Leonardo DiCaprio's New (Green) Sports Car

In an interview with the Daily Mail to promote "Revolutionary Road," Leonardo DiCaprio also took time to discuss his passion for the environment and the new sports car he just bought:

He's recently traded in his Toyota Prius hybrid car for a £100,000 Tesla, the first high-performance electric car.

'It's my first sports car and it's an unbelievable drive,' he enthuses. 'It's scarily fast and it all happens with the flip of a switch, unlike a piston-driven engine that needs to build up momentum.'

The Tesla Roadster goes 244 miles on one charge and burns no oil. Scroll down for image.

He also talked about his Obama excitement and the origins of his environmentalism:

'Since I was a kid I've been passionate about different species being pushed into extinction...

'This is not about me,' he says. 'And it's not about one group of people telling any other group of people how to live. I don't think it's fair to tell people to install solar panels, buy (low-watt) light bulbs or drive a hybrid - that's not a reality for most people...

'We are the most powerful country in the world and we haven't made a tiptoe towards renewable technologies. We should be the ones paving the way, the ones other countries look up to. It makes me extremely sad.

'I was in Rome when Obama won the election. He represents a whole new era. Obama gets it that green technology and the economy go hand in hand, that we can build an industry that will create new jobs and economic growth and make us less reliant on foreign oil.'

The Tesla Roadster:

Comments

[Harrier]

i love the car and wish I could afford one. i wonder what its estimated life is.

[Agentlady007]

It's very cool this young successful boy star who turned into a leading man before our eyes, pretty much has the lifestyle now of what it's all about;

[Saxton]

It seems more like a "mid-life crisis" vehicle. Little boys and their toys are always trying to compensate for something that is lacking.

[madisonhack]

Well, maybe. But then, Leonardo Decaprio can afford whatever he wants in this area so I wouldn't say he is way off base in his toy selection.­..and its a boss car. I'd buy one in a heartbeat and wouldn't care what people had to say about it.

[24hours]

Who broke your heart? Why not try to live a little, sweetheart? Ever been in a F1 car? Ever run at 150+mph?

You should judge less on what other people do and worry more about making a positive impact in life.

[Beaux510]

Amen.

I've run at over 150, GT2 car not F1 (I wish), and never considered it "compensating", some folks just won't ever understand.

I saw some film of one of those Teslas making runs against a 360 Modena and a Porsche GT car and it just walked away like they weren't even there.

[Vieux Charles]

Okay, cool car and all. Now let's cut the cr@p.

Leonardo DiCaprio owns half a dozen homes, any one of which consumes as much fuel as a small town. He regularly jet-sets around the globe for the pure pleasure of it - his carbon output exceed the average American by at least a multiple of 20. For a guy who advertises that he has a "passion for the environment" he sure is doing more than his fair share to wreck it.

And please spare me the carbon offset nonsense.

[DixieMelody]

BUT. . . he looks sooooo scrumptious.

[Firenze]

LOL.

[rr52]

According to XL website:

DiCaprio does admit that his fast paced lifestyle cannot always be as sustainable and environmentally friendly as he would like it to be. In a March 17th interview with Siobhan Synnot of the Daily Record.CO.­UK he stated, “I’ve done the things that I can do in my house to make my house green — energy efficient appliances, I drive a hybrid car, I have solar panels — but I don’t walk to work.” Though he occasionally takes a bike and he spends a lot of time on airplanes, but says ‘Well, I can’t take the train to Europe.’

He also just bought a condo in River Place, a green building in NY.

Maybe, just maybe some people aren't fake.

[Vieux Charles]

When I read a reply like yours I'm just blown away with the effort of rationalization.

Let me repeat for your edification: Dicaprio's personal "carbon output exceeds the average American by at least a multiple of 20"

Let that sink in for a second. Forget all of the green houses he has - he could live in a tepee, his gratuitous use of air travel alone pushes him way over on carbon emissions

A recent article stated that DiCaprio recently travelled by private jet to Ibiza Spain and then boarded a yacht for a three week vacation. The round trip exceed 12,000 miles. I could hop in a Cadillac Escalade and drive a family of four from LA to New York and back FOUR TIMES and still not equal the carbon emissions that Mr. DiCapprio alone used on that one trip. Sadly, Mr. DiCaprio takes these trips multiple times per year - when he could just as easily yacht off of the coast of California.

