Lotus: Elise News
01-20-2003, 06:22 PM
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Lotus: Elise News
The Lotus Elise will arrive on our shores as a 2005 model in either April or June 2004, depending on which Lotus executive you speak to. Without releasing specifics, Lotus execs said our Elise will have a more powerful engine than the European model, though torque will be similar to the European engine. Lotus will release more information midyear, including the name of its engine maker.
The V8-powered Esprit will continue into the 2004 model year, ending its 28-year life in early ’04. Lotus said that an all-new Esprit will hit the streets “in a few years time,” with the same name and the same two-seat, mid-engine configuration.
Lotus is also investigating a 2+2 car, “to see what the market’s expecting,” said Tony Shute, head of product in Hethel. Does the market expect an SUV?
01-20-2003, 08:20 PM
#5
Happy CL-S Pilot
How fast is the "Prototype" Hybrid Exige...
Wicked FAST!!!!
Ehmmmm....
0-60 MPH = 3.7 seconds
0-100 MPH = 8.9 seconds
http://www.prototyperacing.com/radar.htm
Wicked FAST!!!!
Ehmmmm....
0-60 MPH = 3.7 seconds
0-100 MPH = 8.9 seconds
http://www.prototyperacing.com/radar.htm
Trending Topics
01-21-2003, 12:48 AM
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Originally posted by CLUofI
sexy bare interior, i like it.
Turbo v-8 please.
sexy bare interior, i like it.
Turbo v-8 please.
Turbo V8?
This car weighs 1760 pounds A 4 cylinder is more than enough to go like a Corvette.
01-21-2003, 12:49 AM
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Originally posted by allmotor_2000
Yup.. RSX Type-R. A friend of mine has that motor in a 97 Civic HB... its pretty darn quick when he took me for a ride!
Yup.. RSX Type-R. A friend of mine has that motor in a 97 Civic HB... its pretty darn quick when he took me for a ride!
01-21-2003, 12:53 AM
#10
Safety Car
Nope
The S2000 motor makes 240hp, the RSX-R motor makes 220hp. The S2000 motor mates to the RWD tranny... I am not sure if that motor mates to the RSX 6-speed. Supposedly the RSX-R head flows better than the S2000. I know for a fact that the RSX motors have more potential for increased horsepower. Just with an intake, header and Hondata chip... its about a 20+hp increase. I know TODA has cams for this as well as individual throttle-bodies under development... so I think 300hp in a race-prepped motor.
10-28-2003, 06:42 AM
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(08:39 Oct. 28, 2003)
Car News briefs: Lotus seeks U.S. safety rule exemption
By AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
WASHINGTON -- Group Lotus PLC wants a three-year exemption from some U.S. safety standards so that it can bring its four-cylinder mid-engine Elise to the United States next year.
Lotus says it has spent $27 million to make the Elise meet U.S. regulations but cannot afford further changes for headlight and bumper standards. It says that a newly engineered Elise, due in 2006, would meet all standards. -HARRY STOFFER
Car News briefs: Lotus seeks U.S. safety rule exemption
By AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
WASHINGTON -- Group Lotus PLC wants a three-year exemption from some U.S. safety standards so that it can bring its four-cylinder mid-engine Elise to the United States next year.
Lotus says it has spent $27 million to make the Elise meet U.S. regulations but cannot afford further changes for headlight and bumper standards. It says that a newly engineered Elise, due in 2006, would meet all standards. -HARRY STOFFER
10-28-2003, 08:47 AM
#15
The sizzle in the Steak
Can't wait!! Elise is HOT!!
10-28-2003, 09:18 AM
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Originally posted by heyitsme
one of the mags did a test drive already, its using the celica gts engine tuned to 190hp i think, lotus tuned ecu, weighs 1900lbs.
one of the mags did a test drive already, its using the celica gts engine tuned to 190hp i think, lotus tuned ecu, weighs 1900lbs.
By the way, Celicas with the optional engine in Europe make 190HP from the factory. They are detuned for the USA by 10HP.
11-30-2003, 08:35 AM
#17
I miss my 03 CL-S :(
So who's getting one?
I saw this on the official Lotus USA boards:
Lots of pics
$38,500
If I wasn't saving for a house I would already be putting a down payment on one. Although $40k for a 4-cyl toyota engine just feels odd.
Some people are already doing test drives with the less powerful imported engine: Photos of some dude's test drive
Elise FAQ
Lots of pics
$38,500
If I wasn't saving for a house I would already be putting a down payment on one. Although $40k for a 4-cyl toyota engine just feels odd.
