Arguing Lotus Elise vs. Dodge Viper

[G-man]

Lud wrote:

"Arguing Lotus Elise vs. Dodge Viper would be equally pointless."

At the risk of Lud having to close another thread due to the kind of hoopla that came up during the previous debates, I thought I would follow up on a point that he made in passing about the differences embodied two really different kinds of cars.

I was not aware of the Lotus Elise until recently, but WOW! what a car. Nothing against the Dodge Viper, but there is some serious engineering going on at Lotus again. A production car that weighs in at just under 1,500 lbs and can produce 190hp! WOW! That is a next generation NSX kind of fast.

I was scanning the web and ran across this commentary at http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/comments/steve.html

Depending on who you talk to, or who you believe or even when you talk to them we have heard basically two reasons why the Elise is not already here (US):

1. Lotus doesn't have enough capacity to satisfy worldwide demand so why bother trying to add the US market?

2. Not enough people would buy the Elise to justify the cost of federalizing it. Only "enthusiasts" would like it as is, and we are too few in number to be economically viable. To make it appeal to the US market it has to be moved upscale.

I find it a shame that the 1st point is the case. After a couple of decades of poor sales, Lotus is still hanging on with the ESPRIT. The only exotic car in need of stying update more than the NSX.

The 2nd point above I find unreasonable, but unfortunatly true. I know when I bought my 99 Miata Sport, nobody wanted it because there was no power anything, no cruise control, nothing in it but a kick ass suspension and 140hp in a nimble 2280lb package. And that is just not enough for the US market these days I guess.

What a beautiful car the Lotus Elise is. And at only $20K, it is competatively priced with the Miata. I will be happy to trade anyone with a YELLOW Elise my 99 Miata if you are interested.

Viper owners, just wait down the block, I will get the NSX out of the garage. I can't imagine a greater motorsport mismatch than the Elise and the Viper.

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Gordon G. Miller, III
Y2K NSX #51 Yellow/Black

 

[wish4nsx]

G-Man,
I whole-heartedly agree with you.
The Elise is a HOT car!
Now, only if Lotus would completely redo the Esprit!

 

[NSXY]

Gordon,

If you want to buy a Lotus Elise here in the USA, there are four for sale for cheap (aprox. $55K) at http:www.specialcar.com. I like the older 1998 yellow one myself. Best wishes.

NSXY

 

[Stevo]

Originally posted by G-man:
Lud wrote:

What a beautiful car the Lotus Elise is.

Elise is indeed great looking. The new "road" version of it is being called the Exige. (Don't ask me what it means.) It is a coupe and has great styling including a roof mounted air intake. Still no plans to sell in the U.S. See R&T July 2000 Ampersand.

I have thought about buying and Elise just to play with autocrossing. I had a '74 Europa Twin Cam JPS that I threw a racing engine in. That was the most fun I have had with a car, other than the NSX. Of course that was when I enjoyed constantly tweaking a car to get it to run right.

I do hope Lotus starts getting serious about the U.S. market. The Elise or next generation Esprit could be quite interesting.




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Steve Adams
2000 NSX-T #115 Silver/Black

 

[G-man]

Originally posted by NSXY:
Gordon,

If you want to buy a Lotus Elise here in the USA, there are four for sale for cheap (aprox. $55K)

YIKES! The one I saw for sale for $19,900 must have been $59,900! What a typo. I had no idea the car cost that much. Still an amazing car, just not quite as amazing price

erformance ratio.

Thanks for setting me straight NSXY.

 

[flaminio]

According to the Lotus web site:

Q. Will the Elise be available in the USA ?
A. We receive many enquiries from the USA on this subject. We have investigated every possible way to achieve Elise importation to North America, unfortunately other than make the car a kit car which Lotus stopped doing over 20 years ago the Elise will simply not comply to EPA / DSP requirements. The short answer is NO.

Bummer.

-Bob ('94 #496)

 

[sas]

Although Lotus does not plan to bring the Elise to the North American market, they are working on another exotic car, code-named "M250". In terms of performance & price, it seems to be mid-way between the Elise and the Espirit. The closest competitor is probably the Porsche Boxster S. Could be available in the U.S. by 2002.

The specs:

mid-engine, 6-speed, 250hp 3.0L V6; 221 lb/ft of torque
weight: 2200lbs
sub 5-second 0-60mph; sub 11s 0-100mph
"scissor" doors that swing up, like the Lamborghini
tires: 225/40ZR18 front, 285/35ZR19 rear, Pirellie P-Zero
Price: about $55,000

The first time I saw a picture of it, I briefly wondered if I was looking at the next-gen NSX.

 

[maomaonsx]

the M250, like the 340R are all based on the original Elise chassis, so it should retain most of the characteristics of the wonderful Elise.
there is a new car coming out that is a mix breed of British engineering and Japanese development. It is going to compete with the Lotus Elise, it has British deisgn with Japanese R&D, also feature 190hp Honda VTEC engine!

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Please visit my NSX tuning page! Mods, Japanese NSX related stuff, pics!
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/6073/index.html

 

[GBM]

the back end of that car you speak of is such a rip off of the elise.. in fact most of the styling is.. i saw an article about it in CAR this month..