Editor At Large Arthur St. Antoine and Technical Editor Kim Reynolds pit the all-electric Tesla Roadster Sport against the enthusiast favorite
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00:00 Now this, boys and girls, is how you do a sports car.
00:12 This is the new Porsche Boxster Spider.
00:14 In standard form, it doesn't have air conditioning, doesn't have a radio, doesn't have navigation,
00:21 it doesn't even have door handles.
00:23 It has little cloth loops that you pull on that weigh about two pounds less.
00:28 In total, it weighs almost 200 pounds less than a conventional Boxster, and it has the
00:33 most powerful engine ever offered in a Boxster, the same 3.4 liter direct injection flat six
00:40 from the Cayman S. 320 horsepower in a lighter body.
00:45 This is the ultimate Boxster.
00:47 The Spider doesn't even come with a power top.
00:49 It only has this silly manual erected bikini you can put on when it rains, which is to
00:54 say it's only really supposed to be driven when it's...Kim, what are you doing?
00:59 We're shooting a video here, man.
01:00 Well, this is the new Tesla Roadster Sport that we're here to laugh today.
01:05 Why are you sitting up there on that trailer?
01:07 This car is so fast that if I drove it on the street, I'd get a ticket.
01:12 Let's get down off that trailer and talk.
01:14 Okay.
01:15 All right, Kim, now we got you off that trailer, which, by the way, this Tesla's going to spend
01:18 all its time on.
01:19 We'll see.
01:20 What's so great about an electric sports car?
01:22 Well, it's the technology of the future.
01:26 This is a very advanced car with very advanced batteries, and it's a very fast car, too.
01:31 A lot of power.
01:32 This is the sport version, so it has extra horsepower, 288 horsepower.
01:38 The motor is about this big.
01:40 It's very compact.
01:41 It's a single speed transmission, one gear, and so it's very simple, very efficient, and
01:48 far more efficient than that car.
01:50 Kim, in all fairness, this is by Porsche.
01:52 I mean, they've won Le Mans more times than I can count.
01:54 This is by Tesla.
01:55 I mean, this car exists, I don't know, to get Ed Begley Jr. invited to Al Gore's Christmas
02:01 party.
02:02 I mean, it's not a sports car.
02:03 Give me a break.
02:04 Well, we'll find out, but I think in a few years, you'll find Porsche developing some
02:09 electric alternatives themselves for Le Mans.
02:11 Well, we'll see about that.
02:13 In the meantime, we're here at Willow Springs Racetrack anyway.
02:15 Why don't we just take them out and see how they compare?
02:18 That's a good idea.
02:19 Let's go.
02:20 All right.
02:21 First up, the Boxster Spider.
02:22 I took the wheel first to show Kim how a real car goes around a racetrack.
02:27 All right, now it's time to do a lap of Willow Springs Street Circuit in my choice, the Porsche
02:32 Boxster Spider.
02:34 Oh, listen to that beautiful direct injection flat six.
02:46 Steering is just fantastic.
02:53 Oh, man.
02:59 I'm already in love.
03:00 I've already put down one corner.
03:07 Just so well balanced, you can feel exactly what the front tires are doing.
03:15 It's 176 pounds lighter than the Boxster S, and you can feel it.
03:20 It's just that much more nimble.
03:21 It's got 10 extra horsepower too.
03:23 This has the Cayman S motor in it.
03:27 Oh, I could do this all day long.
03:34 Just about the best six-speed manual transmission in the world too.
03:38 It's light.
03:39 It's positive.
03:40 The clutch is perfectly smooth.
03:43 Pedals are just where you want them for heel and toe.
03:53 This is what sports cars are all about.
03:58 Oh, man.
04:04 There's no way you're going to be able to beat this car with an electric motor.
04:09 This is going to be a full lap now of the street circuit here, this Boxster Spyder.
04:14 Take that, Mr. Tesla.
04:17 After my exhilarating lap in the Boxster Spyder, it was Kim's turn to take it for a spin around
04:21 the streets of Willow Race Circuit.
04:23 Well, here we are at Willow Springs, the streets of Willow Springs, in the Boxster Spyder.
