Lotus Elise, How good is it? Options

[agentblr]

My 72 914/6 will run Circles around my little brothers Boxter,How do the masses out there think the Lotus will Fare against the Crop of high tech roadsters from BMW and the like and dare I say our beloved 30+ year old sport cars! Ive never been shown up in My fourteen,I think a shootout is in order (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[mike_the_man]

Talk to Qarl (Kellzey), he's on the list to get one. They look like pretty great cars to me.

[MattR]

I sat in one at the LA auto show a few months ago. They felt great, except they were too small for my 6'4" frame. It seems like there is a modern trend to go with stuff thats smaller, handles better, and is lighter... shoot, I'll just stick to my 914. Its all of those things without all the doodads.

[agentblr]

I sat in one at the LA auto show a few months ago. They felt great, except they were too small for my 6'4" frame. It seems like there is a modern trend to go with stuff thats smaller, handles better, and is lighter... shoot, I'll just stick to my 914. Its all of those things without all the doodads.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) For the money you could buy 3 nice sixes

[thesey914]

They are *awesome*
Lightweight, balanced and quick out of the box.

[Qarl]

Ha ha! You are talking to the right person.

I will be getting mine this fall. #23 on the list from the dealer.

I drove a Euro-spec Elise (156 Hp Rover engine) with 5-speed and it was really incredible.

It reminded me so much of what the 914 was, and could have become.

Very spartan interior, driver oriented, low-to-the ground, at-one with the car feeling. Handles like it was on rails.

All aluminum chassis (bonded with epoxy). Chassis weights 190 lbs. Fiberglass outer skin. One of the most torsionally rigid cars every made.

The 5-speed Euro-spec shifter was vague and sloppy (like the 914).

Dimensionally, it is within 1" in every dimension of the 914.

The Federal Elise will have 190 HP and six-speed (adopted from Celica GTS), but warmed over by Lotus. 0-60 mph in < 5 seconds.

And it gets over 35 mpg.

So.. this car is the modern equivalent of the 914.

[tat2dphreak]

is it wrong I got a little chub from hearing Qarl's description? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[MattR]

Does anyone know how much a 914 cost new in the 70s? And has anyone adjusted the price for inflation? Im curious. I have a theory that car prices have gone up dramatically (old corvettes used to be a few grand in the 50s and even after adjusting its still under 20 grand I believe). I just think the car makers have put so much useless crap in cars today (heated seats, airbags, etc.), they have driven the base price up on cars so much its rediculous.

I agree on the lotus though. Its a beauty, no doubt. It feels so right.

One of the Lotus engineers asked me what I thought, and I told him "it would be great if I could get it into first" (he looked over and my knee was up against the shifter in 3rd gear). I guess there wont be many basketball stars buying lotuses.

[cha914]

I think 914's were in the 4-6K range when new, and I have always used the double every 10years to account for inflation, it usually gets you in the ballpark...

...its been 30 years... so the 914 of today would be between 32K and 48K ...

I think the elise is a little overpriced, but so was the 914....still not a bad deal for one of the "great sports cars"...


Tony

edit...wording

[lapuwali]

Assuming one believes the Consumer Price Index (many economists don't), the CPI is currently 5.5 times what it was in 1967. So, a $4000 914 in 1970 would be roughly $22K today.

However, as others have noted, cars sell for much more than normal inflation these days. The average car price in 1970 wasn't $4000, it was more like $2000 (if I remember correctly, a 240Z sold for something like $1800 new in 1970, and a 911 for about $5000). The average car price today is much more than $11K, more like $25K. So, new car prices have gone up by 12 times since 1970, whereas normal goods have only gone by by 5.5 times. Most people's pay packets have only gone up by 5-6 times, so cars now cost twice as much in percentage of income than they did in 1970.

Cars do have a lot more stuff in them than they did then, but dealing with increasing legislation (crash standards, emissions standards, neither of which were really important factors in 1970, but would be very soon thereafter) has driven costs up for all of the automakers, so the price has gone up, too.

[MattR]

Also the cost of natural resources. Processes have improved/gotten more expensive over the last few years driving up the prices on everything (except computer related stuff).

I guess we pay for crap we dont use nowdays. I would much rather have a 240Z then a 350Z, looks aside, just as I would rather have an 67 911 then an 03 911. Just a personal preference though.

According to my high school economics class ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) ) the CPI is used just for fun, pretty much. Nothing can be compared today with the things of the past. In other words, a car isnt a car. A 911 in '67 took different things to make then an 03 911. More simply, even a loaf of bread isnt comparable. New manufacturoring methods, new safety and health standards, etc. drive up the cost of bread. And even raw materials, like steel, there are more efficient ways to mill steel, but there are also governing bodies that control the price of steel more rigerously then ever. So, a 911 isnt a 911.