Lotus Elise vs. Mustang Cobra R

Can Jackie Chan kick Stone Cold Steve Austin's ass? Can Oscar De La Hoya beat up Butterbean? Is a Lotus Elise faster than a Mustang Cobra R? Does anyone care?

We decided to find out.

Now we know some of you will hate us for this. But some of you will love us. Either way, this test will light up Internet forums and turn normal, peace-loving car enthusiasts into deranged defenders of their cause. Which is exactly what we like.

We chose these two cars because they cost about the same, and we figured the two combatants needed at least one thing in common to justify our time out at the test track. That meant that pitting a Viper vs. our Project Rally Beater just wouldn't cut it.

So read on, and learn once and for all if size matters.

The Combatants
This is a clear game of David vs. Goliath.

Tipping the scales at 3,590 lbs., SVT's limited-production, 385-hp Mustang Cobra R weighs more than twice that of Sun International's Integra Type R-powered Lotus Elise (1,629 lbs.). It's also a full 3 feet longer, 6 inches wider and 7 inches taller than the diminutive Elise.

Loyal readers will remember our last test of the Sun International Elise from the June '01 issue. In that test, the car was in an early configuration without all the go-fast goodies fitted this time. Sun International founder Tom Cahalane brought out the big guns.

Naturally, the car was fitted with the usual 1.8-liter Integra Type R engine and transmission. This time it was making even more power, thanks to a titanium muffler and stainless-steel exhaust, which

Cahalane claims cut between 25 and 30 lbs from the weight of the previous exhaust system. The petite Lotus also wore oversized

Yokohama A038 rubber at all four corners which no doubt increased its already immense lateral grip.

Other than these rather significant changes, the car remains the same as it came from Lotus. A British lightweight inspired by Colin Chapman with the heart of a high-strung sprinter from Honda. We like.

On the complete opposite end of the performance car spectrum lies SVT's Mustang Cobra R. Relax, we know this car is a 2000 model. We know there's a new Mustang Cobra on the horizon and we know this story doesn't make any sense. That's the point.

When Special Vehicle Engineering manager John Coletti set out to build the Cobra R, his goal was to create a Mustang that could outshine any previous Mustang. He did an impressive job. The Cobra R is unlike any pony car we've ever driven.

It packs a 5.4-liter, cast-iron version of Ford's Triton V8 with a forged crankshaft, Carrillo billet steel connecting rods and forged aluminum pistons yielding a compression ratio of 9.6:1. Even more impressive are the engine's aluminum DOHC cylinder heads, which were inspired by those of Ford's Rough Riders off-road truck racing program. Combine this with more aggressive cams, tubular exhaust manifolds, larger throttle body and low-restriction intake manifold and the parts list looks more like something found in a racecar than a production machine. Impressive hardware regardless of your loyalties, and that's just the engine.

Changes to the chassis were even more aggressive and necessary given the Fox platform's age. The R packs huge 13-inch Brembo rotors and four-piston calipers in the front--enough braking power to stop anything short of a moving house. Bilstein shocks and Eibach springs at each corner help the cause as do the four 265/40ZR-18 BFGoodrich g-Force KD tires.

Functional aerodynamic additions include the wind tunnel-proven front splitter and huge rear wing. In other words, this Mustang is a far cry from the ho-hum GT model.

Testing
Both of these cars offer performance worthy of their high-dollar price tags; still, it's the little Lotus that out-accelerates, out-brakes and out-slaloms the Cobra. It also achieves higher lateral acceleration on the skidpad and bests the mega-Mustang by a significant margin on the road course. Does this make it a superior performance car? Sure, if all you care about are the numbers (and we're sure many do). However, putting words between those numbers is why this magazine exists.

We'll begin on the 1-mile, 11-turn Streets of Willow road course where both cars showed an aversion to the heat of the California desert. Our test day peaked at 108 degrees ambient and produced track surface temperatures in the neighborhood of 140 degrees--not an ideal climate for highly stressed cooling systems. We gave each car ample opportunity to produce quick laps by driving slowly after several hot laps. When the fluids and brakes cooled, we'd go for it again.

