S3 Elise unveiling in March?

[gasgas]

It`s the Rinspeed S quba,

[OlberJ]

Looks like a mr2.

I resent that.

[Edinburgh 111s]

The more i look, the more i like it, and i for one hope it sells well, and keeps Lotus in business.

Everytime Lotus brings out a new product, S2 elise, S3 Elise, Evora, Europa etc all we do is moan, and that goes for most of the Lotus forums that i read.......and most of the people who moan, are the people who will never buy a new car.

For years lots of people on the uk forums wanted Lotus back in F1....and when it happens.....they moan!

Guess what will happen when the Esprit comes along.....yup you guessed it

Rant over

[smee]

I'll feel bad about this if new S2.5 owners join SE and read this

[PhilA]

looking at it again 2nite...
its not bad.
some of it is quite nice inplaces.
its different to the pre-facelift... it does freshen things up. Actually do quite like the front... hehe

nice if the indicators dont pop out any more!

looks like they have taken away the sharp edges - the grills on the side, the grills on the back that did nothing (tho they did say they were there incase things got too hot with future development and they didnt want the cost of retooling.
I guess they have done a last bit of development power-plant wise and decided to get rid of unnessary detail.
-2 bits of plastic onthe back, for instance.

/had the trapped nerve in the neck and been in pain all day faction, and thats my grumpy excuse

[Corranga]

I'll feel bad about this if new S2.5 owners join SE and read this

Won't be too bad, certainly no worse than Mini forums were when MINI owners started signing up! The Elise doesn't have 40 years of heritage behind it. New cars are often a bit like this, when I first saw the Evora I wasn't convinced, it wasn't until I saw it in the flesh that I thought it was a gooooood looking car!

Chris

[Stumpy Nugget]

I have to admit the S1 was the car I fell in love with, however, by the time I could get my mitts on an Elise all the good S1's were gone and I fell for the S2.. looking at the S3 I actually like it.. I would still buy an S1 over both the S2 and S3 but I think Lotus has got a good product here which will sell well and hopefully make them lots of money. I wonder if the S3 comes with self tapping screws holding in vital parts of the body work like my S2...

[Andy G]

i think most of the dissapointment is surrounding the fact that they have merely "updated" the original, rather than create a new version.

As for the Esprit - if thats epic, I'll be having one.........and Uncle Ron is to blame for that! (had an S2 when i was 9-16 and i LOVED it)

[BiggestNizzy]

It's an end of life facelift with a new engine in the base model, that preoduces similar power figures.

I am not in the position to buy a new one so my opinions don't really matter but it might suit the demographic that is actually buying new cars better, we all want lighter, faster, cars even if it's just to go ooohhhh when we see them but that might not be whats selling.

MMC will have a better idea of what people want. If Graeme thinks he can shift them then it's a good car.

[PrAzZz]

http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/photos.aspx ... =152191581

[gorrie]

6.7 secs ???

[BiggestNizzy]

6.7 secs ???

geared for economy (and probably to flog close ratio gearboxes ) old one did it in 6.1

[Mikie711]

If it turns out that all these "facts" are indeed true then it's not that far removed from the original is as much as it's a small light (ish) 2 seat sports car for having fun in. If the base model is 130bhp then it's going to be on par with an S1 for performance without the woes of the rover engine. If they have managed to transfer any of the Evora's ride quality over to the new car and it's not such a crashy ride then even better.
It's was always going to be heavier than an S1 because of the export market, no way Lotus are going to stop selling to the USA after all, wouldn't be surprised to find out that they bought more S2's than us.
Personally I like it, but will obviously wait to see it in the flesh before making up my mind completely (and waiting to see what engine options are available along with the cost!!). But first impressions are good.
I hope it's a huge success for them and attracts more people to the marque enabling Lotus to reinvest for the future.

My 2p.

[GBOBM]

Here's my thinking on what Lotus are up to:

I think that lotus are trying to produce a mass market car to keep themselves in business.
They have used a 1.6L engine so that it's more fuel economical, but probably will make it a much lower insurance group which opens up a new market for them.

Once they have sold loads of them and start attacking the MX5 market they will bring out a few bonkers versions that are stripped out, with more power and are more like the lotus's we all know and love.

[Stevoraith]

6.7 secs ???

I wouldn't take that as gospel.

The evo link that someone posted earlier says 6.0 which seems more likey given the power and weight (and the fact that 6.7s drops it back down to hot hatch territory and that would be no good for the marketing men).