lotus elise vs evo X
cmon guys, i see this guy in a bright orange elise all the time and he has a different girl driving with him all the time, and they are all so hott. thats reason enough for me to get an elise.
I saw an Elise meet the corner of a flat-bed landscaping truck. The corner of the bed stopped right at the base of the windshield in front of the steering wheel. Nothing on that car except the brakes was stopping that truck-bed from going through it like an anvil through balsa wood. Dude was okay, so I slowed and laughed at him.
-Seriously-
The Elise/Exige would be [really] good on a tight track, but on a high-speed circuit, their lack of top speed (under 150mph IIRC) has 'em getting beat. I can't remember which mag, but whoever it was took an Exige and a Cayman S to Road Atlanta, and the Cayman's superior top speed had it beating the Lotus. I drove an Elise, and having to fall into the car to enter, having no vision behind you, and the feeling of driving a go-cart on the road with full-sized cars, had me move on. My wife owns a British(well, Ford is the parent company) vehicle, and having to deal with their dealer network, and the flaming POS'ness of her car, I'll never buy a British car again.
-Seriously-
The Elise/Exige would be [really] good on a tight track, but on a high-speed circuit, their lack of top speed (under 150mph IIRC) has 'em getting beat. I can't remember which mag, but whoever it was took an Exige and a Cayman S to Road Atlanta, and the Cayman's superior top speed had it beating the Lotus. I drove an Elise, and having to fall into the car to enter, having no vision behind you, and the feeling of driving a go-cart on the road with full-sized cars, had me move on. My wife owns a British(well, Ford is the parent company) vehicle, and having to deal with their dealer network, and the flaming POS'ness of her car, I'll never buy a British car again.
The Elise’s lap time — 3:09.2—was just 0.1 second quicker than the Vette’s and largely the result of the Elise’s sticky tires, which allowed the Elise to carry more speed through every corner. Those tires — Yokohama A048s — are part of the model’s optional Track package ($2495), so they were allowed, but they’re gumball tires that probably won’t last 2000 miles when driven on the street.
I know for a fact my car was faster in the corners with stock suspension and street tires than the Elise I passed at Portland International Raceway (as seen in the photo below). I caught up with him on the turns, and easily out-dragged him on the straight. We were both in the advanced group, and I'm no pro-racer, so I would estimate driver ability to be somewhat equal. His friend had the track package, and the A048's were too much for the RT-615's to deal with.
Last edited by machron1; Dec 4, 2007 at 02:08 PM.
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The EVO also has stickier tires compared to many performance cars.
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yep, saw a black one so it didn't stand out as much, but i agree, hard to imagine it being daily driven but the one i saw was on city roads, where its all potholes, sewer covers raised up 5 inches, speedbumps, etc.
never said the a048's were the 8th wonder, i was merely pointing out they are de-facto r compound tires, and are not intended for street usage. i was also pointing out that i have first hand anecdotal experience "racing" (in as much as HPDE days are races) against both a track-package equipped elise, and a normal one, and that my evo on stock-suspension and street tires was faster in the corners than the normal one, but not the one with a048's...which tells me if i too had similar tires, i would have been able to pass both.
also, i know the evo has sticky street tires, but they are still street tires, not race tires that happen to be dot approved. i mean come on, what if ford offered a "drag package" for the mustang which included drag radials? would it then be fair to compare its 0-60 and 1/4 mile times to its street-tire equipped competition?
also, i know the evo has sticky street tires, but they are still street tires, not race tires that happen to be dot approved. i mean come on, what if ford offered a "drag package" for the mustang which included drag radials? would it then be fair to compare its 0-60 and 1/4 mile times to its street-tire equipped competition?
Last edited by machron1; Dec 4, 2007 at 06:22 PM.
i have no doubt the elise has better road feel and can change directions faster than an evo. i also know how beneficial that can be in tight courses, and how much confidence it instills when you can feel where you are going as well as see. i took a test drive in a used c6 z06 once, and even though i knew it could outperform my evo, i just couldn't get decent feedback from the controls, which told me that it would take a lot of trial-and-error and trust to explore the limits...which i wasn't willing to do. however, on long sweepers and straights, feel and quick direction changes are less important than power and ultimate grip. also, the evo is so forgiving you can toss it around at 9-10/10 without having to worry about it swapping ends on you, which is generally not true with small mid-engine cars. it also has lots of feedback and is nimble in its own right compared to most cars. i think actually the perfect mix for most driving situations imho.
one fact is what everybody looks like forgetting. You need to be good driver in the elise to do good times on track. Same time the evo can make it up for hes driver to run close or better then the elise. prodriver can out run the evo stock vs stock .
But very unlikely ,if you are a good driver ,you will be out run with the elise./stock vs stock/ any circuit. Unless some really talented driver in it.
But very unlikely ,if you are a good driver ,you will be out run with the elise./stock vs stock/ any circuit. Unless some really talented driver in it.