[BigMike]

Last I heard you couldn't get one of these in this country. I talked to the guy, and apparantly they altered them a bit and just imported them two months ago!

It DEFINANTLY took me by suprise seeing it in a parking lot!

 

[blue]

That's an Elise, right? I think I just sh!t myself...I WANT.

 

[SebringMGB]

there a a number of those around here in WA. Park Place Motors has 2. Also, a few people have imported the MK1 and put us emission legal engines in them, and gotten them registered. however if you are really dying for one, i know a guy who owns a mk1 that has stacks of 3 day passes from the emissions control place, and just fills one out and slaps it on the rear window when he wants to drive it.

ill take an old sport 190... thanks

 

[Tenchiro]

Not a bad looking car for $40,000

 

[BigMike]

That's an Elise, right? I think I just sh!t myself...I WANT.

Yes.

and I had to change my pants

 

[chicodude]

i was crusin do 580 (oakland) doing about 85 miles an hour, when a ferrari 360 modena blew past me like i was sitting still. he had to be doing 140. since it was 6:00 in the morning, there weren't any cops on the road.

 

[COmtbiker12]

Sweet...

 

[DLo]

i was crusin do 580 (oakland) doing about 85 miles an hour, when a ferrari 360 modena blew past me like i was sitting still. he had to be doing 140. since it was 6:00 in the morning, there weren't any cops on the road.

Was he "parked" on the side/middle of the road later? :devil:

 

[Transcend]

sad part is, an elise is a rather low performance car, especially for a lotus!

 

[Toshi]

Last I heard you couldn't get one of these in this country.

you haven't been paying enough attention here on ridemonkey!

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1103084&highlight=elise#post1103084

i still have not seen one in the flesh, altho i'm sure microsoft's parking lot will have a few of them when i go visit my friends working there.

 

[Toshi]

sad part is, an elise is a rather low performance car, especially for a lotus!

what would you rather have? a fwd elan? a decades old esprit? (ok, maybe the esprit with the turbo v8 would be cool...) all reviews say that the elise is one of the most fun to drive and best handling cars in the world, so how can you claim it's "a rather low performance car, especially for a lotus!"?

 

[chicodude]

Was he "parked" on the side/middle of the road later? :devil:

No, but i did catch up with him at a in and out burger in vacaville :evil:

 

[Acadian]

all reviews say that the elise is one of the most fun to drive and best handling cars in the world, so how can you claim it's "a rather low performance car, especially for a lotus!"?

ya - every single review I have read on that car has been good! I hear it's a blast to drive. Who cares about going 200mph in a straight line when you can blast with ease through twisties!

one of my co-worker has one on order.

 

[Transcend]

Oh, I'm not sayin' its a crappy car, actually the complete opposite.

I'm sayin' compared to other Lotus', the elise is a low end vehicle. And at 40k, it can destroy any other similiarly priced (and alot of more highly priced) vehicles on the road.

What is sad, is that more car manufacturers do not offer that sort of design/quality/pricepoint.

Sorta like a mac, with a PC price.

 

[steve45]

vauxhall VX220, its a lotus elise with a different skin, more power and a turbo.
yes i know it isnt as nice looking but its faster with the same amazing lotus handling characteristics
http://www.vx220london.com/

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

sad part is, an elise is a rather low performance car, especially for a lotus!

yup, a friend of mine has one. is not nearly as fast as it looks or people think it is, plus is a bit of a troublesome car. though it certainly has its charm. its like a modern version of the super7. it handles pretty good, its like a 190hp big go-kart.

and technically that aluminum bonded frame thingy attracts a lot of nerdy engineers kinda guys like me.

but i dont think is worth the money, even though its a pretty cool thing to have a car with a lotus bagde and very rare, as elises are in the US.

i like the esprit much more, the problem is it looks too dated. lotus is not nearly what it used to be in the 60s. but still got some charm.

 

[Toshi]

is not nearly as fast as it looks or people think it is. though it certainly has its charm. [...]
i like the esprit much more, the problem is it looks too dated

the car will be as fast as its power/weight ratio. it's not lotus's fault if some people somehow think that the 118 hp "base model" will be some barn burner. it is light but that doesn't change physics. and from what i've read of the esprit, it doesn't just _look_ dated. it is dated.