Some people are already doing test drives with the less powerful imported engine: Photos of some dude's test drive
Elise FAQ
12-01-2003, 12:17 AM
#20
Safety Car
well I'll be the bastard and say that I WOULDNT buy the car, even if I had the means...I know its light any all...but why not get a cobra replica instead? The interior would be almost as bare, and you'd probably be getting a more powerful engine.
I think I'd rather get a z4 for a weekend roadster
I think I'd rather get a z4 for a weekend roadster
12-01-2003, 06:58 PM
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Car and Driver Review on US Spec Lotus Elise
2005 Lotus Elise
The Brits promise your road racer is finally on its way.
December 2003
We seem to have been promising a fully certified, street-legal Lotus Elise for years. That's because Lotus for years has been saying it's coming to the U.S.—since 1997, in fact. Well, now at last it is ready. The first federalized Elises should arrive in May.
The good news is that it is a better car than the spartan original. It has 60 percent more power but is only 14 percent heavier than the existing European model. It has the airbags, the anti-lock brakes, and the air conditioning that the car has lacked until now. Perhaps not so good is its sticker of $39,000. It's a fair price for the nearest thing to a modern race car you can drive on the road but will discourage those who see it as a sexy little boulevard cruiser.
That's probably just as well because the Lotus Elise, as a closely focused driver's car, makes few compromises on behalf of the well-being of a passenger. You sit on a thinly padded seat in an aluminum tub (the Elise chassis is made from aluminum extrusions bonded together). There is hardly enough room for two, so the driver's seat is adjustable but the passenger's is fixed—and the cockpit space on the right-hand side is just two-thirds of that provided for the driver.
Elise enthusiasts—there are at least 60 owners of race-spec cars in the U.S. as of this writing—will accept that what it lacks in comfort is compensated for by the performance and handling. Lotus claims the federalized Elise will do 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and run to 141 mph; prototypes ran to nearly 150 mph. Not much this side of an exotic supercar will keep up with it on a racetrack.
The Elise was designed around the 1.8-liter Rover K-series engine found in the mid-engined MGF sports car, a good choice in 1996 but now getting on in years. Rover has never certified that engine for the U.S., and Lotus judged that a federal emissions program would be too expensive to undertake alone. It looked around for suitable alternatives, engines that were already in use in the U.S. Roger Becker, a veteran development engineer who started at Lotus under Colin Chapman, the company's founder, has been leading the U.S.-certification project. He picked up an old relationship with Toyota (which for three years in the 1980s owned 21 percent of Lotus) and secured a deal to use the 1.8-liter VVTL-i (variable valve timing and lift) engine from the Celica GT-S and its accompanying C64 six-speed gearbox.
Although the internals of the engine are standard Toyota (in fact made by Yamaha), Lotus fits different intake and exhaust systems and, significantly, has devised its own engine control electronics. The result is 190 horsepower (10 up on the Celica) at 7800 rpm and 133 pound-feet of torque at 6800 rpm.
We have our reservations about this engine and transmission in the Celica as it is difficult to keep the engine on the high-rpm cams as you accelerate through the gears. The performance is more accessible in the lightweight (2000 pound) Elise, due in part to Lotus's improvements to the electronics and gearshift. And for those accustomed to the Rover-engined Elise, the Toyota-powered car is noticeably quicker even before the cam phase change at 6200 rpm. Besides which, it sounds terrific, whereas the old K-series and its five-speed gearbox had a rough and rattly edge.
Installation of the Toyota engine required a new subframe and modifications to the rear of the aluminum chassis. The suspension—double control arms front and rear—needed only minor changes in spring and damping rates to cope with 154 additional pounds of weight. Becker and his associates were determined to maintain the Elise's pure responses and wonderfully balanced handling while making subtle changes to the dampers and bushings to cope with the worst of America's highways. U.S.-bound Elises will use a unique Yokohama tire.
Although its cousin, the Opel Speedster that Lotus makes in Europe for General Motors, has anti-lock brakes, Lotus has traditionally regarded both ABS and a brake booster as unnecessary frills for the Elise. But its engineers accept that pedal assistance is needed when vehicle weight rises above 1800 pounds, and that ABS is becoming a standard safety feature of most performance cars. Therefore, the challenge was to provide this latest Elise with ABS that would not intervene during intentional hard braking until the limit of front-tire grip. For the same reason, there is no electronic traction control nor is any planned. The steering does not have, or need, power assistance, although Lotus accepts that some customers may expect it.