This method worked for a while, but after three rounds, the heat was just too much for the Cobra. The Lotus was even less tolerant, which was no surprise. With a cooling system designed for 118 hp and an engine making almost 200 hp at the wheels, we had just one shot to get it right in the Elise. And one shot was all the car needed.

In those few laps, we established the Mustang as one hell of a track car. Its acceleration and dynamic performance bears no resemblance to its production-line brethren. It's a capable, extremely fast and incredibly tough piece of American iron. Most striking are its acceleration and the sounds that go with it. It's easy to get lost in the intoxicating rasp of this engine note--and we're not V8 guys. What's more, the Cobra's massive Brembo binders are capable of stopping this freight train time after time. And, they do so without fade, on the racetrack, in 100-degree heat. Impressive stuff.

So completely different and capable are the two cars, getting the most from each takes serious concentration. In the Cobra, restraint is the name of the game. The temptation to exit every corner in a huge powerslide and look like a hero has never been greater. In the Elise, success is measured in millisecond-quick reactions. Every squirm and wiggle is relayed through the chassis, amplifying every input. Mistakes are obvious and embarrassing. Without the appropriate answers to its many questions, the Elise will get ugly instantly. It produces a huge pucker factor at the limit, but when driven well, rewards with very, very quick lap times. When all was said and done, the Elise had its way with the Cobra to the tune of 2.75 seconds per lap.

Hard Numbers
Truth is, we expected the lightweight Lotus be quicker around a road course. After all, winding roads are a Lotus' home turf. At the dragstrip, however, we thought the Cobra would turn the Elise into a smoldering pile of fiberglass and aluminum. It wasn't to be.

Despite our best red-blooded American efforts and every launch method in the book, the Cobra would not run better than 13.36 at 106 mph. Averaging our best two runs (as is our standard) produced a 13.4-second run at 108 mph. This left us puzzled, as we've seen numerous tests of this car with acceleration times at least two-tenths quicker.

So we switched directions, thinking the slight headwind was causing a problem. Nothing. We even moved to a different location hoping of finding better grip off the line. Still nothing. We're not sure if it was the heat, the grip or the car, but on that day, the Cobra just wouldn't go any quicker. The Lotus, however, would. After a few runs to dial in the launch, the Elise put its 192 hp to the ground with only a squeak from the R-compound Yokohamas and stormed its mid-engine chassis through the traps in 12.6-seconds at 110 mph.

The more tests we performed, the more obvious it became which car was faster.

The show continued on the skidpad, through the slalom and in 60 to zero braking. It's clear the engineers at SVT put serious effort into making this Mustang stick. With the proprietary BFGoodrich g-Force KD tires, it stuck to our pad at an impressive .95g. The Lotus pulled 1.02 g.

The braking test again showed the difference in weight. Even the huge Brembos wouldn't allow the Mustang within striking distance of the featherweight Elise. The score in 60 to zero braking: Cobra, 122 ft.; Elise, 119 ft.

And in the slalom, which favors narrow cars, the Elise was almost 3 mph quicker.

On the Street
Neither car in this test will win a prize for ride quality or refinement. If we had to pick a winner in the comfort and livability department, it would be the Cobra. It has a roof. And that simple fact makes it slightly more bearable. Slightly.

OK, so you know the Lotus is the quicker car on a race track--straight or twisty. But what happens on the street? Which one is more fun? Since all 300 Cobras built were supposed to be raced and there are but a handful of Elises on American soil, this really isn't really worth arguing, but here goes.

Truth is, it's a simple matter of taste. Wanna get sideways coming out of the drive thru on a Friday night? Wanna beat everyone you meet at stoplights over the head with American spirit, V8 howl and two black stripes? Then the Cobra is still your car. The fact that you can do the same thing to nearly all comers at the local road course is simply an added bonus.

If you want the beating to be even more severe, use the Elise. It may not leave your victims quite as overwhelmed with pure brute force, but it will make them smaller in your rearview mirror. You decide. You know what we think.