OT: Test drove a Lotus Elise yesterday :)
07-27-2003, 01:55 PM
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OT: Test drove a Lotus Elise yesterday :)
Hi guys,
Mooty and I went to Los Gatos Ferrari to see e a Lotus Elise yesterday. On our way there we saw Mr. Clifton and his nice Polar Silver 993 on Hwy 880 and waved at each other.
No, I was not interested in replacing my C4S with the Elise.. I was just accompanying Mooty because he is very interested in the Elise.
At first I didn't expect that the salesman would let me drive the car but when he asked me "Do you want to drive this car too?", I was a bit surprised and said "mmmm... okay". I was a bit hesitant because I hate to test drive a car that I think I'm going to like (if you know what I mean hehehe).
At any rate, the salesman was very nice to say the least and I thank him for that.
Mooty and I went to Los Gatos Ferrari to see e a Lotus Elise yesterday. On our way there we saw Mr. Clifton and his nice Polar Silver 993 on Hwy 880 and waved at each other.
No, I was not interested in replacing my C4S with the Elise.. I was just accompanying Mooty because he is very interested in the Elise.
At first I didn't expect that the salesman would let me drive the car but when he asked me "Do you want to drive this car too?", I was a bit surprised and said "mmmm... okay". I was a bit hesitant because I hate to test drive a car that I think I'm going to like (if you know what I mean hehehe).
At any rate, the salesman was very nice to say the least and I thank him for that.
07-27-2003, 01:56 PM
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Now about the car...
The look:
IMHO the Elise looks very nice, it has a very unique design which shows a lot of character and I like it a lot. I prefer the look of the 993 though but I might be biased hehehe
Interior:
There's not a lot to say about the interior of this car as there are really not much in it IMHO that's perfect because it's a driver's car and the car doesn't need any extra gadgets to make it heavier.
However I did find that getting into the car is not as hard as getting out of the car. If you have a bad back, you'll probably have a hard time getting in and out of this car.
The look:
IMHO the Elise looks very nice, it has a very unique design which shows a lot of character and I like it a lot. I prefer the look of the 993 though but I might be biased hehehe
Interior:
There's not a lot to say about the interior of this car as there are really not much in it
IMHO that's perfect because it's a driver's car and the car doesn't need any extra gadgets to make it heavier.However I did find that getting into the car is not as hard as getting out of the car. If you have a bad back, you'll probably have a hard time getting in and out of this car.
07-27-2003, 01:57 PM
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The drive:
The salesman pointed us the route that we should take and we followed his advice. It's a good thing we did because it turned out that the road that we took was really twisty and that's where we wanted to drive this car at.
We quickly found out that this car handles extremely well. The car didn't have any body roll or excessive suspension travel at all. The car also felt stable and planted on every corner that we took, no hint of too much understeer either, it was certainly nice to have this sharp of steering input. The car pointed and went where we wanted it to. Some people said that it's like a Miata on Steroid but I honestly think that the car is much much better than that
The gearbox was nice, shifting was smooth and it was pretty easy to heel and toe on this car.
With the open top, I couldn't hear any rattles at all. The car felt pretty solid.
The salesman pointed us the route that we should take and we followed his advice. It's a good thing we did because it turned out that the road that we took was really twisty and that's where we wanted to drive this car at.
We quickly found out that this car handles extremely well. The car didn't have any body roll or excessive suspension travel at all. The car also felt stable and planted on every corner that we took, no hint of too much understeer either, it was certainly nice to have this sharp of steering input. The car pointed and went where we wanted it to. Some people said that it's like a Miata on Steroid but I honestly think that the car is much much better than that
The gearbox was nice, shifting was smooth and it was pretty easy to heel and toe on this car.
With the open top, I couldn't hear any rattles at all. The car felt pretty solid.
07-27-2003, 01:58 PM
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The only two things that I didn't like were the brakes (I guess I'm spoiled with Porsche's brakes) and the tires (it could use better tires, I think the tires were Bridgestone Potenza RE???). But they can always be replaced with better brakes/tires
The car that we drove had a Rover engine in it. The salesman said that particular motor produces 140hp for the car. I believe he also mentioned that the weight of the car was approximately 1700lbs. I was pretty happy with how fast this car can accelerate and I was told that they are thinking of putting a Toyota Celica engine (~190hp) on the cars that they are going to sell in U.S. next year.
