heatmiser

SilverKnight - GO BUSH!!!

s2ka

"i don't mean to be rude but if you're getting major understeer on a liesurely test drive you suck at driving. That statement and the fact that you couldn't "change directions quickly" is enough for your write up to totally lose credibility in my book."

Uh, no, it means that he was driving it hard around a sharp corner and found that the narrow 175 front tires and rear-biased weight distribution (38% front 62% rear) caused the car to understeer. I felt the same thing while driving the Elise, on a corner that my S2000 takes on a daily basis with no understeer.

The Elise steering felt sloppy and crude compared to my S. I've had enough unboosted steering racks in my lifetime, I appreciate the high tech electronically boosted, heavily weighted, quick ratio S2000 rack.

WPS

it's tuned to understeer from the factory according to the lotus rep on a top gear episode. easier for most people to drive.

Silver9k

hmmm...I'd like to see the interior on one...you'd think that for the price, they could at least put some nice plastic in...and do a good job too...It's not like its going to add more weight...

PoweredByCamry

Actually if you re-read his thread what he says is that when he got back in the S2000 it felt slow, as in slower than the Elise.

And as for the "you can't drive" comment by offroadr, I have seen Kit in competition enough to know that he most certainly can. We all know that the standard Elise with 175 fronts is setup to be on the safe side, Kit himself says the LSS should be more neutral. Perhaps you just read a little too much into his criticisms of the car, he does acknowledge that it's a great car, moreso than the S, and that many of his nits are personal preference.

Peter

JsnS2k

Did you drive down Winchester/N SantaCruz in Los Gatos? I saw a Orange Chrome Elise with chromish colored wheels going in the opposite direction as me ( You going toawrds HWY 9 )

DEFINITELY caught my attention!

BTW, it is 17S and North, not east and west

<~~ wishes I were you.

JoeD

kitwetzler

Yup! that was where we were... that said, I saw the car out on another test drive when I left. they really whore that thing out!

kitwetzler

You don't mean to be rude but you're going to anyway...

It's ok. The car is typically midengined, and with the base suspension understeers quite clearly. The Press car that most of the US rags used had LSS. I don't know what understeer has to do with my driving, if I turn the wheel and the car doesn't turn as much as I want it to, that's generally considered understeer. The base elise had tons of it. the poor little 175s are overworked.

I don't doubt that the LSS is better in terms of turn-in balance. That said, I just don't like the steering. Some people prefer the precision of a slow manual rack, personally, I prefer a quick rack and am willing to give up some feeling for it.

I don't mind you disagreeing with my post, i know there are hundreds of lotus afficianados that think I am absolutely mad... and I freely admit that the elise does a lot of things better than the s2000... it just doesn't do them $20,000 better.

I'm still interested to try out an LSS car, but besides the press cars, there aren't any. Several people here have seen me on track and in AutoX, and, while I'm not vying for top time of the day, I don't "suck at driving." but, if it makes you feel better to think so, that's ok with me! It won't change my opinion and it won't make me give my deposit back to lotus.

kitwetzler

like I said in the review, the brakes I'm not worried about, more than likely they are the victims of an overzealous test drive or something like that.

The steering has great feel, but the rack is slow. There is no way you can argue that, the ratios are much slower than I'm used to and I even think the S2000's borders on slow. Drive an EVO around if you want to experience a really quick rack... and sure, i realize that often times a quick rack is going to numb the feeling but I'm ok with that, I can still tell what the front wheels are doing just fine.

The elise is definitely faster than the s2k. there's no doubt about it. But, it's not a huge amount faster... a supercharged s2000 would blow the elise in the water. Look at the power to weigh ratio, 2050 lbs for the elise with about 165 rwhp (guessing based on the celica with a basically identical drivetrain) and 2750 for my s2000 (according to the cornerweight scales) and 220ish rwhp. 12.42 lbs/hp vs 12.5 lbs/hp. Pretty close, eh?

Believe me, I was looking forward to the Elise, I even just parted with my 409rwhp Supra in anticipation... but I just can't see paying $50K for a car I don't absolutely love. Maybe I'll change my mind when I drive an LSS car, but for right now, that's the way I feel. I knew my opinion wouldn't be popular, but I'll see you at the track.