optional package questions---confused me for long time.

[XBOX]

Hi Guys,
Been views the lotus on sale at autotrader for some time,

I found that on elise S/R/SC these 3 models are normally have TOURING PACK on them, very few have optional SPORTS PACK(compared to touring pack) on those models.

but on exige s, it is normally packed with "touring pack," "performance pack," "sports pack" together.

why is that?

i want to buy a elise sc, and packed with touring&sports pack, is it worth it?

any advice wellcome.

thanks a lot

[cyberface]

If you're talking about interior comfort and NVH, I can give some advice.

My last Exige had a Touring Pack but no sports pack.

My current Exige has no Touring Pack, but a Sports Pack, Performance Pack (ignore that), and 'leather seats and cabin carpet'.

There's more carpet in my new car than the old one. There is no cupholder in my new car (thank feck) but the seats and the carpet are the same as you'd get with the Touring Pack.

And as to NVH - one would expect that the Touring Pack would be a lot quieter and more comfortable than a car with just the Sports Pack (especially with the Performance Pack too!)... I can't tell a lot of difference in noise, to be honest, and I've done an 8 hour motorway drive in the new car... no big difference.

Check the rest of the spec. If there are no carpets and the seats are plain cloth then that's the difference... but you can add sports seats and cabin carpet to a non-Touring-Pack car and get pretty much the same effect, from the example of my Exige.

[21TonyK]

The sports pack tends to be more popular on the Exige rather than the Elise. It depends on what you want but if you are looking for something with oil coolers, brakes, decent seats and harnesses then you can do better adding these later.

Are you thinking of a tricked up road car with a bit of track fun, a road car that looks good or a track toy?

[dom180]

XBOX said:

Hi Guys,
Been views the lotus on sale at autotrader for some time,

I found that on elise S/R/SC these 3 models are normally have TOURING PACK on them, very few have optional SPORTS PACK(compared to touring pack) on those models.

but on exige s, it is normally packed with "touring pack," "performance pack," "sports pack" together.

why is that?

i want to buy a elise sc, and packed with touring&sports pack, is it worth it?

any advice wellcome.

thanks a lot

For road use, I'd start off with an SC and just the Touring pack - if you find it too soft, esp. for track use, upgrade to the adjustable LotusSport Ohlins, which seemed to work really well on the road when I tried them - the dampers fitted to the SP aren't all that good imho. Shame to miss out on the forged alloys but you can buy those seperately or buy 240R alloys.

The Sports pack in the Exige differs from the SP for the Elise - the Exige has Bilstein dampers by default (!) but track day peoples buy the SP for the BS4 T45 steel roll-over
hoop.....

Cyberface only thinks he doesn't have a TP fitted..... It's the noise insulation panelling that makes the difference.

[cyberface]

dom180 said:

Cyberface only thinks he doesn't have a TP fitted..... It's the noise insulation panelling that makes the difference.

Not sure what you mean by that... I've got the spec for the car (it was bought new)... no touring pack. Previous Exige had touring pack.

I think all Exiges get the noise insulation panelling as a matter of course, or there'd be a significant difference in NVH between the Touring Pack cars and the Sports Pack cars (assuming one or the other). There isn't - so I reckon my 'non-Touring' car still has a load of NVH stuff in it.

Certainly the weight of the car would indicate that plenty of noise insulation panelling is standard fit to ALL Exiges, regardless of whether you get a Touring Pack or not.

I'm pretty sure you only get a cup holder if you specify the Touring Pack though

[dom180]

cyberface said:

dom180 said:

Cyberface only thinks he doesn't have a TP fitted..... It's the noise insulation panelling that makes the difference.

Not sure what you mean by that... I've got the spec for the car (it was bought new)... no touring pack. Previous Exige had touring pack.

I think all Exiges get the noise insulation panelling as a matter of course, or there'd be a significant difference in NVH between the Touring Pack cars and the Sports Pack cars (assuming one or the other). There isn't - so I reckon my 'non-Touring' car still has a load of NVH stuff in it.

Certainly the weight of the car would indicate that plenty of noise insulation panelling is standard fit to ALL Exiges, regardless of whether you get a Touring Pack or not.

I'm pretty sure you only get a cup holder if you specify the Touring Pack though

You used to be able to opt out of the TP and it made a fair bit of difference noise wise -possibly you still can but need to be adamant when ordering - the cup cars don't have it.... The rumour was that most cars got the noise panneling fitted anyway...

