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I've always fancied a VX220 - partly for inverted snobbishness!

But also because what I've read suggests it is a little more practical, and of course way cheaper!

The other option would be the VX220 Turbo - probably no dearer than an Elise, and properly quick!

Plus just because it isn't a Lotus!

Thank goodness you corrected the ill informed. Never fails to amaze that people mistake badges for the makers of cars..

Anyway my lifelong buddy until he milled himself had several VX and Lotus Elise's.
Without doubt his favourite was a well tuned VX220 turbo. Badge snobbery was a big issue, big performance was not.
There used to be real problem of parts such as headlights on VX's and cars were often scrapped from broken pair of headlights as they weren't available or made. Hopefully resolved.
If I could ask him he would certainly say VX to drive but Lotus for badge and credibility, but both have active club scenes and loved by owners.
Go to a couple of meets and chat. I did a couple of Lotus runs in the Zed and the guys are just like Z4 owners - helpful and passionate

Surely a Lotus sounds better than a Vauxhall when chatting a lady up

If it was good enough for 007.

Tim.

TitanTim wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:24 pm Surely a Lotus sounds better than a Vauxhall when chatting a lady up

Buy a puppy. that trumps all cars....

Well, not my intention but an F type causes them to just get a bit frisky.
Worse is Jeeps that give them the impression of carefree, sligjtlybwild owner.
Shame as I'm the key years I was driving tuoical ford and Vauxhall rep wagons...

DPG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 17, 2017 8:48 pm Why would you choose and Elise over a VX220?

I looked at both and bought an S1 Elise with Audi 1.8T conversion. I chose the Elise as I was converting it to a road registered race car and thought it could be a reliable car with decent power to weight. Safety Devices have an FIA cage for the Elise only, ruling out the VX220. At the same time I bought my Elise a good friend bought a highly modified 310bhp VX220T. The first trackday was at a wet Snetterton 300 and he spun into the barrier following me. £12k and 12 months later he finished repaired it, used for a few months and sold it. Another friend (in his 60s) owned an S2 SC which I frequently drove on road and track, he sold his after 18 months and returned to Caterham ownership.

I hated mine, it was the worst car I ever owned, made worse by having sold my 3.2 Carrera to fund it and a seasons racing. They sound bland, had worse practicality than the Caterham I owned before, pretty twitchy handling (with the heavy engine), standard brakes were average, fear of wishbone impact which could fatally damage the tub, rusty steel components, poor factory spares support, no lsd on most models, a pita having to remove the clams for maintenance, with stacks of washers needed to get the panel gaps even....my list goes on.

If I had to get one I would buy an early S2 with a K series engine (someone like DVA Power can make the engine reliable and revvy). However, I would either buy a Caterham or something more useable like an S2000, Z4 etc.

Racing video here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9SeYKMZRLM&t=4s


Trackday video best showing the twitchy handling here, just after buying it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hi6c1DYpQY

My god, you weren't kidding about the twitchiness You did well keeping it on the track!

Fun little video there Dave. Brought back happy memories of Combe in a VX220T demonstrator, when they were first launched. The muppet driving, spun out twice, at the chicane, which had me in stitches. Alas I could never fit behind the wheel.

I ran this one for 6 months or so ... it didn't get along with my sciatic nerve so I traded it in for the Z4.

I owned an Elise as a weekend car.... trouble was, just couldn't go too far in it.... you would be deaf, cold and numb on any journey over 100 miles......

But by god it was bloody epic round corners!

What Elise are you looking at? I've had an S1 and an S2 and driven the VX220 a good few times.

To be honest the VX220 is like an Elise 1.5.

Front geometry needs changing to suit a bit and IIRC there may be something around the front wheel sizes.

The turbo is the one to go for, if it was a VX220 vs S2 Elise, for me, it's the Elise. For the VX220T vs Elise 111S, VXT. VX220T vs 111R, 11R.