STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Anything goes in here.....
User avatar
ferg f
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:21 pm
Location: Ayrshire

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by ferg f » Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:27 pm

Reading all these comments and having been round KH a "few times" I would admit, if I had been looking to track my 1.6 I would have made a huge mistake in buying her.

But having bought her and not having had any previous experience with the Elise I was happy with the purchase.

Wasn't so happy with the bill from Murray Motors for a new radiator though!!!!!! I've had big maintenance bills before but this was absurd, £1300 for a radiator!!! Thank goodness a kind person on here has since put me on to Ken Brown in Hillington.

User avatar
smitstui
Posts: 467
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:31 pm
Location: Montrose
Contact:

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by smitstui » Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:39 am

£1300 ouch!

Why did it fail? I have never had one fail.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

User avatar
StiflerMR2
Posts: 1791
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:53 pm
Location: Newcastle

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by StiflerMR2 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:40 am

smitstui wrote:
Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:43 pm

All that said, I had that n/a Exige with strange wing things on it at the next sidc day. It felt outclassed next to all the supercharged Elises. I really noticed a step change in trackday speed since the V6 Exige and Elise 220s came out. There were always faster cars before but now the majority are faster.

I remember being behind you in my S1 on that day and having a great time trying to keep up!

FWIW power is seductive but you get use to it, hence the desire for more. I remember the first time I buried my foot in the Europa after coming from my S1, I thought it was a rocket ship - now it seems a little pedestrian.

I still think for pure thrills an S1 is an amazing place to put your money and a 1.6CR with a few tweaks would be a great place to start Elise ownership. I love the pale blue ones :)

The good news is there really are no bad elises! :cheers

User avatar
Ferg
Posts: 3936
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:56 pm
Location: Auld Reekie

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by Ferg » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:59 am

I think that sums up nicely. An S1 on a clear track is a wonderful thing.

User avatar
smitstui
Posts: 467
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:31 pm
Location: Montrose
Contact:

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by smitstui » Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:24 pm

StiflerMR2 wrote:
Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:40 am
I still think for pure thrills an S1 is an amazing place to put your money and a 1.6CR with a few tweaks would be a great place to start Elise ownership. I love the pale blue ones :)
Hijacking thread slightly, but I had my eye on this one, just not in a postition to buy yet. One of my favourite Elise (or Exige) colours.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified ... New&page=1
Image
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

User avatar
ferg f
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:21 pm
Location: Ayrshire

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by ferg f » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:06 pm

smitstui wrote:
Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:39 am
£1300 ouch!

Why did it fail? I have never had one fail.
Apparently the OEM radiator isn't the best of designs (which I am sure anyone having been about Lotus would have known) and it was an end tank that had just decided to give up. Murray Motors seemed to think that for its age this wasn't too bad!

I had been out for a spirited run, temps were normal never over 92 degrees. When I got home I was just driving her in to the garage and there was a little spray on to the windscreen and a split second later a load of steam...... garage floor covered in coolant.

There had been no indications as to an issue, no liquid on the garage floor and no change in liquid levels, guess I was just unlucky for it to happen after a mere 1000 miles of ownership.

Pity I hadn't known about Ken Brown at that point as I could have had a better aftermarket radiator fitted at a fraction of the cost.

User avatar
campbell
Posts: 17191
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:42 pm
Location: West Lothian
Contact:

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by campbell » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:00 pm

I changed an S1 radiator for all-alloy a while back. Got 7 trouble free yrs out of it. Placcy end tanks on std ones are infamous...
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy

User avatar
Dark
Posts: 729
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 12:12 am
Location: Broxburn, West Lothian

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by Dark » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:23 pm

smitstui wrote:
Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:24 pm
Hijacking thread slightly, but I had my eye on this one, just not in a postition to buy yet. One of my favourite Elise (or Exige) colours.
Stunning in that colour! Although not sure it counts as low powered! ;)
2018 Lotus Exige Sport (metallic grey)
2015 Volvo V60 Polestar (rebel blue)

ScottJ-PS
Posts: 383
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2016 6:03 pm
Location: Bearsden

Re: STANDARD (LOW) POWERED ENGINE COMPARISON

Post by ScottJ-PS » Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:23 am

OP back again. I've been reading all love as it has been posted. Seems a 220bhp is the way to go ....

But to answer my question. I didn't find the 1.6 any faster than my 2.0MX5 and that seems to be born out by a few others. Not actually driven a 1.8 Toyota 134bhp yet. My 120bhp K makes a lovely sound, revs freely, and is fast enough 90% of the time, its just the odd overtaking times when more bhp would be good.

As a wise man said to me last week, at the end of the day an Elise is an Elise and 80mph is 80mph. Looking at current used values I'll stick with what I have as it would cost thousands to change.

The only time the car felt gutless was my one time on KH when I had Exiges and Evoras doing double the speed down start straight.

Post Reply