2010 Lotus Elise SC: Not so Mini-ME

The 2010 Lotus Elise for a novice, could easily be confused with a Pontiac Soltice. But, the Lotus Elise is far superior to the GM roadster in chassis design and race inspired suspension technology; not to mention the Elise is even quicker while having much less power than the turbocharged Solstice GXP. The real competitor for the 2010 Lotus Elise is the Porsche Boxster S. The Porsche even with a 310 horsepower six cylinder cannot defeat the might Lotus Elise SC, which is an upgraded model from the base Elise that has a more powerful 218 horsepower 1.8 liter four cylinder then the base's 189 horsepower engine. The Lotus Elise SC easily makes short work of the Porsche in zero to 60 mph jaunts. The Lotus Elise SC makes it to 60 mph from a stand still in an impressive 4.4 seconds, while it takes the Porsche 4.7 seconds to muster up to this speed. The Lotus Elise SC is one of the quickest and least powerful sports cars on the market.

The reason the Lotus Elise SC is so quick is for two reasons; the first reason is that the Lotus Elise SC uses a M45 supercharger in addition to its already powerful 1.8 liter engine which cranks out 218 horsepower at 8000 rpm and a modest 156ftlbs of torque at 5000 rpm. There's no room for a power robbing automatic slush box on a Lotus Elise SC, nor is there a place for the added weight. The second reason that the Lotus Elise SC is so quick is because of its amazing power to weight ratio. The rule of thumb for a vehicle's acceleration goes as follows: For every hundred pounds removed from a vehicles curb weight, it gains the acceleration potential as if it had an added 15 horsepower. This is what the Lotus Elise SC does best, a light weight chassis that weighs in at only a tad over 1900 lbs. The Lotus Elise SC achieves this by using a lightweight all aluminum power plant, aluminum frame, and fiberglass body components. Because of the light weight nature of the Lotus Elise SC it gets staggering fuel mileage considering its uncanny acceleration. Fuel economy for the Lotus Elise SC is 20 mpg city and 26 mpg on the highway. There are quite a few options on the Lotus Elise SC, The Elise comes standard with dual airbags and air conditioning, however if you pay a few clam shells more you can have these items removed for an additional 20lbs or so of dead weight removal; not to mention freeing up a few pony's from the A/C compressors drag on the tiny motor. The Lotus Elise SC rolls on 16 inch cast aluminum wheels in the front and 17 inchers in the rear, wrapped in very sticky Yokohama Neova Ad07 LTS treads. Behind the wheels, bringing the light weight chassis to a screeching halt are Brembo racing calipers and vented rotors. So, how much will it cost ya? About $47,000 dollars; the only downfall of this kind of performance is the cramped quarters that you'll have to endure driving around town in this pocket rocket go cart of a sports car.

Source: http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Lotus_Elise/Performance/ , http://www.leftlanenews.com/lotus-elise.html