Elise S performance potential

[Airborne9]

Afternoon,

newbie to lotus so I do apologise if this comes across as a daft series of questions.

Im looking to buy a S2 Elise and have found a lovely S for sale, the spec and colour is perfect, however the only issue is the performance at 134bhp.

its an 08 car so am I right in saying this is the Toyota engine?

how easily can these be brought up to 190 odd bhp, would a manifold, intake and a map eek much out of this or will I need to go further than that with cams etc?

are there any other significant differences? gearboxes etc

thanks

joe

[NedaSay]

is it a 1.8 ?

[gregs24]

If it is an 08 car then yes it will be a 1.8. The S has a 5 speed box v 6 speed in the R but in general road use the two cars are pretty much identical below 6500rpm. If you are using it for road rather than track use there is little to choose really. TRD and 2bular exhaust / manifold will give another 8bhp or so plus extra torque. If you want more then go for the R or supercharged cars.

Money you spend tweaking is rarely ever recovered at sale.

I had an 07 S for 3 years and loved it. The Elise is fast cross country but it has little to do with power / straight line speed. If you have never driven one you will initially brake far too early and too much for corners - they are glued to the road in a way a 'hot hatch' can only dream of.

 

[Piddy]

Have you driven one yet Airborne? Did you find it slow behind the wheel.

Note - I haven't got one yet. Planning to in a few months.