Anyone Tempted by the Elise?
 

Any Boxster pilots looking forward to the US introduction of the Lotus Elise very soon? Tempted?

I have never driven one, but I feel that it may be somewhat fun ;)

Any thoughts?

I'm waiting to see one to see if I can stand the styling and if it is liveable overall.

I'm quite positive the driving experience will be exceptional.

I bet it is a kick to drive, but the styling just doesn't get it.

Actually I have seen it in person in the UK and it is quite sexy. I know it's a cliche but photos don't do it justice...

Does'nt the Elise have the engine from the Mitsubishi Eclipse GT? I thought I read that someplace. Anyway, I agree it looks like it would be super fun to drive.

I think the one coming to the US will have a Toyota engine in it. Still underpowered at around 190bhp (maybe I'm being greedy), BUT the thing weighs in at 2000lbs or less! Two-thirds that of the Boxster!

If thats underpowered, then what's the 2.5L boxster? A superslug? Anyway, the elise is pretty fast(faster than a box s). I've seen quotes of 4.9 sec 0-60. It's a shame the thing car isn't eye candy like the boxster.

Good video!
The Elise definetly has some really good handling power. THe Elise in the video was obviously modified to the extreme since they had turned it into a race car. I actually thought in the corners the Elise could have passed the vette, bt about 10 mnutes into the video The vette hits a long straight away and was gone.... The elise was so far behind. You could see by the look of the drivers face in the Elise he wasnt happy the vette pulled away so far... It was really pretty funny!
Ii like Lotus vehicles but think I will keep my 986. The only lotus i think it worth upgrading to would be the Esprit turbo.

What a video! Great!

What a track! One day before I die I want to drive around the old Nurburgring...

Yea, no contest fo the Vette on a Straight road. But who wants to drive on a staright road? The Elise actually overtook the Vette on the curves. There was no way in hell the vette could handle the winding roads like the elise. It looks like the Elise was made for them.

Anyone have pictures of the lotus??

http://www.siamcar.com/wallpaper/lotus/elise.jpg



Leica,

You are correct. It is the engine from the Toyota Celica, of course it has been tuned for the Lotus.

It looks like a big bug:) ^

Looks like the second design from the studios of Grumman Lunar Extraterrestial Vehicles, makers of the lunar buggy.

A group of friends and I did a frame-off rebuild of a pal's Europa JPS (John Player Special) while in High School in the 70's. For all of 98 cu. in. (of Hemi engine power), that thing flew! And it cornered like on a slot car track... but for creature comfort, there was little and it was pretty darn homely. And don't even mention the Lucas and Smith's electronics (aaargh!) plus Whitworth thread fasteners... but at least with a group of us we could pick the thing up clear off the ground, it was so light!

Lotus cars are typically about stretching the performance efficiency envelope (sometimes to the point of exceeding driver capabilities ;) ) and not often about looks. Porsche offers both, but you have to pony up the $$$$.

that's one ugly car

I sat in a track prepared Elise convertible at Scottsdale Lotus about 2 years ago (when my Boxster was brand new). I didn't drive it.

My first car love was my best friends Lotus Europa, so I expect a lot of cornering performance.190HP is a lot for this car, so I expect good scoot up to 100 MPH or so, but I'm not really tempted for 2 reasons.

#1 - The Boxster is already a better car than I am a driver

#2 - East coast potholes would absolutely destroy this car, so it would have to be 100% track.

The Boxster is a trackable street car - The Elise is a (barely) streetable track car.

If you want a 20 day a year driver, it's cheaper than most Ferraris. If you want a daily driver, the Elise will probably be trashed in a couple of years.