Friday 9th April 2010

Elise Claims Lowest Emissions Record

Updated Lotus makes light of soaring fuel prices

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Make mine a skinny latte...

Lotus has revealed that its new 2011 Elise has been certified with an emissions figure of 149g of CO2/km - a reduction of 16% over the previous Lotus Elise S, meaning the Elise has the lowest CO2 for its performance level for any petrol-fuelled sportscar in the world.

Lotus maintains that not only does this low emissions figure give a greener drive with less guilt (Less what? Ed.) but it also relates directly to fuel consumption with the new Elise turning in an impressive figure of 56.1mpg (extra urban). That means the Lotus Elise can theoretically travel 500 miles on one tank of fuel - the equivalent of London to Aberdeen.

Are there any doughnuts left?

"World leading emissions and economy figures are a direct result of our commitment to core values of performance through light weight and efficiency," Lotus says. "The Elise weighs just 876kg and to put this weight into perspective, a nameless convertible sportscar from Stuttgart (Germany) weighs in at 1335kg."

"Aerodynamics have been improved by 4% and a new super efficient, 1.6 litre 4 cylinder VVT-I engine has been installed which is 200cc smaller than the engine in the outgoing Lotus Elise S and produces the same power. And the performance figures speak for themselves: 0-60 mph in 6.0 seconds and 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds."

Well done chaps, we're all very proud!

[Frimley111R]

56mpg and a sports car? You can have your cake and eat it!

[GTRene]

Good work Lotus.

now were are the new fast models

[Fidgits]

i'd still rather have the SC though.

[Altrezia]

Ah I miss my old elise :/

[soad]

Good on them, bloody nice cars they make too.

[300bhp/ton]

Does the Elise meet US crash saftey tests and the 5mph impact reg yet though, or do they still sell them under exemption??

[BoRED S2upid]

Frimley111R said:

56mpg and a sports car? You can have your cake and eat it!

I'd eat my hat nevermind cake if you can regularly achieve 56mpg. The temptation to squeeze the throttle a little bit harder or change at 3,500 instead of 2,500 would kill you.

[spud989]

If they can get anything like that with the quicker models they'll be onto a big winner.

[juansolo]

300bhp/ton said:

Does the Elise meet US crash saftey tests and the 5mph impact reg yet though, or do they still sell them under exemption??

I *think* they've been federalised from 2007 (when they got airbags).

[kambites]

Frimley111R said:

56mpg and a sports car? You can have your cake and eat it!

56mpg extra urban. The 111S's figure was 52mpg so it's hardly ground breaking.

[soad]

BoRED S2upid said:

Frimley111R said:

56mpg and a sports car? You can have your cake and eat it!

I'd eat my hat nevermind cake if you can regularly achieve 56mpg. The temptation to squeeze the throttle a little bit harder or change at 3,500 instead of 2,500 would kill you.

Eaxctly. Would be a shame not to push a bit such a fine sports car at times.

[TTwiggy]

Seems to have lost 0.1sec of the 0-60 time from the outgoing S (not that that means anything in the real world)

[Frimley111R]

soad said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Frimley111R said:

56mpg and a sports car? You can have your cake and eat it!

I'd eat my hat nevermind cake if you can regularly achieve 56mpg. The temptation to squeeze the throttle a little bit harder or change at 3,500 instead of 2,500 would kill you.

Eaxctly. Would be a shame not to push a bit such a fine sports car at times.

LOL, I can tell you that, as an Elise owner, what you CAN achieve is nothing like what you WILL achieve.

[soad]

I can only imagine - why miss out on all the fun.

[Mattt]

300bhp/ton said:

Does the Elise meet US crash saftey tests and the 5mph impact reg yet though, or do they still sell them under exemption??

I thought the 5mph silly looking bumper thing was a Canadian requirement?

[topless_mx5]

Fidgits said:

i'd still rather have the SC though.

Question - if you bought this Elise, and then supercharged it would you still end up paying the lower tax rate?

[juansolo]

topless_mx5 said:

Fidgits said:

i'd still rather have the SC though.

Question - if you bought this Elise, and then supercharged it would you still end up paying the lower tax rate?

Even if it did, I'm pretty sure the difference would be more than made up for in the increase in insurance premium.

[adycav]

Any news on price?

[MIP1983]

topless_mx5 said:

Fidgits said:

i'd still rather have the SC though.

Question - if you bought this Elise, and then supercharged it would you still end up paying the lower tax rate?

Yes. But probably a daft insurance premium.

[FHCNICK]

"0-60 mph in 6.0 seconds and 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds."

That means it takes .5 secs just to get from 60-62 mph