Review: 2007 Lotus Elise
08-06-07, 04:32 PM
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Review: 2007 Lotus Elise
By special request outside of CL (I'll share the review with you guys), a review of the 2007 Lotus Elise.
http://www.lotuscars.com/Elise.aspx
In a Nutshell: A featherweight, kiddy-car for small adults that runs and handles like stink.
The late Colin Chapman, when he founded Lotus Cars, Inc. decades ago, had a firm philosophy for the design of automobiles.......one that basically followed the laws of physics. That natural law was that, all other things equal, the lighter the car and the load it had to carry, the more efficiently the drivetrain, steering, and suspension could do their work, and the better it would perform on a race track in comparison to its rivals. History has shown that, in many ways, Chapman was....and is......correct. Weight is indeed the enemy of performance (and my big frame in the car didn't help much along those lines either).
Yes, Chapman was proved correct on many occasions.....spread out over many years. I can remember, as a kid way back in the early 60's, watching renowned British racing drivers Jimmy Clark, Jimmy Stewart, and World Champion Sterling Moss brilliantly pilot their Lotus racers to victory after victory on the Grand Prix circuits all over the world. No doubt they were first-class drivers who knew how to get the most from a car, , but much of the credit has to go to Chapman's design philosophy of lighter-is-better. These cars, for a time, simply outaccelerated, outbraked, and outhandled their rivals from other automakers, and there was no stopping them.
In the mid-1960's, it was rear-engined Lotuses (and Andy Granetelli's ill-fated STP turbine cars) that led the shift away from the long-established front-engine/RWD Offenhausers at Indianapolis. And while the Ford GT and Chevy Chaparral stole the thunder from Ferrari at Le Mans and in the sports/GT class, Lotus continued to dominate F1 for some time....its featherweight cars were hard to beat.
Which brings us to today....the American market and my review. Despite their popularity in Europe, Lotus vehicles have never been popular in the U.S.....partly due to the decades-long stigma of British-car unreliability (which, believe me, had a lot of truth to it), and to their relatively high expense. Lotus marketed the long-running Esprit in the American market for awhile, then withdrew it for lack of sales. The car had ultra-racy looks...IMO it looked a lot like the Lamborghini Countach and later Diablo, but even though it sold for less than the typical Lambo, it still was a good chunk of money.....from dealerships and a manufacturer that had questionable commitment to the Ameerican market.
So, Lotus, still sticking with Chapman's no-extra-weight design philosophy (he would come back from the grave if they didn't), decided to start over
again in the American market....with different products. Enter the Elise...a vehicle that had previously been sold in Europe, and the Exige, a hardtop, supercharged, somewhat modified version of the Elise, with a new Type 72 under development as we speak (see the attached Lotus website).
The Elise, in the American market, quickly developed a reputation as a Miata-beater in acceleration and handling, though, because of its $40,000-plus pricing and the sparsity of the Lotus dealer network (I had to travel almost 40 miles just to FIND a new Elise), never approached the Miata's popularity. And for the rough price of one Elise, you can have both his-and-her non-turbo Miatas in your garage. But value is not what the Elise is all about, as witnessed by its price, short 3-year warranty, and comparative rarity. One does not buy an Elise, even with its miniscule size, as an econobox, but as a sports car with world/class handling and acceleration from a small engine.
After all, Colin Chapman wouldn't have it any other way.
Model Reviewed: 2007 Lotus Elise
Base Price: $46,270
Major Options:
Limited-Slip Differential $1790
Metallic Paint $590
Sport Pack $2480
Touring Pack $1350
Removable Hard Top $1475
StarShield Protection Film $995
List Price as Reviewed: $54,950
Drivetrain: RWD, 1.8L Transverse/mid-engine DOHC, VTTL-i in-line 4, 190 HP @ 7800 RPM, Torque 134 ft.lbs. @ 6800 RPM,
6-speed close-ratio manual transmission with single-plate dry clutch.
Exterior Color: Solar Yellow Metallic
Interior: Black Leather with yellow body-color paint/trim and brushed-alumimum console and floorboards.
PLUSSES:
Toyota-derived engine and transmission should be reliable if not abused.
V8 muscle-car performance from a non-turbo 4 (at high RPM's).
Formula 1-like handling with almost zero body roll.
Non-assisted steering gives BMW-like road feel.
Instant steering response can avoid accidents.
Smooth, evenly-applied paint.
Effective brakes.
Generally attractive styling inside and out.
Key-Lockable Hood.
Simple, no-nonsense interior and controls....except for the stereo.
Seats shaped for FIRM support..if you are not too large.
Fairly legible gauges.
Solid-feeling shifter with large, ball-grip handle.
Good engine access from above for a mid-engine car.
Not a "me-too" car like a Camry or Accord....owning one is a unique experience for relatively few people.
Attractive, real brushed-aluminum, racing-style flip-out gas cap.
Many bright, cheery paint colors available.
MINUSES:
Steep price for a small sports car of this class.
