficiency going up is a good one. There has been lots of talk about range in electric cars going down when its cold. I find in the Tesla it goes up, the reason is that the wet icy conditions makes you drive more carefully so you use less wh per mile - this more than makes up for any extra use of the heating etc.
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