RE: Lotus Elise 20th Anniversary launched

[Fury1630]

moribund said:

windy1 said:

Performance through light weight I thought used to be their motto.
It's a shame, with the advancement in lightweight materials & taking the unneccessary fat off structures by design simulation, the current elise isn't much lighter than the series 1 car. It should be at least 200kg lighter by now I'd have thought.

They had engineering and computers in the 90's too you know, the original was hardy dripping with excess weight. Where does 200kg come off ~775kg and still end up with an road-legal everyday car with doors, roof and boot? Unless you want a Caterham, which Caterham already do quite well?

Honestly.

Ahem, my Fisher Fury, doors - check, roof - check, boot - check (OK, no boot lid, but it has a boot), it also has an iron engine, gearbox & bell housing, a steel chassis & heavy Peugeot wheels.

600Kg

[otolith]

Elise chassis;



Fury chassis;

[moribund]

Certainly don't see any issues at all getting that type-approved with a 3 year warranty.

[amare32]

I ran an S2 111S between 2002 and 2004 and that was lightweight at c750kg. Where on earth did that extra 140kg come from?

[SidewaysSi]

MarshPhantom said:

SidewaysSi said:

MarshPhantom said:

SidewaysSi said:

otolith said:

Predictably amusing comments on price - 1996 S1 Elise was £18,950. Inflation adjusted that's £31,786. Current entry level Elise is £30,900.

They were never cheap.

Exactly. As good value as the original.

But my Mercedes costs pretty much the same today as it did in 1990.

One's a mass produced german car and the other a specialist sports car. Not really the same are they? Besides, which do you think is cheaper to run in the long term. It is not the Mercedes. Not by a long way.

Not sure what mass production or running costs has to do with anything.

Strange post.

I am sure the quality of more recent Mercs is not near what they were when the W124 was made. Also Merc will have far more power over suppliers etc due to production numbers.

You either get the Elise or you don't. For those who don't, there are plenty of sporty looking German options available for less money.

[otolith]

amare32 said:

I ran an S2 111S between 2002 and 2004 and that was lightweight at c750kg. Where on earth did that extra 140kg come from?

I think the Toyota engine is itself heavier, even without the supercharger fitted to this car. The subframe for the Toyota engines is heavier. The Toyota engined cars have a brake servo and ABS. Later cars have more sound insulation. Bits and pieces of weight gain over the years, many of which I suspect could have been avoided, but it's only a kilo here, a kilo there...

[RYH64E]

The current 1.6 has a quoted weight of 876kg and the 1.8S weighs in at 924kg, so that's 48kg for 200cc and a supercharger! Not sure what other differences there are between the two models.

[DeuxCentCinq]

RYH64E said:

The current 1.6 has a quoted weight of 876kg and the 1.8S weighs in at 924kg, so that's 48kg for 200cc and a supercharger! Not sure what other differences there are between the two models.

Surely it should be less weight for more ccs? It's a bigger hole!

[otolith]

RYH64E said:

The current 1.6 has a quoted weight of 876kg and the 1.8S weighs in at 924kg, so that's 48kg for 200cc and a supercharger! Not sure what other differences there are between the two models.

They're different engine families (1ZR-FAE, 2ZR-FE + supercharger) not sure how much different the weights are. Different gearboxes too, for what it's worth.

The weights the Lotus website quotes are 876kg for the 1.6, 896kg for the S CR, 924kg for the S and 914kg for this car which replaces the S CR.

I suspect that the weight for the S CR is without a roof.

[RYH64E]

otolith said:

They're different engine families (1ZR-FAE, 2ZR-FE + supercharger) not sure how much different the weights are. Different gearboxes too, for what it's worth.

The weights the Lotus website quotes are 876kg for the 1.6, 896kg for the S CR, 924kg for the S and 914kg for this car which replaces the S CR.

I suspect that the weight for the S CR is without a roof.

The S-CR weight savings are:


For road use I'd add most of them back in anyway, I could save more weight than some of those options by skipping lunch and having a good dump before setting off...

I haven't really noticed the extra weight compared to my old S1, and I do appreciate things like air conditioning and extra sound insulation. The Elise is still a very small and light car, if I wanted smaller and lighter I'd look at something like a Caterham.

[otolith]

"Shower cape" - yep, no roof!

Bit cheeky listing that as a weight reduction, given that the roof removes completely on all Elises...

[TheSundaydriver]

Lets see the kerb weights of all those German cars for similar money ...? ....???

Alfa 4C is a great effort, and a great looker too , and Mazda have done a great job on the Mk4 MX5 with kerb weight,
and low c of g too. They deserve a lot of praise, and it'll attract more petrol heads with the looks being more macho.

There is no substitute for a low kerb weight imho, and I love my S1. If I have to sell it to cut costs I'd take another Mk1 Mx5 please, so around 900kg , that's still pretty good without going back to 70s or 80s cars.

Fury has been on my wish list , more so than a Caterham infact, but I'd want a full cage ... my S1 even without modern fangled airbags seems very safe in terms of crash safety, and has a good roll bar and windscreen pillars to protect occupants in a slow rollover I'd guess.
As a package for a weekend toy an S1 is amazing fun, and I use it pretty much every weekend, I doubt a Caterham would
be out of my garage quite so much, and the best enjoyment comes from using your car, not from garaging it :-)

[benters]

errrr

let us embrace the fact that Lotus are still around making cars what ever the weight gain, price gain might be over the original.

Hopefully they will get themselves in a position to launch a new model sometime soon too.

[RYH64E]

What they lack in new models they appear to be trying to make up for with Special Editions, I pity the dealers if they're expected to keep updating their demo fleet (or perhaps that's part of the plan...).