RE: Driven: New Lotus Elise 1.6

[Europa1]

UncappedTag said:

Stu_00 said:

KenBlocksPants said:

Gary C said:

UncappedTag said:

I'm staggered at the price these plastic pigs go for. £27.5k for a fibreglass body with a 1.6 mass produced engine.

And to think the RS gets some stick being £25k

Is it me or do these not offer any value for money whatsoever.

Its you

Nope me too.

£27k is far to much for this really.

Granted its not cheap, but then what is now. Its going to be better to own than an Asbo RS....Plus with the added benefit you can run it on the track and wont each tyres/pads like an RS would....

Still I am biased - I would rather walk than buy an RS

But personally why not shift production overseas. I do not give two hoots that it's been handbuilt somewhere in the countryside in Norfolk. To be honest I have no idea what the reliability of these the modern day Lotus, but my dad had a Excel from new and I always recall it always being off the road due to something failing. He wrote it off in the end and kindly declined another one!

The 1,200-odd people who work at the factory give a damn sight more than 2 hoots that it's built in Norfolk. As a country where manufacturing is gradually being replaced by "service industries" we should all also care an enormous amount that what is widely regarded as one of the world's best-handling marques and most innovative manufacturers (where would the Aston extruded aluminium platform be without the S1 Elise) is based here.

[Rawwr]

edo said:

The car isn't for you. It isn't all about straight line speed. Drive an Elise and you might get the point a bit better.

What about those of us who have driven one or two Elises in our time and still think this is a pointless vehicle?

[soad]

I like it - wouldn't buy it new (or many other cars), def. can see owning a used example.

[edo]

Rawwr said:

edo said:

The car isn't for you. It isn't all about straight line speed. Drive an Elise and you might get the point a bit better.

What about those of us who have driven one or two Elises in our time and still think this is a pointless vehicle?

You are of course entitled to your opinion - just remember - just because a car isn't for you, does not make it pointless.

It isnt any slower than the S1 you owned martin...

Edited by edo on Thursday 15th April 14:10

[jatinder]

dylan0451 said:

jatinder said:

What a load of ste, options aside, why would you want to buy this?

It's barely faster than my integra. If at all.

If you want save the planet buy a telsa or a Golf Tdi

i do agree with you, if you're a straight line hero then this is pretty pathetic. but then so is a teggy or indeed anything that doesn't run on meth and get to 200mph in 3 seconds

does it really matter what model of elise you buy (HGF issues aside) ? if you treat it as the design was intended? i would think any of them have well enough power for their chassis capability be it on road or track, sure you'll loose out on the straights but unless you live in holland that's not really a problem!

I would imagine it handles quite well, having seen elises' being driven properly no doubt about that. Just seems like very soon it will just another GT car. The elise filled a very important niche in the market. I just hope they don't forget that.

[Rawwr]

edo said:

You are of course entitled to your opinion - just remember - just because a car isn't for you, does not make it pointless.

The car for me is a £500 shed on the verge of exploding and unrelated to my opinion. Honest.

[Rawwr]

edo said:

It isnt any slower than the S1 you owned martin...

Or any quicker.

[Oddball RS]

How much?

[edo]

Rawwr said:

edo said:

It isnt any slower than the S1 you owned martin...

Or any quicker.

So?

If you want straight line speed then an Elise (or Exige) of any flavour is not the best place to go.

[Rawwr]

edo said:

If you want straight line speed then an Elise (or Exige) of any flavour is not the best place to go.

I believe you may have said that already.

[Yeast Lord]

Oddball RS said:

How much?

Too much. It should be £19995 plus options.

This ferrari guy, comes to lotus and this is what he brings us - a lesser car for more money.

[Fidgits]

how is it a lesser car if its just as quick as the last S?

[JADCampbell]

I'd really like them to offer a very basic spec Elise again. I have no problem with the 1.6 engine, if it's in a car that is under 750kg and a bit closer to the lightweight ethos.