 

[freeridebiker21]

its not that fast at all why buy a car if it is not FAST! you could get a much faster car for much cheaper

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

the car will be as fast as its power/weight ratio. it's not lotus's fault if some people somehow think that the 118 hp "base model" will be some barn burner. it is light but that doesn't change physics. and from what i've read of the esprit, it doesn't just _look_ dated. it is dated.

yeah the espirt has been the same car since the 80s i think. but i somehow like that dated look. just like i like the 930 the most out of all the 911s.

power to weight ratio is relative, its not a linear meassure, it feels better the lower the weight. and in that the elise has an edge. but ... I mean, for 40k bucks to get a car with such an agressive look, but not very "sporty-useful" doesnt seem a good deal to me. its roughly like a very fancy bodied miata with a lotus badge.

for that money, i´d go for a caterham, a cool go-kart or the ultima can-am.

the canam being definately the ultimate toy-go-kart.

 

[steve45]

that ultima is so damn cool.

check out http://www.noblecars.com/new-noble-site/index.html i've seen a few M12's around town recently, they sound amazing.

 

[narlus]

i saw a few elises around dublin, very eye-catching indeed. hell for 40K, i'd much rather have one of these than something like a bloated navigator or escalade.

 

[Mike B.]

I haven't seen one in the flesh yet but then again I live in the middle of BFE. I could see about renting one when I head to Interbike though. I was browsing their site yesterday trying to talk my wife into renting something fun for a cruise out to and around the lake.

 

[Transcend]

i saw a few elises around dublin, very eye-catching indeed. hell for 40K, i'd much rather have one of these than something like a bloated navigator or escalade.

bling bling

 

[Horrendous Hack]

Meh, I see loads here in the UK. Overrated, fast but overrated.

The Exige kicks it ass, as does the Elan.

 

[DVNT]

Not a bad looking car for $40,000

it won't be 40k for long. i looked into getting one, word has it they are backordered for N.A. import for two years after which they are considering a price hike up to the 60 range.

I'm hoping competition from the new vette and 350z make them change their minds.

 

[JSB]

For 40K, I'd like more power. That's just my opinion. My last sports car was a great handling 50/50 weight ratio car. The twisties were huge fun in it, but when it comes down to "it". There aren't a ton of twisties to drive, unless you take it to auto-x's every weekend. Then your popping 800-1000 dollars on tires every few months. So with that said, this would be a fun car to drive, but unless I'm going to haul ars around every street corner to compensate for the lack of these twisties, I'd like more power please.

Doesn't this thing have the Acura motor in it?

I do think it is one of the coolest looking cars I've seen.

 

[Repack]

I saw a new Porsche Carrera GT on Sat morning while driving down the Merrit Pkwy in CT on my way to Diablo. Thing was nasty!

 

[Ian F]

I saw an Elise (same color, oddly enough) at an auto-cross event a few weeks ago. Cool little car and it was fun to watch the owner run it around the cones. Still had the temp-tags on it!

 

[DVNT]

you can't really compare this to other machines. sure it doesn't have the hp or top speed but it's just a fun car. it's extremely lightweight, the chassis isn't even welded it's bolted and glued together to save weight on the welds. It's just a fun car.
Now I'm not gonna say 40k is worth it for fun.... there are plenty of other ways to have fun with 40 grand.

 

[Toshi]

Doesn't this thing have the Acura motor in it?

it has the toyota celica gt-s motor in it.

 

[Hawkeye]

A friend went to the local Lotus dealer to purchase one on Saturday. He was told it would be 2 years, or he could have the one on the floor for $57,000.

 

[Ian F]

A friend went to the local Lotus dealer to purchase one on Saturday. He was told it would be 2 years, or he could have the one on the floor for $57,000.

Sounds like what California dealers are doing with MINI's. It's funny in a way. My g/f's MINI was like a Harley - she bought it off the showroom floor and it had a bunch of "dealer installed options" tacked on to it to jack up the price. But it was more or less the car she wanted and would have ordered, so she bought it anyway.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

you can't really compare this to other machines. sure it doesn't have the hp or top speed but it's just a fun car. it's extremely lightweight, the chassis isn't even welded it's bolted and glued together to save weight on the welds. It's just a fun car.
Now I'm not gonna say 40k is worth it for fun.... there are plenty of other ways to have fun with 40 grand.

to compare apples with apples and oranges wih oranges, the elise is in a segment i would call "big go-karts".

they are not practical everyday roadsters in that price range like say a boxster or a slk, imo thats another category.

the elise would fit perfectly into "big go-kart" niche category.

and in that category, and for that money there are IMO, nicer (better in those attributes that define a "big go-kart" like handling, weight, power, etc) cars. like caterhams or morgans.

american elises come with a celica engine???????
the one i know has a rover engine, with like 150hp. and even the owner says its a troublesome car, even for a weekend car.

but probably the toyota is much more reliable. even though it kinda looses soul to have a british-racing green elise, with japanese muscle.

