Lotus has now been playing around with the Elise for years and, despite introducing the S2, the basic car remains essentially unchanged since its debut in 1995. The reason for the subsequent plethora of limited and special edition Elise models is quite obvious — since the death of the top-end Esprit at the start of the millennium, Lotus has virtually become a one-model company. Of course, some may point to the modern day Europa, but even that car could be best described as an upscaled Elise, as it shares the same basic platform. As well, although a fine car in its own right, the Europa never gained a similar impact on public imagination as the innovative Elise. That may all change with the impending arrival of the 2+2 Evora but, until one actually arrives in New Zealand later this year, that remains to be seen.
Supercharging the Elise
The Elise SC was released in the UK last year, but it’s taken until now for an example to find its way to our shores. Presently, this Burnt Orange example is the only SC in New Zealand and, at just under $130,000, the local Lotus agent has no plans to import a second car — unless someone orders one!
That’s a bit of a shame, because the SC is definitely the car I’d pick if I were ever tempted to part with my K Series-powered Elise. Sure, the SC packs on a bit of extra weight over my more basic car — fully laden and with the addition of the Touring Pack, our test SC probably stepped just over the 1000kg mark — but once on the move, you hardly notice the weight difference.
Some time ago, when we road-tested a supercharged Exige, I was entranced by that car’s urge but I was less taken by the fact that the Exige has a roof and a very uncompromising attitude. I prefer open-air sports car driving and, anyway, a fixed roof in an Elise-based car means that you’ve got to be young and flexible to get in and out of it — two characteristics I no longer possess! Add in a suspension set-up more attuned to the race track and the Exige, for me, is just a step too far. So, for my money an open topped, supercharged Elise fitted with more compliant suspension makes a lot more sense — you can enjoy open air driving, the experience is less intimidating and, at the same time, you can revel in the fat torque band provided by the supercharger.
As you can see, the SC is much more road-based than the supercharged Exige, which is much more of a track-day car than a comfortable, country road sports car. To be sure, some similarities remain — the soundtrack of both cars is dominated by the flutter of meshing supercharger rotors, easily heard above the raucous racket of the cars’ shared 1.8-litre Toyota twin-cam. However, it all seems a bit more relaxing in the SC, the sounds are washed out of the cabin and, with no roof above you, there’s very little of the boom you get when driving an Exige.
On the Road
In its element, the SC is exhilarating to drive — pin-sharp steering, precision braking and impeccable handling are a given, but the real surprise comes when you’re simply poodling along in the car. There’s no need to swap cogs with anything like the regularity required in a normally aspirated Elise — just mash the gas pedal into the bespoke, aluminium firewall and the SC simply sprints into the distance. Even in sixth gear the car has huge reserves of available power and torque — more than sufficient for most overtaking opportunities. Mind you, swap down a few cogs before you hit the gas and the SC absolutely flies down the road, with the supercharger fluttering madly as you step off the power for each subsequent up-change.
On a tight and twisty rural road there would be very few cars that could live with a well-driven Elise SC — even an Exige, with its much firmer, rather nervous suspension set-up, would be hard pressed to keep up with the more forgiving SC.
Quite simply the best and fastest Elise we’ve ever driven.
Supercharging the Elise
Obviously, Lotus couldn’t achieve all this by transplanting the supercharged engine as used in the Exige into the SC — for a start, the Exige installation uses a massive intercooler which renders that car’s rear-view mirror totally useless. As well, in the Exige the intercooler is hidden from view under the fixed-head bodywork, something the open-air Elise SC definitely doesn’t have. As a result, the supercharger in the SC is non-intercooled so power is slightly down on the supercharged Exige, although the SC still boasts a significant 15 per cent power increase over the normally aspirated Elise — not to mention a sizeable torque hike. As well, Lotus has chosen to reduce the size of the rotors in the Magnusson, Roots-type blower and the supercharger casting is now integral with the intake plenum.
Altogether it’s a neat trick, and it has allowed Lotus to retain the fully open body of the Elise without compromising vision through the rear window.
The only real drawback is the price — a significant premium over the normally aspirated Elise. However, performance always costs extra — so it’s really a question of how much speed you want, or can afford. The Elise SC is beyond my means — but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want one!
Lotus Elise SC – Specifications
Engine Mid-mounted, transverse, all-alloy, four-in-line, 2ZZ-GE
Capacity 1796cc
Valves 16-valve, VVTL-i, dohc
Supercharger Magnusson M45
Fuel system Multi-point fuel injection
Max power 163 kW at 8000rpm
Max torque 212Nm at 5000rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual
Suspension Independent sport suspension utilising unequal length wishbones, Bilstein mono-tube gas dampers, Eibach coaxial coil springs and front anti-roll bar
Steering Rack-and-pinion
Brakes Ventilated, cross-drilled discs, ABS
Wheels Cast alloy — F: 16-inch/ r: 17-inch
Tyres F: Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 175/50R16 R: Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 225/45R17
Dimensions:
Wheelbase 2300mm
Overall length 3785mm
Height 1117mm
Width 1850mm
Track F/R 1457/1507mm
Weight 870kg (unladen)
Performance:
Max speed 238kph (148mph)
0-100km/h 4.6 secs
Economy
Urban 11.6l/100km
Extra urban 6.7l/100km
Combined 8.5l/100km
Words and Photos: Allan Walton
This article is from Classic Car issue 222. Click here to check it out.
