Goochie

OK, I have a tricky choice to make - Elise 1.8, Boxter 2.6 or S2000 ???

What's your opinion on each of these as a drivers car and for feeling fast? I'm seriously tempted by the very fast feeling S2000 (mainly due to the VTEC and those big red seats) though, as my colleague said "you wouldnt notice one in a field full of MX5's".

The Boxter is apparently a great drivers car though I think it looks a bit gay in non-'S' guise - not sure about performance though.

Which, leaves the Elise, arguably the best drivers car of them all but do Elises feel fast?

I'm after something that is going to be great fun to drive and feels really fast, Caterhams are out by the way

Type R

Boxster (non s) - Shopping, going to the hairdressers, and motorway car IMHO, great build quality, good handling. Its a car, thats not great at any one thing, but good at everything, if you understand what Im saying.

S2000 - Excellent brakes, engine (lurvley noise), build quality, lots of toys, a good tourer. People always mention the lack of torque, anyone who can drive will tell you it aint as big an issue as people make out, you have to adapt your driving style, the steering is sometimes vague, and the back end can be loose, the newer models are easier to handle.

Elise (std) - Best handling of the lot, great on track/b-roads, can leak, best fun car, more unpractical than the above, rarer than the above, lack of power can be a tad frustrating, but handling more than makes up for it. A very raw car, I have certainly learnt a lot from driving it, no gadgets.

VX220???

I own an Elise, and went through the above dilema, my Mum owns an MY02 S2000 which is good, best of both worlds I wanted a fast track/road car, had I wanted a fast road car would have definetly spent more time at the Honda dealership. Im happy with my decision.

Goochie

What's the mid range poke like in an Elise? I dont want to be stuck behind kids in Corsas/Astras and not be able to get past convincingly.

I thought about a VX220 - but who wants a Vauxhall when you can have a Lotus? Snobbery I know but I'm affraid I've spent too many years being messed around with by Vauxhall to trust them with a "nice" car.

Dracoro

VX220 turbo for the price of the boxster/elise/s2000 and the vauxhall will easily be the fastest. As above, the boxster will be the best all round, the elise the most fun and the s2000 the cheapest to run, most reliable, exclusive etc. as well as great fun.

Bascially depends on your use. I had an s2000 and loved it. engine is great and it can feel like a racecar for the road. I sold it and got a westfield as I didn't do the mileage and wanted a pure fun car & stopped caring about 'luxuries'.

test drive them all is the best advice (make sure you take the s2000 to the redline!!!

N1 SPAN

Elise - only 120bhp but 750 kg!!!!!

The others have more power but no better power to weight ratio. You won't find an Elise slow. The others are naturally quicker past say 80 mph but does that really matter. No probs passing stuff.

You can always get a bit of engine work done cheaply, same engine as all the Caterhams etc...

I must say though, if I was buying an Elise now for every day use is would be the 111r. But that is £30k.

Have a quick nosey on the bookatrack site. You could pick a cheapish Elise up and have the Honda enging put into one! Best of all worlds. I have only been a passenger in one but it was awesome. 0-100 in 9.5 secs and great handling!! you know it makes sense.

Rich

Goochie

hmmm 160bhp/tonne for the Elise seems pretty tasty! Especially when compared to an Integra type R at 173bhp/tonne. Cant find bhp/tonne figures for the S2000 and boxter though

Type R

I will be totally honest, the S2000 feels the quickest in a straight, and is, but you can not corner as quick as an Elise, on track I have yet to find an S2000 that is quicker.

Mid range poke is good, don't have any major issues.

Understand your thoughts on Vauxhall Im the same, Vauxhall have shafted me so many times, but this is a good car well at least the Turbo is.

My car is parked in town in an underground garage, so when ever I take her out there is always people around, no word of a lie, everytime someone has a complimentry remark, I get let out at junctions people wave, on the motorway people move over. Kids wave, a lad on Sunday called my car "Fat" guess that is good right, Im 29 so not upto speed with all the jargon

I don't get that in my Mums S2000 which is strange perhaps its because you see more of them.

Both cars are Yellow BTW.

Goochie

Just done some googling and dug up the following (probably inaccurate) info:

Astra 1.8 (current runabout) - 96 bhp/tonne
Elise - 160 bhp/tonne
RX8 - 171 bhp/tonne
Impreza UK turbo- 172 bhp/tonne
Integra Type R - 173 bhp/tonne
Boxter - 175 bhp/tonne
S2000 - 184 bhp/tonne

Type R

Nothing better than a damp track and a Lotus Elise, lurvley

Goochie

can you get the back end out control;ably/easily in an Elise - you can in the S2

Dracoro

S2000 is 190 bhp per tonne. based on 237 bhp/1245kg

Goochie

....which, pushes it further into the lead - but how much of that power is not just before the red line??

