Lotus Elise?

[IXNAYXJ]

I know there are some auto-crossers and assorted racers on the board...do any of you have experience with Lotus Elises? I've come across a pretty good deal on one, and while I've driven them a couple times, I have pretty limited experience with them.

Just curious if there are any stong (somewhat educated) opinions about the cars. Thanks in advance,

-----Matt-----

 

[casm]

Just curious if there are any stong (somewhat educated) opinions about the cars.

Driven a couple, but never for autocross purposes. The first one was Rover-engined; the other one, about a year or so ago, had the Toyota unit. It's like night & day - it wasn't a slow car to begin with, but the extra 40bhp made it a rocketship. Handling's as sharp as you'd expect from a Lotus. The one owner I'm acquainted with says reliability isn't the nightmare it once was, but it's definitely not a daily driver. He uses it as a canyon carver, so can't even give you second-hand impressions of what it would be like in competition.

I'd go for one if I were in the market for something like that. How good of a deal are you being offered? I'd be wary of a thrashed car.

You might want to check out the Lotus Car Club - I know there're a few people there running them competitively.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Driven a couple, but never for autocross purposes. The first one was Rover-engined; the other one, about a year or so ago, had the Toyota unit. It's like night & day - it wasn't a slow car to begin with, but the extra 40bhp made it a rocketship. Handling's as sharp as you'd expect from a Lotus. The one owner I'm acquainted with says reliability isn't the nightmare it once was, but it's definitely not a daily driver. He uses it as a canyon carver, so can't even give you second-hand impressions of what it would be like in competition.

I'd go for one if I were in the market for something like that. How good of a deal are you being offered? I'd be wary of a thrashed car.

You might want to check out the Lotus Car Club - I know there're a few people there running them competitively.

Thanks for the insight. Mostly reinforces my own experience. The only way I'd own one is with the Toyota motor. I'm no fan of variable valve timing, or VVT-i as Toyota calls it, but they've made some adjustments so it's more driveable. With the factory Stage II exhaust, it even sounds good. It's pretty hard to argue with 0-60 in 4.5 seconds!

The car in question only has 3200 miles, so I not TOO worried about the condition. It's got the Sport pkg and Touring pkg...which is what I'd want. Silver over Navy Blue hides. Not my first choice, but it'd work for six months or so.

We'll see how it turns out. Thanks again for the info.

-----Matt-----

1st choice would, of course, be BRG...maybe with a yellow stripe.

 

[Bent]

1st choice would, of course, be BRG, tan leather...maybe with a yellow stripe.

Ficksed fer ya.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Ficksed fer ya.

Yeah, but the Brits would call tan leather "Biscuit Hides."

-----Matt-----

This is pretty sharp too, though:

 

[casm]

Pedantic trivia bit:

The correct name for BRG is 'Connaught Green'. Originally, Connaught Green was the colour of Irish racing teams prior to independence from Britain being acheived in 1922. However, British teams were also using the colour - and the name 'British Racing Green' stuck.

As an artifact of its origins, the Morgan Motor Company still refers to the colour as 'Connaught Green' in its sales literature.

Either way, it always requires a tan interior

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Pedantic trivia bit:

The correct name for BRG is 'Connaught Green'. Originally, Connaught Green was the colour of Irish racing teams prior to independence from Britain being acheived in 1922. However, British teams were also using the colour - and the name 'British Racing Green' stuck.

As an artifact of its origins, the Morgan Motor Company still refers to the colour as 'Connaught Green' in its sales literature.

Either way, it always requires a tan interior

Nice! But I'll see your pedantic trivia, and raise you. Do you know how Germany got Silver as their national racing color?

-----Matt-----

 

[casm]

Nice! But I'll see your pedantic trivia, and raise you. Do you know how Germany got Silver as their national racing color?

-----Matt-----

Ack... Wasn't it something to do with requiring fewer coats of paint to look good, thus saving weight? God, I haven't heard this one in a long time.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Ack... Wasn't it something to do with requiring fewer coats of paint to look good, thus saving weight? God, I haven't heard this one in a long time.

NO paint...bare aluminum...to save weight. I've always loved that story. Almost as good as the Horch/Audi tale.

-----Matt-----

 

[casm]

NO paint...bare aluminum...to save weight.

*Smacks head* duh, that was it

I've always loved that story. Almost as good as the Horch/Audi tale.

Clue me in... Not sure I remember that one.

 

[98XJSport]

I have a '00 celica with the 2zz engine which i think the lotus in question would have. Im not usually a fan of the hi-revving little 4 cylinders just cause all Ive ever owned is I-6 jeeps before this car. But Lift is impressive, the VVTL-i is fun when you have the room to cut it loose. From what Ive researched its a good pretty reliable engine for not being in a Jeep. Don't know about the rest of the car though...

 

[RichP]

NO paint...bare aluminum...to save weight. I've always loved that story. Almost as good as the Horch/Audi tale.