Too short a warranty (3/36) with 8 years on aluminum corrosion
Bucking-bronco ride and noise level on rough roads.
Ultra-cramped for large people, with terrible ingress/egress.
Seats can be painful for wide butts.
Kiddy-car steering wheel.
Slightly notchy shift lever.
Very small cargo space.
Poor visibility to the sides and rear.
Too darty for prolonged straight-line driving and long trips.
Lightweight underpinnings could be easily bent with harsh impacts.
Impractical for everyday use.
A/C and defroster gremlins.
Metallic paint costs extra.
A potential coffin in a major accident.
Low-slung chassis and bodywork exposed to damage.
Limited market for resale.
Gas cap does not lock.
Wierd, insect-looking front end.
Odd, overly complex stereo controls, with relatively poor stereo sound.
No front-end storage compartment like on other mid-engine cars.
British assembly plant means questionable reliability, except for the Toyota-supplied drivetrain.
Insurance and repairs likely to be expensive and require special shops.
Well, needless to say, the first impression of this car, as you walk up to it, is (surprise?) that it is NOT a Chevy Suburban. This is not a vehicle for
packing nine people into it, hauling their luggage, and towing a boat. In fact, this car is SO small that I took one look at the door, the roof, and the cabin, and I asked myself' "How in the hell am I going to even get INTO this car, much less DRIVE it?" And that is no small matter....I've been shoehorning myself into small sports cars for reviews and tests since the 1960's and the MG midget, but this car was a real challenge. I looked at the salesman besides me, and he shook HIS head as well. Well, get into it, I DID....with a LOT of effort, and drive it I DID.....more on that in a minute. First, the exterior review......
Yes, this car is a super-midget on the outside...almost an oversized go-cart. But it generally has nice, attractive, flowing, classy lines and nicely done styling, though the headlights and parts of the front fenders, to me, had the look of a mutated insect. The car has an aluminum frame, aluminum underpinnings, and mostly fiberglass body parts, including a key-lockable, small, vented, flip-up fiberglas hood behind the cabin that is so light you can lift it and drop it with one finger. Unlike most mid-engine cars, there is no flip-up hood in front, just a couple of swoopy-shaped, fiberglass body pieces.....the car is so low and so small in front that there simply is no room for ANY forward trunk space, despite the lack of a front engine. A Mercedes-type, center-mounted, single wiper arm clears the windshield.
The paint is generally smooth, even, and well-done, although most of the paint colors available that I saw did not have a whole lot of gloss.....only the black had a deep enough shine to really see your face in (not surprising, since with most cars, black is usually the glossiest color). I will say this for Lotus.....I like their paint colors. Yes, there is the usual black and silver/gray, but the rest of the colors, unlike those of many manufacturers, don't look like something out of Murphy's Funeral Home. There is bright blue, bright yellow, bright red, bright orange, purple, and, of course, British Racing green......my car was Solar Yellow Metallic. Unfortunately, like much of the European-car tradition, metallics cost extra.....this on a car that already is pushing $50,000 to start with.
The exterior hardware is just like most of the rest of the car...lightweight......though the non-power exterior mirrors, with accordion-like covers for the hinges, seem to be solidly attached. Most of the hardware outside is fiberglass or light aluminum...I particularly liked the racing-style, REAL aluminum (not imitation-aluminum plastic) flip-out gas cap, though Lotus declined, for some reason, to put a lock or an interior release on it to keep prying hands out. That's going to extremes to keep weight down.
Flip up the small, fiberglass hood (there is no separate cover for the trunk) and access to the 1.8L, VVT-i transverse-mounted engine, just behind the driver, is not bad for a mid-engine car (the car is so small you don't have to bend forward much to get at it). Those of you who are car-saavy will recognize this engine from the previous Toyota Matrix XRS, Celica GT-S, and Pontiac Vibe GT. That is no coincidence. Lotus contracted with Toyota to supply normally-aspirated versions of this engine for the Elise and supercharged versions for the Exige.....and 6-speed manual transmissions for the American market. Lotus apparantly felt that their traditional European powerplants didn't suit American driving conditions or American expectations of reliability, but the Toyota-supplied engine is quite peaky as well....more on that later. Fortunately, this engine doesn't have one of those ridiculous big plastic covers over it....most of what you need is readily accessible.
Behind the engine, under the flip-up hood, is a small, miniscule trunk. Lotus doesn't quote the volume in their brochure, but I would estimate it as around three cubic feet.....maybe slightly more with a small crevasse running back over the rear bumper. A T-shaped kiddy-emergency handle hangs down from the top of the cover (a kid old enough to know how to use it would be too big to fit in the trunk anyway...it is infant-sized). As I said earlier, this is NOT a car for family vacations.
