This Month's Evo - Great Elise Cup 250 Review

[Vroom101]

This month's Evo magazine plonked onto the door mat this morning and there's a great review by Henry Catchpole of the Elise Cup 250. He really does know how to write a good story - it puts you right in the driver's seat, and makes me want an Elise even more

[Heathrow]

Have to agree - it's a cracking article. Very well penned. His copy seems to get better and better. I spent last Sunday at Hethel and had a drive in a Cup 220 and his comments were spot on too. Incredible car too. I preferred it to the Evora 400 and Exige 350 for track driving at least, and I didn't think I'd ever say that!

[Porsche911R]

I would love a cup250 it's a great thing, just that price is hard to swallow ESP if you want a roof and the carbon aero.
It has a higher price than the older top of the range exige cup260 !

£40k all in it would be in my garage but it's >£50k !! And a cup 220 can be had at £36k now.

Do lotus Motorsport do a cup 220 to cup 250 upgrade ?

[Heathrow]

I'm sure you could upgrade piecemeal but it would be expensive. New supercharger would be required for instance.

Relative to other Elises I agree, it looks expensive (particularly the basic supercharged Elise), but for the comparative rarity and all round package I think it's very good value.

The other thing that's hard to swallow is that it only has a one year warranty. This implies the engine, supercharger, transmission set up may have been pushed to near its limits.

[Thorburn]

Heathrow said:

I'm sure you could upgrade piecemeal but it would be expensive. New supercharger would be required for instance.

I'm 95% sure it uses the same supercharger.

I think the Evora 400 has a different supercharger to the Exige Sport 350/Evora S though.

[Heathrow]

You're correct. It has in fact got a smaller supercharger pulley and a remap compared with the Cup 220.

[Vroom101]

Heathrow said:

Have to agree - it's a cracking article. Very well penned. His copy seems to get better and better.

I agree. In fact I'd happily read Evo if it solely consisted of Catchpole's writing and Smith''s photos. They are a very good team.

[suffolk009]

Agreed, evo is on good form generally at the moment. Hope their office move doesn't upset the output.

Back to Lotus - one thing I can't wrap my head around though is, if I had the money (I don't at the moment, but soon...) would I buy an Elise 250 or an Exige 350?

I haven't seen any head to head articles on them. Stats seem close enough they make little difference.

Is one a B-road basher, and the other a GT to get you to Monaco?

Is there more to it than that?

[Heathrow]

My take is that they are both hugely capable cars but the Elise Cup needs a track to shine. I used to own an Elise SC and you get 80% of the Elise Cup experience with the standard car (I realise the Elise S is slightly different to the SC but you get my drift). If you want a car that rewards the harder you push on track the Cup just keeps giving. But at £10k more it's probably only for the very committed track dayer (or someone who also fancies going racing down the line). The Exige on the other hand is less of a GT - my experience would be that it's quite hardcore in comparison to a Cayman S, say as an every day car it's quite cramped and noisy. It looks and sounds like a mini exotic. Forget the nonsense about it 'only being a Toyota block', it's an excellent engine. It's also hugely capable on track but would likely be more civilised on the road for the most part compared with the Elise Cup. It's not to be underestimated though - it has the power, poise and braking performance to really mix it with the big boys on track. The lack of weight really helps it - just blisteringly quick everywhere! The steering on both cars is equally sublime.

So in summary for me: Elise Cup an absolute gem but very niche, Exige no less special but has a wider appeal.

[Lefty]

I struggle a bit with the Lotus range these days.

It used to be that the Exige was a hardcore, road-legal, hardtop track-special and the Elise was soft-top road car. Now they are blending those differences.

Is there an Elise hardtop? I know there's an Exige softtop.

Is the exige still meant to be more focussed?

Do they still use the same chassis? I seem to recall seeing an exige v6 and it being bigger than I expected.

[Heathrow]

Yep it's a bit confusing! Here's a summary of the road cars you can buy new as of now (ignoring the Evora):

Elise - three models: two are road biased (the entry level 1.6 n/a and the 1.8 supercharged) and one is even more extreme - the track biased Elise Cup 250 (also a 1.8 supercharged)
Exige - three models: Exige 350 coupe and Exige 350 roadster are both road biased (coupe being slightly more hardcore of the two). The track biased Exige Cup 360 is even more extreme.

