I was reading an issue of Auto Car magazine(July 27/04) when I came across a very interesting issue about finding Britains best drivers car... and to my suprise the Subaru WRX STI came in second place after the Noble M400. WOW....
I say wow because I own an STI and I ordered the Elise because I wanted a fast, great handling car to take to the track and to use on twisty mountain roads, and still keep the Sti for practial purposes. It never occurred to me that the Sti would be a great track car, and I never thought in a million years that is was a better handling car and faster on a track than the Elise. What a shock. In the Auto Car issue the Subaru actually was quicker around Brands Hatch than both the Exige and the Elise...can this be or is it a type error?? No it was quicker.
Exige-56.2 sec
Subaru-55.5
Elise-57.4
And all this time I never knew I had one of the best handling cars right here under my nose. I know the Sti has great gobs of power and lots of torque, but I have never taken it to a track yet, but now I know that it is indeed a great handling vehicle as well.
Now I think in order to get a faster track car than the Sti I should be looking toward the Noble, Porsche GT3 or even the Radical instead of the Elise. I just can't figure out why most of the magazines say that the Elise is one of the best handling cars in the world, and a very fast track car, when a lowly Subaru impreza can beat it around a race track. Really opens your eyes. I know that the Elise will beat the Subaru in an autocross event , but I am talking about driving on a real race track, and to my surpise the Subaru wins.
Noble M12, here I come.
It is really too bad that Vauxhall is not sold in the US because the vx220 did very well indeed, much faster than the Elise.
I think anyone out there who is getting the Elise purely as a track toy might want to rethink his decision because there are a lot of faster drivers cars out there, if speed is what your looking for.
I say wow because I own an STI and I ordered the Elise because I wanted a fast, great handling car to take to the track and to use on twisty mountain roads, and still keep the Sti for practial purposes. It never occurred to me that the Sti would be a great track car, and I never thought in a million years that is was a better handling car and faster on a track than the Elise. What a shock. In the Auto Car issue the Subaru actually was quicker around Brands Hatch than both the Exige and the Elise...can this be or is it a type error?? No it was quicker.
Exige-56.2 sec
Subaru-55.5
Elise-57.4
And all this time I never knew I had one of the best handling cars right here under my nose. I know the Sti has great gobs of power and lots of torque, but I have never taken it to a track yet, but now I know that it is indeed a great handling vehicle as well.
Now I think in order to get a faster track car than the Sti I should be looking toward the Noble, Porsche GT3 or even the Radical instead of the Elise. I just can't figure out why most of the magazines say that the Elise is one of the best handling cars in the world, and a very fast track car, when a lowly Subaru impreza can beat it around a race track. Really opens your eyes. I know that the Elise will beat the Subaru in an autocross event , but I am talking about driving on a real race track, and to my surpise the Subaru wins.
Noble M12, here I come.
It is really too bad that Vauxhall is not sold in the US because the vx220 did very well indeed, much faster than the Elise.
I think anyone out there who is getting the Elise purely as a track toy might want to rethink his decision because there are a lot of faster drivers cars out there, if speed is what your looking for.