autocar : new £24000 Elise next September

[edoardo]

current (3 Jan 2006) Autocar issue
reports on page 37 a £24000 Elise next September

It's not clear to me what it is

guesses anyone ?

[DPR]

Replacement for the standard K series?

[shangani]

Will almost certainly be the non vtec toyota from the celica: 140bhp 1.8. Horrible lump of pig iron (or aluminium technically) Heavy and underpowered.

[bjc388]

With the demise of the basic K then I don't blame Lotus for getting an entry level car back into the market-place .. after all they NEED to chase customers and sell new cars

The basic 1.8 isn't a bad engine ... just looks very "plain jane" but a cheap entry point to a new Lotus with the sorted 111R suspension will presumably appeal to new potential Lotus owners who find that price bracket affordable and want a new car rather than a second hand one ...

[gooby]

Will be the non vvc toyota lump found in the current Mr2. No a bad engine and better that the 118bhp K.

[shangani]

Bear in ming that toyota sells the 111r engine to lotus at the same price as a vvc k series. Times have moved on, the car will be a lot heavier than a k engined one (40-50 kg for the engine and gearbox).

They should be looking at higher spec engines at this stage.

[S Works]

What a surprise. NOT. Will be interesting to see the tech and interior/exterior spec.

[rfoster]

Let's hope it doesn't take any design cues from the Europa.
Have a nice weekend all.

[weed]

If this happens, turbo kits may spring up.
I think this engine was used in the now extinct US MR2 spyder.

m

[shot2bits]

rfoster said:

Let's hope it doesn't take any design cues from the Europa. Have a nice weekend all.

Agreed - having looked at the pics in this months Evo, it does nothing for me...

[GCCK]

The "base model" Elise has been ready for release for 6 months (as intimated by a friend in the dealer loop) but seems to have been pushed back behind s/c & cup Exiges and Europa. If production is full and they're selling all they can of higher value models, makes sense not to introduce cheaper ones to clog up the production schedule.