Posted: Mon 26 Jan, 2004 21:22
En till "recension"
111R
I just went out for a quick drive in B&C's 111R. The engine is much smoother than any K-series I've driven, even though it only had 140 miles on the clock. It pulls nicely from throughout the range, but once you get above 6000rpm it just goes mad! The car seems much quicker than any other Elise I've driven. It was clear that although I wasn't actually going faster than I would normally drive the engine had plenty of performance left. It even sounds quite good! The gearbox has a much better feel to it than the Rover unit, and the ratios seems to suite the car well.
As the brakes now have servos, I can imagine that stepping into the 111R from a normal Elise would feel a bit odd. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've been driving my Pug for the last week so I was used to the extra travel the servos give. I'm no expert but to my mind for an ABS system the brakes felt great, not unlike a 996’s (well at least from what I remember), plus they certainly stop the car well.
As for the ride and handling, it felt much like any other S2 to me. The ride is harder than my S1 but the ride quality is much improved from what I'm used to. I've not really had enough experience in S2's to tell whether much has changed from them. I couldn’t notice the extra weight (the demo car has air-con and electric windows), though I guess a longer drive would be needed for any differences to be obvious.
Most of the time my S1 sounds like its shaking itself apart... The 111R was actually put together well... there were no rattles creaks, not like a real lotus at all! The boot floor is a bit higher than an S2, but I reckon it’s probably still bigger than an S1's.
The only things I didn't like were the look of the exhaust and the front access panels. The exhaust just looks wrong... they should really move it back to where it belongs. Hopefully some helpful aftermarket chaps will fix that at some point. The new front isn’t as obvious as I thought it would be, but I still prefer the old lines, its nothing I couldn't live with though. Oh, and they really should stop putting the nose badges on the back... the ‘L O T U S’ letters were much better looking (GJOB I know…).
Overall I walked away seriously impressed, to the point I came home to check my bank balance in case it had changed overnight. Unfortunately it hadn't
111R
I just went out for a quick drive in B&C's 111R. The engine is much smoother than any K-series I've driven, even though it only had 140 miles on the clock. It pulls nicely from throughout the range, but once you get above 6000rpm it just goes mad! The car seems much quicker than any other Elise I've driven. It was clear that although I wasn't actually going faster than I would normally drive the engine had plenty of performance left. It even sounds quite good! The gearbox has a much better feel to it than the Rover unit, and the ratios seems to suite the car well.
As the brakes now have servos, I can imagine that stepping into the 111R from a normal Elise would feel a bit odd. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've been driving my Pug for the last week so I was used to the extra travel the servos give. I'm no expert but to my mind for an ABS system the brakes felt great, not unlike a 996’s (well at least from what I remember), plus they certainly stop the car well.
As for the ride and handling, it felt much like any other S2 to me. The ride is harder than my S1 but the ride quality is much improved from what I'm used to. I've not really had enough experience in S2's to tell whether much has changed from them. I couldn’t notice the extra weight (the demo car has air-con and electric windows), though I guess a longer drive would be needed for any differences to be obvious.
Most of the time my S1 sounds like its shaking itself apart... The 111R was actually put together well... there were no rattles creaks, not like a real lotus at all! The boot floor is a bit higher than an S2, but I reckon it’s probably still bigger than an S1's.
The only things I didn't like were the look of the exhaust and the front access panels. The exhaust just looks wrong... they should really move it back to where it belongs. Hopefully some helpful aftermarket chaps will fix that at some point. The new front isn’t as obvious as I thought it would be, but I still prefer the old lines, its nothing I couldn't live with though. Oh, and they really should stop putting the nose badges on the back... the ‘L O T U S’ letters were much better looking (GJOB I know…).
Overall I walked away seriously impressed, to the point I came home to check my bank balance in case it had changed overnight. Unfortunately it hadn't
