Anyone move from an MR-2 Spyder to Lotus Elise?

[gabner]

Current owner of a 2001 MR2 Spyder. It's noisy, small, and has almost no usable storage... I Love the car.

It's time for a new car and the lotus seems alot like my spyder only better. Thinking about getting a 2005-2006 Lotus Elise.

I live in Seattle, lots of rain. When it snows I stay home.

I'd like to hear from people who have owned both and their impression. Differences, pluses and minuses between the two.

First post. Thanks guys.
-Gary

[Randy Chase]

Many. Many threads.

Very different cars.

Welcome.

[...m...]

...my SO was recently shopping for a nice car to run alongside our elise, and the MR2 spyder we checked out struck me as immensely less practical for a daily driver, funny as that may sound, mostly due to the elise's usable boot and targa roof...

[zygotesoup]

my last car was a spyder and am now in the market for a lotus.

as randy said they are very different cars, but they are also very similar in a lot of ways.

the spyder is a mid engine, 2 seat, rear wheel drive sports car powered by a toyota engine... sound familiar? not to mention a guy named roger becker of a company called lotus designed the suspension system in the spyder.


however... the first time i drove an elise, i kicked the spyder to the curb so fast it would make your head spin! i do not yet own an lotus, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but i have driven a number of elise/exige/exige s's and i think the best way to look at the spyder is a bigger cushier version of the elise

anyway, good luck with the search and take the advice of the members of this forum when they say, do NOT test drive an elise unless you have the cash to buy it on the spot! i learned the hard way

[FLuXeXigeS]

went from Spyder to Exige, still got the Spyder tho

and randy is right....many thread on this subject in the past

[Gizmo3000]

Originally Posted by FLuXeXigeS

went from Spyder to Exige, still got the Spyder tho

and randy is right....many thread on this subject in the past

I'll wager it's the #2 most commonly asked question following the "Daily Driver?" question.

I tried the search to no avail, but where is the poll on how many have made the transition from MR2 to Lotus? I'll wager it's the most common transitional car, followed by Miata's, and Corvettes??

[FLuXeXigeS]

because of clever titles its a bit hard to find, Randy can u please help us

but if i remember correctly the Miata owners had an edge on the MR2 owners...i might be wrong tho

[Elise8206]

Related to MR-S Topic.
Hello! (MR-S owner)

[fishguy]

I had both cars at the same time, and opted to keep the toyota MR-2 spyder. its was much less hassle, there were dealerships close, and i never worried about the car in parking lots etc...........
you might find yourself a victim of "the grass is always greener" if you make the change.
the toyota was a great car.

[Moto44]

This may be of interest to you. You will note from this poll that the MR2 is one of the more commonly owned vehicles in this group.

Which vehicles have you owned?

[the1sen]

Just came from a Miata.

My bud has an MR2 Spyder I would drive often enough to know the car well.

Drive an Elise and you will know immediately. There is NO comparison. Aside from the Convertible aspect, the MR2 and Miata are not anything like the Elise. It's like comparing a butter knife to a scalpel or an apple to an orange.

IMHO, the Elise is far more practical and comfortable than both... I am 5'6" tall, 180 pounds, and I have a long line of motorcycles as my previous vehicles.

The Elise is an amazing vehicle. I can't think of ANY vehicle I have owned and liked any more than this one. It is incredible.

good luck

[Randy Chase]

It is a surprise to most people, but agreed that the Elise seats were more comfortable than the Spyder's. I spent too many thousand miles driving the Spyder to far away races. Never felt comfortable (like I did on earlier MR2s). The Elise, no problems.

[the1sen]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

It is a surprise to most people, but agreed that the Elise seats were more comfortable than the Spyder's. I spent too many thousand miles driving the Spyder to far away races. Never felt comfortable (like I did on earlier MR2s). The Elise, no problems.

Surprise? People think I am on CRACK when I tell them how comfortable my car is. It's gotten to the point where I've stopped talking to people about my car. No one believes me when I tell them about it, and everyone wants to know how much it is and who makes it.

I can sincerely say that the only part about owning a Lotus that I don't like is the unwanted attention. It's worse than owning a bike. But I still wouldn't trade it. I have found a car for the next few years of my life.

[Nachtmensch]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

It is a surprise to most people, but agreed that the Elise seats were more comfortable than the Spyder's. I spent too many thousand miles driving the Spyder to far away races. Never felt comfortable (like I did on earlier MR2s). The Elise, no problems.

i can attest to that. i took my spyder on a road trip to FL and back (saw a yellow turbo elise at the Panducky meet) and boy my rear was sore. made the trip in 2 days, and almost non-stop back. (2hr nap in the car)

[tougebear]

I think you just described an Elise.

