Thursday 2nd January 2003

US Elise Plans

Lotus confirm that 2005 Elise will arrive mid 2004

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[Johnny Freon]

Right on. Hope they don't forget Canada.

[Johnny Freon]

paulnederland said: I am so glad that Lotus decided to give so little information and so much room for speculation for the next 2 years to come.
"A range of models will be available following the launch."
Now what could that mean?

Maybe they'll have an estate version

J

[Johnny Freon]

I think the removeable bumper car was the Countach?

The Toyota 2ZZ-GE would be a pretty good choice, but it is quite badly torque-deficient. The Elise is a bit lighter than the Celica though so it should work well.

[Johnny Freon]

You would definitely get some argument about Honda being superior to Toyota in this class (1.8-2.0L). Maybe even some of it from me. Although the S2000 motor is a masterwork. In the V6 class it would be equally as much of a toss-up.

[Johnny Freon]

makes sense to me

[Johnny Freon]

Emissions is a part of it, hence the Toyota engine.

Actually you'd be surprised at how efficient some of the big American engines are. Not that I like them, but they do get a bit of a bad rap.

What I'd be more concerned about as far as changing the Elise are the safety regulations, because those would be the ones requiring changes to the structure (read - added weight).

J