Externally, there are few changes from the Elise that was launched in 2000. Identifiers include the twin tailpipes and the slightly raised grille on the front hood to clear the new brake booster. Inside, though, the car has had an upgrade with a new and more shapely instrument panel, injection molded rather than vacuum formed, which accommodates the passenger airbag. The radio is now at its center, and most of the ugly screw heads that were peppered around the earlier cockpit have been concealed. The convertible top is from the '00 car: easier to erect than the original but still a fairly primitive affair.
We drove a prototype U.S. Elise on the test track and on country roads around the Lotus factory in Norfolk, England. As we first wrote of a similar exercise with the original Elise, it's a hoot. For pure sports-car thrills, it's in the top five most-entertaining cars available. The same comments apply to the federalized Elise, which, although it is 450 pounds heavier than the original, is faster and better equipped but still has nearly perfect balance. It is the best Elise yet, and for Americans wanting a race car for the road, it's worth the six-year wait. Lotus Cars USA, which has been subsisting on the sale of a handful of Esprits a year, hopes to expand its annual sales to 2500.
2005 LOTUS ELISE
Vehicle type: mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door roadster
Estimated base price: $39,000
Engine type: DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection
Displacement: 110 cu in, 1796cc
Power (SAE net): 190 bhp @ 7800 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 133 lb-ft @ 6800 rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Wheelbase: 90.6 in
Length/width/height: 149.0/67.7/44.0 in
Curb weight: 2000 lb
Manufacturer's performance ratings:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.9 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 12.6 sec
Top speed (drag limited): 141 mph
12-30-2003, 04:59 PM
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LOS ANGELES AUTO SHOW: Lotus returns to U.S. with new model sports car
Reuters / December 30, 2003
2004 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show index
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lotus, the sports-car maker best known for its Formula One cars, on Tuesday said it would return to the U.S. market with a souped-up version of its Elise two-seater.
Lotus, now a unit of Malaysian national carmaker Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton), said at the Los Angeles Show that the Elise, long available in Europe, would be ready for sale in the United States in late May.
The new model, which will be manufactured by hand in Norfolk, England, like the company's other vehicles, will feature a 190-horsepower Toyota engine more powerful than the engine in the international version of the car, the company said.
Lotus executives said the company's goal would be to sell about 2,000 Elises a year in the United States. The European model has sold more than 17,000 units since its launch in the summer of 1996.
The sticker price is expected to be announced in early 2004 with a dealer launch in the first quarter.
Though the company's Esprit has been available in limited quantities in America for years, Lotus has not introduced a new car here since the Elan in 1990.
"I think it's a question of being able to offer the right product," Mark O'Shaughnessy, director of sales and marketing for Lotus Cars USA Inc., told Reuters ahead of the unveiling.
O'Shaughnessy said the car's target audience would be both older men who already own three or four cars and want what he called a "fun machine," as well as younger people who are willing to spend for style and performance.
The car, which the company said was the first ever with a bonded and extruded aluminum chassis, will go from zero to 60 miles per hour (96.5 km per hour) in less than five seconds and top out at a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour (241.4 km per hour).
Distribution will be relatively widespread, O'Shaughnessy said, with high-end sports-car dealers across the country offering the car. Sales of the Esprit have been relatively even nationwide, he said, even in colder regions where a convertible sports car might not be such an obvious choice.
"We'd like to see our performance improve on the West Coast, frankly," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.
2004 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show index
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lotus, the sports-car maker best known for its Formula One cars, on Tuesday said it would return to the U.S. market with a souped-up version of its Elise two-seater.
Lotus, now a unit of Malaysian national carmaker Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton), said at the Los Angeles Show that the Elise, long available in Europe, would be ready for sale in the United States in late May.
The new model, which will be manufactured by hand in Norfolk, England, like the company's other vehicles, will feature a 190-horsepower Toyota engine more powerful than the engine in the international version of the car, the company said.
Lotus executives said the company's goal would be to sell about 2,000 Elises a year in the United States. The European model has sold more than 17,000 units since its launch in the summer of 1996.
The sticker price is expected to be announced in early 2004 with a dealer launch in the first quarter.
Though the company's Esprit has been available in limited quantities in America for years, Lotus has not introduced a new car here since the Elan in 1990.
"I think it's a question of being able to offer the right product," Mark O'Shaughnessy, director of sales and marketing for Lotus Cars USA Inc., told Reuters ahead of the unveiling.
O'Shaughnessy said the car's target audience would be both older men who already own three or four cars and want what he called a "fun machine," as well as younger people who are willing to spend for style and performance.
