Around Town
Driving the Roadster is a bit weird. With the hard top on, it’s very quiet, and the motor’s whine sounds like something out of Star Trek. With the top off, the wind drowns that out, and you just get the buffeting wind increasing your sensation of speed. It isn’t a quiet ride, nothing like the 500e, but still much quieter than a performance car like this should be. I still need a headset for phone conversations, but no more earplugs. And you can talk to your passenger!

I find myself driving slower than the 500e most of the time. I think it may be the weird throttle behavior, but I don’t really know why I’m doing it. I’m sure I’ll be back to my drive-it-like-you-stole-it mode soon enough.

Twisties
I took the Roadster up the same roads I frequented on the Elise. It behaved spectacularly. The key differences were: a) its has much more torque, so I found myself going faster than I was used to, b) it’s so quiet. The “quiet” bit is worrisome. The Elise was so loud bicyclists had miles of ample warning, and were usually biking towards the side of the road by the time I encountered them (and silly me, I thought this was where they always biked). On the Roadster, I came upon them before they knew I was there, and they were invariably in the middle of the road. Bicycle Secret uncovered!