Lotus Elise Standard

Hi all,

I have owned myself three super sports cars. I also have quite a good experience in racing. I owned a lotus elise, an eagle talon TSI, and now I have a subaru impreza 98 GT. I'll now only use subaru to talk about the EVO, the subaru and the eagle because they are so close, there are no differences beside the look to the common driver.

It is very hard to compare the 4 wheels drive with the elise, as the driving is completely different.

The EVO, talon (or mitsubishi), and the subaru are all about the same. Same weight, same, HP, 4 wheels drive, same weight and breaking repartition, about same gear ratios and so on. Only the wheel base is a bit different, the talon if I remember well is a bit shorter, but still about the same.

What I can tell you is this: From factory, the acceleration is the same between the elise and the rest. The big difference is the driver here. The elise, have much less power (118 bhp only), for a mere 650 KG dry weight will be much more influenced by the driver's weight. 20 pounds more or less and you can get or loose some fractions of seconds. But in everyday use, acceleration is the same and anyone who says that he can loose the other one is a fool. I do admit that the subaru is 2 tenth of a second faster than the elise, but with that margin, you have to drag for some time with the same machine under the same conditions to get this tiny advantage. Practically, they are even.

The EVO partisant here has a point when saying that the elise has a little advantage under hot dry wheater. The nimbleness of the elise is unmached, even by supercars like ferraris and porshes. And by far believe me. The whole philosophy of the car is different. The elise is a "pilot" car. To get the most from it, you have to have a pretty good knowledge of lightweight, propulsion, mid-engine driving techniques. If not, many cars will feel and achieve better chronos than the elise driver. It is a tool, designed by pros, for the pros. Under wet condition, the lotus is about the worst car you can have. Where the Subaru still sticks to the road, the elise will not even turn, and you have to play with dangerous weight transfer techniques to stay on the track. On the roads, maneuvers like that with other drivers around you panicking when they watch you sliding on 30 meters, spells disaster.

Having now mastered both the elise and the "rally" style driving techniques, I must admit that the subaru is much more efficient, while much less fun to drive. But it is still very very fun. The lotus is only uncomparable. With the elise, it's you and the machine and the road. No power breaks or steering and your fingers can feel the road like if you were touching it. Your really make one with the machine, bringing it exactely where, when and how you want to. This level of precision is only found in some racetrack cars and in go-karts. I think the subaru is easier for any standard driver to handle, because it does everything well, and you can make big driving mistakes while it still stay the course. In the elise there is no place for mistakes. When you do however master the rally driving techniques, there is no questions in mind that the subaru/EVO/talon's limit is further than the elise's one. Boost your subaru from 211 bhp to only 285 bhp and it is already a different beast. I would't try boosting the elise by the same proportion as it is already a car perfectly balanced, and it would hurt more then help the elise overall performance.

So in short my own analysis is:

To a pro, the subaru will give a little more efficiency, but less fun. MUCH less.

To a normal driver, don't even think about the elise for hi-end; you'll hurt yourself. Normal drivers will fond that they will be no better with one or the other, because to outclass or follow a good driver in an elise, you have to master the "FOOT UP" technique to transfert the mass to the front in order to oversteer.

You want FUN? Whatever the chronos? Go get the elise. Nothing else will do once you try it.

I hope I have settled your little dispute where everyone thinks his car is the best. Here you cannot really compare them. Remember, one is designed for rally (thus have 4WD), and the other one is built only with track performance in mind.

Have fun!

I've owned an Elise and an Evo. Elise might hang on to the Evo on very tight, dry roads but otherwise forget it. As for straight line speed, unless they're tied together the Elise will be watching the Evo disappear out of sight.

I've also tried both on numerous trackdays at Castle Combe and the Evo is usually about 3-4 seconds quicker, even more when it's wet.

Havnt any of you Evo owners read his review??? hes already owned an evo and an elise how many of you can admit to that!!! Dont argue with the man hes owned them both.

i can guarantee my lotus elise will leave you struggling to read the plates on it when i pull up next to your evo 6 at the lights

An EVO6 would absolutely annihilate a Lotus Elise under any conditions.

Just plain stupidity to compare the two.

On the other hand the Lotus Elise is a great little car, and having driven one at Silverstone I can see why some may get carried away with high claims to its performance.

Hi,

I had one for One year and only god knows how hard I drove it... Never had the slightest problem. Never heard anyone complain before you. You just been unlucky.

Cheers.

Relax, if you got a lemon you should have taken the appropriate action. I've driven a couple of these cars myself and spoken to people who run exotic hire-car businesses and they say these things are as tough as an old boot.

There are little niggles inevitable in low-volume cars, cars with plastic bodies and cars with engines in the rear which were designed to be in the front of a car and the Elise has many of them. Even with these issues, they're still something for Lotus to be proud of and still give the majority of their owners good service.

When you combine that with the chassis balance, suspension and steering-feedback that can make even the most unskilled driver on a trip to the corner shops feel like a world-class racing driver at Oulton Park... for a bargain price...

What is there to complain about?

I've never driven a lotus but i have always wanted one for my pleasure of decking out and racing. They look like alot of fun to drive and i've been looking around for one. I think when it comes down to racing something you should be happy with what ever your driving; because if you like the car you work on it won't seem like work when you are fixing it up. Looks like a really great car. I like the American models more then this one though but it still looks like something i would enjoy tearing up.