190 HP and 100% fun

[Kdberan]

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



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!

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.

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!



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

[kenchan]

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

[tibal]

Awesome Car and Congrats!

[dAvenue]

I wish I had a GTR

[Kdberan]

Originally Posted by tibal

Awesome Car and Congrats!

Thanks!

[Chuck33079]

I love those cars.

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

[Kdberan]

Originally Posted by dAvenue

I wish I had a GTR

Me too! That is my room mates car.

[Chuck33079]

Originally Posted by Kdberan

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.

[axmea?]

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..

[Kdberan]

Originally Posted by Chuck33079

I love those cars.

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

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

[mayday813]

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

[Akmcmahon]

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!

[Kdberan]

Originally Posted by Chuck33079

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.

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.

[Kdberan]

Originally Posted by mayday813

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

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.

[OMGWTFBBQ]

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.