its noens car

1/25/2008 4:57:49 PM

lotus exige
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=lotus+exige&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

1/25/2008 5:02:46 PM

thanks...looked pretty unique....i dont really like it that much....its a little too over the top

1/25/2008 5:11:27 PM

Yeah, they look like shit, but they weigh 2000 pounds and handle like a damn go-cart.

1/25/2008 5:12:34 PM

SMC: You are out of your mind son. The new lotus design is one of the most beautifully styled cars in the last 10-15 years. I actually do like the styling on the Elise a little better than the Exige (the grated rear hatch makes the exige a little bubbley in the back), but they are both sexy as hell.

The other thing is, you really don't have any sense of scale or proportion until you see one of these guys in person. I know I didn't anyway, and I think the thing looks a solid 200 times better in person.

1/25/2008 5:26:51 PM

it looks fast as shit

1/25/2008 5:28:42 PM

nm just delete this post

1/25/2008 5:32:02 PM

nice car i like em

i saw 5 in cary in 1 week haha.

celica gts motor ftl. tho.

1/25/2008 5:42:48 PM

is that hood scoop functional?

1/25/2008 5:44:40 PM

^ its a lotus

1/25/2008 5:52:09 PM

i can see some sort of heat exchanger through the hood so yes.

Toyota motors are bulletproof, and with a supercharger I'm sure they are quite lovely. 220hp in that thing is plenty. The E85 test car puts out like 250 too.

1/25/2008 5:52:25 PM

OOH the hood scoop. Yes, the radiator sits right under the grill there. Pretty much the whole front end of the car is radiator.

The ROOF scoop is not on mine because it's the NA model. On the SC models its a forced induction scoop. When I turbo this after the warranty runs out, it will be fully functional

SC options are 220 and 240hp now for factory options.

Turbo options are 265ish, 300 and 340hp, all aftermarket. You wouldnt believe one of these bastards with 340hp.

[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 5:54 PM. Reason : .]

1/25/2008 5:52:26 PM

the exige always reminded me of the gt1

1/25/2008 5:53:44 PM

so its a toyota? a toyota lotus i guess?

1/25/2008 6:13:46 PM

Why did they use the toyota engine instead of a K, or F series honda?

1/25/2008 6:22:06 PM

because the totoya transaxle is better. 6speed, can handle more power and was better suited for mid engine applications. also because toyota already had a factory ready SC option.

1/25/2008 6:46:21 PM

toyota celica gts vvti engine ftl, those are not bullet proof.. that's all im going to say.

handles like tits tho

1/25/2008 6:49:02 PM

I've always thought the wings, spoilers, mirrors, etc all looked tacked on, ricer style. There's not enough square footage of glossy, painted body panels to cancel out all that rice. They just need to pick one color and stick with it. Maybe combine/cover a few vents, paint all the trim body color, lose the emblems and figure out something smoother than those corvette tail lights. Of course, they never asked my opinion and never will.

1/25/2008 7:12:29 PM

^^ not bulletproof?

And the Lotus uses the VVTL-i, not the older VVTi. Its the 2ZZ-GE engine. And it's pretty much bulletproof.

Also the HUGE reason why Toyota and not Honda is because Toyota has no market competitor to the Lotus, Honda make(d)(s) the NSX.

^Of course they look tacked on, it's a track car. The difference is, EVERYTHING on the car is there for a functional purpose. Which is the exact opposite of rice.

The front splitter generates a ton of downforce at speed, the entire underbody is plated and the rear venturi channels suck the car down even more. The rear wing and lip generate over 100lbs of downforce at speed (remember this IS a rwd car).

The front scoop cools the radiator, the hood vents allow the radiator to heat escape more effectively, the outer scoops cool the front brakes. The side vents cool the rear brakes, and the roof scoop is used for forced induction of the supercharger/turbo.

