Griff Chassis vs Elise/VX220

[Geezer(]

Can a Griff Chassis be altered to handle as well as an Elise for example.

I would imagine the shocks, wheels, tires and brakes can all be uprated, but I am still unsure if it will give the same level of feedback/confidence you get from driving the Lotus chassis.

The Griff is on my purchase shortlist (selling Dax Rush), but I am keen to find out how well it will cope with 2 to 3 trackdays per year.

[julianhj]

I've not driven the Elise, so can't make a direct comparison. From reading endless articles about how wonderful the Elise is in terms of handling, I doubt you'd ever beat it in that sense with a Griff. The Elise is built in a totally different way. However, the Griff is still a riot on the track, even completely unmodified.

I'm tempted to go the Nitrons/TVR Wheel & Brake package route, but in the end wouldn't really see £3k's worth of benefit, so I'll probably just uprate the brakes a little, for about a tenth of that. Apparently even minor upgrades make a noticable difference where brakes are concerned.

[simpo one]

But the Griffith is beautiful; the Elise looks like a squashed frog... and they're impossible to get out of unless you have detachable legs!

[bogbeast]

julianhj said: ...I'm tempted to go the Nitrons/TVR Wheel & Brake package route, but in the end wouldn't really see £3k's worth of benefit, so I'll probably just uprate the brakes a little, for about a tenth of that. Apparently even minor upgrades make a noticable difference where brakes are concerned.

My favorite first braking mod, especially on an older cars, is replacing the brake hoses with good quality braided. Found it to reduce travel and firm up the pedddle (usually because the old hoses were past it anyway). Then change the pad material and maybe discs for one the quality aftermarkets. Not done to the Griff yet (got a pair of AP racing calipers off a Cerb in the garage, trying to figure out how to fit those!!) but it transformed the braking on my cosworth (which some Griffs borrowed their brakes from anyway..)for a fraction of the price of a set of AP/Wilwoods etc..


edited to say sorry for hi-jacking thread....



>> Edited by bogbeast on Monday 16th June 23:28

[shpub]

Can a Griff Chassis be altered to handle as well as an Elise for example.

The last time I took my Griff out at Hethel with a Lotus instructor in it, he was laughing his socks off as the car was being slowed down by Elises until they spun off!

The Elises big advantage is weight. It is about 3-400 Kg lighter which makes a big big difference.

The Griff is just fun. Brake upgardes are a good idea but the suspension is pretty good from the start. However driving technique is everything with the car.

[jamesk]

There speaketh the master.....

You are comparing chalk and cheese really. I doubt you could ever get them handling the same as their basic characteristics are so different. Suffice to say the Griff with a decent driver and brakes would blow the doors off any elise ever made

[cleg]

I have driven the vx220, exige (but not elise) and my griff on the track first 2 cars handle a lot more forgiving than the griff.
The griff has lots more grunt than the other 2 but the vx is so forgiving its un-true and the exige can put bruises in your side where you dig into the seats, truly awesome grip.

I played with the idea of the lotus when looking for a car but the griff won in the end out of pure british classic madness.

[Toffer]

Do you want to constantly pretend it is the "wife's car"?...

"No!", well buy a Griff!

[donatien]

Me & the girlfriend (well, her really) have wangled a weekend test drive of the VX220 Turbo from tomorrow so I'll be interested to see how it stacks up against my Griff.

If all goes well she could be trading in the Audi convertible truck for one.

[tvr4ever]

My first thought would be you can never make a Griffith handle the way an Elise does. However after driving along with a police instructor in my Griffith I can say that the Griffith is more capable than many people think. You can not imagine how fast this guy was in my car, doing things with it I can only imagine. He showed me the weaknesses and strong points of the Griffith chassis, and it’s all down to technique.
Certain things you can get away with in an Elise would be scary to say the least in a Griffith. Anyway I’m still practicing heel and toe and I’m not coming close to the speeds this guy can do.

Maybe I can learn some of you English guys at the next Continental meeting next Friday.

Greetings Fred

[Adamc]

Guys, I just traded my 97 MK1 elise for a 98 Griff. I have really appreciated all your good advice on this site. Thank you from the bottom of my V8 heart... Handling? The Elise obviously has the edge 'round corners, and I haven't taken delivery of the Griff yet, but I was hooked the first time I put my foot down in second gear and it broke traction going _up_ a hill. My Elise was pretty comprehensively upgraded, but oh, that sound... how can I (legally) make it crackle more on the overrun? Sorry about the grammar, it's very late in Sydney

>> Edited by Adamc on Saturday 21st June 16:16

[Jodypress]

Adamc said:

Guys, I just traded my 97 MK1 elise for a 98 Griff. I have really appreciated all your good advice on this site. Thank you from the bottom of my V8 heart... Handling? The Elise obviously has the edge 'round corners, and I haven't taken delivery of the Griff yet, but I was hooked the first time I put my foot down in second gear and it broke traction going _up_ a hill. My Elise was pretty comprehensively upgraded, but oh, that sound... how can I (legally) make it crackle more on the overrun? Sorry about the grammar, it's very late in Sydney >> Edited by Adamc on Saturday 21st June 16:16

remove the baffles in the exhaust

[GreenV8S]

Adamc said:

how can I (legally) make it crackle more on the overrun

It'll pop a lot more on the overrun if you have a slight exhaust leak.

[donatien]

Well the weekend test drive of the VX220 Turbo was interesting.

It is a very capable car, handles beautifully (if a little tendency to undetsteer) and has plenty of pace, albeit with a touch of turbo lag if you catch it too low. Torque delivery in 5th is impressive once the turbo spins up.

As a track car it would be superb, but the trouble is it's far too cramped and spartan for everyday use. The seats would annoy me on anything other than a short-ish run. By comparison the Griff feels luxurious.

It also lack the Griffs "presence". The feel, noise and emotion just isn't in there. In fact the 2 litre unit sounds rough and almost like a diesel on tickover.

My girlfriend came to much the same conclusions, she'd been enchanted after a 30 minute test drive but after a day or so touring she couldn't wait to get the Griff back.

Hats off to Vauxhall for making such a great car, but a TVR it most certainly aint. Just our opinions really, many people will find this just the ticket and for £25k it is a real bargain.

Dave

[anita]

donatien said:

My girlfriend came to much the same conclusions, she'd been enchanted after a 30 minute test drive but after a day or so touring she couldn't wait to get the Griff back. Dave

Yes - agree though I would not say I was enchanted - just thought it was fun to drive and easier to handle than the Griff (or maybe I didn't have the protective boyfriend there being over possessive about poor old Grizzly whilst I tried to drive it!!(who by the way was in very good hands with me at the wheel - at least I didn't smash him up at the weekend!!)

No on the crash front I do jest above - I must pay tribute to Dave as he drove it well and it really could have turned out a lot worse than it did if he hadn't handled the car as well...