Now.....the HARD part......getting in. Yes, I acknowledge that I'm big, tall, and HEAVY, and not everyone would have quite the trouble I did........but even taking THAT into consideration, this is an absurdly difficult car to get into and out of. My car had the optional removable hard roof, and the top of the roof sat just a few feet off the ground. The doors are only about 18 inches or so tall, and the bottom of each of them opens up to expose a BIG, frame-rail cover that runs the length of each side of car, EXACTLY where you have to swing your feet getting in and out. So you've got an absurdly low roof sticking DOWN , an absurdly high side-frame sticking UP, and about two feet or so in between to squeeze your entire body through. I had to bend WAY down, stick my head in like a pretzel, turn 90 degrees in the seat, (and I still barely managed to clear the roof without wrenching my back and neck), slide my a** across BOTH seats and the shifter into the passenger's seat, then FORCE my feet up and over the side frame rails and slide BACK into the driver's seat, reach for the belts, click them on, and pull the lightweight, fiberglass door shut.
Once I got THAT done, the seats themselves sorely reminded me of why I myself need to shed some pounds. Like most of the car, they are designed to save weight...they are just simple, molded, aluminum shells that remind you of the seats on some military cargo planes, with little padding (a leather surface, of course), and HARD side bolsters that (very uncomfortably) dig right into the sides of my oversized rump....nonadjustable, of course; another way of keeping weight down. The seats adjust only fore-and-aft....I couldn't even find a rake adjustment, although there is probably one in there somewhere. I don't know of any car today that doesn't have rake adjustment, but even with it, there is simply no place to recline the seatback...the engine compartment is literally right behind the seat by a couple of inches. The steering column is also nonadjustable.....take it or leave it. For me, it cut off the very top of the primary gauges.
Now....one thing I DO like about the interior, despite the rubber-band contortions needed to get into it, is its simple, no-nonsense controls. There are a few oddities, like the combination key-button starter and the unusual, overly-complex stereo controls, and the stereo itself doesn't sound that great either. But the rest of the interior is retro-simple and reminds you of the way cars were designed many years ago, when keeping your eyes on the road was the main objective, and not scanning dozens of buttons and switches. The primary gauges are generally clear and easy to read, though the green numerals could have been done in a little better and more legible color. There are few buttons and switches, period, except for the aforementioned complex stereo buttons. There are dual power-window controls (I guess, with the electric motors, weight reduction goes out the window here) , but everything else inside is manual. The A/C and defrost functions, IMO, need a little more work. The A/C is a little weak (perhaps a small compressor to keep weight down), and the defrost system seems to have a difficult time keeping the inside of the windshield free from mist no matter where you set the fresh-air, recirc, or temp controls.
The steering wheel is only about a foot or so in diameter, and Lotus apparantly has not gone to a horn switch co-located with the air bag in the center of the wheel like most other cars have....the horn is activated by pressing on the side spokes, like horns used to be 10-15 years ago.
The interior has several large areas where there is no black at all to match the leather.....the upper door panels are painted in body-color paint, and most of the lower console, footwells, and lower door panels appear to be bare brushed-aluminum. This is, truly, a SIMPLE interior....as simple as today's mass-production cars get.
Seeing OUT of this "simple" interior, however, is not so simple. The low roof, high doorsills, high engine compartment back of the driver, and small rear window all combine to impede vision out. This is compounded by the difficulty of getting the non-power mirrors exactly where you want them without them slipping back and the tendency of tall people to have their eye level at the windshield header. So, in this car, pay special attention when you want to change lanes.
OK...this is a pure drivers' car in every sense of the word, so let's do that.....DRIVE. I normally keep a new engine off a dealer lot to 4000 RPM or so, but the sales people there told me redline was OK even on this new car....the engine was ready for it. So I took it past my usual limits, but still didn't abuse the car....that is just not my style.
Anyhow, start the engine with the rather odd key-button combination, and you immediately notice that the Lotus engineers gave the Elise a different exhaust note than the same engine in its other Toyota and Pontiac uses. After all, they are compact sports coupes and hatchbacks, This is a pure sports car, and sounds like one. The car's feathery lightweight construction, even with only 190 HP and a torque figure lower then that, gives a great power-to weight ratio. Lotus quotes a 4.9 second 0-60 time; this car didn't feel quite that fast, but part of that was the notorious DC-area heat and humidity of August, which drains power, and of course, the fact that I didn't slam the car around quite to its limits in traffic. And, of course, this is a Honda-style peaky VTEC four.....you have to rev the daylights out of it to get that power. I took it up to about 5500 or 6000, and you could just feel the power begin to come on round that RPM.....below that it was a little sluggish, with not much torque.
I generally liked the transmission (also Toyota-supplied), and especially liked the big, silver, Camaro SS-style ball shifter and the somewhat heavy, solid feel of the transmission itself. The linkage sha shift mechanism felt solid but a little notchy...I occasionally missed a shift, but it was generally easy to use. The clutch engaged about halfway off the floor...an ideal spot, IMO, and was smooth in its takeup.