I don't know what the hell you are talking about "trim". From the factory there is NO trim on the car, it's ALL painted the body color (except the wing). My car has an aftermarket front splitter and rear brake vents which I think ADD to the look, because they don't look right painted.

There's only TWO emblems on the car stock (front and rear Lotus badges), plus the model marker, same as every other car made. I have the union jacks above the side turn lights, but they are tiny and tasteful.

And Chevrolet COPIED lotus on the headlights retard. From 1957, the Lotus elite used the 4 circular tail lamps, the Corvette C1.5 (1961) was the first to use them on the vette line. Not that it matters, since the vette uses lamps and the Lotus uses a LED ring, so they look completely different (and also the vette's are ovals, the lotus' are circles).

1/25/2008 7:35:50 PM

just to clarify...they call them ricers cause asians like rice right? thats what i was told

1/25/2008 7:46:42 PM

i want one of these bad

i think i might just stay low-key (like stock S2000) until i knock out a few deployments, at which point i should be able to put a >50% down payment on an Elise (hell, maybe even stroke a check for one). there's no point in getting one while i'm deploying, because i won't be around enough to enjoy it.

1/25/2008 8:04:44 PM

The elite is a good example of what I'm talking about. Simple, clean lines that will always be stylish, even if they did use cheap round tail lights. Relax dude, I'm just trolling out of jealousy.


I think the ricer term comes from "rice-burner" instead of "grass-burner", ie an american car with nothing but headers that literally burns the ground under it.

1/25/2008 8:15:45 PM

whats 40,000 dollar special about a toyota engine?

just curious.

1/25/2008 8:17:21 PM

It's not made by Rover. That alone is worth some premium.

1/25/2008 8:20:20 PM

The frame, body, suspension and design make it 65k special.

It's fiberglass and aluminum all around. It's mid-engine, its incredibly light, and handles like its on rails. Each of the things I just mentioned means MO money. FYI, its priced about the same (elise/exige) as the Corvette base/Z06 models.

I think you get a lot better car from Lotus than you do from Chevy as far as looks go. The vette (especially z06) is admittedly much faster around the track though.

Also, these guys hold their value MUCH better than almost any other production sports car under 100k

1/25/2008 8:27:24 PM

^

They do seem to stay expensive.

I cant find any below ~30 that don't completely suck.

I do feel all the trim is tacky because it doesn't match the body color. I limit my searchs to dark green or black for just that reason .

1/25/2008 8:33:17 PM

whats the top speed and whats the fastest you got it to noen?

1/25/2008 8:38:12 PM

^^If you get an Elise, there's no trim to change.

I wanted to get the phantom black or british green, but after seeing this guy in person (gold metalic flake in the paint) I was sold on the Chili Red.

^Top speed is ~145, I've only hit ~120 on the GPS speedo and it was still pulling like crazy

1/25/2008 9:16:38 PM

wow, $65K? I think I'm gonna wait for the Nissan GTR to come out.

1/25/2008 11:56:26 PM

you people and your comparisons

1/26/2008 12:10:00 AM

car looks awesome. do you track it at all?

1/26/2008 12:35:37 AM

Quote :

"wow, $65K? I think I'm gonna wait for the Nissan GTR to come out."

two different animals.

the GTR is a heavy bitch. so much so that even with AWD, it'll never feel nimble enough where you can just sling it around a track. you CAN do that with an exige.

1/26/2008 1:17:18 AM

Quote :

"car looks awesome. do you track it at all?"

Thats the only reason I bought it. As soon as spring hits, this thing will be getting track time almost every weekend. Seattle Parkways, Portland International (I pray it re-opens late spring as is rumored), Vancouver, and this summer I'm going to take a week off and go down to Laguna Seca with it.

Its got the track pack, touring pack, traction control options installed. Might pay to get the LSD put on it, but probably not this year.

