My car is sold :( But buying a Toniq R :)

[Randy Chase]

We have not worked out the pricing yet, but the Toniq sells for under 20k pounds in UK. I expect a finished car would be mid $30ks? A "roller" where you add the drivetrain for $20k???? I earlier looked at an Atom and the way I wanted it configured, was around $70k and for me, it was too much.

I did a lot of the write up on the roadtrip.
http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4987
Short story is that the trip became truncated when my wife was diagnosed with cancer and scheduled for surgery. I ended up doing Tail of the Dragon and then bonzai runs through Tennessee and to Austin Texas, followed by a single leg from Austin to San Diego in 19 hours in the Elise.

I hope to have a bit of longer trip on Route 66 this year, but it will be in the Toniq R. Plus a trip up HIghway 1 to WCLM.

By the way, passed on getting the Porsche (hated the shifter). Still considering some options and still shopping for the best tow vehicle and closed trailer. Business has been such that some of this stuff gets shoved down the priority list (a main reason I sold the Elise..just not enough time). I am hoping when the Toniq gets here, I can eek out more time by staffing up here.

[ransackman]

That Toniq is awesome. Just making sure(even though i read some definitive posts), is it road legal? Congratulations!
After I get a motorcycle, I'll be after something like Toniq OR the new Esprit (or whatever they call it)
Makes me glad I have so many options and I dont have to go the all so common path of Lambo/Ferrari. Although I have to say I'm smitten by the new Competizione but everybody knows the Alfa will be a very finicky car.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

...Short story is that the trip became truncated when my wife was diagnosed with cancer and scheduled for surgery...

My hopes and prayers are for a complete recovery for your wife and family. Something like that definitely puts things back in to proper perspective.

[Bavarian Motorist]

Originally Posted by scottyb

My hopes and prayers are for a complete recovery for your wife and family. Something like that definitely puts things back in to proper perspective.

Definitely. Hope all is well, Randy.




BTW, no Porsche? I always thought that lifeless shifter was the best part of the car

[over40]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

This is the car I will be driving later this spring



550 kgs (just over 1200 pounds) and over 300 hp.

There is a Lotus connection to this car, one of the design guys was the instrumental in developing the Elise.

Its spring. Where is it?

[BrendanC]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

550 kgs (just over 1200 pounds) and over 300 hp.

300 hp? Is that a typo, or are you doing a major upgrade?

[Randy Chase]

We are not using the same drivetrain. We are using a 2.3l turbo Duratec motor from Mazdaspeed. We have had some meetings with Mazdaspeed and the motor will be breathed on a bit.

My motor for competition may even be more. Take a look at the World Challenge Touring Car motors.

The one thing that will also be different is that the weight will probably be slightly more. Specially in my car as I have to ballast up to meet minimum competition weights.

[dickedup]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

We have not worked out the pricing yet, but the Toniq sells for under 20k pounds in UK. I expect a finished car would be mid $30ks? A "roller" where you add the drivetrain for $20k???? I earlier looked at an Atom and the way I wanted it configured, was around $70k and for me, it was too much.

I did a lot of the write up on the roadtrip.
http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4987
Short story is that the trip became truncated when my wife was diagnosed with cancer and scheduled for surgery. I ended up doing Tail of the Dragon and then bonzai runs through Tennessee and to Austin Texas, followed by a single leg from Austin to San Diego in 19 hours in the Elise.

I hope to have a bit of longer trip on Route 66 this year, but it will be in the Toniq R. Plus a trip up HIghway 1 to WCLM.

By the way, passed on getting the Porsche (hated the shifter). Still considering some options and still shopping for the best tow vehicle and closed trailer. Business has been such that some of this stuff gets shoved down the priority list (a main reason I sold the Elise..just not enough time). I am hoping when the Toniq gets here, I can eek out more time by staffing up here.

Agree with you that the Atom is just priced silly.

Think you'll have any problems getting the Toniq street legal? It will be classified a kit car I reckon.

Recall vividly your postings on your pick-up in Atlanta and roadtrip back to San Diego. For some reason I seem to remember a dedicated website you started to work on while going all Buzz & Todd that year

Shifter on the Boxsters are a liitle different. Coming from the Elise though that's a bold statement.

My Cayman has the short shifter option and it feels like it was milled out of a solid ingot of steel.

Keep us posted.

[Lotuslvr]

Nice car tho it looks like they ran out of ideas by the time they got to the front end & just tacked on that ugly rectangle. Of course, as a Caterham owner, I have a bias about how LISS's should look.

[Fighting For Air]

Wow ... just came across this thread and I like it.

I have been considering a WCM Ultralight, but if this can be had for about the same price, I would definitely be interested.

I didn't see where this question had been asked/answered yet: Are you getting left hand drive or is this thing only going to be right side drive?

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by Lotuslvr

Nice car tho it looks like they ran out of ideas by the time they got to the front end & just tacked on that ugly rectangle. Of course, as a Caterham owner, I have a bias about how LISS's should look.

I feel that the "rectangle" in contrast is not the best choice either. To me, it works okay when the same color as the body.

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by Fighting For Air

Wow ... just came across this thread and I like it.

I have been considering a WCM Ultralight, but if this can be had for about the same price, I would definitely be interested.

I didn't see where this question had been asked/answered yet: Are you getting left hand drive or is this thing only going to be right side drive?

Left hand drive.

There are some other things still up in the air, primarily was how to handle the pound/dollar conversion rate. We had some ideas about sourcing more parts of the car here in the US, but recently there have been discussions with the principals in the UK to perhaps take that a step further.

[eliseowner2b]

Congrats Randy. Do I see toniqtalk.com on the horizon? I met you the day you bought your Elise and headed west on that adventure. It's strange to think that was 3.5 years ago! Good luck with the new machine!

[choi0706]

any update?

[Randy Chase]

Not really. Plans are on hold for now since I picked up the Noble. Will rethink this later in the year.

The Toniq (and some other British cars) made more sense when the economy was better. Coupled with the 2:1 pound-dollar exchange rates, the cars from UK become a bit spendy for what they are.