2008 Lotus Elise Supercharged / SC 220 - First Drive Review - Car and Driver
These are the only senses the Lotus Elise Supercharged (Lotus also calls it the Elise SC 220) stimulates. With only two seats and virtually no in-cabin storage, a relative lack of sound insulation, and nominal stereo and HVAC controls, Lotus’s Elise targa and Exige S hardtop sibling represent good third or fourth cars. For 2007, the Exige became the Exige S, which added an intercooled supercharger that gobbled air from above the roof to boost output for the mid-mounted, Toyota-sourced 1. 8-liter four-cylinder engine. Lotus saw similar potential for a second Elise model but decided to tune the upgraded car to be “a supremely fast road car rather than an extreme track machine. ” The transformation dictated the need for a different type of supercharger than the snorkel-fed, intercooled unit that completely blocks the rearward visibility in the Exige S. Lotus thus employed a clever new Eaton-style supercharger integrated... Although it does without the intercooler and its vision-blocking air intake (and some 18 pounds of engine weight), the Elise SC 220’s supercharger. Source: www.caranddriver.com