Track pack:

Adjustable Bilstein Dampers with Remote Front Reservoirs and Threaded Spring Perches
Compression and Rebound Are Adjusted Simultaneously with Single Knob
5-Way Adjustable Front Anti-Sway Bar
Rear Track Control Arm Brace Reinforces Suspension Mounting Points
Fittings in Seat Belt Support Structure Allow Bolt-In Harness Bar

It's got the harness bar installed, so I can put in a 4 or 5 point harness in a day if I need it.

1/26/2008 2:56:09 AM

very nice.

1/26/2008 5:04:49 AM

Quote :

"because the totoya transaxle is better. 6speed, can handle more power and was better suited for mid engine applications. also because toyota already had a factory ready SC option."

Almost every review I've read bitches about the gearshifter, its not even close to the goodness you get from a Honda transmission, and since when are Honda trannies fragile?

My one regret about the car is that they didn't take the engine from the S2000 instead of that crap from the celica.

1/26/2008 9:10:21 AM

The S2000 is a longitudinal mounted engine, probably much more work and cost to get it in transverse trim and find a transaxle to fit. With Toyota, all of that work was already done.

1/26/2008 9:50:33 AM

Lotus is Emma Peele approved.

1/26/2008 10:37:10 AM

negros, it wasnt the s2000 motor, it was the type r motor.

1/26/2008 11:08:08 AM

Ok, next question:

How did you afford this?

1/26/2008 12:26:36 PM

same way everyone else in here has afforded $35K + cars

1/26/2008 12:41:16 PM

wit dat
J
O
B

1/26/2008 1:13:09 PM

^^^^While its true that some aftermarket companies put those in, it wouldn't make sense for Lotus to use a discontinued engine (Honda doesn't make them anymore).

Quote :

"The S2000 is a longitudinal mounted engine, probably much more work and cost to get it in transverse trim and find a transaxle to fit. With Toyota, all of that work was already done."

Quite true, I should have said the K series engine which can almost match the S2k's engine without being quite as expensive. The K series was a no brainer, the Toyota combo...not so much.

^^^The Elise has horrible initial resale value, it would seem that a lot of first time buyers can't handle the car as a DD and sell them shortly after initial purchase. So if you look around there are plenty in the high $30k price range.

[Edited on January 26, 2008 at 4:47 PM. Reason : j]

1/26/2008 4:47:01 PM

The frame, body, suspension and design Lotus name makes it 65k special.

1/26/2008 5:04:23 PM

I think the elise is a quirky looking car, but sexy all the way around. What more could you ask for that's pretty much a road-legal go cart with a roof? Lotus does some sick engineering.

1/26/2008 5:26:51 PM

What you have to look out for with these cars are nasty repairs if you ever damage the bodywork. Fuck up the front and you have to replace the entire clamshell

1/26/2008 6:48:21 PM

there was one at the mall for a while, it was waist high. they need a yardstick in all the pics

1/26/2008 7:38:50 PM

Quote :

"Ok, next question: How did you afford this?"

get a fucking real job and you won't have to ask such dumb retarded questions

1/26/2008 7:52:04 PM

lol, like steve jobs?

1/27/2008 2:33:42 AM

Quote :

"Almost every review I've read bitches about the gearshifter, its not even close to the goodness you get from a Honda transmission, and since when are Honda trannies fragile? "

haha, tell 'em what you think about that particular gearshift, Pat.

Quote :

"What you have to look out for with these cars are nasty repairs if you ever damage the bodywork. Fuck up the front and you have to replace the entire clamshell "

isn't a lot of the chassis monococque, which is a REAL rat bastard to repair? (i.e. not worthwhile to bother with)

1/27/2008 3:11:26 AM

Quote :

"haha, tell 'em what you think about that particular gearshift, Pat."

Hehe. Well, lets just say the only transmission/engine I've ever destroyed was THAT particular combination. And lets also say that most people think I'm a pretty talented driver.

1/27/2008 4:19:27 AM