Lotus Elise 111s or Honda S2000

[Ozzie Osmond]

workid1 said:

I want a raw, fun driving experience, so I am more drawn to the Elise,

Precisely.

[Riknos]

S2000 is a good daily driver that is reliable, easy to use, but masses of fun and performance when you need it - more so than most drivers can exploit.

For a pure weekend only car? Elise easily over the s2000 (owned my s2k for over 2 years).

[Mike29]

Boydie88 said:

Get a supercharged VX220. The extra weight (over an Elise S2 - which I'm not even sure is true, I think Elise owners just liek trying to justify the extra spend) is virtually negligible for road use and you will also have ridiculous straight line speed.

This
Quicker than a SCd exige s2, more torque, half the price and has soft top (not all exigeshave soft top kits)

[Mike29]

Ozzie Osmond said:

workid1 said:

I want a raw, fun driving experience, so I am more drawn to the Elise,

Precisely.

But not a Toyota elise right? Otherwise you might as well have a SCd VX

[AyBee]

Elise It just feels more special. The only reason I'd get an S2000 is if I had a smaller budget.

[Mike29]

AyBee said:

Elise It just feels more special. The only reason I'd get an S2000 is if I had a smaller budget.

Owned both
The supercharged vx220 is laugh out loud fast along with correct exhaust for pops and bangs (tullet) is hilarious.
Couldn't give a toss what make the car is at full chat with the epic noise

[billzeebub]

interesting thread. I have owned 3 Boxsters consecutively as daily drivers, looking to switch to either an Elise or TVR Chim

[kambites]

One other thing to bear in mind with 111-based cars is that very few are still standard.

Out of the box, the VX220 handles quite a lot worse that the Elise. The single biggest difference seems to be the wheels - the VX had the same diameter wheels at the front and back where the Elise and Exige had smaller fronts than rears (although Vauxhall swapped to the Lotus setup for the VXR). For some reason I don't quite understand, this makes huge difference to how the car feels.

Aside from the weight difference and difference in power delivery characteristics you can make any 111-based car handle like any other by swapping bits around because they're basically the same car underneath.


Of course whilst this huge amount of choice is an advantage for an owner, it makes things thoroughly confusing for a potential buyer because every car will be different.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 13th August 11:31