Ownership Verified: My new fun car for the summer -> Speedster 2.2

Monastry

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2011
Messages
29
Location
Autobahnland
Car(s)
boring Golf VI & Speedster for fun
Hello there!

Finally I have made the decision and bought a car for the summer.
My list was long (350z, Mx5, Mustang, Z4, Crossfire etc.) and now an old Opel (built in 2001) has won. :)
The car isn?t usefull at all, it?s just a pure driving machine so I figured it?d be the perfect car for having some fun in the summer weekends.

I have the car for a few weeks now, but haven?t yet bothered cleaning it or taking some good pictures (too busy driving it :cool:). So today I decided to take some quick photos just to be able to start this thread.

For the ones who don?t know what it is, a quick summary (wiki):
Due to the changes in European crash safety regulations for the 2000 model year, Lotus needed to replace the original Elise, and they struck a deal with General Motors in order to have sufficient investment for a new car.[5] As part of the deal, Lotus agreed to develop and produce the Opel Speedster and Vauxhall VX220 on the new Series 2 Elise chassis.
The Speedster utilizes an aluminium chassis tub that weighs only 72 kg (159 lb).[7] The car also features bodywork made entirely of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). The entire car weighs only 875 kg (1,929 lb), which made it 100 kg (220 lb) lighter than the similarly-sized Toyota MR2.[7] At launch, the Speedster's all aluminium alloy 2.2 L Z22SE engine produced 147 hp (149 PS; 110 kW), making the Speedster considerably more powerful than the Elise was at launch
The car was hailed by the motoring press as a great drivers' car and won several accolades, including Top Gear's Car of the Year in 2003. The 2.2 NA (naturally aspirated) version was considered the easier drive of the two standard variants, and some journalists recommended that the Opel/Vauxhall car was better value for money than the Lotus (such as Jeremy Clarkson in his 2003 DVD Shoot Out).


Speedster1.jpg


Speedster2.jpg


So far it?s all original and I don?t know if I wanna change that.
There are lots of options (wheels, turbo/supercharger, paint/wrap ...) but f?r now, I?ll leave it as it is - next summer could be a complete different story. :rolleyes:
And I should visit a drivers safety training next spring/summer, cause this car is rear-wheel driven, mid-engined, has a short wheelbase, no driver-aids and is extremely expensive to fix. :p
 
Last edited:
I wish we got these here. That looks like an awful lot of good fun. Congratulations!

Now give us more pics of that interior and those seats, dammit!
 
Thx guys.
One more pic (smartphone) after the car wash.
For a 14 year old car, the paint is in an extremely good condition. :nod:

Speedster3.jpg
 
Ooooooooooooh, very nice!
 
Very nice! How tall are you? Do you fit well in the car?
 
Very nice! How tall are you? Do you fit well in the car?
I?m 1,80m so I do fit perfectly. AFAIK up to 1,85 shouldn?t be a problem at all, from there on it all depends on personal tolerability.
More of a problem is entering and exiting the car because of the high sides (second pic, lower left). With the roof down it?s just a matter of standing in the car and then sliding down into the seat for entering and then standing up first when exiting. :)
When the roof ist on, entering and exiting the car is more a gymnastic act... well I haven?t tried that (just driving it when the sun shines - so no roof) but I heard some horrific stories.
BTW the seats look pretty nice on first looks but the left side of the drivers seat is worn, so I have to do something about it.
 
Top