I almost hate the fact that Lotus and Pontiac will be covering up these gorgeous automobile frames. They look like works of art...I know that a Mini Cooper body is 3x stiffer than a BMW 3 series body.

(LOTUS)The aluminum chassis of the Elise is composed of 26 bonded parts. Some Ejot fasteners are only needed, in order to secure all sections, until the adhesive has cured completely. The chassis of the Elise weighs only 68kg (150 pounds)and thus fewer as half, than a comparable welded chassis. Despite the low weight the chassis provides a very high torsional stiffness of 10133Nm/degree.


2006 Pontiac Solstice

2005 Lotus Elise

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2004 MCS - PW/B w/Xenons

 

I am to understand that in addition to the normal engineering, that the number of welds per inch in the Mini is much higher than in the 3-series, hence the stiffer body. Anyone else hear this?

I would also like to add a "chassis" to your list... remember the early ads for the Mazda Miata? They show the chassis (which is mostly the engine and rear diff connected by a beam. It was pretty cool technology. (BTW... I owned a 94 Miata for 8 years... FUN!)
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04 MC, CR-W, Prem/Sport/Cold , anthracite interior trim, rear fogs <IMG SRG http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/40677...vT4ZABx9RDfTd_ >

 

Yes, they are beautiful. The only problem I have with aluminum is that it doesn't have the resiliency of steel. With repeated flexing it becomes weaker much faster than steel, ask any body with a Porsche 928.

 

The day of the VERY EXPENSIVE disposable car is coming...."Crash 'em and Toss 'em" is the motto......
I wouldn't buy an Elise if my life depended on it.....