Supercharged elise for 2008

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:59 am

Sounds like a familiar lotus development pattern, lightweight car gains more and more toys, more and more complexity and more and more weight....

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:21 am

Yup, but that does mean the older ones are the best though

Steve /Early, light as fcuk S2 faction

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:27 am

97R :Thumbsup

Clarkie · Post by **Clarkie** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:36 pm

simon wrote:903kg

My 111R weighs double that with me in it

It's a shame that Lotus have to conform to marketing/safety pressures putting more kit on the car to appeal to a wider audience. Might not be for the purists but they will still be fantastic cars.

Lotus and the dealers have little control of the values, market forces and Glass's guide knock the stuffing out of anything this side of Porsche, Ferrari, oops and of course Atom

I have a mate that's a sales Manager at a BeeEm dealership and it's scary stuff when your used car stock drops £500+ per car per month. Not for the faint hearted

3 yrs ago X5's were an 18 month wait for new and selling over list. At the end of the old model they were discounting with 10 in stock.

Whats' going to be the most desirable though Elise SC or Exige S (240ps)?

bertieduff · Post by **bertieduff** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:48 am

Apart from the S/C what's the point?

Not likely to win over many diehards with all the extra toys/weight....

Still not gonna appeal to many in the Boxster etc market....

So more crap to go wrong.

And it looks mince.

Mikie711 · Post by **Mikie711** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:16 am

Windscreen surround needs to colour coded to the car, and what happened to the quarter lights, did they run out of glass

Kinda steps away from the original concept of a light, simple, quick back to basics sports car for the masses.

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:53 am

steve_weegie wrote:Yup, but that does mean the older ones are the best though

Steve /Early, light as fcuk S2 faction

Anyone know how the weight has changed YOY from the original elise to this latest one?

(eg. 1996-97 700KG; 1998-2001 760KG etc)

Edin430 · Post by **Edin430** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:09 pm

Would it not be better to buy a newish 02/03 plate and slap a supercharger in it from http://www.turbotechnics.com/docs/index.htm and save yourself the 10k or so...

Plus it will be lighter and look better.....

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:17 pm

Rory wrote:
steve_weegie wrote:Yup, but that does mean the older ones are the best though

Steve /Early, light as fcuk S2 faction
Anyone know how the weight has changed YOY from the original elise to this latest one?

(eg. 1996-97 700KG; 1998-2001 760KG etc)

Good question, and one that i would like to see answered correctly myself! The official weight of my car (which is a 2002 135 sport touring) is 756kg. Later ones that include eleccy windows, airbags, abs yota engine etc etc are significantly heavier.

S2 exiges are lardy in the extreme, officially 875kg with no options and over 900kg with aircon etc.

I'd like to stick my car on some scales at some point though, as different places quote different figures....

ryallm · Post by **ryallm** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:58 pm

I can't remember Lotus releasing any new car in the last few years without lots of complaining about weight, lack of purity etc, but for me at least the cars have got steadily better. Take an original 118bhp S1 and compare it to, say, a 111R. Yes, it weighs more, but it is undeniably better built, faster, more reliable and for all the extra weight I would say it handles and rides just. As an all round package it is just, well, better, and I am sure the SC Elise will be faster and better still.

Mark (expecting a flaming

)

j2 lot · Post by **j2 lot** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:23 pm

As a daily driver the 111r & probably the 08 sc are heavier but much more useable as everyday cars, which is probably what Lotus needs to shift - the lightweight route certainly has appeal but it is limited appeal and more often than not as second or third cars which don't get replaced by owners as often so don't keep the money rolling in, and lets face it the new cars are heavier but not heavy and the performance is similar or better than early standard cars. Keith

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:24 pm

still baffled as to why they haven't brought out a stripped S2 to rekindle some interest, at a non 2-eleven price?

a stripped Motorsport 111r (£27k), flared Motorsport body, with Exige springs, wheels & pagids, & stage 2, and the new motorsport ecu map? drop the lux items, and the gayities and its got to be sub 800kgs. Would need some sort of accusump for track, but surely the interest in the 2-eleven at £40k indicated a desire for such a car?

It would also be tame enough for an every day driver..............

an S version with 270bhp would be fun also

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:25 pm

Me too.... Cant ever see myself wanting an exige, but a hairy/scary elise would suit me just fine....

Mind you, a duratec and a set of nitrons would go a long way in my car!

Post by **campbell** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:21 pm

Lotus are a small company. They rarely are far from bankruptcy (except shortly after Elise S1 launch, which rescued them for a while I believe).

They have to spin out their models a bit longer as they don't have the development resources of the big boys.

That they are around today and will still service your S1 (or early Esprit or whatever) at Hethel says a lot, IMHO. Remember also, they will be devoting a lot to Esprit replacement development right now.

The S2 has done well to lift them from enthusiast-only for the S1, but I read that production volumes have been too high and some right-sizing has been needed. If an S2 variant has arrived that makes them some useable profit (ie, priced up with minimal up-front investment to get there) then all power to them.

An S3 Elise is no doubt under consideration, but they probably need to get the Esprit on the streets first. Need the credibility after all the speculation.

Lotus will never match Porsche, BMW etc for build quality and overall robustness. So no point in expecting that of them. Instead, they will beat the Germans at dynamics, simplicity, fun factor, enthusiast following, etc.

Bottom line. Doesn't matter what Lotus you currently own. If you own one, you are lucky, or smart, or like driving, or have too much money, or all of the above. But most importantly - you do own one, and can have a lot more fun out on the road for sensible cash than just about anyone you care to mention. Except other Lotus owners, especially those with late model S1s, whose depreciation has levelled off

Campbell

gorrie · Post by **gorrie** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:02 pm

Andy G wrote:still baffled as to why they haven't brought out a stripped S2 to rekindle some interest, at a non 2-eleven price?

a stripped Motorsport 111r

TBH... I'm still confused as to why the 111R or 'Elise R' have got an 'R' in the name. I thought that was usually reserved for the track orientated models (ie, 340R, 190R, 135R).... It caused me no end of grief when I was trying to figure out what S2 I was wanting to buy...

111S - OK, vvc & luxury, check
135R - OK, not vvc & not luxury, check
111R - OK, kinda like a 111S but with yota lump, check
Exige - OK, yota lump
Exige S, ahh that must be luxury eh.. no? Oh sh*t.
Elise S - Supercharged?.. oh right

I think an updated 135R is pretty much what you are talking about Andy when you suggest a lower weight S2 with different suspension etc, but with the Yota lump and is sensibly priced. I reckon it would sell especially if they kept it to limited numbers... but what to call it... 190R has already been, can't use 111R... Elise R lite...