Martin Young Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 Hello there folks, Does nayone own an elise and / or have any knowledge / experience of them? How do they compare to westfields? All the Best. Martin. Quote
westy Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 I dont know of anyone here that has both and I have never driven one myself.....but simply put they get whooped round the track by cater'fields, but then again you dont mind popping down the shop in the elise.........what are you going to use the car for? There is lots of lotus people here Quote
chrisbin Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 Slower, warmer, drier quieter, a lot quieter Quote
Blatman Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 Less rewarding to drive........ Far more expensive........ Far more expensive to insure.............. The Bulletin Board is not as good....... JMHO, of course.............. Quote
oioi Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 slower - yes drier - a bit but not as much as people would like you to believe, still fill up with water over night. quieter - yes, but still earplugs on a long journey. great fun to drive, but not as much fun as a westie. i have used a westie as every day car, and would use an elise as an every day car. but i think i am in the minority. i know a few peopl who have tried them as every day carrs and got p1ssed of. bangs per buck - nowhere near westfield. Quote
chrisbin Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 Try Blatchat I know of at least one over there who got p******** off with c******m so went and got an Elise...... He should give you a valid comparison I would have thought. Quote
Nick M Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 Real world comparison.... On track - slower, softer, still quick, but not as rewarding to drive as a Westfield. Still very capable, but you can't have as much fun gooning them (unless you know what you're doing) as you can a Westfield. On the road - slightly smoother ride (still crashes over big holes), buzzy noise which gets tiring, seats are OK, much more flexible that the Westfield, i.e. you can go for a Sunday morning blat or pop down to Tescos without any faffing about getting in and out of harnesses, wondering where you put the steering wheel, etc. They're also less tiring on a long journey. IMO it depends what you want the car to be (Westy or Elise) - if it's for a fair bit of track use and you have another day to day car which you could tow the Westfield with, I'd go for the Westy. But if it's your only car and it's primarily for road use then the Elise is worth considering. They're different - an Elise is probably more comparable to an MX5 than a Westy in many ways. Yes, it's a quick and nimble sports car, but it's nowhere near as "dedicated" as a Westfield. Incidentally, I've driven both (Elise on road and track) - I like the Elise (and wouldn't mind having one if I wanted a car I could drive to a track day, cane all day and then drive home) but the Westfield is more involving to drive and *much* more fun to play with !! Quote
juansolo Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 Depends... Depends on the Elise you're comparing it to and the Westifield. The Elise is the ultimate all-round sports car. It's comfortable, roomy, has decent stowage, economy and is a pleasant drive when you need it to be practical. It rides the road superbly, equipped with the Lotus sports exhaust it makes the right noises and is an absolute blast to drive quickly on the road. On track is has more comunicative steering than a Westie and feels much more planted. However they do not goon as easily as a Westie and are generally not as quick around a track. But then the Westie is far more biased to the track. Elises are harder to exploit to the full but are more rewarding in many respects because of this. As I say it all depends on spec. If you imagine a line with track use on the left and road use on the right. The standard Mk1 elise would just be to the road side of the line. A Mk2 would be even further over. However some of the specials like the Mk1 S135, S111S and early S160's straddle the line as they were tweaked to be trackday machines. Westies are firmly over on the track side of the line. The degree to which they are over depends on spec. Our Vx Westy is a little over at the minute however my Cosworth is way over to the point of being almost unpleasant on the road for anything longer than a short blat. It all depends on what you want. Given the choice between my Cossie and my brothers S135 Elise, I'd take the Elise every time. But it's the ONLY one that I would swap it for. The standard ones feel a little sluggish and the later ones are flawed or diluted. There you go, clear as mud. Quote
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