The ride, as expected, was on the VERY firm side........I didn't expect a luxury car, so I wasn't surprised. That is one of the penalties of weight reduction, low stance/low suspension travel, and responsiveness. The ride, along with the high engine, road, and wind noise level, was tolerable on smooth roads, but any kind of bumps or pavement irregularities came crashing through the structure and steering column like a telephone line. The last car I can remember anywhere near as harsh as this one on a bumpy road was the Mitsubishi Evo I reviewed last year....even the Miata was smoother. The firm suspension, light weight, and low stance and center of gravity combine to produce FLAT cornering with almost no body roll...and the non-assisted manual steering gives a level of road feel that is almost BMW-like. Steering response, as expected in a mid-engine car this light, was darty and instantaneous....go-kart-like was the best way to describe it. Mid-engine Toyota MR2's I've driven tend to wander left and right and be difficult to keep in a a straight line, often requiring a lot of small steering correctons, but I didn't notice much of that in the Elise.....it tracked OK, but still was not what I would call an Interstate-sraight cruiser by any means. This car LIVES for twisty curves.
The brakes are also excellent, with about an inch or so of wasted motion and mushiness in the pedal when you first push on it, but then they take hold smoothly, solidly, evenly, and with plenty of braking power....like with mid/rear-engine Porsches, the weight of the drivetrain, in this car, centers itself over all four wheels more or less equally on strong braking so that all four wheels do their equal share of the work, not with the front-end braking bias of front-engine cars and, especially, FWD cars. The light weight, of course, also contrributes to short stopping distances.
But the brake and gas pedals, however, IMO, for a person with big shoes like me, leave a lot to be desired. Like most sports cars these days, they are lightweight, drilled aluminum, but the gas pedal is way forward of the brake pedal and in a narrow space to the left of it. You have to plant your right foot firmly against the side of the center console and push it forward significantly to find the gas pedal so you can give the car some gas while slowly letting the clutch out....otherwise it hangs up on the brake pedal. Lotus, like the manufaturers of some other cars I've recently driven, apparantly does not realize that some people have big shoes and that inadequate pedal spacing can not only be tricky but dangerous.
The verdict? Guys, before you sports-car purists start tossing rocks at me, I KNOW I was a little hard on this car, especially the kiddy-size interior. I know some of you are going to think I am being unfair and not looking at the car for what it is. But...if Lotus is going to market a car for Americans, and sell it in the American market, then IMO, it should accomodate typical Americans of larger-than-lemming size (But that, of course, is not an excuse for me not losing weight, either, like I should). And this car, while, yes, admittedly, a lot of fun under the conditions it WAS designed for, simply does not do that.....accomodate larger-than-average Americans. It is a midget-sized car for small adults....and if you have to get OUT of this car in a hurry (say you go off a bridge and end up underwater or if it catches fire), then all I can say is good luck.
This is not a car that I would recommend as a daily driver/commuter or as a car for long trips, especially for tall people like me with wide butts and torsos. It is pricey, will likely command high insurance premiums, will be expensive and difficult to repair after an accident because of its many fiberglass and aluminum parts, and is just not well-suited to the rigors of everyday, suburban driving....especially with its mandatory stick-shift and lack of an automatic or semiautomatic option. Its difficulty of entry/exit borders on the absurd for any normal-sized or larger adults, and the seats are simply too narrow and too harsh for larger people. Its pedal spacing, again, is tricky for big feet, and takes getting used to. Its ride is very stiff on anything but glass-smooth roads, and it sits so low that underbody components can be easily damaged on the road. And don't even think about getting in a major accident with this car......it is not a pleasant thought.
No, this car is obviously designed for the track....and for smooth, twisty roads. For a small-to-medium-sized adult to drive it in its proper environment, there's no doubt it is a LOT of fun. It would be a great weekend car for a fairly well-heeled person who can fit in it.....$50,000 is, of course, a lot to spend for a weekend toy. As I said in my opening statement, you can have two Miatas for this price......and the Miata is not so awkwardly shaped and terribly cramped for large people any more, with its new redesign a couple of years ago.
But, again, in a nutshell.......for a small, PURE, driver-centered, no-nonsense driving machine, short of a six-figure price tag, there simply is no other.......or better.......machine available in the American market than the Elise and its supercharged Exige brother.
And......again.......Colin Chapman wouldn't have it any other way.
http://www.lotuscars.com/Elise.aspx
In a Nutshell: A featherweight, kiddy-car for small adults that runs and handles like stink.
The late Colin Chapman, when he founded Lotus Cars, Inc. decades ago, had a firm philosophy for the design of automobiles.......one that basically followed the laws of physics. That natural law was that, all other things equal, the lighter the car and the load it had to carry, the more efficiently the drivetrain, steering, and suspension could do their work, and the better it would perform on a race track in comparison to its rivals. History has shown that, in many ways, Chapman was....and is......correct. Weight is indeed the enemy of performance (and my big frame in the car didn't help much along those lines either).
