Scott98

I'm slowly getting ready to buy my next toy. Right now I'm kind of toying with the idea of getting either a 944 Turbo S or an '05 Lotus Elise. I've driven a Lotus but never a 944 (I used to own an '87 911 which I sold to finance my upcoming purchase).

I figure I can get a decent Turbo S for around 13k. I can get an '05 Lotus with around 8,000 miles for 27k (I've already found one at this price).

In terms of performance, how do they compare to one another? With the Lotus I have the advantage of rock solid reliability and an almost new car. But, is it worth double the price?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Scott

ramius665

Can't speak to the value on the lotus, but it will easily out-handle a turbo S. But the Turbo S is a pretty mean machine as well. If you spent the difference between the purchase price of the Turbo S and the Lotus on upgrades, you would have a real monster...

Van

What do you want to do with the car?

Drive sportilly on the street? Take the wife on a day trip? Track it? Tinker and modify it?

Out of the box, the lotus is better for the track, and better if you don't want to tinker with anything.

If you're looking for just a sporty driver that you can drive for more than an hour, or take a passenger in, or carry luggage, the 944 is your car.

951_RS

X2

you said it'll just be your toy car so it may not matter as much but the lotus is far from versatile. Great for short spirited driving and on the track. It's like a sport bike in car guise, not comfyfor extended periods but rather pure in it's purpose and hard to beat in those confines.
Tough choice since price comes into it, but the answer will stem from whether or not you like working on cars... The 944 could easily eclipse cost of ownership of the Elise after mods and reconditioning.

The 944 would be awesome with that sort if money into it, a lot faster straightline than the Elise.

Scott98

Thanks for the replies so far. Here is some more info:

1) I will work on the 944 myself. Never worked on a Lotus but I imagine it won't need much.

2) I will NOT sink any money into performace upgrades. At most, the 944 will get Koni Sport shocks and maybe a chip. Nothing else.

3) Car is for weekend club events - mostly drive outs, maybe limited track time. I'm not looking for a track car specifically. I'm really just looking for an overall "fun" car.

4) Would the 944 Turbo S be faster than my old '87 911?

Thanks again for everyone's input!

Scott

Ian Carr

yeah the turbo S will be faster than a 87' 911 (probably not a 930 though). The lotus will probably be less work involved and I think they are just really cool cars. I would say go for the Lotus if your looking for fun while keeping wrench time down.

BTW, I have never met someone that ONLY put koni yellows and a chip in.. there is always some thing else you need to get or want to get when it comes to owning a 951.

mudbuddha

Scott,

All above are pretty good, realistic inputs. Different stroke for different folks but I am a little biased here and go with the TS. It is faster and handles better than the 87 911 and more so especially with a set of chips and suspension upgrade you mentioned. Factory TS rated at 247hp compare to 230hp for the 911 IIRC. In any event, top speed is much faster 160mph vs 150mph give and take for both cars.

I haven't driven a Lotus but do know that it's a great car for the track just not on the street. I've got an old daily beater Honda civic HB (EF) that I stripped to about 2000lbs with me in it making roughly 160hp and gets 27mpg so I can see how the driving dynamic of the Lotus would be similar vs. my DD vs. my TS. If you will do most of the tinkering yourself then I would still go with the TS as I can't imagine working on a mid engined car with little space to work in.

With that said, if it's fun that you are looking for than the Lotus is a fun car for what it is- a bike with 4 wheels. I have fun driving my hopped up DD around too but it's pretty loud and crude. BUT I look forward to nice days in the weekend when I can take my turbo out for a spin and when the boost hit, it put a smile on my face. Get the TS and save the money for other project if nothing else. Just my .02.

Good luck.

V2Rocket

from experience driving with them, a lotus is an easy car to drive fast and hard. last time i went on the sd palomar run a few guys in elises showed up, and i was trying my hardest on the corners and whatnot and really going for it and the elises were basically cruising in front of me

brrgrr

I've driven both on the street and track. The Lotus is truly a "toy" - like many have said - a motorcycle with four wheels. Try getting in and out a few times.... and have your wife get in or out a few times. The engines are very reliable and take lots of abuse. They are wicked fast at the track and handle and stop like a go kart. The TS is a more complete car - not as raw, but still plenty quick. With a chip, exhaust, Dual Port WG, and suspension, it would hold it's own against the lotus - especially on bigger tracks. Not as reliable, but if you work on them yourself, not too expensive. More comfortable on the street.

Spend some time in both and the decision should be pretty simple, they are pretty different cars..... depends on what you want.

Bri Bro

That would be the issue for me if it was just a street car.

DanaT

What exactly make an Elise a motorcycle with 4 wheels?

-Dana

future

If it helps I’ve owned both an S2 Elise and an early S1 Exige which I really loved as well as the 944 Turbo.

Both Lotus have different engines – the S1 had the old Rover K-Series engines which really are S41T (many have blown as early as 20k miles) and the S2 has the much better VVT which has proved to be very reliable.

Over here in the UK a lot of people prefer to buy an S1 and drop in a Honda Civic V-tech EP3 Tyre-R engine which is a relatively easy installation and there are many kits available to do this – then performance mods are pretty much limitless and you can easy get near 300bhp from the N/A engine for relatively cheap money – do this and the car will walk past a stock 951 with ease in every situation.

If I were you I’d go a late S1 and drop the type-R engine in as these engines can be had very cheap now from a wreckers yard and are bullet proof. Here is worth a look: http://www.elisetyper.com/

Both cars I purchased were salvage cars needing extensive bodywork. Please note that if you bend the car then a new chassis is needed mandatory. These in the UK are £9k on their own and I learnt the hard way with the Exige which was a bum buy as I brought it sight unseen but when completed it was one of the best cars I have ever driven.

Personally I like the S1 190 Sport the best if you are just buying for a weekend car but have no idea what these go for in the US.

Early S2’s cars start at about £11k in the UK and an S1 can be had for as little as £6.5k.

I lived with both cars as my DD and commuted 600miles a week in each. The Exige became a chore to own as a DD but the S2 I could live with fine but expect moaning from the GF as the seats are crap.

Not sure if the VX220 Turbo ever came over to the US but this is even better and cheaper than both based on the S1 Lotus chassis with a few more creature comforts – they look better also:

333pg333

That's the sort of feedback you want right there. ^^^ Good stuff Mark.

I think most of us as much as we love the 951 are all thinking, go for the Lotus. There is no such thing as 'Just a chip and some konis' no matter how much you believe that. If you are prepared to spend $27k on the Lotus, lets round that up to $30 because there's always something to spend. Now think about what sort of 951 you could put together for that sort of cash. So if you don't want to spend that much. Get a good one for say $10k. Spend another $10k and you'll have something special and still reliable....or better still. Get the Lotus, lol.

ritzblitz

Id get the lotus. But im short.

odb812

The TS already comes with koni yellows. With the age they will probably need to be replaced, if the PO hasn't already done so, but I wouldn't expect any real performance gains replacing them. Similarly, I would expect negligible gains with a chip alone. Like Ian said, nobody really does those two mods and stops. The chip really relies on higher boost to make the power and the stock wastegate will not handle more boost as well as, say a Tial 38. Additionally you will need a MBC or EBC to raise the boost level. But an otherwise stock TS running at 15 psi is very fun and pretty fast.

BTW all of the comparisons I've seen show that the TS is faster than a 930, making the 951 the fastest car Porsche made in '89.