The Eagle has landed – at last! After months of spy shots, Auto Express can finally bring you the first official picture of Lotus' new sports car, known as Project Eagle. The latest incarnation of the Elise, it's a 2+2 that's aimed squarely at Porsche's Cayman with a price tag of around £45,000 and power from a 276bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine.
Boasting a wheelbase around 280mm longer than the Elise, the Eagle has two rear seats – big enough for small children Lotus says – and enough boot space for a set of golf clubs. Up front, the cabin is more luxurious than the Elise or Europa with higher quality materials and a touchscreen satnav system that includes connectivity for MP3 players and Bluetooth.
Sourced from Toyota, the 276bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine has been modified by Lotus, getting variable valve timing. Although the project still has six months of development ahead of it, and no official performance figures are available, Lotus expects a sub-four second 0-60mph time and a top speed in excess of 160mph. Its handling has been tuned at the Nurburgring circuit in Germany.
A prototype will be unveiled at next week's British Motor Show, where Lotus will also reveal the car's new name too, with deliveries starting in Spring 2009. As well as the standard version seen here, Lotus is planning a two-seater only model, a convertible and a high performance flagship featuring a supercharger.
Ugh...while I do undertand the point of it, I hate when manufacturers use the stat of "how many golf bags will fit in the trunk" to try to sell the car.
Ugh...while I do undertand the point of it, I hate when manufacturers use the stat of "how many golf bags will fit in the trunk" to try to sell the car.
Modified by AutoEuphoria at 8:50 AM 7-16-2008
They use that because dead hookers vary too much in size, and blow is so passe.
Listen up, buddy, I've had both - I eat plain bagels with cream cheese all the time, and I know people who've brought me onion bagels to try. I've toasted them both. I've even had poppy seed bagels and bagels and lox with capers. I'll pit your onion bagel against my plain bagel with cream cheese any time anywhere, just meet me halfway.
Ugh...while I do undertand the point of it, I hate when manufacturers use the stat of "how many golf bags will fit in the trunk" to try to sell the car.
That line came from the article, not Lotus. This isn't a manufacturer's press release.
Besides that, Lotus' sales were restricted by the total impracticality of the Elise and Exige. In the real world (as opposed to the CL) companies are in business to make money, and increasing sales is the best way to do that. Getting the word out that their new car not only performs well but is more practical is a pretty important part of selling it.
"meh" great numbers, boring car. I've always looked at the current lotus cars as purpose built track cars with just enough streetability to be daily driven by the truely insane. Sat nav? honestly?
I'm hoping the 2 seater with supercharger is a bit less refined.
hell yea, that's what lotus is all about. Touch screen sat/nav mp3 playing head units. As soon as they install a button that will close the truck automatically for me, I'll all in!
no but really, that's what I thought was so cool about the elises, how stripped out they were.
"We be jammin' now, mon!" Billy said, toasting The Breeze with a slosh of the Coors. The Breeze shook his head balefully. "Keep the can down, watch the road, let me roll the doobie," he said. "Sorry, Breeze," Billy said. "I'm just stoked that we're on the road."
The Camry V6 already has variable valve timing, Dual VVT-i.
What did Lotus tweak to get a 8 bhp bump? Or another way to look at it... the ES350 makes 272 bhp... so, what were the tweaks for another 4 bhp?
...why not the 306 bhp version from the IS350?
I was wondering that as well as I read the article, I was just too lazy to look up the actual numbers. Seems like we waited a long time for a whole lot of mediocre.
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Wow. A 276 hp Lotus with an extruded aluminum frame and a sub 4 second 0-60 time and you guys are already throwing it under the bus? Amazing.
Perhaps you'd change your mind if you drove one.
Quote, originally posted by Burnin8r »
thumbs down (to wooden steering wheels) unless its a car that you drive while wearing a leather helmet + goggles while yelling "tally ho, chocks away!"
Quote, originally posted by patrikman »
A restoration to me is some sort of exorcism/brainwash for a car. /rant.
