I've actually switched thinking and am planning on going with an '07 Lotus Elise. I test drive one and the steering/handling feels awesome. It is just a further step in the "raw" direction and who can argue with 1,950lbs of curb weight. The Evo can be the high HP daily street car and the Elise can be the nimble fun autox car!

 

thats funny, I went the opposite way when I test drove an Elise, I'll never own one...

 

My friend has an Exige. Great car. I don't fit it in well enough to drive it the way I would want to lol. Too tall..

 

I fit just fine... its just the way the car drives. I mean it drives great, but it just doesn't feel special... other than the mid engine thing, it might as well be a miata with some stiff springs

 

Yea my friend has an Elise. It's lighter than a Miata and a fun car. It gets above average mileage as well.

Getting in and out of it is a chore. The shifter feels unsure and sloppy stock. It has no power steering and tire sizes are hard to source.

However, if I compare it to an NB/ND miata, FRS, or an S2000 I find myself choosing the Elise. It takes serious skill to drive it fast on track.

 

The tires are easy to find, it's just that your only options really are R888, R888r, or the Advan's it comes with.


Good fuel mileage and sloppy shifter can be attributed to the Toyota commuter car engine and trans. Nothing really "high performance" about the drivetrain in those things.

 

the one I drove the shifter was fine... although I will say the shifter on my NC Miata is better

to me, the Elise may be a little better, but its not worth the price premium over the other options.

 

Well, of the two Elise's I was looking at, one had a couple issues, and the other sold out from under me. So I went with my original plan and got a Z06 in the high 30's. I like the idea of blending in more. But holy $&@% the instant torque. I think the Viper would have been great but the Vettes aftermarket support and community size won me over.

 

Always wanted an orange car.

 

Best color too! I've had a lot of luck getting feedback from people on https://www.corvetteforum.com/. In fact, that's where I bought my first Z06. Have fun with your new purchase, but be careful with that left foot until you get it figured out. I'm sure you already know, but make sure it's had the heads addressed if you don't have prior documentation of them being fixed.

Congrats!

 

If you're going for looks I'd go viper but anything else the Z06 just has it all

 

I was off by one size, that for the correction.... , there were 325's

 

That is the atomic Orange, it looks much much better in person.

 

You have your opinion and that is fine. I dont don't how "bad of a driver" I am when I am simply smashing the gas pedal and the car loses control completely.
The tires were the Goodyear eagles and at the time there was no softer tire available. Just when I got rid of the car Nitto came out with a Nitto Invos which you could get them in a size of two bigger.

At that time the car had about 11000 miles on the OEM tires. With all the issue with the traction I became detached to the car.

We can fairly say that it was bad combination of things: worn out tires, too much power? and maybe more.

What I do remember is taking the car to the dragstrip and the car going sideways at the 330 feet, 1/8 mile and 1000 feet and having to let go of the gas and back on and let go and back on.

 

Great choice! Someone said it best when they said: Viper for attention, Z06 for driving experience. Also that either you love the Viper or you don't. It's a polarizing car.

The Elise would have been cool... But my Integra mopped the road course with most of the cars in the group I was in, back in the day.


That's what they meant. You can't drive the car like that and expect it to perform well. It's a 400hp real-wheel-drive car.