Car Review: Lotus Elise 190 vs. TommyKaira ZZ-S

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United States
Madison, WI
Cars and Specs
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The two contenders are close! Actually, VERY close. Both weigh 670KG, and they're within 5hp of each other. Both were bought factory stock, with no oil change, nothing. Straight from the showroom to the track.

Lotus Elise 190
Price: $58,530
Color: New Aluminum Metallic
Engine: 181hp Rover K-Series 1.8L 4-Cylinder
Curb weight: 670KG
PWR: 3.701


TommyKaira ZZ-S
Price: $56,800
Color: Silver Metallic
Engine: 186hp Nissan SR20DE 2.0L 4-Cylinder
Curb weight: 670KG
PWR: 3.602
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DRAG STRIP
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Well, the anonymous owners of the Test Track were kind enough to let us use their facilities for today's testing. The Test Track allow for 0-60 testing, 400M (1/4 Mile) testing, and Top Speed testing. Time to turn off ASM and TCS... Well, read the results below...

Lotus Elise 190:
0-60: 5.83 sec
0-400M: 14.233 sec
Top Speed: 164.1 mph

I found the Elise to launch the best when started in first gear, launched at 3000RPM, and then when the wheels start to spin, let off the gas quick and get right back on it.

*******Side Note: The top speed was tested as normal on top speed run, from the start to the finish. I did both top speed runs for both cars the same way, and shifted at the same points as the acceleration tests to create an equal opportunity for both cars to perform. 0-60 was recorded with start, x, start, x, start, x until I recorded 60mph on my tv screen.*******
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Tommykaira ZZ-S:
0-60: 6.050
0-400M: 14.642
Top Speed: 161.7

I found the ZZ-S launched best in 2nd gear, launched at 7000RPM. Just hammer it, the wheel's won't spin too much, in fact, just enough to get the job done. 1st Gear starts were ridiculous, with WAY too much wheelspin.
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Track testing at Apricot Hill
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Now onto what these cars were REALLY meant for... corners. I considered Apricot Hill to be the ideal location to test these cars. A diverse track, with broad corners, S corners, hairpins, and a nice straightaway at the end of which I get to test the brakes ;).

Lotus Elise 190:
Average lap: 1'32.4xx
Best lap: 1'32.177

I found that riding the rumble strips is vital to a hot lap. The car slides easily when you do this, but only if you keep turning harder. The slide is very controllable. Sharp steering inputs cause slides which hurts the cars momentum, so smoothness is the the key. This car is enjoyable to drive, and if you can do it well, its very rewarding. Not to mention the exhaust note is absolutely raucous for 181hp, and makes you feel like Jim Clark whereas the ZZ-S sounds like a Camry.
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Tommykaira ZZ-S:
Average lap: 1'32.8xx
Best lap: 1'32.523

Not quite as agile and confidence inspiring as the Elise, the ZZ-S is nontheless a very capable car, as shown by the very close lap times. But sometimes how much confidence you get from a car is more important than 6 extra horsepower, as also shown here. Understeer is prevalent (although not badly) at high speeds, and some still at low speeds but not quite as much. I did notice, at the hairpin (not the sharp S-Curve, but the almost 180 degree turn) that powering out of the hairpin in 2nd gear caused a spinout, unless I was liberal with the gas, but then that produced slight understeer. 3rd gear got me through cleanly, but it bogged. I found the quickest way through was to enter in third gear, and drop down to second when I was almost done turning. The ZZ-S will turn nicely if you use the rumble strips, but the car understeers to the point where you won't hit the rumble strips every time, causing you to lose time to the Elise...
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So, which car won? And what did you do with them?
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Hold on... I was getting to that. The Elise 190 is the winner here, and I'll tell you why...

The Elise ended up with 18.5 miles on it, and took a jump of 1hp over stock (break-in). If I had a choice between buying the Elise and the ZZ-S, I would just shell out the extra $1,730 beans for the Elise. I'm definately keeping this car. For the near future of this car, I sense not power upgrades, but a full suspension, full LSD, brakes, full clutch, and full flywheel. I'll call it the "Track Attack" Elise. Time to eat some Skylines for lunch. And for dessert it'll have some ZZ-S on the side.
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The ZZ-S ended up with 19.2 miles on it, with no horsepower improvement. I sold it, and whoever ended up buying it on the other end of my memory card's black hole, got a still very new ZZ-S with "slightly worn ;)" front tires. It sold for $14,200... whoever bought that got a hell of a deal.
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Good comparison of Cars, To be honest I would have guessed that the Lotus would have had the slight edge, but still good write up, I might buy the Lotus in my game now and have a play around with it.
 
Interesting and Entertaining write-up...

I did something like that before...
With a Miata MX-5, Trueno, MR-S... And perhaps a couple others within a 50hp limit... The order of the three was MR-S>MX-5>Trueno not so much...

Anyways... I never new the true light of GT until I did that... 👍
 
Great write-up, I havn't even driven neither cars as of yet. I have alot of money on my current game so I'll check them out.

But hey, I'm suprised to see 2 cars so closely matched, no any other close matches between a couple-a-cars?
 
I enjoyed doing this review... I might do another one. I'm thinking---------->

Z06 vs. Viper GTS, vs. Ruf RGT

or

Opel Speedster, MX-5 Miata, MR-S, MR2 G-Limited

This could definately be expanded, to the point where it could almost become like a magazine article.
 
I have a similar one done up like a car mag shootout. Used 10 of the best Japanese cars.

Honda NSX Type-R, Honda S2000 Type-V, Mazda RX-7 Type RZ, Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4,
Mitsubishi Evolution VII GSR, Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo 2by2, Nissan Silvia Spec-R Aero, Nissan
Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (R34), Subara Impreza WRX STi, and Toyota Supra RZ.

I'll finish it up and polish it ASAP before GT4 releases. Then I plan on doing the same thing with the same cars in GT4. :D

Nurburgring here I come! :)
 
Just a adder to this great comparo that snowman wrote.
In my opinion when upgrading the Lotus Elise 190 the car is better with the 2 nd suspension upgrade(semi adjustable) and not the last one (fully adjustable) when the 3 weight reductions have been completed.
The car becomes unstable with the fully adjustable suspension even with the springs at the lowest setting. It is a lot nicer to drive with the semi adjustable suspension fitted.
 
Excelent comparo. I got interested in these cars before trying to create a street car that weighed about the same as an F1. If only they could be turbocharged. I used to do these things before alot. perhaps to the point of obnoxiousness but seeing as their is still an intrest in these things I might post one up.
 
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