I assume that the car we test drove was a Euro spec (I might be wrong). As far as I was told, they haven't finalized the spec for the U.S. cars yet. I'm hoping that they won't put too much extra weight on the U.S. cars though (which is very possible because of safety regulations in U.S. among other things). The car felt very much balanced as is so with extra weights it might screw things up (I don't know)?
At any rate, if possible you should go and test drive one of these cars But be careful though, after the test drive I was really tempted (seriously) to put a deposit on one... And Mooty was almost certain that he will get one and sell his 996 C4S (on our way home he told me that he's no longer happy with his C4S ... oh oh). Me? I'm still very much in love with my 993 C4S
Have a great weekend guys and happy motoring
The car that we drove had a Rover engine in it. The salesman said that particular motor produces 140hp for the car. I believe he also mentioned that the weight of the car was approximately 1700lbs. I was pretty happy with how fast this car can accelerate and I was told that they are thinking of putting a Toyota Celica engine (~190hp) on the cars that they are going to sell in U.S. next year.
I assume that the car we test drove was a Euro spec (I might be wrong). As far as I was told, they haven't finalized the spec for the U.S. cars yet. I'm hoping that they won't put too much extra weight on the U.S. cars though (which is very possible because of safety regulations in U.S. among other things). The car felt very much balanced as is so with extra weights it might screw things up (I don't know)?
At any rate, if possible you should go and test drive one of these cars
But be careful though, after the test drive I was really tempted (seriously) to put a deposit on one... And Mooty was almost certain that he will get one and sell his 996 C4S (on our way home he told me that he's no longer happy with his C4S ... oh oh). Me? I'm still very much in love with my 993 C4S Have a great weekend guys and happy motoring
07-27-2003, 02:17 PM
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07-27-2003, 02:39 PM
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Originally posted by Suwipin
I assume that the car we test drove was a Euro spec (I might be wrong). As far as I was told, they haven't finalized the spec for the U.S. cars yet. I'm hoping that they won't put too much extra weight on the U.S. cars though (which is very possible because of safety regulations in U.S. among other things). The car felt very much balanced as is so with extra weights it might screw things up (I don't know)?
I assume that the car we test drove was a Euro spec (I might be wrong). As far as I was told, they haven't finalized the spec for the U.S. cars yet. I'm hoping that they won't put too much extra weight on the U.S. cars though (which is very possible because of safety regulations in U.S. among other things). The car felt very much balanced as is so with extra weights it might screw things up (I don't know)?
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07-27-2003, 09:09 PM
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Hi Icerbofh,
That's cool Icerbofh I've never seen a 340 in person before. Hehehe yeah I think I agree with you on the insane styling 
Are these cars street legal?
That's cool Icerbofh
I've never seen a 340 in person before. Hehehe yeah I think I agree with you on the insane styling Are these cars street legal?
07-27-2003, 09:39 PM
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It appears they are. http://www.340r.net
Look under the Owner review section. There is a writeup by someone that lives out here and he mentions Highway 35 and Alice's. If you dig around the website, there are some pretty cool mods too.
I just uploaded a quicktime movie of a 340R review. The quality is pretty bad but is fun to watch the car get tossed around.
http://carumba.com/tmp/porsche/Lotus...Gear%20(1).mov
Look under the Owner review section. There is a writeup by someone that lives out here and he mentions Highway 35 and Alice's. If you dig around the website, there are some pretty cool mods too.
I just uploaded a quicktime movie of a 340R review. The quality is pretty bad but is fun to watch the car get tossed around.
http://carumba.com/tmp/porsche/Lotus...Gear%20(1).mov
07-28-2003, 12:30 PM
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indeed, pin and i were quite surprised with the little toy. now, i am in trouble as to "should i or shouldn't i".....
the brake and tires were terrible. but other than that, pin was right on! the built qty was not steller and i did here some rattle while pin drove. but i was having so much fun that i can forgive all those annoyances...
the brake and tires were terrible. but other than that, pin was right on! the built qty was not steller and i did here some rattle while pin drove. but i was having so much fun that i can forgive all those annoyances...