 

[DVNT]

wonder why they didn't keep the rover engine?
my car has one, not that i'm over excited about it, i just know i need to get the extended warranty. So it can't be an emissions deal.

Oh wait a tic, I think the UK versions do have a smaller engine that the ones they are importing here. I think I read about that cause we americans have that - i gotta small penis so my car needs a bigger engine disorder.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

wonder why they didn't keep the rover engine?
my car has one, not that i'm over excited about it, i just know i need to get the extended warranty. So it can't be an emissions deal.

Oh wait a tic, I think the UK versions do have a smaller engine that the ones they are importing here. I think I read about that cause we americans have that - i gotta small penis so my car needs a bigger engine disorder.

those rover engines in the lotus are not very good.
and probably they are more expensive than the toyotas.

Plus, if they are shipping them to the US, would be kinda hard to mantain them. like... servicing your lotus within the very small network of land rover???? probably makes more economic sense to use the existing giant toyota logistic for the engine i guess. plus it kinda helps to have the backup of a company like toyota.
still, weird. but money talks.

 

[DVNT]

I hear ya, but Land Rover and Rover are two different companies at the moment. Rover's are not sold in the US. Land Rover was recently aquired my Ford from BMW and now benefits from Fords service experience here in fixing their products ( feel free to insert jokes accordingly).

Rover I believe is still owned by BMW from when they bought Land Rover, Mini and Rover at the same time.
All that said my car was designed by BMW for Land Rover and uses a Rover engine, which SUCKS. It sounds beautiful, looks great, it's REALLY thirsty and goes no where fast.

 

[Toshi]

those rover engines in the lotus are not very good.
and probably they are more expensive than the toyotas.

from http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=100249 <-- a good read on its own for car buffs

The most prominent change for the States is the powertrain. To compensate for the weight increase, and perhaps for marketing value, Lotus has switched the European version's Rover engine for a Toyota 1.8-liter four with Variable Valve Timing and Lift-intelligent, matched to a Toyota six-speed manual. We know this combination from the Toyota MR2 Spyder (also larger than Elise), Celica and Matrix/Pontiac Vibe. Lotus developed its own intake system, exhaust and control software. The engine develops 190 hp at 7800 rpm and 138 lb-ft of torque at 6800 rpm (10 hp and 5 lb-ft more than any Toyota application), and Becker insists it is nowhere near its durability limit.

nb: as far as i know the u.s. spec mr2 spyder doesn't get the fancy (180hp in toyota guise, 190hp in the elise) engine. it makes do with 140hp iirc

 

[JSB]

You know after reading more on the elise. It's not as slow as I thought. I'd still like a little more power, but if these numbers from the Lotus site hold true to an average driver, then I'm more impressed than I was. I still think $40K is a bit much. Basically, I still have the same opinion, but I thought the numbers were lower. Usually mag stats are a smidge better than the average driver though.

Toyota supplied, 4 cylinder, dohc 4 valves per cylinder with variable valve timing and lift
Capacity: 1796 cm3
Bore/Stroke: 82.0 mm / 85.0 mm
Maximum Power: 190 hp (141 kW) @ 7800 rpm (DIN 70020)
Maximum Torque: 138 lb ft (181 Nm) @ 6800 rpm (DIN 70020)
Compression Ratio: 11.5:1
0-60 mph: 4.9 sec, 4.7 sec (Sports Pack)
0-100 mph: 13.0 sec
Standing 1/4: circa 13.6 sec
Top speed: 150 mph
0 - 100 mph - 0: circa 17.5 sec
100 mph - 0: circa 85m

 

[Repack]

I hear ya, but Land Rover and Rover are two different companies at the moment. Rover's are not sold in the US. Land Rover was recently aquired my Ford from BMW and now benefits from Fords service experience here in fixing their products ( feel free to insert jokes accordingly).

Rover I believe is still owned by BMW from when they bought Land Rover, Mini and Rover at the same time.
All that said my car was designed by BMW for Land Rover and uses a Rover engine, which SUCKS. It sounds beautiful, looks great, it's REALLY thirsty and goes no where fast.

The BMW/Ford/Rover agreement is like a horribly inbread family. I can't remember many details beyond that for at least a year after Ford took Rover over, that the Land Rover was coming with BMW motors. Don't know how the cars were effected though.

Red rover red rover...

 

[Transcend]

That engine swap for the US will make a HUGE difference..50 HP in a car with an extremely low curb weight will be impressive to say the least...