Yes, Chapman was proved correct on many occasions.....spread out over many years. I can remember, as a kid way back in the early 60's, watching renowned British racing drivers Jimmy Clark, Jimmy Stewart, and World Champion Sterling Moss brilliantly pilot their Lotus racers to victory after victory on the Grand Prix circuits all over the world. No doubt they were first-class drivers who knew how to get the most from a car, , but much of the credit has to go to Chapman's design philosophy of lighter-is-better. These cars, for a time, simply outaccelerated, outbraked, and outhandled their rivals from other automakers, and there was no stopping them.
In the mid-1960's, it was rear-engined Lotuses (and Andy Granetelli's ill-fated STP turbine cars) that led the shift away from the long-established front-engine/RWD Offenhausers at Indianapolis. And while the Ford GT and Chevy Chaparral stole the thunder from Ferrari at Le Mans and in the sports/GT class, Lotus continued to dominate F1 for some time....its featherweight cars were hard to beat.
Which brings us to today....the American market and my review. Despite their popularity in Europe, Lotus vehicles have never been popular in the U.S.....partly due to the decades-long stigma of British-car unreliability (which, believe me, had a lot of truth to it), and to their relatively high expense. Lotus marketed the long-running Esprit in the American market for awhile, then withdrew it for lack of sales. The car had ultra-racy looks...IMO it looked a lot like the Lamborghini Countach and later Diablo, but even though it sold for less than the typical Lambo, it still was a good chunk of money.....from dealerships and a manufacturer that had questionable commitment to the Ameerican market.
So, Lotus, still sticking with Chapman's no-extra-weight design philosophy (he would come back from the grave if they didn't), decided to start over
again in the American market....with different products. Enter the Elise...a vehicle that had previously been sold in Europe, and the Exige, a hardtop, supercharged, somewhat modified version of the Elise, with a new Type 72 under development as we speak (see the attached Lotus website).
The Elise, in the American market, quickly developed a reputation as a Miata-beater in acceleration and handling, though, because of its $40,000-plus pricing and the sparsity of the Lotus dealer network (I had to travel almost 40 miles just to FIND a new Elise), never approached the Miata's popularity. And for the rough price of one Elise, you can have both his-and-her non-turbo Miatas in your garage. But value is not what the Elise is all about, as witnessed by its price, short 3-year warranty, and comparative rarity. One does not buy an Elise, even with its miniscule size, as an econobox, but as a sports car with world/class handling and acceleration from a small engine.
After all, Colin Chapman wouldn't have it any other way.
Model Reviewed: 2007 Lotus Elise
Base Price: $46,270
Major Options:
Limited-Slip Differential $1790
Metallic Paint $590
Sport Pack $2480
Touring Pack $1350
Removable Hard Top $1475
StarShield Protection Film $995
List Price as Reviewed: $54,950
Drivetrain: RWD, 1.8L Transverse/mid-engine DOHC, VTTL-i in-line 4, 190 HP @ 7800 RPM, Torque 134 ft.lbs. @ 6800 RPM,
6-speed close-ratio manual transmission with single-plate dry clutch.
Exterior Color: Solar Yellow Metallic
Interior: Black Leather with yellow body-color paint/trim and brushed-alumimum console and floorboards.
PLUSSES:
Toyota-derived engine and transmission should be reliable if not abused.
V8 muscle-car performance from a non-turbo 4 (at high RPM's).
Formula 1-like handling with almost zero body roll.
Non-assisted steering gives BMW-like road feel.
Instant steering response can avoid accidents.
Smooth, evenly-applied paint.
Effective brakes.
Generally attractive styling inside and out.
Key-Lockable Hood.
Simple, no-nonsense interior and controls....except for the stereo.
Seats shaped for FIRM support..if you are not too large.
Fairly legible gauges.
Solid-feeling shifter with large, ball-grip handle.
Good engine access from above for a mid-engine car.
Not a "me-too" car like a Camry or Accord....owning one is a unique experience for relatively few people.
Attractive, real brushed-aluminum, racing-style flip-out gas cap.
Many bright, cheery paint colors available.
MINUSES:
Steep price for a small sports car of this class.
Too short a warranty (3/36) with 8 years on aluminum corrosion
Bucking-bronco ride and noise level on rough roads.
Ultra-cramped for large people, with terrible ingress/egress.
Seats can be painful for wide butts.
Kiddy-car steering wheel.
Slightly notchy shift lever.
Very small cargo space.
Poor visibility to the sides and rear.
Too darty for prolonged straight-line driving and long trips.
Lightweight underpinnings could be easily bent with harsh impacts.
Impractical for everyday use.
A/C and defroster gremlins.
Metallic paint costs extra.
A potential coffin in a major accident.
Low-slung chassis and bodywork exposed to damage.
Limited market for resale.
Gas cap does not lock.
Wierd, insect-looking front end.
Odd, overly complex stereo controls, with relatively poor stereo sound.
No front-end storage compartment like on other mid-engine cars.
British assembly plant means questionable reliability, except for the Toyota-supplied drivetrain.
Insurance and repairs likely to be expensive and require special shops.