They need to rip out some of the luxury, sound deadening, floor mats etc so that people have the option of spending £23-25K on a 100kg lighter version of this car. I'm just not sure that it's possible to save that weight without some major re-engineering. If that's true then it's a shame after all the engineering attention that was lavished on the S1, right down to individual component weights...

I think Lotus should be applauded for trying to make something environmentally relevant and still fun. It's good PR for sportscars as a whole if they are shown to be "caring" about the environment. If you don't like it, buy a more powerful model, (once they've decided what will replace the Toyota 1.8 engine).

Edited by JADCampbell on Thursday 15th April 14:28

[kambites]

Yeast Lord said:

Oddball RS said:

How much?

Too much. It should be £19995 plus options.

This ferrari guy, comes to lotus and this is what he brings us - a lesser car for more money.

20k? Never going to happen without massively cutting back on the quality improvements that Lotus have worked so hard for.

They could perhaps produce a version without all the NVH stuff, etc. which would be a few grand cheaper, but I doubt it would sell.

This is cheaper in real terms than the 20k that the original Elise cost in 1996. I know other cars have got cheaper, faster than the Elise, but to some extent that's the nature of economies of scale.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 15th April 14:32

[mg_dot]

RenesisEvo said:

Is that a cup-holder I see in that bottom picture?

Sadly if it helps the car sell, then so be it, the more they sell, the more likely they are to keep building it.

The prototype S2 Elise I saw years ago had a quite prominant cupholder:

http://www.hazelnet.org/m250/m250/pages/cup%20hold...

[edo111s]

kambites said:

noodleman said:

The weights quoted in this story are wrong.

876KG does not include a 75KG driver. It may include fluids but definitely not the driver.

Oh yeah, didn't spot that. Lotus definitely don't include a driver in their weights.

It's really difficult to compare weights because manufacturers tend not to tell how they have been measured.
Surely now fluids must be considered - dry weight is no longer considered.

wikipedia says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weight
".. Kerb weight (UK/Commonwealth English) is the total weight of a vehicle with standard equipment, all necessary operating consumables (e.g. motor oil and coolant), a full tank of fuel, while not loaded with either passengers ...
This definition may differ from definitions used by governmental regulatory agencies or other organizations, for example, many European Union manufacturers include the weight of a 75 kilogram driver to follow European Directive 95/48/EC...."

I know that when Lotus introduced the Toyota engine, weights went up, because of the engine and the steel frame required. Until then however the weight of an S2 was not much more than an S1.

[MrTappets]

Hmmm no, I see why they did it. If there was anything wrong with the old Elise it was the atractive styling, cheap price and (relatively) torquey lightweight engine.

And the 28k price tag. Good car? For sure, but 28k good? 22k would make it a very attractive proposition.

[Captain Vantage]

Why will Lotus not offer a reasonably priced car?! The MX-5 which in 2.0 form is more than capable of keeping with a base model Elise is only £18,000. So why would anyone pay over £25,000!! for a car that's slower, less well equipped and even less practical! Like the man said, there is a lot of much faster hot hatches available for that kind of money. Once Britain was spoilt for choice for fun - good value two seater sports cars, MG's, Triumphs etc. Come on Lotus, lets have the glory days back and build a fun two seater for real people.

[Fittster]

Captain Vantage said:

Why will Lotus not offer a reasonably priced car?! The MX-5 which in 2.0 form is more than capable of keeping with a base model Elise is only £18,000. So why would anyone pay over £25,000!! for a car that's slower, less well equipped and even less practical! Like the man said, there is a lot of much faster hot hatches available for that kind of money. Once Britain was spoilt for choice for fun - good value two seater sports cars, MG's, Triumphs etc. Come on Lotus, lets have the glory days back and build a fun two seater for real people.

Can you back that up with list prices for MG B and Triumphs TR6s with the list prices of family saloons made at the same time?

[Peeved]

Yeast Lord said:

Oddball RS said:

How much?

Too much. It should be £19995 plus options.

+1. That would certainly make me interested.

Can't quite square the price on that one.