RE: Elise S Sport

Thursday 29th May 2003

Elise S Sport

Bigger, better 300bhp Elise is imminent


Author
Discussion

v8thunder

Original Poster:

27,646 posts

265 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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Anyone got any projected performance stats? Will it take the Boxster to the cleaners? What about the new Esprit - will this just take it's place?

smeagol

1,947 posts

291 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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Hooray - at last Lotus seem to have got the message. The colour scheme don't help this car would much prefer one colour rather than the scrapyard mixmatch door look.

abz 7001

383 posts

259 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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Forgive me gents if I am wrong here but after reading the article I have the impression that Lotus are not responsible for this new reincarnation of the car we all know and love?

It is however the brainchild of a former Lotus Motorsport engineer who like some of us got fed up enough to leave and build his own, enter the two colour beast you see in the picture.

So a home grown esthi no doubt. Like I said hope I havent embarassed myself, however I dont believe you will be seeing this at main dealers the lenght and breadth of the country!

Please correct me if I am wrong

PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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You're spot on Abz.

smeagol

1,947 posts

291 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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So booo - Lotus STILL haven't got the message.

xsaravtr

801 posts

269 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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WOW!!! Think the white panels are awaiting painting as they look to be bonded to parts of the original body panels. Performance stats would be good. Someone tell Clarkson/The Stig before the end of the current Top Gear series...

PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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We're hoping Steve can get the car painted in time for PistonFest so we can get a better idea of what the final product will look like. It should be a cracking little car and the beauty of it is that it doesn't mess too much with the original to do the conversion.

mikeylad

31,608 posts

260 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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with the excption of the 'shelf-like' rear, well, shelf, it looks great to me.

should be blindingly quick. hope it doesn't say vauxhall on the rocker-covers, mind you...

markqelise

258 posts

271 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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OK the Noble has not filled a gap in the market - That gap filler needs to be designed by geniuses and then built by a bunch of monkeys - who use sub standard parts and cant be arsed to put it together correctly.
Noble and Moy seem to appreciate that when someone is spending there hard earned cash the product they buy should not start falling apart after about 15 mins ala Lotus

You can stick the Lotus badge where the sun dont shine - oh yep thats another poor piece of crap - mines only 2 years old and has gone dull bannana yellow - add that to the list Proton.

pauladamson

11 posts

286 months

Thursday 29th May 2003
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The ones that have gone "Dull banana yellow" are a serious health risk.
The safest thing to do is send it and the V5 over to me and I will deal with is in a proper manner.

Don't listen to those folk that talk about such "Voodoo" as giving it an occasional wash and god forbid, waxing it.

Izza

571 posts

283 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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With it being in 2 different colours you get a good idea of exactly what they've done to lenghten and widen it.
hmmmm nice. I love the sound of tuned V6s.

Wonder how much the weight ditribution has changed and the over all weight increase. IIRC the S4 power Eshti <2.4 put on a few lbs over the S2 Elise.

Hope it still have the same handling and feedback and isnt overshadowed by tyre smoking oversteer.
Not that that isnt fun mind you.

PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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Good point - I forgot to mention the weight issue. They reckon it will weigh in at around 950kg, so still reasonable. The weight balance should be ok as the engine is mounted quite far forward in the new (lengthened) subframe.

tonykart

148 posts

261 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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It would be so interesting to see how many people on here who are "crying out" for a V6 will actually go out and cough up the extra money for one if Lotus finally give them what they want.

One reason Lotus might not bother is market research probably shows the Elise was a success because of the way it is now...perfect for the road and track.

I think we should spend less time criticizing Lotus with comments like "they still have not learned". They INVENTED the market, I don't think they need to prove anything. Especially when most of the tracks in the UK owe Lotus for coming up with the track car/ road car concept in the first place.

all IMHO...and in the best possible taste...flame suit on....

abz 7001

383 posts

259 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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on stand-by with the fire extinguisher...just in case

tonykart

148 posts

261 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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no need....i've got one plummed in already....

PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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I agree that the Elise is right in its current incarnation but I'd still like to see a bigger car available. Something with real presence.

alunr

1,676 posts

271 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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markqelise said:You can stick the Lotus badge where the sun dont shine - oh yep thats another poor piece of crap - mines only 2 years old and has gone dull bannana yellow - add that to the list Proton.


The joy of bright colours is they fade in sunlight so you need to keep polishing/waxing etc religiously.

I'm guessing you didnt do as much...

alunr

1,676 posts

271 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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PetrolTed said: I agree that the Elise is right in its current incarnation but I'd still like to see a bigger car available. Something with real presence.


Exactly - The elise is perfect for what it is and easily tunable if that floats your boat.

The M250 would have been a brilliant car for people wanting to move up the performance ladder esp if there had been a Sports Tourer/Race tech style option on it.

Then we come to the Esprit replacement which will have a totally new chassis and engine - That will be devastatingly good I hope but will cost about 2.5 - 3 elises when it shows its face.

I think the only pity with the S2 elise incarnation was the additional bulk in the price £23k for a bog standard car (which is an acceptable price) and £26K-27K (hardly affordable!) for one with that you'd have a decent chance of selling - to the point where Lotus dealers were refusing to order standard cars for customers in case they pulled out leaving the dealer with a completely unsellable car.

Oh and if you need a good contact for getting the car sprayed quickly I know a man who can...

>> Edited by alunr on Friday 30th May 10:13

PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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One of the things that Simon was hoping to get feedback on was whether people would be interested in buying his conversion and particularly if there was any bias towards doing it on a S1 or S2. Personally I reckon it would be a sensible project for a S1 - I can't see many people opting for it on a new car?

CVP

2,799 posts

282 months

Friday 30th May 2003
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PetrolTed said: One of the things that Simon was hoping to get feedback on was whether people would be interested in buying his conversion and particularly if there was any bias towards doing it on a S1 or S2. Personally I reckon it would be a sensible project for a S1 - I can't see many people opting for it on a new car?


Ted

I'd have to agree with you here. You could quite happily pick up a cheapish S1 and take the risk, but S2's are still a little too pricey yet to go for this conversion I think.

Personally I don't like the wheels and I'd still want a soft top rather than an Exige type roof.

Is it a viable business? h'mmm I hope so but remain to be convinced. I like the idea of small UK specialists being successful and wish him all the best with it. Maybe a closer look at PistonFest will convince us all how good it is.

Chris