I'm not talking about business trips either. I'll give him a pass on Cannes, New York, London etc. where he's promoting his business or going on location. I'm talking about gratuitous air travel. And, I won't even mention the two 500 h.p. diesel engines that run his yacht for those three weeks.

He's a fake.

[LovelyTess]

What a nice car. & environment friendly.

[MadDog]

I could be confused, but I thought Tesla was suffering economically and there was some question if they could survive their own economic crisis. Is this not true?

[rmetz74]

The way I heard it, they don't have an assembly line, they make the cars one at a time by hand, and were hoping for govt money and private support, but that's less likely until the economy gets back on track.

[rr52]

The folks there are working on making the car more affordable in order to mass produce them. Aren't cars in this price range usually made by hand? The Tesla is really fine. I watched a segment about it on either Green or Discovery Channel.

[LDnearthesea]

Silicon Valley will be making these electric cars. Perhaps GM, Ford, and Chrysler need to get a clue!
Oh yeah, GM had a clue about this ten years ago, leased out thousands of EV1, then took back the leases and crushed them. Dumb asses! And now they want a federal bailout!

[CaliRN]

Exactly! I recommend to anyone who wants to know more about this the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car".

If GM did not halt the electric car (EV1) project, they would be a world leader NOW in the production of electric cars and would not be in financial difficulties. These were really slick electric vehicles! Ford also made an EV... I am not sure if Chrysler produced one. But no..., under pressure from the oil companies and the powerful interests pushing the hydrogen vehicle concept (a whole other story) they gave in and killed the electric vehicle after the California Air Resources Board let them.

Tesla has had problems in their management and two of their founders were quarreling about their business plan/engin­eering/oth­er issues. I do hope Tesla can turn around the one or two engineering problems they are having (with their transmissions and battery cooling systems). We do need more electric cars available .. and affordable for those of us that are not worth millions.

[redpod]

Just to stop the disinformation, the Chevy Volt will run continuously for 400 miles, not the 40 as stated. It is an all electric car, not a hybird. When the battery starts to run low, the gas motor will charge the batteries. It should be a huge step in the right direction. There are times to bash Detroit, and their are times to praise Detroit, this is the time to give Chevy a pat on the back.

[sunnyokanagan]

I won't hold my breath or offer any pats yet... Let's see it actually get into production first.

[KenGirard]

You say it is an all electric car... and then say when the batteries get low it will start it's gasoline powered moter.
To me, and the rest of the world, that makes it a hybrid as it has more then one power source on board.

Now if it ran out of electric, and I had to plug it into a source of electric to recharge it, then that would make it an all electric car.

You know, like the Tesla, or the Mini Electric, or the Escort the guy down the street from me modified to run on electric.

And just to keep you in the loop, China already has a car set up like the Volt on sale to the public.

[Jaybird248]

Every time a celeb does something like this, it brings the potential of new tech more to public attention.
His buying a Tesla will get the car into People Mag and the Enquirer, where previously it could only be found featured in Popular Mechanics or Motor Trend.

That's a good thing to gain support for moving us into the transportation future.

[rockyersocksoff]

A friend of mine got to drive a Tesla at the factory.

He says is makes his 300hp twin-turbo BMW feel like a Corolla.

[LDnearthesea]

I have Prius. I saw some racecar driver on You Tube do a quarter mile in 17 seconds in one. And people think they're slow cars, until they get in one and find out they have good acceleration for being a "family" car. Of course the Teslas are state-of-the-art, and Toyota better start thinking in terms of junking the internal cumbustion engine totally.

[Calinative]

FYI, 17 second quarter mile isn't fast.

[ylpatriot]

...We can only imagine what that car cost ? Certain unattainable for the lot of us

[amyeom]

The roadster is 100k, and the sedan that comes out in 2010 will be about 60k; the Chevy Volt will be about 40k, but it will only go 40 miles on a charge. Mercedes Benz will produce a fully electric line starting in 2015, but it's anyone's guess what those will look like or cost.

[Saidas]

Thats assuming there will still be a Chevrolet in 2010.

[SinisterK9]

The difference is the Volt is much more viable and reasonable for the 'real world', in which most of us live.
The Volt uses an electric motor and a very small Flex Fuel Engine (E85 Ethanol). Together, it can achieve over 640 miles on a single tank of fuel, go 0-60 in approx 8 seconds, and reach a top speed of around 120mph. And it is a four door car. Further the vehicle qualifies for a $7,500 tax break, and is a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle.