I was only suspicious as yours had a fair few TP options.... Maybe easier to remove the cup-holder than add bespoke bits..... I'd opt for a TP but with the cup-holder removed so sounds like your car's spec is spot on for my taste.

Run in yet?

[cyberface]

dom180 said:

You used to be able to opt out of the TP and it made a fair bit of difference noise wise -possibly you still can but need to be adamant when ordering - the cup cars don't have it.... The rumour was that most cars got the noise panneling fitted anyway...

I was only suspicious as yours had a fair few TP options.... Maybe easier to remove the cup-holder than add bespoke bits..... I'd opt for a TP but with the cup-holder removed so sounds like your car's spec is spot on for my taste.

Well it's got carpets, an iPod radio and special paint. The seats come as part of the Sports Pack IIRC - trim is your choice AFAIK.

It *is* a little bit louder than the previous car, but not by enough for me to say that it's not individual variability between cars, and especially since my new one has the Performance Pack.

But mine is relatively heavy, and the Cup 260 is a good 100 kg lighter, so my guess is that *all* Exiges get the NVH kit and it's only deleted for the Cup cars to get their weight down to an acceptable amount.

dom180 said:

Run in yet?

Swine flu and snow. I'm up to 700 miles so can use 6000 rpm and full throttle, but it's no faster than the previous car *so* far... all the extra 20 bhp is probably between 6000 and 8000 rpm (the old one dropped off torque pretty rapidly above 7000) and that the engine is still tight as a drum.

It really wants to go though... she *really* doesn't want to drive slow and steady...

Need to do another couple of round trips to my Dad in the West Country, that'll sort it

However, one aspect of the lame running-in experience so far is that oddly enough, I've been doing it *properly*. If the weather had been different, if I'd been well, etc. etc. then I'd probably have done a 24 hour red-bull marathon driving round the M25 at 4500 rpm. Which apart from being 90 mph and risking speeding fines, wouldn't have been good for the engine. Instead, I've been doing loads of 'shopping' driving which is across the entire rev-range and across the gearbox, lots of stop-start, lots of up to 60 then back to standstill again... all good for running-in if you believe the manual.

I had to drive into London yesterday to see some kittens (we're getting a couple of Maine Coons) and that journey was a perfect 'running-in' journey as it involved all revs from 0 to 6000 all the time. The bloke in the Scooby Turbo who wanted a race gave a bit of full throttle action, and then the chap in the red Mitsu Evo (with badges on it saying 'SSP Motorsport 400' IIRC) decided to humiliate both of us, nearly taking my rear end off in the process... (I was just about to overtake the Scoob but had seen in the side mirror an aggressive-looking Evo quite a distance back, so did my biker's 'lifesaver' over-the-shoulder to find him an inch off my rear bumper and in the process of overtaking). So I'll use the excuse that I could only use 6000 rpm as to why the Evo walked away from me... when in fact it's because he had a much faster car!

And then, in that area of south east London... another MY2010 orange Exige S flies past the other way. Anyone on here? Couldn't tell whether it was burnt orange or chrome orange but it looked identical to my car So much for individuality

[XBOX]

I think I will surely use my future lotus on the track day(if not, what's the point of buying a lotus?), so the sports pack will be added. but i will also use the car a lot on the road, as i really enjoy driving a car a lot on the twisted mountain and B road just for fun during the weekend.

(1)I would like to ask, which one do u guys recon? the elise sc with sports pack or the exige with sports&performance pack? my bargut is about 30K, so I dont think i can get bran new one for any of them, i probabely can only get a second hand one. imho, the elise has a better rear view as it got the rear window, and i do love convertable car. but the exige has a better performance and it can be easily modified to be an convertable.

(2)in the term of driver's "SPORTS" feel how much better the exige with sports/performance pack compared to elise sc with sports pack?

(3)is it possilbe(or any way) to buy/order one from the lotus factory directly? as it will be cheaper by cutting the middle man(dealer) off.

any advice appreciated.

[XBOX]

any suggestion guys?

[zasker]

I think you'll find in real world driving there is not much between the Elise SC and the Exige S (220)The Exige has slightly more power and more grip but the Elise has a lower COG and is lighter. If you decide on the Exige and fit a soft top will have to bear in mind that this will affect the flow of cooling air through the intercooler. I think you need to have a test drive in both and decide for yourself which suites your requirements best.