Lotus Elise & Exige: The British Exotic With a $2,795 Toyota Engine
There’s a harmful rumor that exotic track-oriented cars must be high-maintenance. In fact, if they aren’t high maintenance, some folks don’t consider them exotics. If you need to ask how much a repair bill will be, you obviously can’t afford the car. Well, that’s not so true anymore.
One British manufacturer was brave enough to design a true track car with 9,000-mile/12-month service intervals thanks to a Toyota engine. Blow one up on the track, and you can order a replacement for under $3k. Need a basic part? You can pick it up at AutoZone and call your friend who works on his own Celica GT-S to swap it out.
The True Cost Of Owning An Exotic Car
Exotic car manufacturers don’t shy away from comically high service price tags. In fact, some appear to even be proud of it.
I’ll never forget walking into an Italian sports car garage to check out some Alfa Romeos and noticing a Ferrari Testarossa gathering dust, holding up boxes, in the back corner. The shop owner admitted it was his car and that when the 5–7 year mandatory timing belt replacement came around, he parked the thing. I wondered aloud how hard a timing belt swap could be for an experienced mechanic. He explained that he had to split the car’s body and remove the rear subframe to remove the engine and complete the job. And if he drove it with a stretched belt, the pistons could hit the valves and total his 12-cylinder engine.
In 2005, Bugatti told Ferrari, “Hold my champagne and watch this.” The Veyron debuted in 2005 and every car wore Michelin Pilot Sport PAX tires glued to its rims. In the early days, owners needed to ship their wheels all the way home to France for a fresh set of tires. Every 18 months. Even if they’d left that car parked the entire time. Cost: $42,000. And those were the cheap services. After just three tire changes, Bugatti declared the rims dead too and forced the owner to shell out for four new ones.
These absurd service procedures aren’t limited to ultra-expensive hypercars. Need to swap your Porsche Carrera GT’s clutch? You must drop the entire drivetrain. Porsche actually updated the service procedure after drivers complained it was too expensive. But the automaker still quotes $8,000–$15,000 for the job.
Luckily for all of us, one British automaker bucked the trend. This company actually picked up the phone and called Toyota—the king of reliability—for some help.
Toyota Reliability And Yamaha Power
It isn’t an accident that Toyota earns the title of world’s most reliable vehicles, year in and year out. The company codified its philosophy in its 2001 pamphlet The Toyota Way.
Toyota’s well known for prioritizing the long-term over the short-term, and principle six of The Toyota Way explains how this affects its vehicle design: “Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.” In addition, the principle of Jidoka means “Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.” It dictates that engineers build a new part by hand before automating production, and that factory workers train on traditional machines before graduating to automated ones. Finally, the principle of Kaizen means any employee can stop the assembly line at any point to suggest an improvement. But when a British exotic manufacturer called Toyota for an engine, the company enlisted the help of a longtime partner: Yamaha.
Back when Toyota was engineering the 1967 2000GT sports car, it knew it would need an engine that was more than just reliable. It sent the inline-six from its luxury Crown sedan to Yamaha, which transformed it into a world-class DOHC performance engine, ready to go toe-to-toe with anything out of Germany.
Since then, many of Toyota’s most legendary performance engines have actually been Yamaha partnerships. Yamaha assisted with the cylinder head of the 3S-GTE turbo I4, which powered the 1984 Toyota MR2 Turbo and Toyota Celica GT-Four WRC rally cars.
Later, Yamaha co-developed and hand-assembled the 1LR-GUE 4.8-liter V10 in the limited 2009 Lexus LFA. The cherry on top? Yamaha turned to its music division to tune the supercar’s exhaust note.
