190 HP and 100% fun
 

I'm proud to introduce the newest addition to the family, a 2005 Krypton Green Lotus Elise!

http://www.the370z.com/members/kdber...er-windows.jpg

For being 8 years old, the car is mint! The original owner, currently 73 years old, recently traded the car in on an evora for the ease of the auto transmission. Until the day I picked her up a few weeks ago, she had never even seen rain, a car wash, or certainly a racetrack; only driven on sunny summer afternoons and garaged all year round. Full service history with the dealership we purchased the car from, who also sold it in the first place. The original owner felt no need to even rev the car up over 6k rpm and into the second cam, so in many ways I'm still breaking the car in and it only had 6,600 miles on it when I took delivery. So his loss = my gain! :happydance:

Still keeping the 370 and will continue to love the Z as my DD for years to come. I will probably still track it once or twice a year, no sense spending all that money on cooling issues and fuel starvation fixes, if I can't see the car at its full potential, without having to worry about being towed-into or limping-into the paddock.

So the hunt for the perfect car came down to a used p-car (pref. either 996 GT3 or a cayman S), waiting and waiting to have an atom built (or wasting $ on one that could have been beat to s**t and hating myself everyday for that decision), or a lotus elise/exige. I could get into all the reasons for why or why not for each of those cars but that's not the point of my post. In the end it came down to the 15 minute test-drive after the dealership called and said they had just taken in a car on trade that they thought was exactly what I was looking for. By the time we finished the paperwork, the dealership had already received over a dozen offers to purchase at or even over the asking price. :tiphat:

And I haven't looked back since! For me, that little toyota 4-cyl 1,700 lb Kermit the frog edition go-kart is the most fun I've ever had behind the wheel and that's saying a lot!

The elise will be making her debut HPDE appearance next month at Putnam Park or potentially as early as the end of September at my home track, Mid-Ohio. I can't wait!!! Anyone interested in attending or already signed up for either PCA event, let me know. Its always nice to meet some new friends and see some other Z's in action!

BTW if I've offended you in any way or you want to argue with me as to why the elise is not the "perfect" car for me, that I just don't know how to drive the 370z, that the other options I was looking at would be like comparing apples to oranges (which I certainly know), and the list goes on... I apologize in advance and feel free to flame on, but frankly, I don't care!

Look how cute and little it is next to Godzilla!

http://www.the370z.com/members/kdber...ts-so-tiny.jpg

It's even dwarfed by the Z! It does make you wonder, if only the Z weighed half as much as it does...

http://www.the370z.com/members/kdber...ents-house.jpg

i have a matchbox car of that. it's cool.

Awesome Car and Congrats!

I wish I had a GTR :(

Thanks!

I love those cars.

Wait- does your stable include the Lotus, a Z and a GTR?

:bowrofl: Me too! That is my room mates car.

Ok. I thought that was your collection. Still an impressive display of vehicles for one garage.

I've always thought owning an Elise would be cool, but never really looked at them. How reliable are they? Is there any power to be added without blowing it up? They just look like it would be a riot to fling around with the top off.

Very nice. Last photo makes it look cartoonish. Its got this grin as if it just inhaled something.
Anyway, been a while since I've an elise hear in Cali. Most are out driven on Sundays to a. Track somewhere.. :)

Negative, I wish! There should be some pics in my other albums of my wrangler though.

Nice! The Elise has an incredible hp/weight ratio if I recall that makes it go like a raped ape!

Lotus Elise is a fantastic car. I had a preorder on one when they came out. Things fell through though. So much fun, like you said. Never driven a car that gave better feedback to the driver. Congrats!

Yeah, sorry I didn't specify that the GT-R in my garage belongs to my room mate. I'm certainly not a troll who posts pictures of other people's cars and tries to pawn them off as my own. I'm fortunate for what the good Lord has provided me, no need to boast or try to win at the internet by looking like a lying idiot ;)

I mean, its British so reliability-wise, it doesn't hold up to the naturally bulletproof nature of a porsche. But then again those little buggers can handle a good thrashing and since its so light, you don't go through pads, rotors, or tires nearly as quickly as you would expect. And replacement parts are soooo incredibly cheap compared to the costs of even the Z. New pads, rotors, and tires for less than $1k, whats not to love about that?!?

Yeah most guys looking for more power go down the supercharger route to give the car anywhere from 230-265 hp. Some turbocharge, but not as common for track cars. One guy even built a 700+hp frankenstein exige with a hybrid turbo/supercharger, utterly insane, videos on youtube. Typical bolt-ons though can get you in the 160-180 hp range at the wheels, which is a lot more than one might think when 2 of me in the car wouldn't even tip it over a ton.

The top has never been removed on mine, but I will probably do so next spring. However being 5'8, I don't struggle with getting in and out like most people complain about with the top on. So the top isn't a concern of mine, I actually prefer the look of the hardtop on anyway.

And it is exactly that, a riot! Its really a supercar version of a miata in my opinion. It has the power to not get blown away on the straights and can keep up with the cars costing 5x as much in the twisty-turnies.

