Tesla Roadster (2008 to 2012) buying guide

The early 1.x cars are identifiable by a gear lever instead of push-buttons and a much more spartan interior. Green Car Reports says their drivetrain is a little slower and cools less efficiently, so power can be limited sooner under hard driving. The 2.x cars improved cooling and power electronics for extreme cold or heat.

The 2.5 update arrived from July 2010, with a revised interior, more comfortable seats, better sound insulation, a redesigned front grille, a rear diffuser and an optional 7-inch touchscreen with rear-view camera. The same guide calls the 2010 and 2011 cars generally the most livable because of those changes.

The Roadster Sport cut 0-60 mph to 3.7 seconds. It added a hand-wound motor, sports wheels and tires, adjustable suspension and sport badging. Tesla sold both the Sport and the 2.5 changes as upgrades, so an older car can be brought to 2.5 or 2.5 Sport specification. That makes paperwork important: confirm what a car really has. You can see the Roadster Sport market and the standard Roadster market separately.

Two other points. The 2008 cars include the numbered Signature One Hundred series, which the guide says carries a collector premium. And a factory R80 3.0 battery upgrade has been offered since 2015, with about 70 kWh; Tesla quoted $29,000 for it, and the guide cites about 340 miles of range in a 2015 test drive.

The serious problems are the battery and the power electronics, and both are expensive.

Bricked battery pack

A Roadster left uncharged can drain so low that it stops accepting a charge through the port, which owners call bricking. The buying guide names long storage as the main cause, and adds that heat, moisture and repeated deep discharges also hurt the pack.

Battery capacity loss

Plug In America's battery study found average capacity of 80% to 85% of original after 100,000 miles, with only mileage correlating significantly with capacity. Age and storage are not the guide the study points to.

Power Electronics Module

Gruber Motors calls the PEM the most vulnerable component. It is out of production and can only be rebuilt or remanufactured. Crumbling transistor insulation can let the power transistors short to ground and disable the car, with electrolytic capacitors next in line.

Cooling system neglect

In one car documented by Gruber Motors, low coolant and noisy pumps led to overheating of the battery pack and failure of the APS (DC-DC converter). Rubber hoses and the pump are also aging.

Age-related wear

Suspension bushings, TPMS sensors, bearings and plastics are wearing out from age, according to Gruber Motors. Cars stored outside or daily driven can show paint etching, cloudy carbon fiber clearcoat, cracked dashes, worn leather and cracked, peeling headlights.

Scarce body parts

Accident damage is costly to fix, says the buying guide, because body panels and some structural parts are scarce.

Carlyle puts routine servicing every 12,000 miles at $400 to $700, with a brake fluid and coolant service every 24 months at $300 to $700. A gearbox oil change at 30,000 miles is $150 to $400. Cooling pump and hose failure runs $500 to $1,500, and suspension bushing and brake rubber work $800 to $2,000.

The big bills are electrical. Gruber Motors says a PEM rebuild runs around $5K. For the battery, the buying guide quotes $999 per sheet to repair and $3,200 per sheet to replace, $1,895 and up for Level 1 ESS recovery, and $6,000 and up to pull and diagnose a pack. It gives $20,000 to $35,000 or more for full replacement. An APS rebuild is $895 and a Battery Safety Module rebuild $395.

A new Tesla battery was about $30K with a projected wait of over a year, according to Gruber Motors.

Buy the best-documented car, and lean toward a 2010 or 2011 2.5, which the buying guide rates the most livable. A Sport adds pace, but only if the paperwork proves it. Skip any car that cannot show battery diagnostics, capacity readings and charging history, and avoid one that has sat uncharged.

Insist on a Roadster-experienced inspection that reads the battery data, and ask about the PEM. If the owner has kept up battery care, Green Car Reports expects many years of use. The R80 3.0 upgrade is the way to the longest range. For other Teslas, see the Model S guide or the Model X guide.