lotus
 

the lotus was designed for handling and road racing performance and what not like was pointed out on some posts before, the cobra r is based of ur every day mustang that thousands own, it just has a more powerful engine, suspension tweaks and some body parts to make it perform better,by no means was the entire structure designed for road racing like the lotus,does the R look exotic at all like the lotus, no it looks like a mustang with nice wheels a big wing and some front facia so lets not say the two cars were designed for the same thing.maybe ford will make a superlight road race with a turbo svt focus engine in it, maybe it would make the magazine think twice about tearing down on tha domestics.....and i always thought rice reffered to cars from japan?????? who know

peace no flames intended here

hmm intresting, well about cars and chicks, the lotus would attract more girls, but who cares, im trying to impress myself, see if i had a cobra-r my g/f would just think of it as another mustang, and not a cobraR,

anyhow, i bet a nice american thunder catback on the cobra would be such a sweet sound, and the chainsaw elise would be annoying at 8k rpms, i guess im just american;)

A statement from SVT about the Cobra R

http://www.svt.ford.com/flash/compar..._three=nothing

But then again, maybe you are right, and they are wrong....I mean they only built the car............

OMG the master of all things obvious has posted an SVT link. This link being from SVT makes us all wrong and liars, oh we better go jump off bridges to avoid the internet humiliation we face. Oh wait not don't do that yet fellas. That SVT link just called the Cobra R the fastest production mustang up till that point ot have been built (we all agree), and that it was just a beefed up mustang with bigger engine and better suspension (we all agree), and here comes the kicker it was a exclusive mustang (oh wait we agreed with that too) SO what did the link show....nothing. We are saying it is just a beefed up mustang the linked showed that, all the link showed was that it was an exclusive beefed up mustang.

P.S. The R is legal for street and track use, proving the intent of production of the two manufacturers!!!

Well, if you would read some of the comments posted by some of your mustang brethren, you would see that they are claiming that the modifications done to the Cobra R does not make it a track worthy car. I am sure that SVT would beg to differ and the link that I provided says basically what I have been saying the whole time...that the Cobra R is a track ready car from the factory. The Lotus is the same thing.....a track ready car that is also capable of being driven on the street which makes it a fair comparison.

Oh, one last thing. In terms of over all potential, it is all about horsepower to weight. Because the Cobra R weighs twice as much as the Elise, the Elise only needs roughly half as much power to have the same power to weight ratio.

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but come on there is a difference between a track car and a production car that has been tweaked for the track. In the end one's still a track tweaked car riding on the chasis of a 1978 fairlane and the other is a car specifically built for tracks. I mentioned the GT40 not because of price but because this car is being built by Ford with the same intent that Lotus built the Elise...Ford just is making it street legal because Ford is based in America. The Elise may be street legal in europe but its not street legal on American Soil. I think the lotus is a great car, I just don't see the fairness in comparing the two... And in the end its all about taste and preference I know I would prefer a 385 hp pavement eating hellspawn to a nimble little sprinter that sounds like a chainsaw free reving....

1bad232, sorry dude but you're wrong. The whole reason the car in that article had the ITR motor was so it could be streeted in America. Lotus has their own motor for it in Europe.

Can we please let this die now?:confused:

i really don't know why we're bashing our heads against the walls on this. imo these cars are 2 different heavy weights, the R is an everyman( :rolleyes: ) i-could-afford-it-factory-authorized nightmare on wheels, its based on the most popular selling sports car in american history and shares its name plate with tradition and prestige in SVT's heralded corral of bad *** conceptions. the lotus ain't nothin to sneeze at, but IMO it falls in the same categories of lamborginis, ferraris, mclarens: high dollar, staus symbols you are rare to ever see one outside of sunset strip or downtown miami. the R is the top of the FOMOCO throughbreds and for the great majority of the people who bleed ford blue, frequent an support this site, the top of the heap and you are not going to convince otherwise.

this is MUSTANG SITE, not a sports car site.

yes there are things that can out slalom, accelerate, top end, an out move the R, but for the 500k-$1000000 price tag of a ferrarri or mclaren..it sure as hell better..

again look at the aftermarket for mustang domestic its the majority, the exotics are a ***** to mintain, insure, an murder to find parts for and work on.

its all about your flavor,how much your willing to pony up. but i 'm pretty sure i could afford a Cobra R some day..:D;)

plus everybody knows that that guy in the lamborghini is makin up for somewhere else he falls short in.:D

look familiar? its called the ford GT90 concept exotic.. 900 horses,

0-60 3.1sec.
235 mph.??

seen that lil car called the Saleen S7??

ford has its own corral of exotics, but we got to many mustangs to sell to focus our time on just that small niche of the market .:D

Ok, one last comment. The Lotus Elise isn't some super exotic vehicle or super car. It does use some of the track bred suspension from Lotus' other racing ventures, but the base Elise is basically along the lines of a Miata. Once again, the Elise is available and streetable in the US with the regular 115hp Rover motor, but the company that is importing them is also giving the option to buy it with the Integra Type R motor. Even with the 115hp motor, with the weight of the car, it is a pretty decent performer, but of course 85 extra hp and 30 more ft/lbs of torque go a long way in a 1600lb car. In terms of maintenance, the ITR motor is pretty simple to maintain, but the cost of labor might be a bit more because of the mid-engine placement of the motor. I am sure any shop that does work on Hondas wouldn't have that much of a problem though.

Also, in terms of affording a real Cobra R, most of those cars were bought by collectors and the prices shot through the roof. I am sure that the 300 owners of the 00 Cobra R's aren't likely to part with them anytime soon, and when they do part with them, the price is probably going to be at least 50k regardless of mileage. Ford is going to produce a new GT40, but the GT90 was a concept and will always be one. The Saleen S7 has a Ford motor and nothing else in common. Saleen is its own entity regardless of the fact that they tune Mustangs. And in terms of Ford sales, they are really concentrating on their trucks, family car sales, and fleet sales......that is where they are really making their money. Why else do you think that the basic platform for the Mustang has remained the same since 1979?

"dude your wrong", I would like to see where it says they are street legal because I swear there were issues with crash worthiness. If they can be made street legal then that is different but it doesn't change my viewpoint that these cars were made with different intents. Also you can't say Ford has turned it's focus away from the mustang... if they were doing that we wouldn't have the living legends studio/SVT bringing out cars like the Bullit Mustang, Mach 1, BOSS, Terminator (03 SVT COBRA) and these are going to came/will come before we update to dewlite in 04/05!! Yes they focus alot more than they did on trucks/suv's because thats where the big money is, but it's not like that has held the mustang back....

Also the whole reason the car had the type r motor was so it didn't get its world rocked by the Cobra. It beat the Cobra barely in all the categories, with the lesser hp engine it would have been beat, and it was a import mag.

Finally the GT90 was a concept powered by a 12 cylinder engine. But the GT40 was not and I stick with my guns that reguardless of price it's more fair to compare the GT40 and Elise due to purpose for being built in which case the GT40 reigns supreme. The elise can be compared to a mustang (any mustang) when it hits the mustangs production numbers!!!

let it die......

This post has gone more queer then a 3 dollar bill....