Elise or...?

[Razyre]

Fitting a short shifter to the Toyota cars is a nightmare. I wouldn't bother. Plus is can make the shift more difficult as you have less leverage on the mechanism.

Ah I see - that's fair enough. As I said, nothing's perfect, it's hardly a deal breaker unless you happen to specifically be a gearbox enthusiast and all you care about in your car is the shift!

The i30N shifter has been touted as being pretty decent by journalists, I'd say it falls into the "not bad" category. Throw length is decent but the feel is not that far removed from mushy. I guess I came from an MX5 which arguably has one of the better shift feels out there, not to mention the perfect arm laid down, shifter in front position. Again that's hardly the thing that bothers me about the car. It's the damn weight.

 

[m0ody]

I worked for a Lotus race team for years and built all their engines, if you get one definitely lean towards a Toyota engined one... they’re super reliable (if you don’t over Rev them), If you do blow it up you can get a crate motor from Toyota for cheap and if you were gagging for more power there is a bolt on supercharger kit you can buy for them. I’ve built and dyno’d one to over 360bhp... although you probably wouldn’t want that power in an s1... another popular alternative is a K20 swapped one. Just food for thought!

 

[m0ody]

Further to my previous post if you get one and need any help please feel free to DM me I can definitely point you in the right direction for parts/track days/upgrades/Dyno time and can probably diagnose any problems you might have with one

 

[Nasher]

K20 swap increases the value of the car as well. One of the few times a mod does

It's what many do when a K-series engine dies. But finding someone who wants to sell it....good luck.

Like this one:

 

[Razyre]

I worked for a Lotus race team for years and built all their engines, if you get one definitely lean towards a Toyota engined one... they’re super reliable (if you don’t over Rev them), If you do blow it up you can get a crate motor from Toyota for cheap and if you were gagging for more power there is a bolt on supercharger kit you can buy for them. I’ve built and dyno’d one to over 360bhp... although you probably wouldn’t want that power in an s1... another popular alternative is a K20 swapped one. Just food for thought!

Yeah the K20 is a fantastic engine. Can take ludicrous amounts of power even stock, like pretty sure you can put 4-500 into one without changing the internals (though it probably wouldn't be that long for this world at those levels). Wouldn't need close to that in an Elise. Even stock I imagine the K20 is a riot, more powerful than the 190HP engine used in the 111R.

What's the deal with overrevving the Toyota engine? My perhaps flawed wisdom was that a rev limiter was supposed to protect an engine, I mean obviously if you money shift it's a bit of a different game, but I've seen people talking elsewhere with worry that they might have revved the car too hard without that being the case.

Further to my previous post if you get one and need any help please feel free to DM me I can definitely point you in the right direction for parts/track days/upgrades/Dyno time and can probably diagnose any problems you might have with one

That's super generous! Thank you, I'll have to keep that in mind! It's probably not going to be for a year yet but that'll soon come around

K20 swap increases the value of the car as well. One of the few times a mod does

It's what many do when a K-series engine dies. But finding someone who wants to sell it....good luck.

Like this one:

That's pretty crazy that it increases the value, though it would make sense for a K series engined one which in general are lower priced than their Toyota counterparts.

 

[inflames]

An Elise is a great little handling car, I am lucky enough to drive them a fair bit. I would certainly go for one with a Toyota engine. I also don’t think you would loss a lot of money on one either. An Exige is a different animal all together, a great track weapon but wouldn’t want to do a long road trip in one. I really like the Evora but they are more of a GT car, lots of fun, round a track also. Out of the three Lotus car mentioned I think the Elise is a great weekend sports car for some B road fun and would not cost the earth to run either.
One of the guys at work is currently thinking about getting himself a weekend toy and we have discussed his choices at great length. A lot of the cars have also been listed. How about a Porsche?

 

[SoliD]

Does it have to be internal combustion, most electric cars will out accelerate all those listed maybe you could keep to your one car garage.

Ah yes going really fast to 60mph that key strength and selling point of a lotus elise...

