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When I first looked at the presser titled “Own the best ever Lotus Elise for a lot less,” regarding the new Elise I misread it as “Own the best Lotus ever.” And I almost had an infarction. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” my brain said. Yeah, the Elise is a very good car. But the best Lotus ever"
No way.
That’s saying a lot, but there’s no way they can mean that for real.
I mean, do they really expect me to believe the Elise is as good as a Lotus 7 or a Europa" Yes, Europas had “issues” (typical reliability and a horrid gearbox) and yes, 7s don’t even come with heaters and paint (making them a little too Spartan for most buyers), but both of those cars would run rings around . . . oh . . . the best Lotus Elise ever. Well that’s completely different. Chirping Crickets
Ever since it hit the road, the Lotus Elise has been an extremely hard car to argue against. It had all of the things Lotus traditionally excelled at – peerless handling, extreme lightweight, a certain style – with none of the traditional shortcomings – frightening levels of unreliability, sometimes iffy build quality, questionable practicality.
In large part, the Elise became just as viable a choice as anything the Japanese or Germans made (think about that for a tic) if not being exactly inexpensive. This was down to two main reasons: One, the build quality was way up,...