Tell me about... the Vauxhall VX220/Lotus Elise S2

miniyazz

miniyazz

miniyazz

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Having test-driven a Jaaaaaag, I've come to the realisation that I don't want an automatic :D

Clearly my next best option for a 'new' car is, therefore, a Lotus Elise (:p), and looking at that also led me to the VX220 (both around 2001-04, although clearly I get more VX220 for the money). This would be a second car.

So, firstly, any similar options I should consider in the two-seater open-top brigade? I've considered an MX5 and S2000 but on paper the MX5 seems a little slow. S2k is an option I guess, although insurance cost is somewhat irritating..

And does anyone own one? Any thoughts on the VX220 vs the Elise? Or thoughts in general?

Cheers!
 
Going from a Jag to an Elise/VX220 might be a bit of a culture shock in terms of creature comforts (i.e. pretty much none!). The MX5 and S2000 are positively luxurious by comparison. You might also consider e.g. Z4 and Boxster.

However if you want the raw and incredibly direct driving experience that the Lotus design offers, then you don't have a lot of choice.
 
B@Th*nG said:
surely this depends massively on your budget?

B@
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Yes - but my budget is flexible. Particularly so as it appears that depreciation on things like the Elise appears to be <£500/yr at this point which makes it more of an investment than a purchase ;) (I expect I'd not be putting more than a few thousand miles on it per year, tops)

Dogbreath said:
Going from a Jag to an Elise/VX220 might be a bit of a culture shock in terms of creature comforts (i.e. pretty much none!). The MX5 and S2000 are positively luxurious by comparison. You might also consider e.g. Z4 and Boxster.

However if you want the raw and incredibly direct driving experience that the Lotus design offers, then you don't have a lot of choice.
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I know - different type of car for a reason though. The Golf is a bit of a jack of all trades. The Jag - very nice interior, comfortable etc but in all honesty didn't offer that much for me over the Golf at the moment, and the gearbox let it down for me. On the other hand, the one aspect the Golf is not quite so good at is losing the roof..

Being a bit Spartan is part of the appeal really. I've got the Golf for comfort. If I got something like a Z4, first of all it'd end up being my only car since it offers the luxuries etc of the Golf - and therefore pretty pointless to have both (and the same applies to the Boxster) - and secondly, a friend of mine has a 2012 Z4 28i which would make any 2006 Z4 I could pick up look a bit naff :o

Not to mention, again, that depreciation is minimal particularly on the Elise, meaning my costs really are limited to servicing/repairs, unlike most other options I've considered.

Decent examples of the S2k are obviously available for half my budget which is appealing, but again I think the costs vs what it offers might make it a struggle to justify keeping the Golf?
 
melchy said:
If its a second car, perhaps a Lotus 7 clone of some sort.
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Just had a brief look at Caterhams and Westfields - are they what you were thinking of?

It's a good thought and if prices were lower then they might be something I'd look at seriously. However I think they may be slightly too brutal for what I would use them for :)
 
miniyazz said:
Just had a brief look at Caterhams and Westfields - are they what you were thinking of?

It's a good thought and if prices were lower then they might be something I'd look at seriously. However I think they may be slightly too brutal for what I would use them for :)
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That's what I was thinking of :)
 
I had a Westfield, then bought a VX220.

Sold the VX, owned an S2000, then an MX-5 and now have my 2nd VX220 :)
Oh and I supercharged this VX..... 261bhp (up from 147bhp standard). :D
 
Test drive one, you will either love it or hate it.

I had an Elise 111R and it's the most fun car I've ever driven, only motorbikes come close to that same level of fun. Since the Elise I've driven E46/E90 M3s, Ferraris, Porsches, an R8 and loads more but none of them have given me that same feeling as the Elise. There's just something about the Elise that other cars don't seem to have, hard to describe so best if you go drive one yourself.

Don't expect any sort of practicality or luxuries though. Tiny boot, no glovebox, no door pockets, barely any carpet, barely any seat padding etc.
 
CocoPops said:
I had a Westfield, then bought a VX220.

Sold the VX, owned an S2000, then an MX-5 and now have my 2nd VX220 :)
Oh and I supercharged this VX..... 261bhp (up from 147bhp standard). :D
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Damn, that thing must be rapid!

What thoughts do you have from your ownership of these cars? Good, bad points etc?
 
eidolon said:
Test drive one, you will either love it or hate it.

I had an Elise 111R and it's the most fun car I've ever driven, only motorbikes come close to that same level of fun. Since the Elise I've driven E46/E90 M3s, Ferraris, Porsches, an R8 and loads more but none of them have given me that same feeling as the Elise. There's just something about the Elise that other cars don't seem to have, hard to describe so best if you go drive one yourself.

Don't expect any sort of practicality or luxuries though. Tiny boot, no glovebox, no door pockets, barely any carpet, barely any seat padding etc.
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Yeah will be sure to drive them. Any reason you went for the Elise over the VX220?
 