[piquet]

It's expensive but very understandable for a start-up car company. Granted not for the most of us. I am just glad that there is a market(even though I'm ot in it) for this technology so they can survive and grow for the rest of us and to spite dumb Detroit.

[ReverseUniversal]

I've read statements given by Tesla saying that their first car, the roadster, would be very expensive but would pave the way to more affordable cars. They talked about how it is necessary to have the first car they make prove the power of the electric car, get people's attention, and most of all be sold at a premium to get the revenue to build more affordable cars. Basically, the rich will pay extra now so we can all have affordable cars later.

We should be glad they had the business sense to do it this way. If Leo was buying an affordable electric mini van, it wouldn't be nearly as sensational, and the point right now is to get people to notice.

[MrIncognito]

>>> We can only imagine what that car cost ? Certain unattainable for the lot of us

Um, it says how much the car costs right there in the article. Our reading comprehension skills are not exactly up to snuff.

FWIW, there aren't many cars that do 0-60 in 3.9 seconds available to most of us, gas or electric. That kind of performance is expensive, period.

[alifilee]

He looks like Earl Flynn but needs to shave off the mustache and small beard. He probably has it because he thinks it makes him look older but he will always look young.
I think his new car is gorgeous like him.

[rockyersocksoff]

I especially like the NBC TV show "My Name is Errol"

[amyeom]

They have a sedan that comes out in 2010. Anything besides that redonkalus Chevy Volt that will only go up to 40 miles on a charge has got to be better.

[ATrumanDemocrat]

While it's true that the Volt goes "only" 40 miles on a charge it also has a small gasoline engine which kicks in after 40 miles to keep the electric motor running- giving it a range of 400 plus miles. If you only drive 40 miles a day you plug it in to recharge it and don't use any gas. A Prius must have gas and goes fewer than 25 miles before running on it's gas motor. The Tesla is fast, fun, expensive, and the range is the maximum you can get by driving slowly-go fast and the range is considerably reduced. You can't go LA to San Francisco or New York to Boston in a Tesla without parking it overnight and recharging.

None of these cars is perfect and each has it's own plusses and minusses. Each is a step in the right direction, Chevy Volt included.

[SinisterK9]

Again, here is a copy of my post from earlier. Your post is short sighted at best.

The difference is the Volt is much more viable and reasonable for the 'real world', in which most of us live.
The Volt uses an electric motor and a very small Flex Fuel Engine (E85 Ethanol). Together, it can achieve over 640 miles on a single tank of fuel, go 0-60 in approx 8 seconds, and reach a top speed of around 120mph. And it is a four door car. Further the vehicle qualifies for a $7,500 tax break, and is a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle.

[WilliamBentley2]

640 miles (WITH GAS). That is kind of the point. In order go further than 40 miles in any given setting, the vehicle must use its internal combustion engine to recharge the batteries. That means, despite the efficiencies, it still uses gas. G-A-S. I think the Volt should be great, but it isn't the same model as the Tesla.

[adamsmith3]

What's the fun of a sports car that doesn't spit out exhaust everywhere?

[TimmySlagle]

No exhaust?

Where do you think the electricity comes from?

This car has HUGE exhaust pipes, they're just out at the coal plant. And they're spitting out stuff that would be illegal if it came out of MY exhaust pipe.

[ReverseUniversal]

Timmy, your comment is highly ignorant. Electricity need not be produced by burning fossil fuels and even so, the Tesla uses the equivalence of many times less fuel per mile than a vehicle that uses gasoline. Furthermore, if in the future we produce more and more energy by way of renewable sources, this car would essentially run for free.

And the battery is recyclable.

[LDnearthesea]

Have you ever heard of lithium ion batteries and solar and wind power? Get informed before making stupid statements. I already had to inform someone who made a statement to me just like yours. This man was totally clueless about lithium ion batteries, which need very little charging, and he was totally unaware that in a nearby town, all new housing developments in the last five years have had a mandate to have solar panels on the rooftops, and that those residents get a rebate from the power company, PG&E, as they give back electric power to the grid!

[MrIncognito]

If we all switched to electric cars and only charged them from coal burning power plants, we would significantly cut our emissions. A large stationary generator is much much more efficient than millions of small, portable generators producing the same power, to say nothing of the regenerative breaking efficiency.

[Jessegirl]

I like the car.
When did Leo become a chub-a-wuba?