Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge More car stuff - Lotus Elise

The Ducati dealer opened a new shop and at the recomemndation of someone that said it was a cool place, I went to check it out. Very nice shop. It is not boutiquish at all. Anyway, not only do they carry Ducati and Aprila, but they also carry Lotus. What a cool car! Maybe it is strange, a British car with a Japanese motor (Toyota) being sold in the U.S. It sure looks like a fun car. They had a couple of them on the floor, one of them was all black fully loaded and was only $45,000. Ok, maybe $45,000 is a lot of money. But, I think thart is a pretty good price for a car like that. After all that is what it would cost to pick up two new harley soft tails.

Soren

I went to Yahoo and looked at some pics...cool little sports car. I bet it would be a lot of un to drive. But I won't get one for the same reason I wouldn't get 2 HD softails...and it ain't cuz I don't like 'em!

L(loads)
O(of)
T(trouble)
U(usually)
S(serious)


Couple of mates have Lotus and they certainly do look nice

That think looks like a pile of fun! It's like less than 2000 lbs I think, so even tho it's a small motor is still moves, and handles awesome too! Hopefully that toyota motor takes care of some of the quality issues...

My neighbor across the street has an Elise. It is an unreal machine. It's the closest thing to a sportbike on 4 wheels.

one of my clients in the UK had an older Lotus, one of the Elan's (i think) but it had an Isuzu engine in it.

Of course it was the same engine that was in some of the little GM products.

BUt damn fun car. I have always wanted an Esprit.

Soren,

A few weeks back I was riding on PCH through Manhattan Beach and spotted a new Lotus dealer there. Rode into their parking lot, stopped and looked at 'em. There was a large and varied selection of different color Elises to chose from.

Then, I attempted to get in a couple of 'em.

Now, at 54, I'm still in pretty good shape...6'2" and 200lb(sorry my brit cousins...I have absolutely NO friggin' idea how many STONE that is ), but there is no easy way to slip into those puppies. And once you do, I found the seats are extremely narrow and somewhat uncomfortable.(and NO...my a$$ ISN'T exceptionally wide, thank you very much)

NOW....for HALF THE PRICE, one can purchase another mid-engine beauty, that even though it may not be the lastest in cutting-edge technology like the Elise, IS timeless in design, even lighter on the scales, and I'm sure would be as fun to drive as the Lotus.......a Beck replica Porsche 550 Spyder.

THAT'S the car I have my sights set on and hope to buy within the next few years.

Cheers,
Dwight
(and I FIT in those babies too)

For that money, you will be able to get a Dodge Challenger in a year or so and get some change back if the dealer is honest.

I'm not terribly happy with Lotus anyway. Seems it was the cost of debugging their engine that was being supplied for the Healey that broke Jensen. The sad part was, once they figured it out, the fix was really simple. All it needed was a small vent hole drilled into the camshaft oil feed line to let the air out so the oil could get in.

There are probably lots of cheaper options, but I've always been a big fan of small agile cars. Granted I probably wouldn't fit into an Elise if Dwight can't, but I can fit in a Mini And for 40K you could have a serious screaming Mini...

The Mini Cooper is a cool little car. My only problem with it is that it seriously falls into the "cute" category.

Challenger, Hemi, 6 Speed... not a cute thing about it. I can't wait.

Soren

I hear ya. I'm more of a handling junkie than a flat out fast or powerfull one, ya know? But hey, what ever floats it Of coure for 40K you could also buy a 2 year old Z06...

Or a nice Porsche Boxster

I'll stick with my Little Clown Car project for the time being. I know it ain't the fastest thing on 4 wheels, but at least I can work on most of it myself...

Quote:

---

If that plum colored Neon with flames along with to your Speedy in your pics on Yahoo is yours, that is a pretty "cute" car as well.

---

I was afraid someone would bring that up . It's one of those stories, you buy what you can when you need to get something quick. Before the Neon, I had a '80 280zx (I still miss that car). The power steering pump went out on it (plus it needed some other work) a coupel days before I needed to start my bi-weekly runs between Portland and Seattle. The reason, it has the flames on it is because someone said it was a cute car. . 87,000 miles in 6 years without any problems. It's been a good car and is comfortable on trips. The Mini is much more of a cute car than the Neon for sure

Soren

4 words...
Say hi to Neon.
It's way cuter Some of the tricked out Mini's look pretty badass.

Oh I fully realize that there are a ton of bigger cars that could easily walk away from a Mini or a GTI, and that seat of the pants rush is definitely unique, but it could be compared to getting blown away by a big Harley on the straights, until you hit the corners....

Yeah, except the Charger is also no slouch in the corners. Think of it as a 4 wheel equivalent to a Speedmaster with a big bore, stroker and hot cams. I used to have a Jensen 383 powered Interceptor that was a great car, but I don't think it would keep up with the Dodge in any kind of driving.

No slouch for sure!! But there's no way to get a 4000 lb car to corner like a 2200 lb car... Physics! It's the law... Hey, I have fun driving my Charger, and I bet an RT is tons of fun! Don't get me wrong. Just a matter of preference I guess. Even if I'm not the fastest, or most efficient, or whatever, *I* have more fun zipping around in a little car rowing my own gears than I do in a big sled. Maybe it reminds me of driving go karts when I was a kid?