Lotus Elise vs. Ford Mustang Cobra

[VQuick]

Can I pick an Exige instead of an Elise? If so, I'd go for that if I had to keep the car stock.

If it's a car I'm going to tune, I'll take the Cobra.

[Demon_Mustang]

Weight is the number one performance killer. Not a little known fact at all.

But for practical use, I don't think I'll be taking any "twisties" any time soon, most of my streets here are straight. So it doesn't bother me in the least.

[Filthy Sanchez]

Hmmm I love both cars but I think the Mustang looks better (IMO) and like the low end torque thing. The Elise is a great car though. Although I think the Esprit looked way better.

[AcesHigh]

You don't buy an Elise and race it on the streets

The Elise uses a 2ZZ-GE 1.8L Normally Aspirated Toyota Engine. Even a tiny turbocharger would throw it into some pretty respectable numbers, if you're into that sort of thing. But Lotus designed it for a course, not a dragstrip. The Cobra, however, is supercharged, which is pretty much a dead end for tuning.

[BP2K2Max]

i saw this comparo in a road and track i think. it was the sun motors b18c5 powered Elise vs. a 2k-2k1 Cobra (i'm not 100% but i think it was a Cobra R). the elise put the smack down in every conceivable way. 0-60, 1/4, slalom, even mpg. i would take an elise without a second thought.

[Neutrino]

Well if it were my only car I would take a cobra since its way more practical, not to mention the fact that considering all the psycho soccer moms riding in oversised SUV I would be scared to drive around in an elise.


However as a track car i would pick an elise no question.

[MR2Driver]

Are you kidding? The look, the handling, the rarity, the status symbol, the Elise all the way. Have you seen the Top Gear video where there Apache Heli couldnt even get missle lock on the Elise because it handled so well?

It ran a faster lap time than the Porsche GT3 on a WET TRACK with slick tires. It was the 5th fastest car they've ever had around their track, and that was on a wet track.... The Elise/Exige are amazing cars, MR and true driver's sports cars...

The Mustang is only respectable in a straight line...

[Neutrino]

Originally Posted by Lachean

Are you kidding? The look, the handling, the rarity, the status symbol, the Elise all the way. Have you seen the Top Gear video where there Apache Heli couldnt even get missle lock on the Elise because it handled so well?

It ran a faster lap time than the Porsche GT3 on a WET TRACK with slick tires. It was the 5th fastest car they've ever had around their track, and that was on a wet track.... The Elise/Exige are amazing cars, MR and true driver's sports cars...

The Mustang is only respectable in a straight line...

I'm very serious. The elise sucks as an only car because its higly unpractical.

Also its size if of great concern to me in a crash. Over 50% of automobiles in Utah are trucks, most of them in the gargantuan classes. They are so high and large that they override most crumple and safety zones of regular cars so you can only imagine how bad it would be to be hit in something as low and small as the elise.

i've just recently been hit by a soccer mom' expedition and it caused 8000 USD damage to my car. When she hit me the last thing i saw was her door handle above the level of my head. If i would have been in an elise i would be in a hospital right now since her truck would've been on top of the lotus.

I don't see this as a failure of lotus engineers, I'm sure the car has very good safety. I see this as the fault of trucks build with complete disregard to other cars' safety.

This is why if i would have only one car I would chose the cobra, its far more practical (4 seater, good size trunck), and its a bit bigger and higher off the ground making it better in a VS truck crash.


As a second car however I would chose the lotus.

[AcesHigh]

I would agree with Neutrino, which is why I stated "You don't buy an Elise and race it on the streets" above. If I had an Elise, I would keep it in my garage and take it out on track days. It was made light, and would crumble like a paper cup in an accident.

[Demon_Mustang]

Yah, a car isn't very good in your garage now is it?

Again, why I pick the Cobra, it'll serve my purposes a lot better than the Lotus.

[Moppie]

I know a lot of people who use an Elise as thier daily driver, as long as you don't live somewhere where it snows a lot, and you don't have to carry lots and lots of gear, or kids around they are actualy very practicle.
Thier as easy to drive as a Toyota corrolla, put with performance in a size that makes getting around in traffic a breeze.

As for thier ablity to stand up to a crash, Iv seen 3 that were involved in big crashs. All 3 were rebuilt, one was run off the road, but two were hit by other cars, and in both cases the cars that hit them were totaly written off.
Fiberglass is an amazingly strong medium, and the Elises uses it with Carbon fibre and the stiffest chassis in production. The cars are incrediably strong, much much stronger then your average SUV.

[Filthy Sanchez]

The Elise is an amazing car really lightwieght handle great and fast no it's not practical and when it comes tho personal choice I'll take the Cobra that's just me though making a personal choice.

[Neutrino]

Originally Posted by Moppie

As for thier ablity to stand up to a crash, Iv seen 3 that were involved in big crashs. All 3 were rebuilt, one was run off the road, but two were hit by other cars, and in both cases the cars that hit them were totaly written off.
Fiberglass is an amazingly strong medium, and the Elises uses it with Carbon fibre and the stiffest chassis in production. The cars are incrediably strong, much much stronger then your average SUV.

As I posted im my previous post, I'm sure they are very crash worthy, however all those state of the art crumple zones will be useless when a supersize Utah standard SUV hits you. The trucks are so high that they will come straight for your head; all those fancy crumple zones will be meaningless when the SUV will go above them.


Only the M class, and new Durango SUVs (and maybe one or two others) have specially designed bumpers that will not override the crumple zones of other cars.

[Mr Payne]

As an only car, the Cobra easily.

[Mr Payne]

Originally Posted by 3000ways

I just love how so many different cars use so many different ways to get you from point a to point b, fast! I mean there is the high reving 4-Cylinder S2000 , to the 10-Cylinder Viper, to the Supercharged 8-Cylinder E55 AMG, to the Inline-6 tech heavy M3, to 4-Cylinder AWD EVO. All these cars are different in the ways they go fast, but they all go FAST. Here is a crazy comparison between two cars, that have absolutely nothing in common except that they are fast (and pricing is kind of close). These two cars use different or almost opposite methods of being fast, which do you like? Which method is to your likings and get's the job done the best? First you have the light weight Lotus Elise, it's 190HP 4-Cylinder is combined with it's incredibly light weight to give this car go kart like reflexes. Then there is the american muscle supercharged Mustang Cobra. The complete opposite with it's 390HP and 390TQ that out muscles many opponents including the likes of the BMW M3 and Acura NSX. Who would you take, two competely different methods of going fast, but they both go fast. The Elise or Cobra?

2005 Lotus Elise (US Version)
1.8L 4-Cylinder
190HP@7800RPM
133TQ@6800RPM
1980Lbs
0-60- 4.8 Seconds
1/4 Mile- 13.4 Seconds
Handling- 1.00g


2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra
4.6L Supercharged 8-Cylinder
390HP@6000RPM
390TQ@3500RPM
3660Lbs
0-60- 4.8 Seconds
1/4 Mile- 13.1 Seconds
Handling- .88g

Where do you get your Cobra stats?