Which is more FUN - 360 vs Lotus Elise

They are both incredible. Biggest grin on a back country winding road...the Elise. You can throw it around like no other car. If you factor in the price, the Elise is a vastly superior value.

 

How can you compare a $39,000 car that looks like a kit car to a
$150,000 Ferrari that looks like a work of art. Just my opinion.
Im sure the lotus is fun to drive, Just can't get over its looks.
I know thats subjective.

 

Having just been given the pleasure of riding in a friend's Elise/Exige, I can say the thing is a bloody go-kart for the road!

It's utterly brilliant, and even from the passsanger seat feels as though you are directly grasping each outter steering ball-joint with your hands.

It's amazing, and EVERYTHING you have heard about this car is ture. The ravings are justified and then some. I could easially belive that Ferrari built the Elise, and called it the 180Fiorano.


The 360 is it's slightly bigger brother, much more 'car' but both vehicles are friggin go-karts in comparison to say even an M5. The 360 has MUCH more power, though the Lotus is no slouch!

The 360 has THE sound like no other vehicle on earth.

I'll take one of each, and drive the lotus around close by, and take the Ferrari on multi-day trips up the PCH!

Best!
Ben.

 

Have to go with Ferrari. Looks, Sound, Speed. the Elise is an awesome car and i love the fact that it's a targa, but it still can't touch a ferrari.

 

Lets try to stick to the question asked. Which would provide more fun on the twisty roads? Not a car out there that can beat the Elise for the price or for double it.

 

Conversion:

http://www.xe.net/ucc

 

I am sure it will be made available to Canadian dealers at the same time as it is made available to the US dealers. Currently, deliveries are slated to begin next summer. I would contact a Canadian Lotus dealer, and if he does not have any information, I would contact Lotus USA.

The only reason it wouldn't be sold in Canada is if Canada has different emissions or safety requirements from the US. I don't know if this is the case, but it seems most cars bear markings certifying them for the US and Canada markets as if it's a single entity. Hopefully you will get to enjoy the Elise soon.

If you do get one, I can also tell you that the understeer is markedly more pronounced on the S2 version, which is the one that is coming to the US. If you want the razor-sharp handling of the original, get the specs off the web and adjust the linkages. It should be straight-forward, and will give you much, much sharper steering. On the limit, understeer is less scary (which is why they threw in so much of it in the S2). Oversteer is the way to go only after you get plenty of practice and know what the car will do and how to control it/counteract its tendencies to rotate. Of course, the limits are very high!

 

without a doubt, the 360

there's just an incredible spine tingling feeling you get when zooming down a winding road, granted an elise can hit curves like nobody's business... its sitll not a ferrari

 

I hate to burst bubbles, but the US Spec Elise is as fast as a 360 in a straight line...horsepower numbers mean little when you consider the fact that the Elise weighs 1100 pounds less than a 360. Many of you might also be forgetting that in comparison to most cars, the 360 power plant produces a relatively small amount of torque -- 275lb-ft ain't much for a motor that makes 400bhp. It is in these two arenas (weight and torque) that the Elise is able to catch up to the Ferrari.

Elise: 10bhp/14lb-ft PER POUND
F360: 7.6bhp/11lb-ft PER POUND

So...by ratio, the Elise out does the Ferrari by a small margin. Not to mention the fact that smaller, lighter, open-top cars are easier to interpret.

While I maintain my stance that the Ferrari 360 is better simply because it suits more occaisons, if I had to select a car SOLELY for driving on the weekends and on the track then the Elise would win hands down.

 

The top speed on the elise's is only around 140 if I remember from the brochure I picked up from a local dealer. It may be quick 0-60, but because of its aerodynamics it's probably a dog on the highway.

 

I'm sure this car will have a pretty decent aftermarket, a turbo/super charger should get you up to 250 pretty easily..

 

?!

When I said "in a straight line", I meant 1/4 mile. They are both mid-12 second cars. The 360 having a higher top speed has a lot to do with two things: weight and outright horsepower. I am sort of confused by your "bad aerodynamics" remark as the Elise is very well engineered in that respect...top speed is one of those contests where you need a load of power to win...then again, that is not what the Elise is designed for.

