Is an Exige S as fast and torquey as a Honda/Audi conversion

[jondude]

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

[Stu_00]

jondude said:

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

Different kettle of fish, and you normally only see the conversations done on S2 Elise(pre Toyota) and S1's not S2 Exiges ! (Down to different sub frames I think......

I will let others comment on performance!

Edited by Stu_00 on Monday 19th April 14:11

[400SE Dave]

jondude said:

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

Christopher Neils are doing a performance upgrade on an Exige S. Re-flash, new injectors & fuel pump etc to 265bhp, add a decent intercooler and you get higher. My friend has just had his done with the forge intercooler and it rolling roaded at 277bhp. Cost about £1950 and still covered under Lotus warranty.

Here is a link:-

http://www.oakmeremotorgroup.co.uk/lotus/offers/vi...

[Scuffers]

jondude said:

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

not remotely close.

also worth point out that the re-sale on a 2-3 year old Exige S is also not great either

[peter450]

Im pretty sure the Supercharged Elises/Exiges are not that disimilar to the N/A Honda conversions

The advantages of the conversion is the basic N/A honda starts around the level of the S/C Elises and Exiges and with a intercooler can go to 300+hp and supercar level acceleration

If you want 300hp i'd say a converted car is the way to go, if your happy with 230 to 260, than a Supercharged car will probably be the easier option

The converted cars are earlier models and lighter for the most part, but the later cars do have better build, nice choice to have to make really!

[bogie]

just do the maths yourself

an S1 or K series S2 with an engine conversion usually comes in at 800-820kg in road trim

an S2 Exige is around 950Kg

so 220-240bhp in an S2 Exige, feels pretty much like 200ish in an earlier car

if its outright performance you are after, you want the lightest car you can find, with the most poke - usually an S1 or early S2 with high power Audi or SC Honda, will have 330-350bhp easy enough

if you are worried about "keeping it standard" then of course, just buy the fastest factory car you can afford...

[jondude]

Thanks all - good points all round. Certainly is a nice dilemma to have - and yes, good point that a converted S1 also has a massive power to weight ratio. (My present car is a 98 S1 )

I will dither on for a few months, I am sure.......

[Boggy]

Fact,

Owned and driven most Elise/Exige variant’s, a Honda engined car with S/C + C/C will blow any currant Lotus Exige/Elise away. It's a different league.

May be a 2 11 with 300bhp might stand a chance up till around 130mph but then the Honda would again pull away. Frank’s Elise/Exige hybrid might not be the same story thou

Boggy

[NDT]

bogie said:

just do the maths yourself

an S1 or K series S2 with an engine conversion usually comes in at 800-820kg in road trim

an S2 Exige is around 950Kg

so 220-240bhp in an S2 Exige, feels pretty much like 200ish in an earlier car

The maths is simple.
A 200bhp 820kg S1 Honda elise with an 80kg driver has 222bhp/tonne
A 240bhp 950kg S2 Elise with an 80kg driver has 233bhp/tonne.

Before we think about supercharging the Honda - which obviously moves it even further away from being a standard car.

[Shabs]

OP - power isn't everything. If I were in your position, I would go and drive some of the newer cars and find something that is useably as fast as you want. Potentially for you, a 240bhp S2 Exige is fast enough and with that you get a much better build quality and the ease of maintenance of a non-modified car.

[bogie]

NDT said:

bogie said:

just do the maths yourself

an S1 or K series S2 with an engine conversion usually comes in at 800-820kg in road trim

an S2 Exige is around 950Kg

so 220-240bhp in an S2 Exige, feels pretty much like 200ish in an earlier car

The maths is simple.
A 200bhp 820kg S1 Honda elise with an 80kg driver has 222bhp/tonne
A 240bhp 950kg S2 Elise with an 80kg driver has 233bhp/tonne.

Before we think about supercharging the Honda - which obviously moves it even further away from being a standard car.

yep so a standard NA HOnda elise is similar to a 240bhp supercharged Toyota Elise

but the Yota isnt really going to get much more poke easily, and be reliable ...whereas the Honda/Audi cars can both have another 100bhp added and still be reliable..thats what swayed it for me...the upgrade path

[doggydave]

It all depends what you are going to do with the car. If its for the track go for a S1 Honda with as much power as you can afford. If its for the road go for an Exige S. There is more than enough power for road use and it is more civilised.

[Exige77]

400SE Dave said:

jondude said:

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

Christopher Neils are doing a performance upgrade on an Exige S. Re-flash, new injectors & fuel pump etc to 265bhp, add a decent intercooler and you get higher. My friend has just had his done with the forge intercooler and it rolling roaded at 277bhp. Cost about £1950 and still covered under Lotus warranty.

