Monday 8th September 2003

Toyota Motor for US Elise

Brits left with K Series as Lotus confirm 190bhp motor for US Elise

---

[danmangt40]

'bout damn time. can't wait to get my hands on one...I wonder whether corvette buyers will cross-shop the elise w/ 190hp?!

[Jon Gwynne]

danmangt40 said:

'bout damn time. can't wait to get my hands on one...I wonder whether corvette buyers will cross-shop the elise w/ 190hp?!

Too bad they couldn't have worked out a deal for something with a bit more torque, like Nissan's 2.4L 4-pot. I bet with a little Lotus magic-dust sprinkled on it, they could squeeze 110bhp/liter out of it without resorting to any turbo nonsense. That's 260bhp and more importantly, that torque would likely be well above 200 lb/ft. And then wouldn't the Elise move like excrement off a polished graden implement...

If the engine could be made to deliver 223 lb/ft without adding any weight to the car, it would match (in lb/ft per ton) the TVR Tuscan S with the new engine that was recently clocked from 0-60 at 3.68 by Autocar. Presumably an Elise with that kind of power could deliver similar straight-line performance. And then it could leave Blackpool's finest for dead through the twisties.

What the Elise needs is more grunt not more ponies. Let's get the 0-60 down to sub 4s where it belongs!



>> Edited by Jon Gwynne on Wednesday 10th September 23:30

[DanH]

Gavan Kershaw said at a talk recently that the Elise goal is low 5s. Faster than that is for their big cars...

I worry about torque in this new lump too, but I've got a place on the Exige S2 waiting list so I can make my own mind up.