VX220, Is it the Car the Elise should Be??????????

[alana]

I have recently Read various car magazines ( AutoCar,Car,TopGear )and also watched 5th Gear which seem to suggest the VX220 Turbo leaves the Elise for Dead in every Department, has Lotus shot itself in the Foot with all the help they gave Vauxhall in the Develpment of this car and what do other Elise owners think of the VX220 Turbo.Apparentl it would give a Ferrari a run for its money around a Racetrack and at £26K it does seem a Bargain compared to the new Elise 135R!!!!!!!!

[DanH]

If they hadn't let vauxhall style it, Lotus may indeed have shot themselves in the foot

[alana]

Good Point 'Danh' about the styling and i suppose it shares the same badge as a Vectra, i have to admit though the hype that it is getting is playing on my mind,'Just a wee bit though''.

[Ye Olde Esprit]

Lotus didn't develop it for Vauxhall in as much as they actually build it as a variant of the Elise on a parallel production line in the same Hethel facility.

I heard the styling was also a Lotus contribution, or maybe someone knows something else?

Either way, whichever you buy, you have a Lotus, if you can't see that, then you can't appreciate that the beauty of a Lotus is not merely skin deep.

Nicholas

[alana]

Well to be honest Nicholas in this case it may be about the Beauty, the VX220 turbo ''Allegedly '' Outhandles, out accelerates and has a far higher top speed and after test driveing the original it also has far better build Qaulity + 3 years Warranty, OK it does not have the Heritage and passion of the Lotus but what i am trying to point out is hopefully Lotus will take the MK 3 Elise to a different
level in terms of Build Qaulity and speed.

[paulnederland]

To some people, badging has value. Many of them are willing to pay thousands more for their vehicle just because it has a different badge (with a real value of 3 cappuccinos) on it. There is no reason to criticize them. Please let’s not try to justify our love for badges by arguing that the rest of the car is different. The VX-T is a Lotus. We Lotus lovers should be happy that a VX-T performs so well and leaves Ferraris in the rear view mirror. The higher priced Elise 135R is just a way for Lotus to capitalize on the value of the badge. The numbers prove that the VX-T is the better Lotus car. It is just a matter of time before Lotus comes up with a response.

Rumor has it that the new Opel / Vauxhall GT has a 250bhp V6 engine. I really hope that Lotus was involved in the engineering of this more “civilized” car, so it can use a slightly more tuned engine in the new Elise. Of course I hope that the engine is based on the ex German DTM V6 engine, made by Cosworth for Opel, putting only 89 kg on the scale.

[alunr]

I must admit I have'nt heard of anybody thinking the VX220 out handles an elise. Out performs yes but handles no...

I was having a conversation the other day with a lotus mechanic and he was talking about how Elise owners tend to think that Lotus have only ever made one car.

[Jonathan T]

"VX220, IS IT THE CAR THE ELISE SHOULD BE?????????? "

If you mean the VX220, then if it didn't have such poor styling, was lighter and more orientated to the performance through lightweight ethos of Lotus, then yes. But that would be an S1 anyway.

If you mean the VX220 then it's the same again, except it would be a sport 190, better power to weight (200kg's lighter for Gods sake!).

The original Elise wasn't built to have fantastic handling and performance through lightweight. It did that. The VX220 was built to jump on the bandwagon, use the success of the Elise to raise Vauxhall's sporting image. It was heavier, more comfortable and didn't raise the image, not many were sold. The S2 was a more comfortable version of the S1 without the added weight of the VX220. The VX220 has raised the power level but negated it by increasing weight. There are lots of Elise's out there with better performance than a VX220 and they are still light. It's costs more but it's closer to the ethos of Lotus than the VX220T. The VX220 or T will never be the car Lotus should have built; it's too heavy cos it's got too many creature comforts.

[thegamekeeper]

I suspect there is a large element of badge snobbery between these two cars. In Europe the VX220 is called an Opel Speedster and sells like hot cakes. Personally I cant undrstand the snobbery since Vauxhall were winning Grand Prixs 50 years before Lotus were invented.

[Arno]

thegamekeeper said:In Europe the VX220 is called an Opel Speedster and sells like hot cakes.

Umm... No?

The Speedster doesn't sell for one bit and it seems that owners are getting rid of them pretty rapidly.

There are loads of them on the second-hand market (also many demonstration cars that dealers never managed to shift either), while you struggle to find a used LHD Elise of similar age.

I talked to a driving instructor who had given training to Opel dealers and customers for the Speedster and he also mentioned that the dealers moaned about being really stuck with these cars.

My guess is that germany counts for about 90% of the Speedster sales outside the UK.

Bye, Arno.

[paulnederland]

what is the sales volume Elise versus VX?

[bogie]

Elise S2 about 3000 up to end 2002 and VX220 1600 up to same period

[Spining-v-grid]

Going back to the first point, I think I was watching the same programme. It was the VXT v' Elise 190.

The outcome was that the VXT won hands down on the roads but on the track it was lapping some 3 seconds a lap behind the Elise.

Horses for courses I'd say.

SVG