If it is a straight line car you are looking for, I will point you in the general direction of the Corvette -- be it ZO6 in stock trim or Lingenfelter twin turbo, you can't really go wrong...and they are both less expensive than an F360.

If you want a blend of all these things, not necessarily the best in any category but very good overall, then stick with the Ferrari! Many would say it is much classier as well.

 

I understand the Elise is an awesome car with a great power to weight ratio and a Toyota engine which should equal reliability. I have a 360, and I'm entertaining the possibility of getting an Elise as an everyday driver to work. That would spice up the commute!!

 

To say the least, man! You'll have to let us know about that if you go through with it...I for one would be very interested to know.

As for an aftermarket, it is the motor used in the Toyota Celica GTS. If there is a big aftermarket for that and it is a bulletproof motor, then there will be a big aftermarket for the Lotus.

Hate to be a downer, but I have heard bad things about the upgradeability of that motor, at least while it's stuck in the Celica...and I have never really seen a fast Celica. Then again, I haven't researched them much, so who knows. Cheers!

 

Wo richard relax I like the elise, but top speed is very much a function of aerodynamics, in addition to gobs of hp. the elise is geared much more toward downforce and thus suffers in the top speed department. I love the car, but I do wish it had a bit more top end. And no I'm not a straight line only person, but I do like lots of acceleration when moving, not just from a stop. lastly from most of the stats I've read the elise is a very quick car in the 1/4 mile, but not as fast as a 360. o and just for the record if i did want something just for the straight line I'll take my gsxr1000.

 

Going much faster than 140 in an Elise is missing the entire point of the car.

This thing you can THROW into turns, and it will come out unscathed. It takes the kart like feel of a 360, and takes it up a notch. It's hardcore, and makes no appologies.

The 360 is it's 10year elder brother looking good in a suit, but still knows how to play when it's time!

The 360 is for rowaring through the backroads, making women bite their lower lip and roll their eyes back in their head in extasy. It is relaxed at a pace other cars have already slid off the road, and when pushed rewards you with the most glorious slides.

The Elise is about that white-knuckled turn you just came out of. You can't belive you're alive, let alone how the car is still pointed forward. You get out shaking. And like it.

Best!
Ben.

 

Well said, Ben and Richard!

This car is about driving, not about posing, not about class, not about straight line speed or about prestige. The only street car I would compare to an Elise would be a Noble.

You can have a Stradale or you can have an Elise in 5 different colors, one for every day of the week. Since it can accelerate nearly as well and handle better than the 360 and trounce it on a road course, I again remind you who say, but its not as 'fast' as a 360 to look at the kind of driving this potential owner will do.

Ben said it right. If you want to explore limits with sweaty white stiff knuckles where a passenger blindfold comes standard, the Elise is the way to go.

The only car stock I've been able to see vids of catch an Elise over a road course with a straight long enough for 140mph+ was a GT3 that had to slowly reel the 360 in over the course of 5 laps.

Track wench? Canyon carver? A/C, power windows, reliable, and prestigious, limited production? Relatively straight forward to modify to 225bhp? Serious inquiries only.

 

Good stuff. The windows in every variant of the Elise are manual, however.

Ben...360 does glorious powerslides only with much practice. Usually , if it starts pointing in a direction other than the one it's pointing in, it ends in tears, especially on public roads.

 

From an article on the Toyota engined Exige/US spec Elise in the current issue of EVO (November)

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I rarely find any "new" cars I want to drive. Well, let me rephrase that: I rarely find any new cars under $100k that I want to drive. And since I've been spending more time living life (surfing, band, hanging out with my kids, etc.) than banging my head on the wall trying to make money in this economy, I've simplified life and have been driving old cars (Fiats!) and lost interest in recent new cars. But I've wanted an Elise for years and even a slacker like myself can afford one and I might indeed buy one next year when they are out. I hope that power windows are an option because I don't want them. ABS, I can take or leave - in a daily driver it does come in handy I suppose. The 39-61 weight balance doesn't sound all that great, but yet people rave about the handling. Guess I'll have to drive one to see!

The colors look terrible on the website. Hope they look better in real life. If not, that dark gray "titanium" will have to do.

-Rich

"I have nothing against fat women, per se, honest - they just won't fit in my Lotus."