I traded my Evo with a buddy for his Elise for a few days after an event at WGI. While some have commented on maintenance, he finds his rather low from a wholistic standpoint. Has Advan A048 tires look brand new after 2 full track seasons and driving to the track. The weight of the car causes much less wear and tear on parts.
Cash saved on parts can easily help offset copays to the chiropractor or physical therapist for the abuse you'll put your body through if you drive it on the street.
I see a few in NYC and while sure it's great for those small spots, I don't know it doesn't end up broken in a pot hole.
Great track car/weekend warrior, etc... but don't think of the Lotus as a DD.

 

The delivery starts after may in UK.

 

A couple of my buddies on my local car club (NOTFWD.com) have elise's/exige's/exige s's and they are badass cars.

These things are not DD's, all these guys have other, more comfortable cars to commute in. Entering and exiting these beasts require a certain finesse, and it's artwork seeing these guys get in and out.

These cars are very small, and very low, an NA6B is bigger.

These cars are very fast, they are quick, and that ToMoCo/Yamaha 2zz is one hell of an engine.

And elise vs exige? The exige is basically the fastback version of the elise (and "more" track ready). Also, the exige s is the only exige now offered in the US.

 

Damn! Well, they better not bring it over here anytime soon; or else I might be short one kidney and/or ********...

 

I love the Elise and Exige S, and I plan to own one perhaps in a couple of years. But I wouldn't daily drive them, because they're really tiny and I'd feel intimidated driving next to SUVs or trucks on highways.

Also, low-speed collisions with these cars can cause them to be totaled. It'd make a perfect second car though.

 

^ Yeah I've heard horror stories about such incidents.

 

You could DD them, its not like it doesn't have a heater or a windshield. They are noisy at speed though.

The bodywork is made up of several large fibreglass pieces which are difficult to repair properly so usually you have to buy a new piece. The older Mk1 Elise which wasn't sold in the US had a single piece for the front and another for the rear, which meant big $£¥ if you damaged one of them.

 

The car also has no front/rear 2.5mph bumpers. Instead it has a carbon fiber crash box up front (not sure for the back), which costs ~$11k to replace.

 

Too small. Too dangerous.

 

Its actually a Toyota 2ZZ-FE Celica GTS powerplant that has been tuned for better power. The Elises and Exige are nice cars for the money. Build a custom turbo setup on one, and you have yourself a genuine rocket!

 

Unless they've changed it the crashbox is fibreglass, not carbon fibre. It is bonded to the chassis but you can remove the old crash structure and glue a new one on - its not rocket science. $11k sounds a bit rich but you never know with Lotus.

Vigo, Elises hold up a lot better in accidents than you'd think.

 

Yes, many times its the insurance companies relative inexperience with the car, limited auto repair places with aluminum chassis experience, and **** retentive owners (like us Evo owners) that are the reasons why they get totaled out so easily. The fiberglass body is more fragile than steel thought, obviously.

And yes, the crash structure is not carbon fiber.

 

Im pretty sure there was a guy that sold his elise after being run over 3 times and there was mention of the 11k somewhere to replace the clamshells. Eventually I would like to get one anyways and dd the evo as i do now but have an elise for fun... too bad they dont do aubergine purple anymore.

 

You could easily do $11k to replace the clamshells, looking at a Lotus service book it looks like there is still one for the front and one for the rear like the old Elise. I'm sure Lotus dealers aren't shy with hourly labour rates either.

I know Lotus used to paint the cars whatever colour you wanted as long as it was commercially available from ICI or whoever was their supplier (i.e. 1000's of colours), they might have dropped this for the mark 2 though. Still, its a reasonably easy job to take the bodywork off for a repaint if you can find a shop that can handle fibreglass.

 

Ok... I know you can pick one up used (about 15K miles) for 35 ish on ebay, etc. But putting that possibility aside... im not paying 60,000 dollars for a 190 HP car, with a toyota celica GTS engine. My brother had a GTS and I will tell you now, its capabilities arent the greatest... atleast not 60K great. I know the car still runs good times because it weighs about all of 8 pounds... But I think for a 50-60 thousand dollar car.. Lotus could have done better than this.