You really have to set the criteria in the car you want, Jag is the opposite end to an Elise. Maybe lay down your budget and specs.
VXR turbo brings the most bang for your buck and is a lotus with a faster engine...fun too.
Jag big comfortable V8 refined cruiser that can go fast too...luxurious compared to a Golf.
Elise, fun factor car like the vxr...small, light and nimble , both are lacking any equipment
Larger cars like Boxster have higher top speeds and better on the motorway in crusing and higher speeds without being harsh.
 
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monkeys said:
You really have to set the criteria in the car you want, Jag is the opposite end to an Elise. Maybe lay down your budget and specs.
VXR turbo brings the most bang for your buck and is a lotus with a faster engine...fun too.
Jag big comfortable V8 refined cruiser that can go fast too...luxurious compared to a Golf.
Elise, fun factor car like the vxr...small, light and nimble , both are lacking any equipment
Larger cars like Boxster have higher top speeds and better on the motorway in crusing and higher speeds without being harsh.
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Jag is something I've ruled out, hence looking at completely different type cars :)

Top speeds is never going to be an issue for me as I'm not going to be doing license-losing speeds and probably unlikely to track it. I've got the Golf for routine long-distance journeys so again motorway comfort is low on the priority list. If my Golf is temporarily out of service, I'd of course be using it routinely for that short period, thus deciding against the Caterham type cars.

Turns out my local Vauxhall dealer has a VX220 Turbo in stock so I'm going to pop in at some point this week to check it out :)
 
It's easy to get carried away with big power when it comes to Elise's- especially with 250+ bhp VX220's being easily achievable.

I've owned an S1 Elise (Sport 160) and an S1 Exige (190bhp).
I've been in a VX220Turbo, an S2 Elise 111S (148bhp) and an S2 Exige.

For me, as a non-trackdayer, about 150bhp (K-series, or Toyota power) is spot on. It's quick enough to dispatch nearly all traffic, while having the crispness, linearity and response of an N/A engine, something I felt the VXT lacked especially with it's on-off boost nature. I don't like the 'cammy' engines in the 111R's either for the same reason.

As I say, that's my opinion; my next Lotus I'd love to be a Club Racer or Sport-pack'd Elise 'S'. One of the things I loved about my Elise was that it was fun to drive even at low speeds, something that's very easily taken away in the "OMG, powaaaaaaaa....!" angle.
 
Surely a car like this is fairly pointless unless you are going to track it? I would much prefer something a little 'softer' for day to day fast road use ...
 
Christurbo said:
Vx220 turbo ! Nom nom nom easily tuned to 300bhp and are an absolute track weapon
Won't regret it !
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See my above post :p

I'm not out for mad powahhh here. Base spec models do 0-60 in sub 6s which is a decent amount quicker than anything else I've owned, even before pointing out that it's in a much lower and 'down to earth' car - I expect I'll feel it much more than in my Golf. Amusing though it would be to have an absolute weapon of a car, it's just not realistic at the moment!

Matmulder said:
It's easy to get carried away with big power when it comes to Elise's- especially with 250+ bhp VX220's being easily achievable.

I've owned an S1 Elise (Sport 160) and an S1 Exige (190bhp).
I've been in a VX220Turbo, an S2 Elise 111S (148bhp) and an S2 Exige.

For me, as a non-trackdayer, about 150bhp (K-series, or Toyota power) is spot on. It's quick enough to dispatch nearly all traffic, while having the crispness, linearity and response of an N/A engine, something I felt the VXT lacked especially with it's on-off boost nature. I don't like the 'cammy' engines in the 111R's either for the same reason.

As I say, that's my opinion; my next Lotus I'd love to be a Club Racer or Sport-pack'd Elise 'S'. One of the things I loved about my Elise was that it was fun to drive even at low speeds, something that's very easily taken away in the "OMG, powaaaaaaaa....!" angle.
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That's reassuring to hear you enjoyed it without needing to go balls out. Personally I tend to prefer n/a engines because they're more 'natural', simpler and less expensive parts to fail, and you get low-down torque there when you want it without needing to be on boost all the time 'just in case'.

unrealrocks said:
Surely a car like this is fairly pointless unless you are going to track it? I would much prefer something a little 'softer' for day to day fast road use ...
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Well I'm hoping not! Plenty of people have these cars and don't track them (at least I hope they do since ideally I'd get an unmolested model!) and my hope with them is that because they're much more of a pure 'sports car' than alternatives like the Boxster, you don't need to push the car as much to enjoy it.
 
So the Vauxhall franchise main dealer I went to today to look at their VX220 said that they don't want me to test drive their car unless I first make a deal with them about what I will buy the car from them for? :confused: :confused: Something to do with not wanting to put miles on their (>20,000mile) example.
I told them there were other cars I was also looking at, like the non-turbo VX220 and the Elise S2, which I hadn't yet driven and wanted to compare, so they suggested I go and test drive those and then come back afterwards.

Is this normal?
 
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