Category: Roadsters 
Price Range: £24,500 to £29,945
Huge grip combined with infinitely adjustable handling and fantastic feedback from steering, brakes and throttle. Punchy performance, muscular looks.
'Parts bin' feel, leaky roof, difficult to get in and out with any grace. Tiresome noise on longer journeys.
Quite simply one of the most accomplished driver's cars available. It's got its faults but none that detract away from the whole point of the Elise - driving it.
Lotus has always been regarded as a maker of fine driver's cars built to the long-standing ideal of less is more. That applies to weight, the Elise a featherweight contender at only 800kg in a market filled with portly rivals. Past Lotus' have been blighted by poor build quality, something still not entirely fixed with this latest Elise - but it's nearly there. Few thought the Norfolk concern could improve on the original Elise, Lotus silencing these doubters with the current car. It's a cliché but the Elise really is as close as you'll get to a go-kart for the road, a pared down, back-to-basics roadster that makes other 'sports cars' feel dim-witted in their responses. As if the improved drive wasn't enough Lotus threw some angles at the previously swooping bodywork giving it a more menacing stance, while making it look more expensive too. If you're considering an Elise, buy it, and forget the competition.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Lotus Elise
wrote on 22 12 2007
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wrote on 30 03 2007