Here is a link:-

http://www.oakmeremotorgroup.co.uk/lotus/offers/vi...

I wonder how many minutes before the heat soak sets in on a warmish day ?

Ex77

[21TonyK]

Exige77 said:

400SE Dave said:

jondude said:

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

Christopher Neils are doing a performance upgrade on an Exige S. Re-flash, new injectors & fuel pump etc to 265bhp, add a decent intercooler and you get higher. My friend has just had his done with the forge intercooler and it rolling roaded at 277bhp. Cost about £1950 and still covered under Lotus warranty.

Here is a link:-

http://www.oakmeremotorgroup.co.uk/lotus/offers/vi...

I wonder how many minutes before the heat soak sets in on a warmish day ?

Ex77

It is one hell of power hike for the money but I'd budget another £1-1.5K to fit a decent cooler.

/been doing some research but don't tell the Mrs

Edited by 21TonyK on Tuesday 20th April 19:09

[cyberface]

Scuffers said:

jondude said:

Has anyone tried them all?

I am a bit wary of a conversion as it seems a lot of money which cannot be re-couped on resale, and it makes the car unoriginal.

Is the 240hp Exige pretty much as good performance wise?

not remotely close.

also worth point out that the re-sale on a 2-3 year old Exige S is also not great either

Listen to the man, he knows damn well what he's talking about.

If not, wait for someone to publish a waterfall diagram that shows the relative torque available @ the wheels on both engines...

My 240 bhp Exige S PP is quick, and with the 2bular it revs more freely and has instant throttle response. But it's nowhere near supercharged Honda / tuned turbo Audi cars, or big boost VXTs for that matter.

Do you need more power though? I'm not sure Simon's comments about re-sale are as good advice as his engineering advice though... I tried to get a 2 year old Exige S last Christmas and couldn't get one for love nor money, buying a new car was the only option other than waiting months. The market *then* was on fire...

[Scuffers]

cyberface said:

Do you need more power though? I'm not sure Simon's comments about re-sale are as good advice as his engineering advice though... I tried to get a 2 year old Exige S last Christmas and couldn't get one for love nor money, buying a new car was the only option other than waiting months. The market *then* was on fire...

err... try classifieds

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1656024.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1573987.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1645086.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1644086.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1478336.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1643939.htm

and these were just the first page (of 6)

[cyberface]

Scuffers said:

cyberface said:

Do you need more power though? I'm not sure Simon's comments about re-sale are as good advice as his engineering advice though... I tried to get a 2 year old Exige S last Christmas and couldn't get one for love nor money, buying a new car was the only option other than waiting months. The market *then* was on fire...

err... try classifieds

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1656024.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1573987.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1645086.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1644086.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1478336.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1643939.htm

and these were just the first page (of 6)

Middle of December 2009 Simon. Were these cars on the market then? A lot of the cars were on the market in pictures, but not in reality - we phoned many dealers up about cars on the classifieds and they'd already been sold, or were in discussions with export to Italy, France, etc. I'm not making this up for the hell of it. I was after a car with harness-hole seats, but the less said about that the better...

[VTECMatt]

My comparison is based on my experience on track, the MY10 Exige would be a match for an S1 Honda n/a IMHO but not a lot in it, as I have only driven an S1 n/a Honda with Nitrons and the S2 Exige was straight from the factory on standard suspension it is difficult to compare. My only two concerns with S2 Exige 240PP is it likes a drink the n/a Honda is reasonably fuel efficient. The Gearbox in the MY10 Exige felt ropey IMHO I would hate to run much more power through it, other than that I loved the car, it is the first road car I have driven on track that you can feel the aero working for you.

Supercharge or and Charge cool the Honda and it is so much quicker, you really need to drive them to understand this how ever you need to be a good driver to get the most out of it, first time I drove one I had many a lary moment.

Good luck in your search either way all of them are brilliant.

[400SE Dave]

Is it really fair to compare a fully warranty backed, standard tune engine against other non standard, typically very well sorted machines?? Personally I don't think so.

You pays you money, you takes you pick. I would guess that one of the reasons for putting a different engine in (apart from performance gain) is to a degree to personalise the car and to have it built to a spec you want. The flip side is that many people want the ease and reliability of a standard car that offers a very decent turn of speed as well as stunning looks and handling.

I have great respect for the first way as I have seen some really fantastic, proffessional conversions but that in no way made me want to change my mind in buying the S.

If we all liked the same things life would be boring though

[danwebster]

Any car is only as quick as its driver...