Originally Posted by SergEK

Here is something thats interesting to think about

1900lbs + turbo (400whp) = 4.75 or 600whp at 3.16

3400lbs + turbo (500whp) = 6.8 or 800whp at 4.25

You can never overcome the weight advantage ....for a daily the Z makes more sense....for a track car neither would be my choice....this would be...almost 12 flats out of the box and handling limits above an Elise for sure





The reality is our daily drivers will factor in more practicality than anything else...trunk space, leg room, etc...in this area no one contends that an Elise is a cruise like the Z is.....if your gonna give up ride comfort, trunk space and ease of ingress/egress why not just get an Ariel Atom 2?

For everything else I think the Z wins its place as a better daily....as far as which is a betters drivers car...I think the Elise is as pure as you can get a unibody production car to perfection....its basically a soild piece of aluminium....road feel, steering feedback....its pure communication in a road friendly format...the Z not so much

But again...if your hardcore and want a crazy MR track machine you keep in the garage and is road legal....Ariel Atom 2 FTW....everything else is purely secondary....Z, Z06, Elise....whatever....for 60K new its a wild ride IMO anyway

Originally Posted by Tripdog

I just traded in my 2005 Elise for a 2007 Nismo (Black). The Elise is like a street legal formula car. It is a trick to get in and out of and rides like a go cart. It handles like one too. I enjoyed driving the Elise, but was very annoyed by all the attention it got--every minivan on the road wanted to race. People would tailgate me and get close to take pictures with their phones. I actually had a CO State Trooper stop me just to see the car (he did give me a free pass card), but come on. On the performance side, the Toyota engine is very peaky and needs to be wrung out to get anything fun out of it.
The Nismo handles just about as well, is nice and torquey, doesn't attract the rabble, and is much more civilized to drive.
Oh, and lastly, the Lotus required me to insure with Hagerty (no one else would touch it) which means limited miles and storage documentation, and high cost.
All in all, the Nismo is as much fun (or more) and is a much more practical car.
Trip

Originally Posted by spf4000

So when are we going to do this? It'd be best if we can do the comparison before mid-December, because after that, the engine will no longer be stock so it'll skew the comparison.

Originally Posted by cvt

has someone pm'd alexfair?? i'm down to get over there and take some pics and video...

Originally Posted by spf4000

I did, but I haven't received a response yet.

Originally Posted by 918 Z

i just read all these pages and couldnt wait to post about the ariel atom. though i wouldnt want the ariel atom 2, 2.2 lt ecotec vs 300hp type-r engine. i choose ariel atom 1. and i dont usually like honda anything, but that high revving type r engine with a s/c on it kicks complete ***.

Originally Posted by spf4000

So, is anyone else with a Nismo Z in the LA area willing to put their car on the track, or are they all garage queens?

Originally Posted by alexfair

Lets all stop bitching and put our ***** on the table here. I am down to track race, autox against a lotus elise some one find one, and a camera crew and lets put this to bed. let the best car win.

Originally Posted by cvt

this challenge definately went down the pooper. this would have been a great chance to get out to the track and record some nice track runs for both cars.

whatever happened to alexfair? he started this challenge...

Originally Posted by stunnashadeson

Lotus should outperform the 350z in every aspect. The Z is a great car but in reality, it is a sporty daily driver. Even swapped hondas can beat a Z on the straight aways.