Quote:
Originally Posted by Redback
Over the weekend, I spoke with an associate who works for Toyota and he mentioned something interesting...
"The 2GR-FE will receive direct injection in the near future. It will still be tuned for low octane fuel, so power won't be as much as the Lexus engine (2GR-FSE) but torque, power and economy will be improved by around 10% and CO2 emissions about 5%."
That would give the "DI" 2GR-FE about 220kW (295hp) - so with some Lotus tuning, maybe 305hp?
I wonder if Lotus will get to use this engine?
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Frantastic! The DI set up is the only thing that makes sense.
Is it considered poor taste to quote/paraphrase myself?
(I just got back from 14 day of hiking the Peruvian Andies and am quite sleep deprived so I'll use that as an excuse for the poor judgement/taste in quoting myself.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyQuest
I think this is excellent news. Lotus obviously recognizes the shortcomings of this car and how that could lead to a less than stellar reception in the US. My theory is that the US car will be more powerful and lighter.... I can't imagine them fitting a different engine in the US version, my suspicion is that they will retune it to hit the 300 mark. Is it beyond Lotus engineering to fit a direct injection head onto the current engine? Hitting that psychological 300 mark will make a huge difference in this market. Also, there is no logical reason for this car to weigh nearly 3,000 lbs. They will find a way to shave 100 - 200 lbs before they bring it here. Those two improvements will make the non-pedigree engine moot and make this car what it needs to be. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.
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If we hear that they are looking at shaving a couple of hundred pounds in conjunction with the DI heads, I'm sure I'm be compelled to quote myself again! When I return from my July trip maybe that will be the newest rumor (fingers crossed)!
This is really encouraging news.