32 replies to this topic

[mscall]

I saw the last generation Elise club racer in the same colours at Christopher Neills. That one looked really good but this new shape just makes it look like a toy. Really disappointed with the way lotus is going at the moment, they seem to be turning away from all the things I loved about them. They should be performance first practicality second, what's the point of making a 50+mpg elise at the cost of the performance, if it's not going to be that fast why would you make all the compromises required to drive one every day? And why would you get an economical weekend car if you already had a daily driver??

[vx220soon]

My neighbour picked up his 11 plate Elise SC Roger Becker edition on Tuesday to replace is 111R, it is absolutely stunning. It's white with black wheels and highlights - its the absolute mutts nuts! However it did cost just shy of £40k so it should

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

What a thoroughly homosexual car!

[slindborg]

Saw a few in the flesh yesterday.... surprisingly good looking for a colour lol

[Boombang]

More than likely aimed at the female market. It looks as camp and Christmas.

I have to confess to really liking the colour and looks.

[smiley]

[oakmere]

Seen one at Christopher Neil the other day in red which looked much better. It has some nice light weight seats but a little too much black vinyl.

[techieboy]

Standard seats with most of the stuffing removed. A bit like AtomX's racer.

[cosmicegg]

Really disappointed with the way lotus is going at the moment, they seem to be turning away from all the things I loved about them. They should be performance first practicality second, what's the point of making a 50+mpg elise at the cost of the performance, if it's not going to be that fast why would you make all the compromises required to drive one every day? And why would you get an economical weekend car if you already had a daily driver??

In this case that's not really true though is it. This still has all the handling and similar performance of an N/A Vx (it's only something like 2mph slower than the 1.8 Elise, and the same to 60 - and who cares about top speed in Elise variants)

The 50+mpg is a nice product of the small engine lightweight thing so why not take full advantage of it, plus EU directives mean that companies now have to make greener cars to subsidise the not so green ones (though presumably Lotus are offset by Proton anyway). Plus, if it's a choice between a 1.6 Elise, or no Elise at all, well...

My S1 isn't that quick a car, maybe slightly quicker than our N/A Vx yet returns 40+ mpg.
My cheap daily driver shed is a LOT less economical...

The colour however is crap, and it does look too much like a toy.

Chris

[MartinS]

All I can see is yet another Lotus chicane heading towards a track day somewhere near you! Martin s

[siztenboots]

The 1.6 VXR unit has plenty of potential, the benefit of low torque small output engines is you can slim down the gearbox and everything else in the powertrain. Lotus should look at the Fiat multiair 2 stroke turbo

corsa vxr

[soupdragon]

Lotus designed head on the 1.4 and 1.6 Vauxhall units. A mate ran a Corsa (rallying) the grp N spec 1.6 N/A was knocking out 235bhp

[cosmicegg]

The 1.6 VXR unit has plenty of potential, the benefit of low torque small output engines is you can slim down the gearbox and everything else in the powertrain. Lotus should look at the Fiat multiair 2 stroke turbo

Judging by the current engine choice for Lotus, I think the important though regarding these are:
What do they weigh?
Are they cleared for use in the US?

I reckon we lost the K-Series because it wasn't type approved for the US.
We then lost the 1.8 'Yota (which I believe is still in use for US Elise/Exiges?) due to emissions I think.

Not sure the Fiat engine would be a likely candidate as isn't the Alfa 4C supposed to be a lightweight Elise competitor?

If the mock pics were anything to go by, and their estimations on weight, price and performance were near truth, that might well become the perfect car!

Chris