Just been in an Elise
Discussion
SVA and Type approval are diffierent but I think there are certain things you can do before it needs to go into full type approval again. The reason I mention this was that I know the first run s160 was limited run due to the law (I was told that it was a limitation on numbers of cars allowed to be SVAed by a manufacturer). The Exige however wasn't a limited run as you could order extras etc. as you wished and there was no push of this is "only one of...
As far as I know the S2 is a completely new car so it had to do type approval anyway so why keep the k-series in standard form?
As far as I know the S2 is a completely new car so it had to do type approval anyway so why keep the k-series in standard form?
perhaps it was simply down to cost of the engine.Maybe the bods at Lotus thought it may be a bad move to pass on a substancial cost per vehicle.I dare say there would be an extra few thousand pounds involved.
Maybe they got it wrong and didn't realise they would get more buyers if they put a Honda 2.2vtec lump in it(or some other fine engine)
I know if they are similar to rover group then every pound matters.I remember trying to change a set of bolts to stainless steel on a defender design and i nearly got shot'it added £16 to the vehicle cost....that was so absurd and incomprehensable to even sugest,i felt like an alien!!gulp,so much for budding enthusiastic engineer trying to make good.
Maybe they got it wrong and didn't realise they would get more buyers if they put a Honda 2.2vtec lump in it(or some other fine engine)
I know if they are similar to rover group then every pound matters.I remember trying to change a set of bolts to stainless steel on a defender design and i nearly got shot'it added £16 to the vehicle cost....that was so absurd and incomprehensable to even sugest,i felt like an alien!!gulp,so much for budding enthusiastic engineer trying to make good.
You're very probably right, certainly gets my vote.
stainless steel bolt thing. Let me guess it would have made servicing the car easier etc. The amount of times I've looked at something and gone now why didn't they.... and the amount of times I skinned my knuckles and said "goodness me, if they'd fitted that there where theres more space I wouldn't have done that" (or something similar )
I have to laugh as I once knew someone in car engineering like you, and the amount of times he was p*ssed off because the manager has skimped on a few pounds which would have made the world of difference. Keep up the good work its appreciated by the people that matter.
>> Edited by smeagol on Monday 11th November 23:05
stainless steel bolt thing. Let me guess it would have made servicing the car easier etc. The amount of times I've looked at something and gone now why didn't they.... and the amount of times I skinned my knuckles and said "goodness me, if they'd fitted that there where theres more space I wouldn't have done that" (or something similar ) I have to laugh as I once knew someone in car engineering like you, and the amount of times he was p*ssed off because the manager has skimped on a few pounds which would have made the world of difference. Keep up the good work its appreciated by the people that matter.
>> Edited by smeagol on Monday 11th November 23:05
If you watch the "making of the elise" video, you will find out that Rover was actually the only company that would talk to them (all the others they approached weren't interested) and that it was a simple choice to meet the £19,000 target price that the original car was targetted at.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Great video by the way - well worth buying it if you have an elise or are interested in Lotus.
J
The rest, as they say, is history.
Great video by the way - well worth buying it if you have an elise or are interested in Lotus.
J
Car manufacturers have always been the same. Only consider putting 'em together, not too worried how they take apart. Consider inaccessibility of many basic service items - trained snake and degree in contortion pre-requisites.
On subject of videos/dvd - bought latest Duke offering on Lotus from Halfords at w/e - recommend it - much Elise/Exige footage - Christmas stocking filler?
On subject of videos/dvd - bought latest Duke offering on Lotus from Halfords at w/e - recommend it - much Elise/Exige footage - Christmas stocking filler?
Capt Muppet - yep, more than a grain of truth in what you say - its all cost driven these days and as buyers we drive manufacturers to reduce costs - must remember this next time change oil filter or adjust alternator belt on M100 rather than curse Lotus/Isuzu (and yes I know engine wasn't designed to go in M100 originally). Still can have my moan tho'!!
yep,its the sheer amount of bull shit from the people who make the decisions that made me leave the motor industry and do something totally different.Ive seen vehicles that could be potentially great ruined because it would require a skilled person to fit it on the line and they won't employ skilled people in assembly.Also,rather than work to good tolerance's,lets put an obround hole in eh!The last straw was seeing that most employees are only interested in going home.
Which is why its so good to speak to enthusiastic people on this forum.If everyone here got together to build a car i dare say it would be as good as any other manufacturer's.
Which is why its so good to speak to enthusiastic people on this forum.If everyone here got together to build a car i dare say it would be as good as any other manufacturer's.
Money, money, money is all the time the driver these days.
I have worked for Ford for the last 5 years (just about to try another OEM) and I pity any supplier that has to deal with Ford at present. But I am not sure ford are unique, I just use it as an example because I work for them.
Compare a Focus now and when it was newly launched and it is cheaper. But the cost has been driven out primarily through the suppliers.
A lot of the cost in producing a car these days is not in the individual components but in the unseen work carried out in testing, legislation, meetings about meetings, etc, etc. Unfortunately unavoidable these days.
The consumer plays their part in the final product in that we want the latest gadgets and technology, so the manufacturers oblige and give us a new / freshened model every 6 months which people rush out to buy.
The manufacturer pays little attention to what work and how it will be done on the vehicle much past the vehicle warranty life.
Ok, expensive repairs on 5 - 10 year old vehicles does not do well for resale values (which are important), but the automotive vehicle is fast getting drawn into the throw away / use once culture that is evident with most other material goods.
These observations mostly apply to the large mainstream manufacturers, but of course the smaller / specialist ones are getting drawn into this as their vehciles have to appeal to a wider audience to get the sales required to survive.
I guess the real benefit of being a smaller manufacturer, i.e. TVR, is that one man is in charge and if a decision needs to be made it could be done quicker with less internal conflicts.
(sorry to bore, correct me if I'm wrong).
I have worked for Ford for the last 5 years (just about to try another OEM) and I pity any supplier that has to deal with Ford at present. But I am not sure ford are unique, I just use it as an example because I work for them.
Compare a Focus now and when it was newly launched and it is cheaper. But the cost has been driven out primarily through the suppliers.
A lot of the cost in producing a car these days is not in the individual components but in the unseen work carried out in testing, legislation, meetings about meetings, etc, etc. Unfortunately unavoidable these days.
The consumer plays their part in the final product in that we want the latest gadgets and technology, so the manufacturers oblige and give us a new / freshened model every 6 months which people rush out to buy.
The manufacturer pays little attention to what work and how it will be done on the vehicle much past the vehicle warranty life.
Ok, expensive repairs on 5 - 10 year old vehicles does not do well for resale values (which are important), but the automotive vehicle is fast getting drawn into the throw away / use once culture that is evident with most other material goods.
These observations mostly apply to the large mainstream manufacturers, but of course the smaller / specialist ones are getting drawn into this as their vehciles have to appeal to a wider audience to get the sales required to survive.
I guess the real benefit of being a smaller manufacturer, i.e. TVR, is that one man is in charge and if a decision needs to be made it could be done quicker with less internal conflicts.
(sorry to bore, correct me if I'm wrong).
Has anyone read letters of complaint/moans in press recently (esp Driving in Sunday Times) about Mercedes, esp new S series. They have now become v unreliable (by Merc standards admittedly) due to, it is suggested, outsourcing more and more of the components from Far East, result Quality Control has gone down the pan. Shows dangers of cheapening the product tho'- difficult to regain reputation once lost - manufacturers beware!!!!
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