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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Good Real World Test Drive Review Of The Zenos E10.


Simon Mac

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http://www.carthrottle.com/watch-your-back-ariel-atom-the-zenos-e10-is-the-new-roadlegal-track-weapon-thats-gunning-for-you/

 

I've booked my test drive for 29th of October, 2 hour drive including some PAX laps @ Silverstone.

That looks mega.

We shall await a full and detailed write up.

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That looks mega.

We shall await a full and detailed write up.

 

I'm looking forward to it TBH. I've never sat in, let alone driven, a 211 so I guess my view may be skewed by lack of experience of that sort of stuff. 

 

They do have a windscreen option in the pipeline, and this would be high-up on my wish list. Sort of a halfway house between an Elise and a 211, which given my weekend only usage, I reckon I could probably live with. Needing to wear a lid for weekend road blats would be a deal breaker for me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yet another decent review...

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/zenos-e10-driven-lotus-beater

 

"The Zenos E10 feels like the car the Lotus Elise could, and should, have evolved into."  

(Of course this is a little unfair, because without a roof and windscreen, they aren't really in the same market)

 

Looking forward to my test drive even more!

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Yep, read that the other day. Certainly an interesting car, and a strong Team behind

it.

I take it you are one of the potential customers

helping them with feedback ?

On the looks front I'm unsure it'll hit the spot, and a screenless car has to have limited appeal right ?

Some good principles behind the setting up of the business, and it's great to see a start up in Norfolk.

On Lotus, I'm increasingly encouraged by all that the new man is putting into place. They have a well established Brand and route to market, and are now getting back down to making Lotus cars

of the near future fit the Chapman Ethos again.

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Looks awsome in the green wot a fantastic track day car not sure i would take it out on the road though without a windscreen ( Thats wot put me of a 340r as a road car ) but great track car at a fantastic afordable price cant wait to see or drive one !!!

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Yep, read that the other day. Certainly an interesting car, and a strong Team behind

it.

I take it you are one of the potential customers

helping them with feedback ?

On the looks front I'm unsure it'll hit the spot, and a screenless car has to have limited appeal right ?

Some good principles behind the setting up of the business, and it's great to see a start up in Norfolk.

 

I've booked a test drive, no more no less at the moment.

 

I am seriously contemplating what to do with my Elise. It's 11 years old now, and in certain places it's showing it's age (paint work mainly, but at @60K mile the engine is probably getting a little long in the tooth, and it probably needs a full suspension refresh in the not too distant),

 

As some of you know I've toyed with upgrading the engine in mine, and was close to going down the Honda route. I've been doing my sums, and by the time I do all the other stuff to make it new car fresh with 200BHP, the numbers for the Zenos start to stack up...

 

I really do like the look of the Green one, it looks very futuristic. 

 

The lack of roof and windscreen is what is really holding me back. I still want to be able to do a road trip next year, and here the Elise really shines.

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Early adopters can get their fingers burnt, not a worry if you've got deep pockets I guess.

You could wait till they bring out the full screen version, which is their intention I see. By that time

you'd hope they would have ironed out a few issues.

Coming from a 'steel' car ( MX5 ) , I'm chuffed to be in an alloy/fibreglass car, so long as I avoid pranging it I reckon the Elise will outlast me.

It'll be interesting to see whether this new car will

allow chassis repair. It sounds like they are saying the chassis is more akin to a backbone a la Esprit/Elan/Elite/Excel , am I right ?

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Well i wouldnt be negative on this one lotus have been building the elise for years and i am told the build quality now can be as bad as its ever been and your paying 35k - 40k so i think overall this could be a winner and from the company ethos nobody will get there fingers burnt quite the oposite ( in my opinion of course)

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Coming from a 'steel' car ( MX5 ) , I'm chuffed to be in an alloy/fibreglass car, so long as I avoid pranging it I reckon the Elise will outlast me.

It'll be interesting to see whether this new car will

allow chassis repair. It sounds like they are saying the chassis is more akin to a backbone a la Esprit/Elan/Elite/Excel , am I right ?

 

That was my thinking when I got the Elise, alloy/fibreglass, is great for us buyers, not so much for Lotus, as we aren't queuing up to buy replacements when ours rot away.

 

A brand spanking Elise doesn't add enough value for me, other than the numberplate vanity (and fresh paint). Ultimately Zenos could have the same problem 10 years down the line.

 

One of the design goals of the car was to make it "chassis repairable".  My understanding is the "tub" is actually bolted to a central spine made from a single aluminium extrusion. I'm sure I read the spine itself is < £300 to replace.

 

The bigger point is the "corners" are cheaper to sort if damaged. E.g the  front dampers are on board, and the front wings can be replaced individually. Theory is if you take out a front corner you'd be looking at a new wing + some wishbones, rather than a complete clam, wishbones and dampers.

 

In fairness the engineering involved would seem to have  some downsides, I can't see how they have made the body as torsionally strong as an Elise, and the side impact protection is probably worse. It's also quite heavy compared to an early S1, which let's not forget also had windows, doors and a roof!

 

Just goes to show what a great job the Lotus guys did with the original Elise!!

 

I think one neat trick (by the looks of it) is they have mounted the wishbones directly to the spine. This reduces the need for such torsional rigidity to some extent, but also gives longer wishbones, which in theory, should give better wheel contact throughout suspension travel.

 

And TBH  I don't have a massive problem with the "early adopter" thing. My daily driver is a Tesla after all ;)  Really I'd like an E11 (the one with doors and windows, but if no early adopters buy this car, they won't get to that stage.)  

 

Hopefully they get some traction. Some realistic competition in the "usable track car you could drive from here to the south of France" niche the Elise sits in would be good for all of us!

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