 

[m0ody]

Yeah the K20 is a fantastic engine. Can take ludicrous amounts of power even stock, like pretty sure you can put 4-500 into one without changing the internals (though it probably wouldn't be that long for this world at those levels). Wouldn't need close to that in an Elise. Even stock I imagine the K20 is a riot, more powerful than the 190HP engine used in the 111R.

What's the deal with overrevving the Toyota engine? My perhaps flawed wisdom was that a rev limiter was supposed to protect an engine, I mean obviously if you money shift it's a bit of a different game, but I've seen people talking elsewhere with worry that they might have revved the car too hard without that being the case.



That's super generous! Thank you, I'll have to keep that in mind! It's probably not going to be for a year yet but that'll soon come around



That's pretty crazy that it increases the value, though it would make sense for a K series engined one which in general are lower priced than their Toyota counterparts.

Their valvetrain is a little... weak? A lot of people put uprated valves + Springs in as a precaution. Bouncing off the rev limiter shouldn't be too awful, but if you downshift too early and buzz the engine then it will almost certainly drop a valve. Had a driver once into druids at brands hatch that over revved by literally 14rpm and it dropped a valve and trashed the entire engine.

 

[Nasher]

2nd gear has a higher rev limit so you need to watch that one. Especially on the 2zz. If you get 1st instead of 3rd by mistake it will instantly explode

But yea, don't rush downshifts. You don't need to anyway.

 

[kaiowas]

One thing to bear in mind is that the Elise platform is currently approaching end of production and is due to be phased out by the end of the year. Prices of some of the more desirable older variants could potentially react to this between now and the time you are ready to buy as people take notice and try to snap up the best examples of a fairly iconic car.

New model (Emira) is due to be launched at Goodwood next month which will get plenty of people’s attention

 

[Nasher]

The special editions like the sport 135 etc are already going to the moon.

 

[Drangueos]

What about a 987.1 or 987.2 Porsche Boxster or Cayman?

 

[adam cool dude]

VX220 is a fantastic base. Not quite as hardcore as the Elise but in a way makes it easier for daily use.

The 2.2 GM unit had a supercharged variant in the states so the kits are quite cheap and works better with the chassis which is the route I would go rather than buying a turbo.

 

[sigma]

What about a 987.1 or 987.2 Porsche Boxster or Cayman?

Yeah. Cheapish Cayman, strip and modify it? I was surprised at how many mods are available for it when I last looked!

 

[Nasher]

The Porsches are more all rounders tbh. They dont have anywhere near the same level of feel to them.

 

[sigma]

The Porsches are more all rounders tbh. They dont have anywhere near the same level of feel to them.

Surely they wouldn’t be far off with different suspension, bushes and/or arms etc?

 

[Nasher]

Surely they wouldn’t be far off with different suspension, bushes and/or arms etc?

You'd spend £1000s and I don't think you would ever get there. The Elise doesn't even have power steering, it's completely analogue. With double wishbone suspension all round.

The Porches do feel great, but most people coming from a Lotus say they feel numb. If I drive something else for a few weeks and go back to the Elise it feels god tier for handling

 

[m0ody]

You'd spend £1000s and I don't think you would ever get there. The Elise doesn't even have power steering, it's completely analogue. With double wishbone suspension all round.

The Porches do feel great, but most people coming from a Lotus say they feel numb. If I drive something else for a few weeks and go back to the Elise it feels god tier for handling

I drove one in the wet at silverstone and it certainly did not feel god tier on handling... its 100% a fair weather car haha!

 

[sigma]

You'd spend £1000s and I don't think you would ever get there. The Elise doesn't even have power steering, it's completely analogue. With double wishbone suspension all round.

The Porches do feel great, but most people coming from a Lotus say they feel numb. If I drive something else for a few weeks and go back to the Elise it feels god tier for handling

Yeah but I thought the idea in this thread was not to go to hardcore Elise levels. Modded pork seems like an interesting left-field option. As I said, I didn’t realise so many mods were available so they can at least be made to be less ‘numb’.

 

[sigma]

I drove one in the wet at silverstone and it certainly did not feel god tier on handling... its 100% a fair weather car haha!

Surely that would have been due to poor tyres? Unless it was not NA and coming on boost harshly?