What do you think of these and has anyone ever owned one?

 

i hate them heard there really good though

 

lovely cars

try vx220.org.uk for help and ideas (and for sale)

did 34,000miles in 13 months in mine, just couldn't stop driving it!

 

Cheers for that, i will have a nose Although i would prefer a more neutral opinion, no offence, its just on there everyone will just praise it. But i will go and have a look later.

 

Styling:
Well thats personal choice I guess but I quite like them

Brakes:
Great

Power:
Bit tame as standard, but the sky is the limit with the turbo one

Handling:
Awesome, its not quite an elise, but its fucking close!

Economy:
high 30s if you go steady!

 

The turbos are

All VX's handle slighty better than a standard elise plus the Vxs's are more user friendly.

Sure the VX220 turbo was car of the year for Evo mag or Top gear mag.

Would imagine you could tune one to 300 bhp quite easily, which would make a VERY fast wee car

 

I personally felt the elise handled better, but I stand to be corrected if people say otherwise as ive only driven them on the road, and its hard to tell much about handling when you arent on a racetrack realistically.

Elise just felt more "nimble" to me.

But not much in it either way thats for sure, but very capable!

 

I thought they were all turbo'd, obviously not!

 

No, i bet its only about 1 in 5 or something mate!

 

they scream.. i want an elise to me

never driven one, have no desire to either and don't like the styling

 

don't personally like them. think they look shit and just not my cup of tea.

 

Just checked the ones on the trader and the turbo ones start at about 14.5k, a bit out of my price range really and i dont want the n/a one. It seems the turbo one is a 2.0 and the n/a one is a 2.2.

 

if I was getting one I would buy a high mile (or better still snapped timing chain or something) N/A one and then stick a C'LET motor in it personally!

 

chip, i think other way round!

it sold really badly until they did the turbo

then sold really quite well for it's last couple of years as the turbo

mine was 2.2 n/a

not as easy as people might think to get 300bhp. easy to do on same engine in astra etc, but limited space for bigger intercooler.

the "stage 4" tuning from TMS or courtney only come up 260-265bhp IIRC

that would still be a rocket though!

 

my mate's had 4 now that he's done up from write-offs, including one turbo. Styling is a personal thing, but there's no doubt they work well, not least because they are soo light. There's no substitute in so many ways for losing weight
The turbo he has is slightly modified at 260bhp, and it's an animal.
They are a tit to get in and out of, but again you need to decide for yourself if you can deal with that, depending how often you have to do it

 

Went out in one when they first came out (NA version) as a mate worked @ a Vauxhall dealers.

Underwhelmed by the performance, uncomfortable - may as well have been sat on planks of wood, found it laughably difficult to get in and out of. Only experienced it as a passenger, wasn't tempted to drive it. Handling seemed pretty good though.

I'm sure it's much better as a 'drivers' car....but just didn't do much for me I'm afraid.

 

For the people that think a VX is hard to get in and out of...


Go try a S1 elise then

the sill is about 3 " higher again, you have to be a a gynmast to get in and out with the roof on

 

I think I'll pass, Euan

 

richm they're not super light for anyone used to a FRST or ERST!

turbo is 930kg!

which if i'm not mistaken, is the same as my FRST!!!

 

thats so true but belive it or not there was a guy who owned one of these who lived in mayfair and had a personalised disabled bay outside his house


serious toommm fuck knows how nthough

my missus is the ONLY oerson who can get in and out of one of these without looking a fool


getting in is easy,, left foot in, slide bum on sill then hook right leg in and slide down sill into seat,,,,,,


getting out ls the same way a diver gets in the water off a boat,,,,, use both arms to lift bum onto sill and fall backwards onto the pavement when nobodys looking then stand up quick and dust yourself down


the S2 elise with the toyota turbo engines are the ones to get,,, theres fucking mint cars

 

yeah but the weight is almost 50 50 split and the engine is mid mounted and its lower to the gound and got a better turn in,,,,, its a light car thats got somne sort of order where they placed stuff wheres the fiesta is just a fast in in a straight line and understeers when trying to go anywhere but forwards


i LOVE the lotus Elise,,,,, but then i guess everyone that knows me guessed that

 

930kg is very light by modern car standards though.. and you don't have to tolerate spaz FWD

 

anything under 1000kg these days is a nimble little sports car!

 

Some oone has mentioned buying written off ones? Be very very wary of doing this with elise / vx220s as once the ally chassis has taken a bump it is pretty much scrap.

....and totally off topic, i weighed my mates three door with the ZT engine in the other day... 935kg with 400 bhp+ i guess that puts it in the nimble class??

 

indeed true - the "beauty" is though that in insurance terms the front and rear clamshells are very expensive, and it doesn't take much of a whack to trash the clams without touching the structure underneath so they get written off very easily.
My mate has done 3 now, all technically written off to start with, all due to clamshell damage - the worst mechanical damage any had was a bent steering arm..

 

Personaly ive driven shed loads of both the n/a and also the turbo'd jobbies and just the other day I serviced a VXR220 (only 65 made) which also had the optional Ohlins coil overs with remote reservoirs. They all handle VERY well. The brakes are very good across the range. The power is very lacking in the 2.2 engine but it does seem better suited for longer distance driving to myself. The normal turbo'd model is much more improved as a toy goes...the VXR model is a furthur improvement and also benefits from proper sized tyres/wheels unlike the other models. Panel fit and overall finish is as you would expect from Lotus ie shite. Everything rattles and creeks/knocks....steering racks are fairly common and not cheap at around 600quid plus vat for the rack its self. If you've got the ohlins coilovers then expect to pay around 947gbp for EACH front damper and 984gbp for EACH rear damper PLUS vat, PLUS fitting Engine mounts fail quite often ive noticed also. They aint fun to work on, ive removed the clam shell on one just to replace a poxy bit of trim which is a joke if you saw the bit of trim. They leak water, they are terrible for wind noise. If you pull your self out by the window/A pillar/roof then the screen can crack straight across....if you push down on the sill sections then they crack...if you shut the front boot and also the engine cover by anywhere but one point then it cracks...if you damage a tail lamp then its another 600quid....all underside fixings age stupidly fast along with some major suspension componants. We've actualy seen two VXR models this week for work, on average I proberbly drive 1 vx220/vx220turbo/vxr220 variant a week (I work for a Vauxhall VXR dealership, ive heard rumours that we've been voted tops in the midlands for service with regards the vx220's hence why we see so many)...good fun when not yours but I wouldnt buy one personaly, and in a few years owners are gonna have some major headaches with regards to componant wear and general accelerated aging.