Your car does not have soul, you just have a pitiful selection of adjectives in your vocabulary. -... .- -. - .- -... ..- .-.. .- I post useless garbage at http://twitter.com/salynch
The Camry V6 already has variable valve timing, Dual VVT-i.
What did Lotus tweak to get a 8 bhp bump? Or another way to look at it... the ES350 makes 272 bhp... so, what were the tweaks for another 4 bhp?
...why not the 306 bhp version from the IS350?
In the Elise, Toyota did not allow Lotus access to their proprietary computer tech, so Lotus had to create new engine management software. I'm assuming the same is true here.
Quote, originally posted by Air and water do mix »
Wow. A 276 hp Lotus with an extruded aluminum frame and a sub 4 second 0-60 time and you guys are already throwing it under the bus? Amazing.
Perhaps you'd change your mind if you drove one.
I agree. With 276 hp and a sub-4 second 0-60 time, the thing still has to be decently light. Just not quite as much so as the Elise/Exige.
So they're trying to expand their lineup, instead of building another stripped out ultra-lightweight (definitely nothing wrong with that... but why do they need 3 virtually identical cars in their lineup?). It looks like the thing will still be quite the performer, while providing the comfort and refinement the other cars are obviously lacking. So... what's wrong?
. . . It looks like the thing will still be quite the performer, while providing the comfort and refinement the other cars are obviously lacking. So... what's wrong?
I'm with you. Even if this thing gains 500 lbs over the Elise, it'll still be about the same weight as a Miata and have a rear mounted engine that produces nearly 300 hp. I'm in. I looked at Elises before, but I don't do track days, so the car was pretty well worthless to me. At least this has enough storage space to take someone on a weekend trip with you.
Make mine stealth silver. Betcha it doesn't weigh 4000 lbs EITHER!
The feeling of immortality extends right up to the moment of impact. Every 10% weight reduction equates to 7% fuel mileage gain. Priuses are ECONOMY cars for people who can't add.....
Could care less. There are plenty of other options out there that don't look so.....lame. Very underwhelming design.
Start naming them
Quote, originally posted by BlackDevilCar »
She took the picture.
"No, honey, you don't look retarded at all! I'm soo happy you cut your hair like I told you to [the girls will love this one. For my next trick I'll have him jump off the Brooklyn Bridge]"
Could care less. There are plenty of other options out there that don't look so.....lame. Very underwhelming design.
Wait, the guy driving the M3 doesn't like the "underwhelming" design of this car? I mean, don't get me wrong... I like the design of the E36... but it's certainly way more "underwhelming" than a lot of other designs of the same era, but the beauty of the M3 is in the way it performs.
Your car does not have soul, you just have a pitiful selection of adjectives in your vocabulary. -... .- -. - .- -... ..- .-.. .- I post useless garbage at http://twitter.com/salynch
No, because anything I list, you are gonna nitpick and say "That isn't the same" or "This can't do that", blah blah.
Fact is, there are plenty of cars for sale that can do what this car does or will do, either for more money,stock,or even less money w/ mods. If this car floats your boat, great. I'm sure it's gonna be great to drive. There are also plenty of other cars out there that a great to drive that actually get ME excited to look at, which is a big part of pride of ownership. I just don't like the styling from these photos, and I can't get past that right now.
Wait, the guy driving the M3 doesn't like the "underwhelming" design of this car? I mean, don't get me wrong... I like the design of the E36... but it's certainly way more "underwhelming" than a lot of other designs of the same era, but the beauty of the M3 is in the way it performs.
I don't think you can compare something that was originally an entry-level German sedan that was equipped with a 1.8l 4 banger 16 years ago to an aluminum-frame Lotus sports car. I think the design teams are on different pages for these two vehicles.......
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, I hope it helps.
I mean, don't get me wrong... I like the design of the E36... but it's certainly way more "underwhelming" than a lot of other designs of the same era, but the beauty of the M3 is in the way it performs.