The NEW Tesla Roadster: My Honest Reaction | Marques Brownlee

The Gist

Tesla's viral second-generation Roadster reveal featured extreme engineering stunts like thrusters and vertical wall driving, but the car remains an unreleased, invitation-only fantasy that will likely never hit public roads.

Quick Overview

Marques Brownlee analyzes the recent Tesla Roadster reveal event, separating the genuine engineering from marketing fluff, and concludes that the vehicle's wild performance specs and flying stunts are mostly unachievable, vaporware party tricks. While Tesla unveiled stunning updates featuring active aerodynamics and compressed air thrusters, the company has repeatedly delayed production, currently pushing delivery promises to 2028.

Key Points: The redesigned Tesla Roadster features four distinct specifications called Base, Performance, Thrust, and Rocket. The Rocket specification incorporates a multi-mode cold-gas thruster system utilizing a 200-liter carbon-overlaid pressure vessel holding 100 kilograms of nitrogen at 10,000 psi. The Thrust and Rocket specifications are explicitly marked on Tesla's website as not approved for public road use. McMurty Spéirling, a rival fully electric car, uses a fan system to generate over 4,000 kilograms of downforce, proving the physics behind fan cars are real. The Roadster base model promises a 1.9-second zero-to-sixty time, while the Rocket specification claims a sub-one-second time using its thruster system. Tesla has repeatedly delayed the Roadster since its initial 2017 announcement, with the current promised delivery date pushed out to 2028.

Context: Tesla originally announced a prototype of the new Roadster back in 2017, promising a revolutionary electric supercar. Years of silence and delays followed until a recent high-profile event where Tesla showcased jaw-dropping engineering demos involving thrusters, vertical wall driving, and extreme acceleration.

Detailed Analysis

Marques Brownlee breaks down the unveiling of the new Tesla Roadster, examining the massive hype surrounding its extreme engineering and stunts. While the event showcased the car driving up vertical walls and launching into the air using thrusters, reality reveals that most of these features are strictly for marketing and track use. The car comes in four trims, ranging from a base electric model to the extreme Rocket specification equipped with cold-gas thrusters and carbon fiber pressure vessels. Despite the incredible engineering behind the fan-assisted downforce and nitrogen thrusters, the vehicle's practicality, safety compliance, and actual production timeline remain deeply questionable.