Well, needless to say, the first impression of this car, as you walk up to it, is (surprise?) that it is NOT a Chevy Suburban. This is not a vehicle for
packing nine people into it, hauling their luggage, and towing a boat. In fact, this car is SO small that I took one look at the door, the roof, and the cabin, and I asked myself' "How in the hell am I going to even get INTO this car, much less DRIVE it?" And that is no small matter....I've been shoehorning myself into small sports cars for reviews and tests since the 1960's and the MG midget, but this car was a real challenge. I looked at the salesman besides me, and he shook HIS head as well. Well, get into it, I DID....with a LOT of effort, and drive it I DID.....more on that in a minute. First, the exterior review......
Yes, this car is a super-midget on the outside...almost an oversized go-cart. But it generally has nice, attractive, flowing, classy lines and nicely done styling, though the headlights and parts of the front fenders, to me, had the look of a mutated insect. The car has an aluminum frame, aluminum underpinnings, and mostly fiberglass body parts, including a key-lockable, small, vented, flip-up fiberglas hood behind the cabin that is so light you can lift it and drop it with one finger. Unlike most mid-engine cars, there is no flip-up hood in front, just a couple of swoopy-shaped, fiberglass body pieces.....the car is so low and so small in front that there simply is no room for ANY forward trunk space, despite the lack of a front engine. A Mercedes-type, center-mounted, single wiper arm clears the windshield.
The paint is generally smooth, even, and well-done, although most of the paint colors available that I saw did not have a whole lot of gloss.....only the black had a deep enough shine to really see your face in (not surprising, since with most cars, black is usually the glossiest color). I will say this for Lotus.....I like their paint colors. Yes, there is the usual black and silver/gray, but the rest of the colors, unlike those of many manufacturers, don't look like something out of Murphy's Funeral Home. There is bright blue, bright yellow, bright red, bright orange, purple, and, of course, British Racing green......my car was Solar Yellow Metallic. Unfortunately, like much of the European-car tradition, metallics cost extra.....this on a car that already is pushing $50,000 to start with.
The exterior hardware is just like most of the rest of the car...lightweight......though the non-power exterior mirrors, with accordion-like covers for the hinges, seem to be solidly attached. Most of the hardware outside is fiberglass or light aluminum...I particularly liked the racing-style, REAL aluminum (not imitation-aluminum plastic) flip-out gas cap, though Lotus declined, for some reason, to put a lock or an interior release on it to keep prying hands out. That's going to extremes to keep weight down.
Flip up the small, fiberglass hood (there is no separate cover for the trunk) and access to the 1.8L, VVT-i transverse-mounted engine, just behind the driver, is not bad for a mid-engine car (the car is so small you don't have to bend forward much to get at it). Those of you who are car-saavy will recognize this engine from the previous Toyota Matrix XRS, Celica GT-S, and Pontiac Vibe GT. That is no coincidence. Lotus contracted with Toyota to supply normally-aspirated versions of this engine for the Elise and supercharged versions for the Exige.....and 6-speed manual transmissions for the American market. Lotus apparantly felt that their traditional European powerplants didn't suit American driving conditions or American expectations of reliability, but the Toyota-supplied engine is quite peaky as well....more on that later. Fortunately, this engine doesn't have one of those ridiculous big plastic covers over it....most of what you need is readily accessible.
Behind the engine, under the flip-up hood, is a small, miniscule trunk. Lotus doesn't quote the volume in their brochure, but I would estimate it as around three cubic feet.....maybe slightly more with a small crevasse running back over the rear bumper. A T-shaped kiddy-emergency handle hangs down from the top of the cover (a kid old enough to know how to use it would be too big to fit in the trunk anyway...it is infant-sized). As I said earlier, this is NOT a car for family vacations.
Now.....the HARD part......getting in. Yes, I acknowledge that I'm big, tall, and HEAVY, and not everyone would have quite the trouble I did........but even taking THAT into consideration, this is an absurdly difficult car to get into and out of. My car had the optional removable hard roof, and the top of the roof sat just a few feet off the ground. The doors are only about 18 inches or so tall, and the bottom of each of them opens up to expose a BIG, frame-rail cover that runs the length of each side of car, EXACTLY where you have to swing your feet getting in and out. So you've got an absurdly low roof sticking DOWN , an absurdly high side-frame sticking UP, and about two feet or so in between to squeeze your entire body through. I had to bend WAY down, stick my head in like a pretzel, turn 90 degrees in the seat, (and I still barely managed to clear the roof without wrenching my back and neck), slide my a** across BOTH seats and the shifter into the passenger's seat, then FORCE my feet up and over the side frame rails and slide BACK into the driver's seat, reach for the belts, click them on, and pull the lightweight, fiberglass door shut.
Once I got THAT done, the seats themselves sorely reminded me of why I myself need to shed some pounds. Like most of the car, they are designed to save weight...they are just simple, molded, aluminum shells that remind you of the seats on some military cargo planes, with little padding (a leather surface, of course), and HARD side bolsters that (very uncomfortably) dig right into the sides of my oversized rump....nonadjustable, of course; another way of keeping weight down. The seats adjust only fore-and-aft....I couldn't even find a rake adjustment, although there is probably one in there somewhere. I don't know of any car today that doesn't have rake adjustment, but even with it, there is simply no place to recline the seatback...the engine compartment is literally right behind the seat by a couple of inches. The steering column is also nonadjustable.....take it or leave it. For me, it cut off the very top of the primary gauges.