The Series 2 Lotus Elise And Exige: British Exotics With A $2,795 Toyota Engine
|
Engine |
Toyota 1ZZ-FE |
Toyota/Yamaha 2ZZ-GE |
|---|---|---|
|
Lotus applications |
2004–2005 Elise (U.S. base model); 2004–2009 entry-level Elise in some global markets |
2004–2009 Elise 111R; 2004–2006 naturally aspirated Exige; later Exige S retained the same engine with a supercharger |
|
Horsepower |
134 hp @ 6,200 rpm |
189 hp @ 7,800 rpm |
|
Torque |
127 lb-ft @ 4,200 rpm |
133 lb-ft @ 6,800 rpm |
|
Displacement |
1.8 L (1,794 cc) |
1.8 L (1,796 cc) |
|
Bore × Stroke |
79.0 × 91.5 mm |
82.0 × 85.0 mm |
|
Compression ratio |
10.0:1 |
11.5:1 |
|
Valve system |
DOHC 16-valve with VVT-i (variable intake valve timing) |
DOHC 16-valve with VVTL-i (variable valve timing and lift) |
|
Redline |
6,400 rpm |
8,200 rpm |
First, a note on the Lotus lineup. The Elise was a mid-engine sports car with a 1,900-pound curb weight. It was a sports car that you could drive daily with a removable roof and road-tuned suspension. The Exige model—introduced in 2000—was a track-oriented car. It shared its chassis and powertrain with the Elise, but had a fixed top, high-speed aerodynamic elements, and stiffer suspension. They could easily have been different trim levels of the same car (think 911 and 911 GT3). But they have distinct personalities, and Lotus chose to split them into two model lines.
For the 2004 model year, Lotus ditched its old Rover-built four-cylinder engine. The entry-level Elise got the Toyota 1ZZ-FE, a dependable, naturally aspirated I4 with a 6,200 rpm redline and a torque-focused tune. This engine was available in entry-level Elise cars for some global markets through 2009. You could also find it in the contemporary Toyota Corolla, Matrix, Celica GT, MR2 Spyder, and Pontiac Vibe.
But for higher-trim Lotus cars, Toyota sent this motor to Yamaha for a complete ground-up redesign. Yamaha increased the bore but shortened the stroke. The shorter piston travel made it snappier at high rpm. The powerplant also got forged steel connecting rods, oil-spray piston cooling jets, and a more robust valvetrain to enable a higher redline. Yamaha also tuned the engine for premium fuel and increased compression. It engineered a high-flow DOHC cylinder head with larger ports and valves.
Finally, the tuners swapped from standard VVT-i to VVTL-i with a high-lift cam profile that kicks in at 6,200 rpm. The resulting engine can drive like a regular commuter at low rpm. But rev it out and both airflow and power increase dramatically. The result is 41% more horsepower, at much higher rpm. Lotus offered this engine in the 2004–2009 Elise 111R and the 2004–2006 Exige (later Exige model years featured a supercharged version of the engine). Enthusiasts who know the correct shift points can lay down some incredible track times with the 2ZZ-GE.
11 Most Reliable Sports Cars Built Over The Last 10 Years
Aside from offering serious power and fun, some of these sports cars will easily last 300,000 miles.
Race, Wrench, Repeat
The 2ZZ-GE isn’t just a Corolla engine. The cylinder head and rotating assembly are all unique. That said, it shares many parts with one of Toyota’s most common engines, and that reduces repair costs dramatically. Some specialists even offer entire replacement long blocks (both block and head) for $2,795. With other exotic cars, an engine blown up on a track can be a six-figure repair. But in an Elise or Exige, even an engine swap won’t break the bank. This can give owners the confidence to really push these cars on the track.
Even though Yamaha tuned the 2ZZ-GE for high rpm, it was able to maintain the low maintenance costs of other Toyota engines. The factory maintenance intervals are the regular 9,000-mile/12-month ones you’d expect from Toyota. Overall, the engine has proven very reliable. If you look at the complaints filed with the NHTSA by 2005 Elise owners, most are clustered around the oil cooler line (recalled) or gear shift lever (also recalled).
Even A Toyota Engine Isn’t Perfect
Enthusiasts know the naturally-aspirated Lotus Exige/Elise 111R powertrain may be reliable, but it’s far from perfect. Unlike some exotics, the 2ZZ isn’t built for extended high-G track use. Oil can pool on one side of the pan or the oil pump may not be able to maintain pressure. Oil starvation at 8,000 rpm can be a serious issue.
To make matters worse, low oil can actually disable the high-rpm cam changeover feature. In addition, worn VVTL-i lift bolts can also disable the cam changeover.
Enthusiasts often pull the engine to fit baffled oil pans and upgraded pumps first. They also make certain to check the VVTL-i lift bolts before driving these cars hard. But at the end of the day, these cars have proven themselves to be reliable track vehicles. Thus, they actually get driven hard and often. And that is, after all, the purpose of an exotic track-tuned car. When the rest of the market forgets this, the Toyota-powered Lotus is around to remind us all.
Sources: Monkey Wrench Racing and The Weekly Driver
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