04:30 What a terrific car.
04:31 I'm looking forward to this.
04:32 Art's been going on and on about how perfect it is.
04:35 I'm not so sure it's perfect, but I'm expecting a lot.
04:38 Here we go.
04:41 A good sound.
04:45 That's what you expect a Porsche to sound like.
04:47 It does feel very light.
04:49 I can sense the lower mass of the chassis.
04:55 I can also sense a lot of bumps through the suspension.
04:59 This is definitely a sport version.
05:02 The steering is just delightful.
05:04 I'm turning in now.
05:05 Yes, that's nice.
05:06 That's very nice.
05:07 Keep waiting.
05:08 Very linear.
05:09 Just exquisite characteristics.
05:10 Now, I have to say that all the while, you hear that sound, that "rump, rump, rump."
05:17 Well, guess what that is.
05:18 That's power, but that's also hydrocarbons going out the back and CO2 and all that stuff
05:25 that we don't like anymore.
05:28 When I drive the Tesla doing this, there'll be a whine with nothing coming out the tailpipe.
05:33 In fact, right over those hills there are a set of windmills that make electricity out
05:40 of the wind that we've been feeling all day.
05:42 So conceivably, you could do hot laps around here and be propelled by the wind in a way
05:48 of thinking.
05:50 But this is a nice car.
05:52 Art's got a good point.
05:53 I mean, it's a little hard to argue with the qualities of this.
05:57 This car really says a lot about all of the decades that Porsche's been at this.
06:02 You know, you don't come to a car like this just right off the bat.
06:07 We see cars all the time built, sports cars, that people think are just the greatest ever
06:11 and it's their first effort at building a sports car, and they kind of disappoint.
06:16 Well, this doesn't disappoint, and it reflects its great heritage.
06:20 All those decades of racing at Le Mans, endurance racing, 24 hours here and there and whatnot,
06:26 well, it all shows up here.
06:28 This is a hell of a car.
06:31 Next up, the science experiment that is the Tesla Roadster.
06:36 Since Kim picked this car, I let him take the wheel first.
06:39 Well, here we are at Willow in the Tesla Roadster Sport, and this is their performance version
06:45 of the Roadster.
06:46 It costs more money, almost $130,000, twice the price of the Porsche.
06:51 It's a lot of money.
06:52 Let's see if it's worth it.
06:53 And away we go.
06:55 Well, I'd say that initial acceleration is worth a lot.
06:58 Tremendous torque down the straightaway.
07:01 Electric motor makes all of its torque at zero RPM, and you can feel it there.
07:06 It just goes like a rail gun.
07:08 The steering is very direct.
07:12 It's non-assisted, very direct, mechanical.
07:16 It feels a bit like a cart or a racing car, or actual racing car, unlike the Porsche,
07:21 which is velvety and lovely and delicious and almost perfect.
07:27 But probably a better steering system for road driving, for race driving, this actually
07:34 might have some advantages.
07:35 I'm just talking about the steering, not the handling of the car, but just the steering
07:38 characteristic.
07:39 Now, you hear all those whirs and whistles.
07:41 Well, that's an electric motor, and this one is 288 horsepower, which is quite a lot for
07:48 a motor that's about that big, very small.
07:51 It's about the most efficient electric motor for its size in existence.
07:56 It's built and designed by Tesla.
07:58 It's a unique piece.
08:00 It's not something they buy from somebody else.
08:02 In fact, almost all of the drivetrain components are unique and built by them.
08:06 Now, you hear these sounds.
08:07 I'm going to go down the straightaway.
08:08 Again, like a rail gunner, away we go.
08:12 It's very fast.
08:14 The electric sounds you're hearing are very different from all those rumbles and things
08:18 that Porsche was making, which is fun and exciting to hear, but it's also the sound
08:23 of gas burning and CO2 being emitted, and that's not a good thing in this day and age.
08:30 This car is extremely efficient, again, about 90% efficient for an electric motor versus
08:37 25 for that Porsche, so that's a big advantage.