All Elise models are roadsters as standard but available with a hard top option, and the hard top is removable.

The Exige is also available with a paddleshift automatic.

The Elise and Exige both use the same extruded aluminium chassis architecture, but the Exige has a different rear sub-frame to accommodate the larger capacity engine and gearbox and is longer and wider however the cabins are very similar inside.

[Thorburn]

Lefty said:

I struggle a bit with the Lotus range these days.

It used to be that the Exige was a hardcore, road-legal, hardtop track-special and the Elise was soft-top road car. Now they are blending those differences.

Basically the difference now is the Elise is 4-cylinder, the Exige is a V6.
If anything there is greater differentiation between the Elise and Exige - look at the S1 and you had stuff like the Sport 190 which was basically the same suspension and engine as the S1 Exige. S2 Elise 111R with sport suspension and wider wheels was similarly close to the Exige and a S2 Elise SC with sport suspension and wider wheels would be the same power and setup as an Exige S (although the Exige S got an intercooler)

Lefty said:

Is there an Elise hardtop? I know there's an Exige softtop.

There have almost always been hard-tops available for the Elise. The Exige V6 uses the S2 Elise hardtop infact.

Lefty said:

Is the exige still meant to be more focussed?

I think it comes down to now the Elise Sport/Sport 220 and Exige Sport 350/Sport 350 Roadster are setup primarily for road use. The Cup models of each are more hardcore and track focused.

Lefty said:

Do they still use the same chassis? I seem to recall seeing an exige v6 and it being bigger than I expected.

Same chassis, different wishbones and rear subframe I believe.

[kenny.R400]

I bought my Elise 220 Cup back in January. I've had Lotus and Caterham amongst other sports cars since I was a kid, in fact still got a 7 now.

This little Cup is the best package I've had so far. I can only congratulate Lotus on developing and having the balls to market them. It is the natural successor to the brilliant S2 Exige.

For once I can't ever imagine me parting with it.

[Lefty]

Heathrow said:

stuff

Thorburn said:

more stuff

Thanks, that helped!!!



I have a k20 s1 elise, I really fancy a v6 exige roadster

[Heathrow]

kenny.R400 said:

I bought my Elise 220 Cup back in January. I've had Lotus and Caterham amongst other sports cars since I was a kid, in fact still got a 7 now.

This little Cup is the best package I've had so far. I can only congratulate Lotus on developing and having the balls to market them. It is the natural successor to the brilliant S2 Exige.

For once I can't ever imagine me parting with it.

Can you elaborate? Really interested to learn more. What is it about the car that sets it apart from a regular Elise? How do you find it on the road as opposed to the track?

[kenny.R400]

Hi,apologies. I wasn't directly comparing the Cup to another Elise as I've never owned an Elise SC, I was more meaning against the cars I've actually owned and driven in its class, ie Caterham, Banks Europas, TVR, Porsche and others.

It is such a refined thing for a Lotus, and a lot better finished than Lotus caof 15 years and more back.

Had it out today at a local car meet, accompanied by a fellow PH'r in his Atom.

[Heathrow]

Some pics from my recent Hethel trip.

[foxsasha]

Heathrow said:

The other thing that's hard to swallow is that it only has a one year warranty. This implies the engine, supercharger, transmission set up may have been pushed to near its limits.

The Cups have 1 year warranty but that covers track use. The 3 year warranty on the other cars covers road use only. Nothing to do with components being pushed to point of failure. The Exige Sport runs 350bhp, the 360 Cups 360bhp, the difference will have no significant impact on reliability.

I've got a 360 Cup on order, can't wait. Hoping it will be here in time for our three week euro trip in August

Edited by foxsasha on Saturday 9th July 08:53

[Heathrow]

Looks great. Post up your thoughts ans pics after you take delivery. Does anyone know roughly how many 360 Cups there have been made so far?

[foxsasha]

Heathrow said:

Looks great. Post up your thoughts ans pics after you take delivery. Does anyone know roughly how many 360 Cups there have been made so far?

The manager at my local Lotus dealer said he sold a 360 Cup a few weeks ago and that it was number 42/50. I've got fingers crossed that mine will be 50/50