The Elise is available only as a two-door, targa-top sports car. Basic exterior lines and proportions reflect its two-seat capacity and mid-engine layout, which is to say it has both air inlet and extractor vents at the front and straked oil cooler intakes along the rear quarter flanks. The cabin is located well forward in the chassis, with a steeply raked windshield rising almost continuously out of the front clip. Behind the cabin are two buttresses which hide a steel roll hoop structure. Front overhang is noticeable, but there is very little rear overhang.
The body is made out of molded RTM composite fiberglass. The overall design could be called either sleek or busy, with multiple character lines, fillets and features punctuating every surface. A Coke-bottle shape within the wheelbase provides visual drama and glorious highlights, but detracts slightly from vehicle aerodynamics.
The Elise is very small, very sporty and very aggressive. Aside from alloy wheels in muted silver, all exterior trim is either body color or matte black. Lotus has invested heavily in the front lighting assemblies. A ribbed clear plastic lens covers projector-beam headlights. Taillights are round, basic and undistinguished.
Elise offers a broad exterior color palette and is most visible and striking in lighter colors. There may be a safety advantage associated with lighter and brighter colors being more easily seen in traffic. The Elise is small, after all, and turning on the headlights is not a bad idea.
Placed in a competitive context, the Elise is proportioned somewhat like a smaller version of a Ferrari F430. But, beyond that, it does not really resemble any other mass-production vehicle on the road. In just about every aspect, the Elise is in a class by itself.
We like and recommend the optional Starshield, a clear plastic film used to protect the paint on the nose of the car. It's impressively strong yet virtually invisible.
up, and the delicate lid needs to be handled carefully. Soft luggage is recommended. Perishables are best carried in the passenger compartment.
The Lotus Elise is quick and nimble, with phenomenal handling. The most salient and notable Elise driving characteristic is what might be called telepathic steering. Remember, this is a car without power steering; there is no need for power assist. Approach a turn and the Elise behaves as if it has already researched that turn and somehow starts steering ahead of your actual input. No fight. No resistance. No hesitation. It's just the most predictable and responsive steering of any production street car.
In street conditions and at normal speeds the steering is fairly neutral and, as mentioned above, largely forecasts and reads the turn. On the track, slight initial understeer can quickly transition to oversteer. Actually, on the track, the Elise can be driven in two different ways: Basic, manageable understeer with just enough judicious throttle use to keep the tail alive and working. Or lurid, sideways oversteer. The former is usually quicker. The latter more theatrical.
The Elise is available with two suspension packages, the standard setup and the Sport suspension. Both are taut and offer superb control. For street applications, the standard model combined with the standard Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 LTS tires is perfectly acceptable. For track applications, the Lotus Sport suspension is superior. Ride quality on the street is firmer with the Sport suspension, however. Think carefully before you buy. Enthusiasts often want the most aggressive of everything; bragging rights, so to speak. But the resulting Sport Pack ride on America's rutted and uneven highways and by-ways can be jarring to the point of pain and eventual exhaustion. The standard suspension works better for 95 percent of the road surfaces and driving situations you will encounter. The Sport Pack suspension shines for that remaining five percent of the time when you're blowing away everyone else on the track. Also, aftermarket shocks and wheels and tires can accomplish the same goals as the Sport package and can be added later.
Four-wheel disc brakes with ABS complete the Elise's impressive ride and handling ensemble. Suffice to say vented and cross-drilled rotors, each the size of a pie plate, combined with two-piston Lotus/Brembo front and single-piston Brembo rear calipers are more than up to the task of bringing such a lightweight car to a stop. In short, drivers are likely to find Elise brakes nothing short of eye-popping. Modulation is linear and seamless.
The Elise is not just quick around corners, it's also fast. All Lotuses sold in North America are powered by a version of the 1.8-liter Toyota 2ZZ-GE inline four-cylinder engine. In a different version, it was used in the last-generation Celica GT, and also in the Toyota Matrix GT and the accompanying Pontiac Vibe GT. For the Elise, output has been increased to 189 horsepower, and the supercharged SC has 218 horsepower.
Peak torque is achieved at a dizzying 6800 rpm, and the torque curve itself is comparatively steep. Owing to a variable valve timing (VVT) system that switches modes at 6200 rpm, engine delivery below that speed is strong enough for most street applications, but absolutely sizzles beyond that when it crosses that 6200-rpm threshold. The engine's a real revver, and exceptionally strong all the way to its 8200-rpm cutoff.
Lotus uses a very close-ratio six-speed manual transmission in all its vehicles. The result is great on the track, where revs and speed are readily maintained from gear to gear. Everyday street use is a little more labored, where fifth and sixth gears are close and sixth-gear engine speed at 70 mph is around a relatively high 4000 rpm. This is okay for the first hour or so of freeway driving, but then the combination of noise and excitement just behind your head makes you want to stop, rest and recalibrate.
Fuel economy is an EPA-rated 21/27 mpg City/Highway. Low gearing and the high-revving nature of the engine cost the Elise in terms of fuel economy, but it's much better than any Ferrari, Aston Martin or Lamborghini might deliver.
The shift quality is good, as might be expected from a transmission supplied by Toyota. Synchro action is seamless, and shifts are quick. The clutch is light and predictable in its travel and engagement. There is some clunk-clunk in the shift linkage, resulting as much from the assembly being encased in a minimally insulated surround as from the action itself. The sound and feel of going from gear to gear can best be described as minimalist bordering on unrefined. Everything is done in the interest of simplicity and the lightest possible weight, so the driver becomes more a part of the car.
The Elise ($47,250) comes with a 1.8L dohc inline four-cylinder engine rated at 189 horsepower at 7800 rpm and 133 pound-feet of torque at 6800 rpm, a six-speed close-ratio manual transmission, non-assisted steering, power four-wheel disc brakes, ABS, Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 LTS tires, air conditioning, power windows, remote power door locks, anti-theft alarm, engine immobilizer and cloth seats.
The Elise SC ($54,990) adds a Magnuson supercharger with Eaton M45 rotor pack; it is not intercooled, and is rated at 218 horsepower at 8000 rpm and 156 pound-feet of torque at 5000 rpm.
Options include a Touring Pack ($1,600) with padded and insulated black removable soft top, full leather seats and door trim, upgraded stereo system with iPod connector, interior stowage net behind passenger seat and full black carpet set; Sport Pack ($2,600) with lighter-weight forged (versus cast) alloy wheels, 6.0J x 16 (versus 5.5J x 16) front wheel size, Yokohama Advan AD07 LTS tires, Lotus Sport tuned suspension, twin oil coolers, electronic traction control and black ProBax Sport seats; body-color Hardtop ($1,475); limited-slip differential ($1,790); traction control ($495); Metallic paint ($590), Lifestyle paint ($1,200), Limited paint ($3,300), Exclusive paint ($5,100); and Starshield clear front-end and rocker area protection film ($995).
The Lotus Exige S 240 and Exige 260 are based on the Elise, but have fixed composite roof panels and offer more horsepower through supercharged, intercooled engines; their engines are rated at 240 and 257 horsepower, respectively.
Safety features on the Elise include dual front airbags (passenger side cannot be deactivated), seatbelt pretensioners, integral steel seatbelt support structure, ABS and epoxy-bonded perimeter aluminum chassis subframe. Electronic traction control is available either as a stand-alone option or as part of the Sport Pack.