[Derek]

I had heard it said in the past that the Euro Elise had poor acceleration over 70 mph or so. The US Elise has a new 6-speed gearbox and I think this may have fixed that problem.

One LA attendee heard 3 rd gear is good for 100 Mph on the US car, and we still have 3 gears left after that.

Has anyone else heard anything about improved acceleration at speed of the US car?

 

[Arno]

With 190HP versus 120HP I'd better hope that it has better 70+ mph acceleration!

Weight is not really an issue at this speed anymore as the aerodynamic drag is causing the slowdown on the european elise in this case. Power helps and that's no problem with the new engine.

Just rev that Toyota engine to the max and it should put in a 'brisk pace'

Bye, Arno.

 

[vvtlikick]

If the revlimit is around 8350rpm, the gearing is the same as every other 2ZZ-GE, and on 225/45-17 tires, then the revlimit in each gear is (mph):

42
65
90
115
146
184

By the way, my celica has plenty of getup past 70mph

 

[Derek]

If the revlimit is around 8350rpm, the gearing is the same as every other 2ZZ-GE,

It isn't. The US Elise doesn't use the gearing of the US Celica, it uses the gearing of the European Celica GT. It is said to be more aggressive than the US Celica.

 

[vvtlikick]

I've never gotten reliable info that there's more than two factory 6 speed gear sets for the ZZ engine series.

As far as I know, the close ratio one is matched to EVERY manual tranny 2ZZ-GE anywhere, and the widely-spaced one is matched to the 1ZZ-FE in the Euro-market Celica, and the MR-S/MR-2 Spyder across markets.

 

[Derek]

This fact is common knownledge here.

From the roadfly

The engine is sure to be a spicy little screamer, with a 8350-RPM floating redline (8000 sustained RPM redline), and will be mated to a 6-speed close-ratio transmission from the European-only Celica T Sport. (Ed note: this is NOT the same 6-speed transmission from the U.S. Celica GT-S.)

http://www.roadfly.org/magazine/9/lotus_elise_preview.1.html

T-Sport not GT

 

[vvtlikick]

But that link also states

Although the official gear ratios have not yet been released by Lotus, Roadfly believes they will be as follows:

1st gear 3.17:1
2nd gear 2.05:1
3rd gear 1.48:1
4th gear 1.17:1
5th gear 0.92:1
6th gear 0.82:1
Final drive 4.53:1

My car's ratios are:

3.166
2.050
1.481
1.166
0.916
0.725
4.529

So, the only difference is the shorter 6th. Which I'd expect is only a typo.

 

[Derek]

Not a typo, confirmed again below:

http://www.supercarsite.net/celica_t_sport.htm

 

[Knute]

I specifically asked Nick Adams about this at the LA show, and was told several things:

1) the transmission has closer gear ratios than are available on the US-version Celicas- Lotus will be using the european gearbox that is not otherwise available here (I did not ask about specific ratios, but I assume the euro spec close ratio specs are published somewhere, and I was lead to believe they are using it as is)

2) the rev limiter will be set up to allow 8500 rpm for a few seconds to facilitate gear changes, making it easier to stay on the second cam. (I have seen 8350 rpm quoted from earlier interviews, and that is not what I was told at the show)

3) the tachometer will have a graduated range so that the display of 0-3000 rpm is compressed, and the range above that is expanded, making it easier to quickly identify the RPM during the more useful part of the range. (The show cars did not have the production tach)

4) there will be an LED at the top of the tachometer to indicate the optimal shift point based on throttle position, RPM (and load?) At part throttle, it will suggest shifting earlier, and at full throttle, will illuminate at redline. The show cars did not have an indicated redline on the gauges, and it was not clear to me what the redline indication would be on the production gauges.

Hope that helps!

-Knute

 

[vvtlikick]

I couldn't find an official statement of the Euro ratios.

With a internet search, I did find people claiming those same ratios, and also people claiming the set with the shorter 6th was matched with a longer final drive.

But I think the US Celica ratios make the most sense for the Elise. A short final drive, and a longer 6th gear for more relaxed cruising. Since I expect top speed will come in 5th, the longer 6th won't affect performance.

 

[vvtlikick]

...
1) the transmission has closer gear ratios than are available on the US-version Celicas- Lotus will be using the european gearbox that is not otherwise available here...

If the Euro ratios listed above are correct, the only change in the Euro box is to 6th (cruise gear), which means unchanged performance.

 

[Knute]

In real terms, it would appear that the Elise will have slightly taller gearing than the T-Sport Celica, since the tire size on the Elise is not the same as the Celica.

The Celica tire size (from the link above) is 205/50R16, and the Elise (from the order spec guide) is 225/45R17 (rear), which according to the tire size calculator at www.powerdog.com works out to 3.7% bigger circumference on the Elise.

-Knute

 

[fencepostjed]

My guess is lotus won't leave any gear "behind".
Pulling all the way, "fillings-and-all".

 

[shay2nak]

I agree with fencepostjed. Forget cruising, this baby's not made to cruise. It's already going to get excellent gas mileage anyway.
Slap it 6th and keep da revs low if u want to cruise and save gas.

 

[Lumn8r]

shay2nak,

your avatar reminded me of the driver of my JADI model. I was looking through an old box while cleaning up to remodel my upstairs, and he just had to take a ride.

 

[shay2nak]

LOL!! Awesome picture, lumn8r! It looks like Yoda's having a good time in his Elise! Just like we will when we get ours. JADI - JEDI...clever.

 

[Vantage]

It will accelerate nicely, but it's going to start falling off compared to other cars that can do 0-60 around 5 seconds, due to the HP. I suspect once it gets over 100 mph, then it will really fall behind.

Not a big deal, but just an educated guess.