Lotus Elise 111S With Vicki Butler-Henderson - Top Gear 1999
21Vicki Butler-Henderson reviews the new Lotus Elise 111S, a newer and faster version of the previous Lotus Elise.
The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum.
It is capable of speeds up to 240 km/h (150 mph). The Elise was named after Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time of the car's launch.
A faster edition called the 111S, named after the Lotus type-number of the Elise (Type 111), was introduced in early 1999 and had the 1.8 Rover K-series engine also used in the Rover MGF. It featured a VVC system providing continuously variable lift and duration on the intake valves only.
This technology produced a flatter torque curve from lower down the rev range and a declared 143 bhp (107 kW; 145 PS), a small but useful improvement over the standard 16 valve Rover 1.8 L K-series 118 bhp (88 kW; 120 PS) inline-four unit.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:34 Lotus Elise 111S Review
3:31 End Screen