Thorburn Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Know I don't pop in here much more, but thought a few people might be interested... Had the chance to drive the new Elise S back-to-back with the previous Elise SC at the weekend and have done a write up for the owners club I help out with the running of: Driven: Elise S vs. Elise SC. | SELOC Also have some video of the Elise S out on the road, the rattling is from the camera mount and IS rather than the car. Very impressive little car, have driven quite a few different Elise variants over the years now and while I wasn't a fan of the 111R's engine the addition of the supercharger to the Elise SC sorts all the qualms I had with it - just a shame the RGB Edition I drove was running the sports suspension. The Elise S is pretty damn near perfect for a fun road car though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Good write up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Cheers Ian, hope you're well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkPrincess Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Agreed ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Remember reading a stat that was something like the new one produces more torque at like 2000 rpm than the old one did overall. It's not like the old one was slow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Remember reading a stat that was something like the new one produces more torque at like 2000 rpm than the old one did overall. It's not like the old one was slow... Not an entirely apples to apples comparison when you consider the lower rev limit and longer gearing on the new car of course, so the torque advantage is diluted a little - the engines actually feel very closely matched when you're pushing on. The Elise S is a little quicker to respond at low revs though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Wasn't the old one five speed and the new one six speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Wasn't the old one five speed and the new one six speed? Nope, you're thinking of the old Elise S (1.8l 1ZZ engine, C56 5-speed gearbox), which was replaced by the Elise 1.6 (1.6l 1ZR-FAE engine, EC60 6-speed gearbox). The new Elise S is a replacement for the old Elise SC (obviously ), which used the 6-speed C64 gearbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Knew you were talking about the supercharged ones, but never realised the original [2008 onwards] supercharged Elises got the six speed box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Knew you were talking about the supercharged ones, but never realised the original [2008 onwards] supercharged Elises got the six speed box! Yep, the 111R and SC both got the 6-speed, only the 134bhp S had the 5-speed. Wrote this on the gearboxes as a bit of a reference: Toyota Gearboxes - TechWiki I think I'm turning in to the Ian_C of Lotus's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hahaha! Makes sense thinking about it, the 1999- Celica itself was always a six speed Supercharged (old or new) is a hell of a lot of performance for the money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hahaha! Makes sense thinking about it, the 1999- Celica itself was always a six speed Supercharged (old or new) is a hell of a lot of performance for the money! The new S isn't cheap - over £40k for the one I drove! They did have a 2008 Elise SC down there which I quite liked the look of, but having spent so much on mine I don't think I could bear to sell it now. Hopefully going to take it sprinting next year if I can get some money together for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduisbergkid Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Lotus prices are a bit daft new, the Club Racer I had was something like £30k and didn't even have a radio, the Evora is magic but £50k is a big ask. They're great value 2nd hand IMO. The Europa is an odd thing, mega performance at £17k, if you can live with that arse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 That Elise CR press car must be about the only one which DOESN'T have the Comfort Pack and Air-con. Daft really as once you've done that you're left with a standard 1.6 with a matt paint finish, some stickers and without the nice Pro-bax seats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Lotus Evora is magic but £50k is a big ask. They're great value 2nd hand IMO. I got some inside info on the Evora the other week, it's not the car it should have been, and basically the advice was don't buy one, Bahar has now gone, and they are making it what it should have been before he stuck his oar in. Basically, he cut corners massively and and it's shown up in unreliability/design flaws. It's being sorted, and once done should be an epic car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 I got some inside info on the Evora the other week, it's not the car it should have been, and basically the advice was don't buy one, Bahar has now gone, and they are making it what it should have been before he stuck his oar in.Basically, he cut corners massively and and it's shown up in unreliability/design flaws. It's being sorted, and once done should be an epic car. Frankly that's bollocks. The Evora was conceived, designed and launched while Mike Kimberley was CEO of Group Lotus - not Dany Bahar. In fact after he joined as CEO the Evora saw a whole raft of improvements and the latest MY12 are very very good, although to credit this entirely to Bahar would probably be wrong he definitely didn't 'stick his oar in' when it comes to the quality of the Evora. There are a few silly issues with them - particularly early cars - but the vast majority of these have now been fixed as part of the Service Bulletins which get updated when the cars are serviced or by customer request under warranty. Know quite a few Evora owners and would have no qualms with buying one - been keeping an eye on prices of 2009/2010 cars for a while now and may pick one up at some point depending on when we're planning on moving house. Have actually done a lot of research in to them over the last year or so. I've driven all the variants (bar the GTE) and cars of all ages, and written almost everything you'll find in the SELOC TechWiki relating to the Evora - Category:Lotus Evora - TechWiki - with input from owners, Lotus employees and dealership technicians, so know the good and bad points of them fairly well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Tipex posts bollocks shock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Tipex posts bollocks shock. :roflmao: Tipex, if there is a proper basis for your opinion, please let me know - and in a bit more detail as I *may* be taking a look at some Evoras on Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 28, 2012 Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 I frankly can't be arsed to argue about it on here, if you think it's bollox then that's fine, get back to your wiki pages If anyone else is really that interested then PM me, I'm not going to reveal who my source is on a public forum as it could be (very) detrimental to his business. :roflmao:Tipex, if there is a proper basis for your opinion, please let me know - and in a bit more detail as I *may* be taking a look at some Evoras on Monday. You have PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Tipex, fair enough, care to drop me a PM? Patently, which model are you looking at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Probably the NA version in 2+2 form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 If it's one of the earlier cars then get it checked that it's had all the warranty updates done - make sure the a/c works (some early cars suffered from stone damage to a/c radiators), look for wear on the seat bolsters (same seats used in things like the Focus RS and some Audi's which suffer from the same issue), and check that the gear shift is smooth (sometimes cables can need adjustment, later cars got lower friction cables). The Sports Pack is an essential. Don't think I've ever seen a car without it. Tech Pack would be a must have for me as well as rear visibility is poor and fibreglass bumpers means I'd want the rear parking sensors. Premium Pack is the least important of the 3 but does lift the interior a little - you can tell if a car has it if it has leather which isn't black or if it has the arm rest between the front seats. Up until MY12 you had the option of two gear ratio sets - 1st and 2nd are identical in each, but 3rd through 6th are quite a bit longer on the standard box. The standard box is better for economy and motorway cruising, the sports ratios for when you're pushing on a bit. For MY12 cars all get the sports ratios. If it's a UK car then an AU plate normally means it's a former Lotus management or press car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Thanks - useful. It will be a new (unregistered) 2011-MY car - apparently they have a few to choose from so the spec info is handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Thanks - useful. It will be a new (unregistered) 2011-MY car - apparently they have a few to choose from so the spec info is handy. Stratstone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Yep. Calling in at Caterham Midlands to collect my newly-fixed (hopefully) 7, thinking of nipping over to see Lotus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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