Anyways, Randy Chase... I believe I drove with you down some canyons in Socal in my MR2 turbo back in what? 2001? It's been a while. But it's nice seeing you on here.

Originally Posted by gabner

Current owner of a 2001 MR2 Spyder. It's noisy, small, and has almost no usable storage... I Love the car.

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by tougebear

I think you just described an Elise.

Anyways, Randy Chase... I believe I drove with you down some canyons in Socal in my MR2 turbo back in what? 2001? It's been a while. But it's nice seeing you on here.

Hey. Good times We should head back out

[Gabriel Tyler]

We had an MR2 Spyder for a few years. We stripped it as much as possible (even yanking the soft top), added every chassis brace, full coilovers sprung very stiff, imported the Japanese hard top, 16" light weight wheels, intake exhaust...and put in a full rear structural roll bar.

The car was a friggin gokart. Not super fast in a straight line, but fast enough to have fun.

My wife was driving it down the freeway and a utility truck changed lanes into her and chucked her into the guardrail.

We went looking for replacements and ended up with a 2005 S2000. Big mistake. They are uncomfortable, slow, and sloppy handling.

We ended up buying a 2006 Exige with the Blackwatch racing supercharger installed.

I'd say the Exige is VERY similar to our MR2 Spyder once highly modified. The Exige is very much what the Spyder aspired to be. It's like an MR2 Spyder on Crack!

[Tristar Racing]

Originally Posted by Gabriel Tyler

We had an MR2 Spyder for a few years. We stripped it as much as possible (even yanking the soft top), added every chassis brace, full coilovers sprung very stiff, imported the Japanese hard top, 16" light weight wheels, intake exhaust...and put in a full rear structural roll bar.

The car was a friggin gokart. Not super fast in a straight line, but fast enough to have fun.

My wife was driving it down the freeway and a utility truck changed lanes into her and chucked her into the guardrail.

We went looking for replacements and ended up with a 2005 S2000. Big mistake. They are uncomfortable, slow, and sloppy handling.

We ended up buying a 2006 Exige with the Blackwatch racing supercharger installed.

I'd say the Exige is VERY similar to our MR2 Spyder once highly modified. The Exige is very much what the Spyder aspired to be. It's like an MR2 Spyder on Crack!

Nice MR2. I cant help but wonder about your S2000 experience though. Uncomfortable, well what two seater isnt. Im about 6'2" and fit quite fine though. Slow and sloppy handling? Thats just very difficult for me to understand. Its about as fast as an Elise in a straight line, and the handling is very very good for a production vehicle. I almost bought one over my Evo. Was yours used?

Just curious, since I have never heard anyone use these phrases to describe an S2000.

[Gabriel Tyler]

Our S2k is a 2005 GP White with hardtop and every factory option. I still haven't gotten rid of it yet, so we are using it as our winter car, and the Exige as our fair weather car.

I also have a 1986 Toyota Corolla GTS (AE86) with the motor and tranny swapped from a 2001 Honda S2k, so I am a fan of the motor and tranny, just in a lighter car.

I'll post my specific grief's about the S2k.

1. The seating position is horrible, it's a cross between an old pickup truck seating height and a real sportscar. The seat doesn't sit on the floor but rather high up off it. There is no lower back support, at all. After 2 hours in the car, your back is killing you. I'm 5' 8" tall

2. The interior is very cramped, for no good reason. My SW20 MR2 and MR2 Spyder both have much more comfortable interiors.

3. The car weighs 3000 Lb's. It's no lightweight.

4. 160 ft/lb's of torque? did they really think this was enough to move a 3000lb car?

5. The suspension is sloppy! It's got body roll from hell and bucks and dives like a stock 240Z. You can never quite tell what the rear end is going to do. I'd rather hit the track in a Audi A6! The S2k might be fixed with coilovers and sways, but stock, I find it way too loose. (car has 20K miles on it, so it's not just worn out)

6. I believe that Honda was very conflicted when designing the car. They wanted to build a sports car, but were way to worried about pleasing their "Target Audience". I don't feel that the car is true to any one concept, so pretty much fails at them all.

Now, I was the idiot that bought it. A few test drives and I thought was the right choice. After 2 weeks we knew it was not. The modified Spyder was way more fun to drive and more comfortable and roomy. Our dissatisfaction with the S2k is what prompted us to buy the Exige.

The Exige just feel's "Right" if you are coming from the MR2 Spyder.

Sorry if I offend any fellow S2K owners, I just don't love mine. I'm specifically trying to not modify it, so that I won't fall in love with it, because I can tell that if I start messing with it, I'll make it what it could be and start to like it.

It's for sale if anyone wants it.