Thursday 20th October 2005

VW builds a Lotus-eater

Elise 83mpg rival is diesel-powered

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Will VW eat Lotus alive?

VW has come up with the EcoRacer -- a diesel-powered Elise-alike sports car. The concept, designed to deliver Boxster handling with Smart-style fuel consumption, was displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show and is based around a carbon fibre monocoque.

The new four-cylinder engine is mid-mounted and delivers 136bhp from its 1.5-litre capacity. It uses a new injection system that VW calls CCS, for combined combustion process. Performance from the 850Kg car is 6.3 seconds for the dash from zero to 60mph -- all at 83 mpg. The mill drives via the rear wheels using Volkswagen's paddle-operated, double shift gearbox (DSG).

Expect to see the technology in the next generation of VW Golf and Polo oil-burners sometime in 2007.

More details (and pictures) on Autocar.

• www.autocar.co.uk

[johnnystorm]

It won't beat the Lotus pictured as I believe thats Nipper's and its got 200bhp from a Honda engine!

[Gruffy]

Boxster handling isn't quite in the same territory as Elise handling. Neither is 6.3 to 62mph. 86mpg though

The multisection roof is a good feature though. I'd love to be able to strip mine down for track/summer.

Gruffy

[olly]

If it wasn't for the Carbon, I'd say they should built it now ! Would sell very well if the price was right.

Remind me of the Renault Spyder, and at 83mpg, I'd drive it to work every day without a 2nd thought !

[kawasicki]

Build it! Good looks, performance and economy.

[chickensoup]

Hardly going to be cheap with a CF tub, and I assume the 850Kg is leaving the windscreen at home

Interesting to see the Renault spider mentioned, could be as much of a flop, but then with a v6, dsg & CF tub it could be embarassing to TT and top of range Elise

[vladd]

But why have a diesel sports car. Your sports car should be light, good handling, with a screaming engine and should spit fire at the people behind you. It shouldn't rattle and leave a cloud of smog behind it.

[jitsukadave]

It will cost mega-bucks to buy! All Alloy engine, CF shell!

Also, the autocar gallery shows a manual gear stick, but the write ups say it's a silly flappy paddle thing (can you heel-and-toe them?)... hich one is it?

Don't like the looks, but if the engine is free revving enough, there's almost no turbo lag (why not use a super charger?) and it has a good chassis, then maybe I'd get one, but first impressions put me off.

[daver]

Haven't Peugeot already done the diesel-elise thing?

A few one-make races (including the Pau street circuit) then what?

[jas16]

Any ideas on the approx sale price of car?

[ubergreg]

EAT MEIN DUST CHAPMAN!!!

Rattle-rattle-glug-glug-glug...

[boggy]

Hi all,

Sorry am I missing something, I don't see how it's an Elise eater ? may be on economy ? why on earth are they building this ? Vw make superb car's surly they could have done better than this, they have enough money why not just invest in Lotus ?

Boggy

[Wildfire]

But it looks apalling!!





And with a carbon fibre body, how expensive???

[Gruffy]

If it ever made it into production it would probably weigh in at over a ton. It'd still be slower than an Elise, "handle like a Boxster", and at a guess, cost more than both (together?).

I just hope some of the genuinely good features filter down into future cars. The raising roof (to aid entry) has potential and I'm very keen on the configureable screen/roof idea.

As for this exact car... I'll keep my Elise and keep Shell, BP et al happy for now.

Gruffy

[Fire99]

Hi Everyone,

I used to be obsessed with figures like 0-60 and top speed but the point of a sports car is how it feels to drive.

Diesels have come on a long way and some are seriously quick but ive not driven one yet that has that spine tingling feeling when screaming up the rev range of a decent sports car..

Does anyone agree?

cheers,

Nick

[judas]

Problem is, diesels sound like tractors. One of prime attributes, to me, of a sports car is that it sounds like a sports car, not one of Massey Ferguson's best.

Call me shallow, but that's my view.

[Twincam16]

jas16 said:

Any ideas on the approx sale price of car?

They're looking at £17k

I'm feeling optimistic about this car. It'll be one in the eye for the environmentalists who seem to think any car that is fun to drive must be thirsty - driving this would be more environmentally friendly than getting on a bus.

Diesel technology has come a very long way and its sporting potential, especially with turbochargers, shows a rapid advancement in common rail technology. Peugoet were the first to suggest its potential when they put the 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine in the 406 Coupe, then Mercedes followed suit and now Jaguar and BMW have sports saloons that eat the old petrol models alive whilst using a quarter of the fuel.

As for the noise - the right tuning would sort that out. Problem is that diesels don't 'scream', but what they do do when pushed is 'growl'. A small sports diesel making a deep roaring sound like a '60s muscle car is something I'd like to hear.

[Witchfinder]

It's got a whiff of Daihatsu Copen about the styling. Not exactly my cup of tea. However, that's an awful lot of power and economy from the engine. These diesels just keep getting better and better!

[EmmaP]

Wildfire said:

But it looks apalling!! And with a carbon fibre body, how expensive???

That is the ugliest car that I have ever seen. While the idea of designing something with such amazing fuel consumption statistics is a great achievement, I feel that it will not attract any sports car lovers with that design or those performance statistics. I was quite excited when I saw the headline, but reading on it has left me feeling very disappointed. I cannot imagine it ever being a Lotus eater.

[peter450]

6.3 to 60? even the standard car is quicker than that + all this cf tub means its going to cost a lot too, this cars not even at the performance of the base elise of 10 years ago, how they can say its a lotus beater i dont know, the current base elise is the 111r which is 190 hp as the rover cars are no longer being made so i hear.
This car will never make production not in this form anyway just looks like a flashy concept headline today forgottern tommorrow

[nickjm]

I don't think it looks brilliant either. The bloke in the picture looks tiny sat in that thing. Looks like you could fit an Elise inside the bonnet. Unless it's just that I've not put my contacts in today.