I don't think we'll be seeing many of those on the road with that price. Especially around a military base, like where I live. The most expensive car i've seen on base is a Viper.

I have the video from Top Gear if any of you guys can't wait to recieve your beast of a machine. :D

damn...its only 10k more than the 8??

not bad!

What makes you think it is?

The Ali tub is incredibly strong, approaching F1 car strengths, and it has a built in roll bar. Its been on sale in the UK since 1996 and is definatly NOT a death trap.

It does have downpoints - the ali tub is almost impossible to repair so once damaged its an expensive repair. The body panels are composite/fiberglass and damage quite easily and will probably take you a while to get replaced/sprayed.

You wont get many in the US anyhow, if you havnt ordered already prepare for a long wait.

The first elise was just ove 700kg, this one is 950kg - so quite a bit heavier - mostly due to the toyota engine - a renesis would probably be lighter than the toyota and give more BHP, but cost a whole lot more, and it isnt a cheap car.

In the UK its quite a few more £k than the vx220T which is an almost identical car (built by lotus at hethel for vauxhaul - GM) but this has a 2 litre ecotec turbo.


I know many in the US have been waiting for this car, its truly one of a kind - a dying breeed, a true lightweight handling centric car, a real drivers car, no power steering, assisted brakes (tho ABS is now standard?), US version is comfortable comapred to older UK cars (now has Air con, electric windows, stereo ect). Will be a cracking buy, residuals ehre seem to have bottomed out at £10k for 96 cars - not to bad...

Oh and its just a little arkward to get into and out off, untill you put the roof on, then its a lot arkward. And I'm 5'8" 160llb.

I would be driving an elise now if I didnt need the extra seats.

oh...i was JUST driving one of these actually....


in my new game i bought yesterday for $10....R: Racing Evolution..hehe

Reminds me of a dune buggy -- a very expensive dune buggy ;)

I saw it in Detroit at the auto show -- first glance was kind of cool a moment of study led to the dune buggy viewpoint.

BTW -- at 6'3" 270 lbs. -- my attempt to sit in the vehicle was quickly aborted. I'm not sure that if I weighted 170 lbs. it would have made any difference. The Lotus makes the 8 look like a Maybach.

heh, it is small...

But did you actualy get in? Its quyite roomy for the type when you manage to get in. 6'3"/270 mebee pushing it some tho :)

And as I said, getting out is even worse.. Was the roof on or off?


If your realy intrested in lightweight small sportscars mebee have a look at the caterham SV, I think you can import/build them in the US.

based on the old lotus 7 (which caterham have the rights to) weighs 550kg (almost half the elise!) and powered with bike , 4 mot or more engines, anything from 120bhp to 250bhp+

Thier extreem version the r500e (500bhp/ton+) won this years autocar 0-100-0 timings, 10.38 to 100mph and back to 0. Ferrari enzo made 10.76. R500e costs £42k factory built...

Ordered and payed for it last year, it should be hear next month. I will have to bring it to a Houston club meet and leave the FD in the stable.

I have driven a pre-production already, this car has balls and is probably the best short track car in the world.

lack of dealer network and difficulty getting parts would keep me away from this car

Flatso

And you think Mazda dealers know how to work on a rotary? I don't think so.

This car is going to be ALOT more reliable then my seven or any 8 simply because alot of the mechanical parts for it are taken directly out of the Toyota parts bin.

Perhaps I am wrong please let us know if that rings true Giglo and good luck with your purchase.

I had a deposit on an Elise at least five years ago. First deposit in Texas. Right after the first generation debuted. About 2-1/2 years ago I finally figured Lotus was never gonna get off their butts and bring the car to North America so I cancelled my deposit. Within two months of my cancellation Lotus finally anounced their intention to bring the car here. Damn!

I can't believe there are people saying it's too expensive, and complaining about the looks. The Elise is a poor mans supercar and performance wise you're not going to get anything near it for the price. You're not going to find any US production car as fun to drive as the Elise under the 100k mark, seems like a bragain to me.

I love it! Probably as much fun as you can have with your clothes on.

The only problem is availability, I heard they are sold out through 2006.

This is what the RX7 should compete with. Make the next RX7 super light (under 2000 lbs), use the 13B MSP, skip the frills and kick some a**. Cheers to Lotus, I hope Mazda follows.

Got to see one of the pre-production models last February, and spoke to the driver, who was taking the car cross-country. He happened to be staying at the same hotel as me.

I can understand how challanging it would be to get in & out of, as the Lotus has a very low stance.

What an awesome package. I hope those who have one on order keep us Club members informed on their purchase & opinions.

40,000 is affordable ?! There are so many alternatives out there for that price anyhow, still a sick ride though 8())

Really, I would like to say that I would have an Elise if I didn't have the 8, but I needed the extra seats, and at 6'3 190 I was a little bit concerned about the fit, the NVH is horrible because of saving weight, ride is harsh, and C&D (who are pretty good drivers) only managed a 13.2 1/4mi, but they got the 4.4 0-60. Basically this is not what I would want for an everyday driver, and I don't have money for a cheap everyday car and the Elise.

Only 4.4 and 13.2.......we could only wish our RX-8's ran like this, maybe when the turbo comes out.

9

suspen

colors

red

you believe wrong.

Everything I've seen shows that most 4 cylinders are lighter than the Renesis. We had a thread about this some time ago and with the weights we could come up with the Elise/Celica engine in particular is a good amount lighter than the Renesis.

To be honest its hard to tell.

Unless you've actualy weighed engines any weights given are hard to compare as they often dont state dressed or with gearbox etc.

The renesis should be comparable to a 4 pot, probably somewhere betwen the rover k and the toyota.