-----Matt-----

That goes along with the former comblock country that makes all the A/C cobra replacement bodies and parts. They saw nothing wrong with bare silver aluminum, it's the color they stayed with building MIG jets for the USSR airforce...
'If it was good enough for a mach2+ jet fighter it should be good enough for a 200mph car'....

 

[Bent]

NO paint...bare aluminum...to save weight. I've always loved that story. Almost as good as the Horch/Audi tale.

-----Matt-----

Silver Arrow?

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Re: Lotus Elise? ***UPDATE***

I was able to put about 400 miles on both an Exige and an Elise this weekend, and came away VERY impressed. Those cars sure get a lot of attention, especially the Exige in "Chrome Orange."

This is the car I started the day in, 2006 Exige:

The other car, a 2005...possibly my new car:

What made it even cooler, is the other car (2005 Silver Elise, above) was being driven by Peter Brock (!). For those of you who don't know who he is, he designed the Shelby Daytona Coupe (below), as well as a bunch of other important race cars over the last 40 years. He also writes for a bunch of car magazines.

The Peter Brock designed Superformance Shelby Daytona Coupe:

There were a couple reason for the trip: One was to get me some more seat time in an Elise to see if I wanted to buy one, and at the same time drive the cars to a British car show a couple hundred miles away from Seattle as publicity for the local high-end car dealership. They have a Lotus franchise, as well as some others...including Superformance. www.parkplaceltd.com They build very high quality Cobra replicas, as well as a Brock designed Daytona Coupe recreation.

Anyway, Peter Brock was in the dealership as we were discussing the trip, and he said "That sounds like fun! Can I come?" Um, yes! He was planning on taking his personal Daytona Coupe, which he had just put new slicks on. Unfortunately, the morning we were leaving, it started to rain and we had a 3000 ft mountain pass to cross. 500 hp, RWD, DOT slicks and near freezing rain...needless to say, he left the Daytona.

We switched back and forth between the cars and drivers during the trip, and mainteined triple digit speed for most of the time. After crossing over into the Eastern side of Washington, the clouds parted and it was a beautiful 70 degrees for the rest of the day. It's kind of an understatement, but it was one of the most amazing weekends of my life. I've got some pics on my digital camera that I'll post in the next couple of days, including a couple of speedometer shots! In the meantime, here's one from my phone:

View through mirror of Orange Exige, followed by Elise.

-----Matt-----

 

[IXNAYXJ]

That goes along with the former comblock country that makes all the A/C cobra replacement bodies and parts. They saw nothing wrong with bare silver aluminum, it's the color they stayed with building MIG jets for the USSR airforce...
'If it was good enough for a mach2+ jet fighter it should be good enough for a 200mph car'....

Kirkham Cobras. Very cool folks! Using out of work MiG factory workers to fabricate the aluminum bodies for Shelby replicas was pure genius. They do paint most of them, though.

Silver Arrow?

Yup...that's where the name comes from.

-----Matt-----

 

[xjblue]

"sigh" Lotus Elise...dream of commuting in one nearly every day...

 

[LilRedRover]

I know there are some auto-crossers and assorted racers on the board...do any of you have experience with Lotus Elises? I've come across a pretty good deal on one, and while I've driven them a couple times, I have pretty limited experience with them.

Just curious if there are any stong (somewhat educated) opinions about the cars. Thanks in advance,

-----Matt-----

buddy who lives in delaware now has an 05 Elise... power to weight ratio is EXTREMELY impressive... interior is comfortable, yet sporty for sure, and the suspension is suprisingly soft for a high end sports car where stiff is what is found most of the time... My only complaint would be that althought it accelerates well, the high end isn't quite what it could be with a larger European engine, such as porsche or ferrari... all in all I think the Lotus is a great car for the money.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

I'll be at Pacific Raceways (formerly Seattle International Raceway) tomorrow with the local Lotus dealership for a track day. Hopefully this will give me some more answers...and if not, I still will get to drive the doors off an Elise!

ECKSJAY will be there documenting the experience in the afternoon, so we should have some great pics to show off. The course is pretty fun with LOTS of elevation change to chew up brakes...which is why I probably won't drive my car.

I MIGHT take my track car out, but if the Elise is as fun as I'm hoping, I'll spend the whole day in one of those...and save my tires and brakes!

-----Matt-----

 

[ECKSJAY]

ECKSJAY will be there documenting the experience in the afternoon, so we should have some great pics to show off. The course is pretty fun with LOTS of elevation change to chew up brakes...which is why I probably won't drive my car.

I can't wait! The way the weather has been I should get great pics. I'm anxious to try out the Nikon's high-speed focusing.

 

[CanMan]

Me wanna go! Me wanna go!

Ive ran the road coarse in my '72 C10 before, we were out there painting the barrier walls and decided to dick off a little. Got up to 110 on the straight away. The S(3a, 3b) hill going down is soo fun to do! Its short, but very fun.