Now....one thing I DO like about the interior, despite the rubber-band contortions needed to get into it, is its simple, no-nonsense controls. There are a few oddities, like the combination key-button starter and the unusual, overly-complex stereo controls, and the stereo itself doesn't sound that great either. But the rest of the interior is retro-simple and reminds you of the way cars were designed many years ago, when keeping your eyes on the road was the main objective, and not scanning dozens of buttons and switches. The primary gauges are generally clear and easy to read, though the green numerals could have been done in a little better and more legible color. There are few buttons and switches, period, except for the aforementioned complex stereo buttons. There are dual power-window controls (I guess, with the electric motors, weight reduction goes out the window here) , but everything else inside is manual. The A/C and defrost functions, IMO, need a little more work. The A/C is a little weak (perhaps a small compressor to keep weight down), and the defrost system seems to have a difficult time keeping the inside of the windshield free from mist no matter where you set the fresh-air, recirc, or temp controls.
The steering wheel is only about a foot or so in diameter, and Lotus apparantly has not gone to a horn switch co-located with the air bag in the center of the wheel like most other cars have....the horn is activated by pressing on the side spokes, like horns used to be 10-15 years ago.
The interior has several large areas where there is no black at all to match the leather.....the upper door panels are painted in body-color paint, and most of the lower console, footwells, and lower door panels appear to be bare brushed-aluminum. This is, truly, a SIMPLE interior....as simple as today's mass-production cars get.
Seeing OUT of this "simple" interior, however, is not so simple. The low roof, high doorsills, high engine compartment back of the driver, and small rear window all combine to impede vision out. This is compounded by the difficulty of getting the non-power mirrors exactly where you want them without them slipping back and the tendency of tall people to have their eye level at the windshield header. So, in this car, pay special attention when you want to change lanes.
OK...this is a pure drivers' car in every sense of the word, so let's do that.....DRIVE. I normally keep a new engine off a dealer lot to 4000 RPM or so, but the sales people there told me redline was OK even on this new car....the engine was ready for it. So I took it past my usual limits, but still didn't abuse the car....that is just not my style.
Anyhow, start the engine with the rather odd key-button combination, and you immediately notice that the Lotus engineers gave the Elise a different exhaust note than the same engine in its other Toyota and Pontiac uses. After all, they are compact sports coupes and hatchbacks, This is a pure sports car, and sounds like one. The car's feathery lightweight construction, even with only 190 HP and a torque figure lower then that, gives a great power-to weight ratio. Lotus quotes a 4.9 second 0-60 time; this car didn't feel quite that fast, but part of that was the notorious DC-area heat and humidity of August, which drains power, and of course, the fact that I didn't slam the car around quite to its limits in traffic. And, of course, this is a Honda-style peaky VTEC four.....you have to rev the daylights out of it to get that power. I took it up to about 5500 or 6000, and you could just feel the power begin to come on round that RPM.....below that it was a little sluggish, with not much torque.
I generally liked the transmission (also Toyota-supplied), and especially liked the big, silver, Camaro SS-style ball shifter and the somewhat heavy, solid feel of the transmission itself. The linkage sha shift mechanism felt solid but a little notchy...I occasionally missed a shift, but it was generally easy to use. The clutch engaged about halfway off the floor...an ideal spot, IMO, and was smooth in its takeup.
The ride, as expected, was on the VERY firm side........I didn't expect a luxury car, so I wasn't surprised. That is one of the penalties of weight reduction, low stance/low suspension travel, and responsiveness. The ride, along with the high engine, road, and wind noise level, was tolerable on smooth roads, but any kind of bumps or pavement irregularities came crashing through the structure and steering column like a telephone line. The last car I can remember anywhere near as harsh as this one on a bumpy road was the Mitsubishi Evo I reviewed last year....even the Miata was smoother. The firm suspension, light weight, and low stance and center of gravity combine to produce FLAT cornering with almost no body roll...and the non-assisted manual steering gives a level of road feel that is almost BMW-like. Steering response, as expected in a mid-engine car this light, was darty and instantaneous....go-kart-like was the best way to describe it. Mid-engine Toyota MR2's I've driven tend to wander left and right and be difficult to keep in a a straight line, often requiring a lot of small steering correctons, but I didn't notice much of that in the Elise.....it tracked OK, but still was not what I would call an Interstate-sraight cruiser by any means. This car LIVES for twisty curves.
The brakes are also excellent, with about an inch or so of wasted motion and mushiness in the pedal when you first push on it, but then they take hold smoothly, solidly, evenly, and with plenty of braking power....like with mid/rear-engine Porsches, the weight of the drivetrain, in this car, centers itself over all four wheels more or less equally on strong braking so that all four wheels do their equal share of the work, not with the front-end braking bias of front-engine cars and, especially, FWD cars. The light weight, of course, also contrributes to short stopping distances.
