The Elise needs F/I to be any fun on ordinary roads.
power to weight?
A bit off topic but I saw a IS350 and a Lotus Elise doing stoplight battle yesterday.
I was surprised the IS smoked the Elise despite the weight disadvantage. I think the guy in the Elise did a clutch dump at over 5000-6000rpm because that’s the only way to get max acceleration from that 1.8L (Toyota) engine. The Elise should do about mid 5s 0-60 runs in ideal conditions but that tranny didn’t sound too good. Again proves that its hard to replace displacement. Doing a 5s run probably didn’t hurt the IS much but I don’t think the Elise’s tranny will last more than a few of those red line clutch dumps.
A Lotus Elise was one of the cars I considered before I bought the IS-F. I like it because its very unique and has amazing cornering abilities. Biggest problem is its power which lives only in the +5K rpm range and even then it only has 138 lb/ft of torque. Probably a great car in Monaco or the Swiss Alps where there are tons of narrow winding roads but it is like a fish out of water on the Interstate where it will struggle against even unsophiscated muscle cars in the straights and sports sedan like a BMW 330 in the backroads. The other thing which turned me off was the austere interior and what I read in the Lotus owners forum. Apparently more Elise and Exige are destroyed in parking and lane change accidents where other cars and especially SUVs just can’t see them because of the height.
Personally for a DD (summer and definitely winter) I would choose a IS350 over a Elise. Bottom line, I still love my IS-F!
I was surprised the IS smoked the Elise despite the weight disadvantage. I think the guy in the Elise did a clutch dump at over 5000-6000rpm because that’s the only way to get max acceleration from that 1.8L (Toyota) engine. The Elise should do about mid 5s 0-60 runs in ideal conditions but that tranny didn’t sound too good. Again proves that its hard to replace displacement. Doing a 5s run probably didn’t hurt the IS much but I don’t think the Elise’s tranny will last more than a few of those red line clutch dumps.
A Lotus Elise was one of the cars I considered before I bought the IS-F. I like it because its very unique and has amazing cornering abilities. Biggest problem is its power which lives only in the +5K rpm range and even then it only has 138 lb/ft of torque. Probably a great car in Monaco or the Swiss Alps where there are tons of narrow winding roads but it is like a fish out of water on the Interstate where it will struggle against even unsophiscated muscle cars in the straights and sports sedan like a BMW 330 in the backroads. The other thing which turned me off was the austere interior and what I read in the Lotus owners forum. Apparently more Elise and Exige are destroyed in parking and lane change accidents where other cars and especially SUVs just can’t see them because of the height.
Personally for a DD (summer and definitely winter) I would choose a IS350 over a Elise. Bottom line, I still love my IS-F!
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