Dracoro

The real S2000 power is 6000 to 9000 rpm (go ALL the way to the redline and on the upshift you are just at the start of the vtec zone. Anyway, that's 3000 revs to play with when you really wanna shift which is just as wide a power band as most cars. There's enough from 3 to 6 thousand to get you going when you're not in racing driver mode. Not much go up to 3000 revs but I actually found it hard to have the car revving that low. So all in all a very usable powerband of 6000 rpm which is more than most cars. I got 45mpg over 100 miles once sticking to around 60/70 mph on the motorway and never going into the vtec. Had to exercise a very light foot and kept things smooth.

Dream Weaver

VX220 is well respected despite its badge - I would have one over the other choices any day.

Type R

See the pic above

Its not easy, I did a fair amount of training and still do overcook it, hopefully doing some more training and joining up with the Drifters

Don't get me wrong, when it is full opposite lock, generally its gone but in the above picture I drifted it around the entire corner (new bit at Bedford - 14th April)

MadMark

Easy!

Are you going to use the car every day for commuting - Boxster or S2000
Is it going to be a toy - Elise every time!

How big is your budget? - If you can't afford a 2.7 Boxster - Don't bother! Have the S2000 or the Elise!

P.S. Any moderately tweaked Elise will murder the other two ....... Mine had 145bhp (or 200bhp/tonne) and the Lotus Sports Suspension - ate both for breakfast - everywhere!

Goochie

Mark - how did you fit in an Elise ????

the chosen one

also you never mentioned whether you was going to buy these cars from new, ever considered the full track beast of the lotus elise, the exige?

Type R

An S2 with LSS and Yoko's will cream the other 2 as standard.

What you gain in the straights with the S2000 you lose through the corners.

S2000 is quite good at gooning thou, will try to find a pic.

CTR

Elise.

I would even say you could use it for everyday use, I do, but I now only do 20 miles to work in each direction. It rattles, its noisy, it leaks(but only really onto the sills and the inside of the windows whilst stationary), has no toys, but is a huge amount of fun. Even more so on the track, where in comparison my CTR was very easy, but ultimately very dull to drive.

Mine works out about 200bhp per tonne, and I dont think it feels that fast, probably due to lack of torque, but I think its deceptive, and is actually quite quick.

As for getting the backend out controllably/easily, in the wet, yes, in the dry, yes, patchy wetness knackered me a bit on my last track day, the car went from understeer to snap oversteer, but I was pushing cause it was mostly dry and got caught out!

I also get so many looks, nice car comments shouted at me whilst driving past, its unbelievable. My mate who owns a normal Boxster couldnt believe how much attention was paid to the car. If you like that sort of thing.

Type R

A good Elise resource.

www.forums.soloc.org

CTR what Elise have you got?

Mmmmm

Elise, great steering, great chassis, best track choice, very firm ride, murder ever day unless your very keen, no space inside, not so good at pulling birds.

S2000, steering is okay but other two much better, allright chassis but not as good as other two, firm ride, some boot space, I like the manic engine, reasonable running costs, much better for pulling birds and hanging on to them the the elise (if you only have one car) best value for money

Boxster, good steering, good chassis, best ride out the three, can have expensive services (expensive if anything goes wrong out of warrenty), good for pulling girls, reasonably good day to day. Best if money isn't a major concern.

All great cars, but day to day it would have to be the S2000 or Boxster(but only if I could afford one with a warrenty).

CTR

S1 Sport 135.

P.S. I have found the Seloc forums to be very friendly and helpful too.

CTR

TypeR, that picture, is that the corner onto the straight? All I seemed able to get on that corner was understeer, be interested to know how you managed oversteer. Maybe I need to mash the pedal a little harder. What gear was that in?

Sorry off topic!

MadMark

Once you have the technique - it's easy! Oh and I could sit straight legged too - lovely car ....

Dapster

Goochie - if you are making your decision on which car "feels fastest", you could be in for a nightmare. You need to assess how often and in what style you are going to use it as otherwise you'll be rattling on the motorway in between trucks in an Elise or chewing through expensive tyres and brakes in a Boxster on track days.

Don't dismiss the Boxster as a hairdressers car - even the vanilla 2.7. It is a sublime car - the build quality, handling finesse, engine note, gearchange, low end torque and general feel good factor it imparts will make a real impression.

The worst thing about the Boxster is the fact it's a Porsche and you need to deal with all the baggage that goes with it.

Type R

Yup thats the corner.

Ive had a bit of training, and had different Geo which helps, I don't get any understeer at Bedford.

Trail braking does it for me best. Basically brake as normal, but I keep my foot a little bit on the brake pedal, whilst turning in, lift it, and the back end gently slides usually , takes a fair bit of practice and would recommend doing it on an open airfield.

It was also easier as it was damp, the S2 acts like an S1 in damp conditions IMHO.