But the brake and gas pedals, however, IMO, for a person with big shoes like me, leave a lot to be desired. Like most sports cars these days, they are lightweight, drilled aluminum, but the gas pedal is way forward of the brake pedal and in a narrow space to the left of it. You have to plant your right foot firmly against the side of the center console and push it forward significantly to find the gas pedal so you can give the car some gas while slowly letting the clutch out....otherwise it hangs up on the brake pedal. Lotus, like the manufaturers of some other cars I've recently driven, apparantly does not realize that some people have big shoes and that inadequate pedal spacing can not only be tricky but dangerous.
The verdict? Guys, before you sports-car purists start tossing rocks at me, I KNOW I was a little hard on this car, especially the kiddy-size interior. I know some of you are going to think I am being unfair and not looking at the car for what it is. But...if Lotus is going to market a car for Americans, and sell it in the American market, then IMO, it should accomodate typical Americans of larger-than-lemming size (But that, of course, is not an excuse for me not losing weight, either, like I should). And this car, while, yes, admittedly, a lot of fun under the conditions it WAS designed for, simply does not do that.....accomodate larger-than-average Americans. It is a midget-sized car for small adults....and if you have to get OUT of this car in a hurry (say you go off a bridge and end up underwater or if it catches fire), then all I can say is good luck.
This is not a car that I would recommend as a daily driver/commuter or as a car for long trips, especially for tall people like me with wide butts and torsos. It is pricey, will likely command high insurance premiums, will be expensive and difficult to repair after an accident because of its many fiberglass and aluminum parts, and is just not well-suited to the rigors of everyday, suburban driving....especially with its mandatory stick-shift and lack of an automatic or semiautomatic option. Its difficulty of entry/exit borders on the absurd for any normal-sized or larger adults, and the seats are simply too narrow and too harsh for larger people. Its pedal spacing, again, is tricky for big feet, and takes getting used to. Its ride is very stiff on anything but glass-smooth roads, and it sits so low that underbody components can be easily damaged on the road. And don't even think about getting in a major accident with this car......it is not a pleasant thought.
No, this car is obviously designed for the track....and for smooth, twisty roads. For a small-to-medium-sized adult to drive it in its proper environment, there's no doubt it is a LOT of fun. It would be a great weekend car for a fairly well-heeled person who can fit in it.....$50,000 is, of course, a lot to spend for a weekend toy. As I said in my opening statement, you can have two Miatas for this price......and the Miata is not so awkwardly shaped and terribly cramped for large people any more, with its new redesign a couple of years ago.
But, again, in a nutshell.......for a small, PURE, driver-centered, no-nonsense driving machine, short of a six-figure price tag, there simply is no other.......or better.......machine available in the American market than the Elise and its supercharged Exige brother.
And......again.......Colin Chapman wouldn't have it any other way.
Last edited by mmarshall; 08-06-07 at 04:59 PM.
08-06-07, 10:10 PM
#2
No one here on CL is that mean to request a review of the lotus from you
You told us before of your stature....we know better
Personally, I don't like the design of the new lotus, looks like some alien cockroach, esp. in black
I'm sure other members will appreciate the review, as always.
Now when you going to do my other requests???
You told us before of your stature....we know better
Personally, I don't like the design of the new lotus, looks like some alien cockroach, esp. in black
I'm sure other members will appreciate the review, as always.
Now when you going to do my other requests???
08-07-07, 06:31 AM
#4
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Personally, I don't like the design of the new lotus, looks like some alien cockroach, esp. in black
Now when you going to do my other requests???
Last edited by mmarshall; 08-07-07 at 06:57 AM.
08-07-07, 08:11 AM
#7
Driver
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Dallas, TX
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Great review as always! I have a friend who has a Elise. She had the car valet parked and the guy hit the curb. Due to the large fiberglass front end, a crack ended up costing $15,000 to fix.
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08-07-07, 08:19 AM
#8
Super Moderator
Exige is a beast. I know the Lotus dealer here and a few years back he, a friend of mine and I took Exiges out to a car show in Cuernavaca. On Mexican streets, like a rocky rollercoaster, but out on the highway, I felt like Skywalker in an X-wing fighter. Only other thing that came close to this feeling was a friend's custom turbocharged Miata.
08-07-07, 09:57 AM
#11
There can only be One
Damn that was a great read for lunch time.
Thanks man.
Excellent write up.
Hey did you ever do a write up on the Infiniti M35?
Someone I know wants to get one. Is turning in their BMW 5 series next week. Hated the BMW by the way.
Thanks man.
Excellent write up.
Hey did you ever do a write up on the Infiniti M35?
Someone I know wants to get one. Is turning in their BMW 5 series next week. Hated the BMW by the way.
08-07-07, 12:22 PM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...as+corvette+c6