S2000/Lotus

["Don Happel" <zelatore@domain.elided>]

I'm a bit behind on my digests but:

>Last weeks edition of Autoweek raved about this car after driving it in
>France and even said it had "soul".  There are only going to be so many
>imported (2000 I think) and allowance is only 1 or 2 per dealership.  Some
>dealers already have 5+ on their waiting list and I think the allocation is
>already sold out.  It will be a big seller and buyers will pay big money as
>this posting shows.  Just try and get that Lotus serviced.  Honda will beat
>the pants off of it.  Look who's engines are winning most of the CART
races.

Funny you should mention trying to get that Lotus serviced.

Last week I stopped by the Lotus dealer in Redwood City (I drive past them
every day leaving home) to check out the Elise they've had sitting in the
showroom for the last couple months.  Don't get excited, it's not for sale-
set up as a race car so I guess that's how it got here.  While I was there I
mentioned that there was a fellow just south of here who had one he drove on
the street (he's from England as I understand, over here temporarily) and
they said "yes, it's in our service bay now".

And about the Honda de-panting the Lotus... Have you looked at the torque
figures for that wonder engine?  Yeah, sure they've got 200-odd hp, but
about half that in torque.  If you've driven any of the Vtec Hondas, you'll
know what I mean.  My girlfriend has a Vtec Civic and it's a gutless turd
below 5000 rpm.  Who the hell wants to spin the wee out of the car every
mile of every day?  Besides, from my experience if you try to drive a Honda
in the least bit spirited manner it starts to self destruct.  Her car is a
98 and the brake rotors are so badly warped that the thing is an
embarrassment to carry anybody else in.  Of course, the dealer won't cover
it under warranty since brakes are a wear item.  And it's not like I've
taken this thing to the track or anything- it's seem mildly aggressive
street driving perhaps 10% of it's life (when I'm behind the wheel) the rest
o the time it never gets above 3500 RPM (her behind the wheel) where it
makes probably about 40 lb/ft of torque.

Oh yeah, I'm signing up for another "reliable" Honda.  Yeah.


Don Happel       zelatore@domain.elided
Shemp Mo-Din Italian Motorsports
"it's good to go very fast"       - Peter Egan

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