08:42 After seeing the grin on Kim's face as he pulled into the pits, I got to say, I was
08:46 pretty curious to drive the Tesla myself.
08:49 All right, time for my first ever track laps in a Tesla.
08:53 The sports car of the future.
08:55 This is what it feels like to be a sports car driver of George Jetson's era.
09:03 It's got that heavy steering that Lotuses have, no power steering, of course.
09:09 Ooh, not much brake there.
09:11 Man, it sounds like a spaceship.
09:23 Heavy steering.
09:24 Man, you got to like the torque of that motor, though.
09:30 It really shoves you back.
09:32 Kind of miss the sound of that Porsche flat six, though.
09:43 No transmission, of course, to worry about.
09:46 Well, I'm just pressing down and hanging on.
09:49 Could use more brakes, though.
09:50 Definitely would want more brakes.
09:53 Feel a little judder there under braking, not sure what that is.
09:59 And once it gets a little bit beyond 60 miles an hour, I think that Porsche is accelerating
10:05 harder.
10:11 This Tesla's kind of fun, though, I got to say.
10:27 I don't know, though.
10:29 Compared to the Boxster Spider, it's a bit of an Android car.
10:35 And of course, going to end up in a trailer as soon as we're done with this lap because
10:39 we're out of battery power.
10:40 Pretty fun, though.
10:42 Okay, Kim, we've had a chance now to ring out these two very sporty but very different
10:48 roadsters.
10:49 What do you think?
10:50 Well, Art, I basically agree with you that Porsche is a fantastic car.
10:55 It's hard to argue with that.
10:58 The price advantage, half the price, the performance is tremendous.
11:03 It has such exquisite qualities and details and subtleties that there's no disputing
11:08 that that is the better car at a much lower price.
11:12 So that's kind of a settled issue.
11:14 I think that when you're looking at this car, it's a whole different argument or subject
11:19 we're getting into.
11:20 Whenever a new technology like this comes along, it always costs more.
11:24 There's always issues, there's always problems.
11:28 But it is a really substantial transition in how we drive and power automobiles.
11:34 And something else that's important about what we're doing with this story is we've
11:37 chosen to actually compare a great Porsche against this car.
11:43 How many times have we looked upon an electric car as really worthy of such a comparison?
11:49 So it says a lot about this car that it made the cut.
11:52 It's worth comparing.
11:53 It's finally gotten over that hurdle that's of comparison worthiness.
11:59 We found with the Porsche that it spoke loudly to us as we drove it.
12:03 It communicates so articulately that it's so impressive about it.
12:08 Where the Tesla has high performance capabilities, very fast in a straight line, and a lot of
12:14 grip, but it was quite a lot more mute in how it was communicating around the track.
12:19 And I think that that lowered its lap times.
12:22 And a driver would really have to learn this car a lot more.
12:25 And that, again, says a lot about the Porsche's development and all the decades of work that
12:30 you can learn very quickly where this car's limits are.
12:34 And this took a lot longer.
12:36 To my mind, this electric Lotus, I mean, Tesla is very interesting, I gotta say.
12:42 I enjoyed it on the track a lot more than I thought I would.
12:46 It's remarkable in acceleration.
12:48 It has that kind of tinkertoic, very heavy steering that a lot of other Lotuses have.
12:54 It was fun, interesting.
12:57 But at 130 grand, it's twice the price of this Boxster Spyder.
13:01 I could take, you know, buy two of these and take the family on a vacation to Hawaii for
13:05 the price of this thing, and you never have that fear of running out of juice somewhere
13:09 and needing to have a trailer running behind you.
13:11 I mean, that's perfect for Matt Damon and George Clooney.
13:14 I can't afford to have a trailer follow me everywhere I go.
13:17 So interesting science experiment, but this is such a sensational sports car, one of the
13:22 best I've ever driven on any track.
13:24 I'm gonna stick with the Porsche Boxster Spyder.
13:26 - Well, Art, I see what you're saying.
13:27 You have a lot of strong points in your argument, but there's one more thing I think we need
13:31 to experience, a drag race.
13:34 - Let's do it.
13:35 - Okay.
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