The car, which the company said was the first ever with a bonded and extruded aluminum chassis, will go from zero to 60 miles per hour (96.5 km per hour) in less than five seconds and top out at a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour (241.4 km per hour).
Distribution will be relatively widespread, O'Shaughnessy said, with high-end sports-car dealers across the country offering the car. Sales of the Esprit have been relatively even nationwide, he said, even in colder regions where a convertible sports car might not be such an obvious choice.
"We'd like to see our performance improve on the West Coast, frankly," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.
12-31-2003, 07:08 AM
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Such a hot car. I'm a shorter guy too, so it'd be a perfect fit. Not sure any female friends would appreciate the passenger side, but so what. :P
Talk about owning people in autocross too...
Talk about owning people in autocross too...
01-08-2004, 08:29 PM
#32
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Originally posted by Black CL-S 4-Life
Looks good but at that price I'd rather have a S2000.
Looks good but at that price I'd rather have a S2000.
it's faster and handles better than the S2000?
I don't get it. And there is no price in that article?!?
01-14-2004, 08:40 PM
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One of my friends actually put a deposit down on one the other day. They will run about $40K to $45K I think is what he said. The car is super-lite and will have one of the best horsepower to weight ratios out there. I was with him when he did a test drive on the non-street legal show car that was at the dealership. The car is like a go-kart on steroids. Very good craftmenship. I think he has to wait another 4 or 5 months for delivery.
01-15-2004, 09:59 PM
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Lotus Shows U.S.-Bound Elise
The first new Lotus to be sold in the U.S. in fifteen years appears in May, when the 2005 Elise hits showrooms, the Malaysian-owned company said in a release this week. The 1975-pound roadster comes with a Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine worth 190 hp and 138 lb-ft of torque, which Lotus says catapults the tiny two-seater to 60 mph in less than five seconds and to a top speed of nearly 150 mph. Air conditioning, anti-lock brakes, power windows, dual airbags and a Blaupunkt AM/FM/CD player are standard. The six-speed manual gearbox also is sourced from Toyota. Pricing has not yet been announced.
Source: The Car Connection
02-12-2004, 03:11 PM
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Lotus Elise gets U.S. safety exemption - - By HARRY STOFFER | Automotive News
Source: Autoweek
WASHINGTON - Federal safety officials have given the Lotus Elise a three-year exemption from U.S. headlight and bumper standards.
Group Lotus PLC plans to begin selling the four-cylinder, mid-engine roadster in the United States in May. The company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year that it had spent $27 million modifying the British-built car to comply with U.S. standards but could not find practical, affordable ways to meet the headlight and bumper rules. It promises that a new Elise, to be introduced in 2006, will comply.
Group Lotus PLC plans to begin selling the four-cylinder, mid-engine roadster in the United States in May. The company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year that it had spent $27 million modifying the British-built car to comply with U.S. standards but could not find practical, affordable ways to meet the headlight and bumper rules. It promises that a new Elise, to be introduced in 2006, will comply.
02-14-2004, 03:11 PM
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Originally posted by heyitsme
Lucky us That car doesn't need anymore safety weight.
Lucky us
That car doesn't need anymore safety weight.
02-14-2004, 04:14 PM
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The s2000 is hardly a racecar. Honestly I'd be more interested in the Elise than a z or s2k if the ride isn't overly harsh. It has exotic looks, gocart handling, toyota reliability with the engine, and ~vette acceleration.
"As with the "S" range, the Federal Elise features central locking, carpet, air conditioning, dual airbags, Blaupunkt CD Radio, partial hide seating, antilock brakes, and a starter button. But wait, thats just the standard car. Americans will be able to add a "Touring Pack" which will further comfort the buyer with full hide, added sound deading material in the roof and floors, an upgraded sound system and power windows. All this added equipment has added quite a bit of bulk to bring the cars weight to nearly 2,000 lbs (just over 900kg). The only option which is not adding to the weight problem is the variety of paint choices available. "
"As with the "S" range, the Federal Elise features central locking, carpet, air conditioning, dual airbags, Blaupunkt CD Radio, partial hide seating, antilock brakes, and a starter button. But wait, thats just the standard car. Americans will be able to add a "Touring Pack" which will further comfort the buyer with full hide, added sound deading material in the roof and floors, an upgraded sound system and power windows. All this added equipment has added quite a bit of bulk to bring the cars weight to nearly 2,000 lbs (just over 900kg). The only option which is not adding to the weight problem is the variety of paint choices available. "
