Yup buddy gave me the keys and let me take it for coffee run. First thing I notice its more PITA to get in than my caged FD and I am only 5'6''. Second the steering sucks ***** big time feels heavier than a 1st gen. Over all feels great handles great but it was a snail.

I though the weight to power ratio it would be fast but in reality its more of a suspension tuned light compact car.

anyone else been in a lotus before?

OH almost forgot no coffee cups fawk i burned myself holding the coffee !

 

I've always wonder how those Lotus feel. I think to really feel some kinda power, you're gonna need to SC or Turbo it.

 

yeah i convinced him to let me use it at a track day we will see how that goes. In all reallity if it was boosted i think it would be a fun car but in stock form its more like a overpriced miata with smaller interior.

So i was searching on lotus talk for him because he doesnt know anything about it. When i took it for a spin it has rev limit at 6k rpms WTF! So it turns out Lotus and toyota didnt get all the kinks fixed on their vvti crap so any MAF sensor issues, dirty filiter, low oil, or worn cam bolts will blow the cam fuse or ecu fuse at any WOT pull.

Its a beast 3rd gear 6k rpms on a turn .

 

haha. that's crazy dude. I was actually looking at buying this 05' turbo silver one in the LA area not too long ago. But you're right, the car is overprice. $30k or so for a stock one... I would rather spend that on a Viper or a badazz FD.

 

My buddy has one. He let me drive it the second day of ownership. The Elise is practically a streetable go-kart. There's no room for anything in that car, barley enough for one driver lol. It handles quite well as you could imagine. Like some of you had mentioned, it is definitely over priced. The Exige, well that's whole different beast

 

Elise is the base chassis mule for the Tesla, isn't it?

 

yuppers

 

Toyoyta Celica GT-S VVTL-i motor too...

180hp...wwwheeeeee....

>_>

 

I drove this one once. Probably one of the fastest cars I have ever experienced.

 

when's Lotus festival @ Echo Park?

 

If the car sucks that bad, I would want to build a kit car for that price.

 

Is that the twincharged one I've seen on youtube?

I bet the steering is meant to feel heavy. Do they even have PS? I wish my speed sensitive PS in my FC gave me more feedback.

Anyone asking for creature comforts in an Elise / Exige is missing the point. The steering is meant to feel heavy. There shouldn't be a stereo or AC (or ABS, but I don't know if thats an optional delete). The car is meant to be too low. There shouldn't be much room in the cabin.

I am surprised at the little problems due to the Toyota engine to british chassis swap you guys have mentioned.

 

true but overpriced and to mention 80% of the car is not all Lotus. i has toyota,BMW, bek and anley.etc...........

Plus not to mention the issues they have from failing ECUs to rev limits due to 50 cent bolts that have to be replaced everytime.

 

Yes, It is as fast as the video looks too. Its running an estimated 550? whp. I used to know where the dyno sheets on it were but the sites down. Its fast. Really fast haha!

 

Yeah, Air-Water Intercooled I saw that grey thing last weekend at Supercar Sunday, it's a bit strange looking in person, and all the work and Fiber Panels look like they'd fly off in a strong wind... Not my cup of tea...

Cool to hear it drives fast though....

-DC

 

This is the twincharged Exige he is talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=big-JSvi9bI

 

That's off mulholland at the snake.

I ran into the owner there at that same location. Cool guy. I tried to convince him to run meth injection. =D

 

Oh WOW. He almost wrecked his Exige from a Hoosier blowout. So damn lucky.

 

^ No kidding. He must have so much money into that car between the bodywork and pioneering the twincharged setup for Exiges.

 

awesome vid.

 

Lotus' have always been a more suspension driver oriented car. most models were never really very powerful regardless of their low curb weight, they're still dogs. i would compare them to a miata, they're just a bit more flashy and expensive.

 

Yeah the owners name is Frank. Totally cool dude. Some where around 150k in the car. He has lost at least 3 motors, one i had to reinstall... 3 transmissions before swapping to the 3sgte mr2 trans and breaking one of those also. I think the turbo count is up to five. He has swapped rims more times than i remember, and anything that can be dry carbon is.

 

dude was hella lucky... me the wifey decided to rent one for the weekend in Vegas once. This was back in 2006. Handling was very good. But power feels like my old V-Tech I used to drive back in Highschool.

 

lmfao i've always wanted to drive one of those... you can probably floor it thru corners

 

I am a newbie to RX7 FD so I can't say much about RX7s or for Lotus for that matter. However take a look at SCCA AutoX Solo2 National results, in Super Stock trim against Z06 or 997 GT3s, they are beating those cars. That tells you about the suspension setup on Elise / Exige...