:iagree:That it does, below 5-6k rpm the car couldn't be more docile and I've seen people average over 30 mpg in some cases. But you get that car over 6500 rpm and you touch the gas pedal and it takes off like a bat outta hell once that second cam kicks in.

I know I'm opening up a can of worms with this statement.. but should have gotten a Porsche. Then again I'm super biased lol. ;)

omg.. congrats! always wanted to own a lotus elise at one point of my life..

Got to be the ugliest car on earth but I'd drive it in a heartbeat. I bet it is a blast..let me know if you need me to take the GTR out of the garage every now and then. wouldn't want it getting jealous.

I remember the h22 lotus i drove in... I heard k series swap is nuts also

I always liked these cars! Looks pretty good and I really like the colour

Engine and drivetrain are by Toyota -- those are pretty stout. 2ZZ engine with Toyota shortblock and Yamaha tuned head; transaxle is essentially from a MR-S.

The 2ZZ is a great, high revving engine -- add a roots blower and it will feel like a small V-8.

The dude with the twincharged gray elise is an old buddy of mine who goes by the nick name Ronin (unless someone else built one) -- that car is an absolute monster.

The only thing to check are the so called "lift bolts", which are critical to the cam profile change, and on earlier models were prone to shearing -- Toyota corrected this problem with redesigned bolts. If yours is a later model elise, you should be fine, but its something to look into.

Anyway -- enjoy and congrats :tup:

I need play money like the OP...geez.

i need bigger garage..

Very well done sir. :tiphat:

I like the part where your big family car is the GTR. Nice house too.

Great points! Yes, Ronin was the one I saw online, looked ridiculous. But I heard it was totaled? Rear-ended or something, idk though you would know better than me.

The lift bolt issue does tend to be more prevalent on earlier 2zz's from 00-02 celica's primarily, from what I've heard but the same bolts were used in most 05 elises. I plan on changing them just for precautionary measures and they are very inexpensive but after an initial inspection, they appear to be in like new condition, virtually no wear. So that's definitely in the cards for this winter to replace them.

Thanks!

Thanks! The barn converted house in the background is my parents, very fortunate to be able to store the elise there for the time being, so I don't have to park the Z outside at night. I live in the condo with the 2 car garage below, normally reserved for the Z and room mate's GTR. Nah I wish I could say they were all mine.

http://www.the370z.com/members/kdber...uddys-gt-r.jpg

Gratz on the car man. Great choice, I really like that green on it too.

Nice set of cars!

**edit: just read, GTR isn't yours**

Loving the stable bruh... You and your roomy have some nice rides together. live the dream.:tup:

On any other car, I would object to that color. But for something like the Elise it just fits. Maybe because it's so tiny it needs to be in some high visibility color just for safety reasons.

haha yeah I know where you're coming from on that and deep down there is always that nagging voice in my gut that says, "shoulda bought a porsche!"

And with the prices of used GT3's now a days, it is very tempting but I know I'd be biting off much more than I could chew with a GT3 and even more so with an atom! Long story short, I'm not afraid to admit I need more seat time behind the wheel of any car on the track before I make that kind of investment and truly am able to maximize the car's full potential... Also why I don't think I will be going down the path of FI in the lotus anytime soon, hoosiers yes, FI probably not.

I certainly can't argue with you there! On just about any other car, I'd never have liked the color. And normally I'd stay as far away from flashy colors that scream "pull me over please!" But it just seems to fit on the elise, like you said. And the visibility advantage for other cars is huge too for driving around town or on the highway.

100% this. If I bought an Elise it would have to be in that "hunter safety orange" they have.

Loving the stable bruh... You and your roomy have some nice rides together. live the dream.:tup:

Yeah, I believe they call it "Chrome Orange." That or the traditional British racing green with yellow stripes would have been my first two choices. But I'm far from disappointed with the Krypton Green after seeing it in person!

Thank you for stating this! i saw the OP say its a british car so reliability isnt great... I owned 2 Celica GTS's (2000 and 2002) same motor and transmission and it is a great feeling engine with the VVTL-I technology. THe lifters kick in at like 6000 RPMS and has a sort of turbo feel to it.

The engine and tranny are super reliable and CONGRATS OP as this is one of my favorite cars. If you did intake, exhaust and HFC's that thing would be a beast! I remember that motor taking very well to intake/exhaust modifications.

It's gorgeous. I'd paint the wheels and roof black, but that's just me. And get a loud exhaust. Something that loud visually needs to be loud.

damn i love those Lotus man!!! i always want one.. but here in PR are very rare car... i love the Exige S

Yeah the Exige S is my Favorite car under 100K

:tup: man that car its insane!!! in the track its like drive a go-kart!!

Oh I love that 2ZZ engine on the Elise. I had the "same" engine on my Celica years back and that little thing packs a lot of punch after 6000 up to 8200 rpm. It felt most powerful on 3rd gear on my Celica. What about the Elise?