Woodsport producing a budget Lotus..?!

[biteme]

Going back to the Evora / MR2 thing, we are comparing a 2+2 to a 2 seater, so its not really fair......!?

However, regarding a late-2000's Lotus shiteing over any MR2.....?!

Nah!
(STANDARD MR2, perhaps....but not a WS-modded one.....:whistle:)

The original Elise was something like 725kg, so even with a crappy k-series @ 118hp, it was still quick, with excellent handling.

The rawness and purity of the earliest Elise has been lost with added weight /emissions / safety regs, etc..

The latest, greatest Elise SC (a late-2000's Lotus!) has a 218hp, M45-SC'd 2ZZ..but it weighs around 900kg and costs £32k..!

Thats a fair comparison with, say, a WS modded Mk3:

£1000 for a non-runner donor.
£6000 for a WS 2GR conversion
£1000 for uprated suspension
£1000 for uprated brakes / aero work.

Total weight will be around 1150kg (?).....power will be an easy, rock-solid 340hp
(Elise SC is non-intercooled, highly tuned 2ZZ).

So for around £9k, you have a "Lotus Eater"....?:thumbsup:

The only way Lotus can really top that is by sticking a 2GR in the S1...?

(Or selling WS-customers the 340R at a special concessionary price of £9K!)
:whistle:

I think we're going to need a separate Group Buy on the Visa's required to enter your world mate.

You cannot honestly compare an MR2 to an Elise in anything other than a straight line - and in that case, the 3SGTE can be tuned to blitz the 2GR.

Woodsport are making a good car better. Lotus have made a great car, period.

[GregLeBon]

LOL!

Yeh, I know.....a 340R for £9k: a little optimistic, perhaps...!:thumbsup:

But the point i'm making is that the original Elise was excellent (except the build quality, that is!), but Lotus have larded it up and not really improved it...?

Indeed they've made it more like an MR2 as time has gone on: the late 2000-s ones have lost the t'original plot......

A lot of companies do this: if the original was so good / perfect as it was...then WHY change it? Why not just carry on making the S1 Elise?

Perhaps it wasn't SO good after all......? A little like the MR2 Mk1, perhaps...?

I know where you're coming from, though! But unfortunately the Elise was all about handling, and thats simply not enough...build quality for one is a requirement...

Unfortunately, people DO spend a lot of time actually going in a straight line....and if things DO go a little wrong, I 'd rather crash in an MR2 than an Elise, any day......

[Diesel Meister]

I like MR2s but the Elise and its deritvatives are better sportscars in absolute terms imo.

That said, the MR2 offers the MR experience for those of us not blessed with an generous company scheme / endowment fund. Plus there's the perverse pleasure in owning something older and lsightly less "blingy" that can still etch a grin on your mug :)

I'll get an Elise one day but it will have to be a slightly bananas one and thus definitely a second car for when I have a bigger toybox (i.e. one with my name on the deeds and a double garage on the side ). The main competition for my AW11 (always fancied one) when I was deciding on a project (besides resurrecting my E30) was an S1 Elise with a K20a. Have a look on youtube. 300bhp per ton, in an Elise chassis? Nuff said.

Unfortunately I don't have the £20k+ spare needed to build a good one properly (brakes suspension etc. plus conversion) or to buy a decent example with the work done (not many come up either).

So I'm doing a half price interpretation of the ballistic MR-compact theme (which as a bonus I can get into without needing to be a contortionist lol ). It might not have the chassis finesse or brand cachet of the elsie but it will be a fun car that will sound awesome, corner well and re-arrange my internal organs every time the throttle hits the stop.

= worthwhile!

[GregLeBon]

I was looking at it from a "bang-for-buck" angle, really...

The "cut-price" solution is IMHO a far more satisfactory one overall?

The cheapest, oldest Elises will set you back £7k+: a decent avarage one around £10k.......

As a daily driver, surely a (selectively) modded MR2 is the thinking mans choice?

As above, you can get a VERY nice modded '2 for £10k...with some change, too....!

You COULD get a VX220 turbo for the same sort of money, mind....?

I would like an Exige one day: I've always fancied a matt black one...MEAN as hell!
But I can't help thinking, for the money it'll cost, I'll be sort of disappointed..?

And I'll probably only have it for abut 6 months, and move it on........















...up to Woodsport for a 2GR....!!!!

[Diesel Meister]

Lotus Elise - "Needs more cowbell." - Christopher Walken

Well, more cylinders anyway lol