so what's so good about Lotuses?

[dpopiz]

aren't they expensive and ugly and unsafe because they weigh 2lbs?
what's so good about them compared to other fast cars?

 

[Eli]

WTF are you talking about?

 

[crawford]

I saw an elise last night, it was actually decent looking.

Pic

 

[Demon-Xanth]

They make your weewee larger.

 

[Zenmervolt]

First of all, they meet all applicable safety standards. So your "unsafe" argument is BS.

What is good about them is that they are street-legal go-carts. The lightness gives them exceptional handling and acceleration / deceleration for a given horsepower.

ZV

 

[Actaeon]

They are light while having a bit of power to them. What more would you want in a race car?

 

[SuperTool]

Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

More power. Less cost.

 

[Crappopotamus]

they are known as incredible handling cars. and theyre fast. they give you near supercar performance for not that much money. imo theyre pretty cars.

what more 'good' do you want?

 

[N8Magic]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
More power-to-weight ratio. Less cost.

Correction.

 

[johnjbruin]

i sure dont like them. they look fugly i think.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

N8: If two cars have the same exact power to weight ratio, the heavier car will win. Why? You can lighten every part of the car except one: the driver. The spec's and figures don't take that into account.

 

[boyRacer]

im not a fan of the elise with a pricetag like that...

...you could find a used Esprit for a bit more...

...and i :heart: the Esprit.

 

[N8Magic]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
N8: If two cars have the same exact power to weight ratio, the heavier car will win. Why? You can lighten every part of the car except one: the driver. The spec's and figures don't take that into account.

Excellent point, I had never taken that into consideration.

 

[crawford]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

If youre talking about the article in SCC that was an elise with a honda type-r engine. its much more powerful than the stock engine.

 

[Rent]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

uhh... which Lotus are we talking about? An Elise would get the crap kicked out of it by a Z06 or Cobra R. An Exige or Espirit might hang in the corners, but would otherwise be destroyed in the straights...

 

[bleeb]

I think the Lotus Esprit mana began after the release of the psychotic thriller "Basic Instinct" starring Sharon Stone. Those cars were damn sexy in that movie. I recently watched the film again and and thought, "WTF, WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!"

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: crawford

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

If youre talking about the article in SCC that was an elise with a honda type-r engine. its much more powerful than the stock engine.

Considering that the Elise can also be had as a "kit" without an engine and transmission, it's not a terribly impossible setup.

ZV

 

[flot]

They're ugly and slow? ;-)

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: bleeb
I think the Lotus Esprit mana began after the release of the psychotic thriller "Basic Instinct" starring Sharon Stone. Those cars were damn sexy in that movie. I recently watched the film again and and thought, "WTF, WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!"

It was in Pretty Woman too...

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: N8Magic

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
More power-to-weight ratio. Less cost.

Correction.

Too bad your correction is grammatically incorrect.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: crawford

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

If youre talking about the article in SCC that was an elise with a honda type-r engine. its much more powerful than the stock engine.

US spec comes with a Toyota 1.8 from the Celica GT-S which has been retuned and is actually faster then the one with the B18C5.

EDIT: Link

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

You must have missed the Racing Elise vs a Street C5 Corvette on Nurburgring.

Elise did slightly better on the corners, but couldn't keep up with the Corvette on the straights. Lost to the Corvette.

The Esprit should offer similar performance to a Z06, sporting 350HP and 3000lbs. Z06 is 405HP with 3100lbs

 

[crawford]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: crawford

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Seem like cool cars, but worth 2x of a Miata? Not sure.

Consider it will completely blow the doors off of a Mustang Cobra R. Most likely would do the same to a Z06 Vette as well not to mention the likes of M3's and 911's.

If youre talking about the article in SCC that was an elise with a honda type-r engine. its much more powerful than the stock engine.

US spec comes with a Toyota 1.8 from the Celica GT-S which has been retuned and is actually faster then the one with the B18C5.

EDIT: Link

I wasnt aware of that. I know that the guy who owned the elise that I saw last night thought that the Type-R engine powered Elises were much faster. Maybe he has a somewhat older model that doesnt have that celica engine. Apparently there is one around town that has the swap.