[Randy Chase]

Why not just buy an EVO, Sti, S2000, Miata, Boxster, Mini, Yugo etc?


Well, first... it may seem like an apt comparison to consider the above cars (and others like them) in regards to an Elise. But I want to point why I think they are very different. And even if those cars (well, all but one) are great cars... they are not an Elise.

What makes an Elise different? What attracts people to an Elise? Some of that is based on value judgements. What is important to you. If for example, you like a little sportscar with great reliability, lots of aftermarket surport, and the feeling of belonging to a lage group of fellow car owners... then the Miata makes a lot of sense.

If you are into drag racing and want the ability to go fast in a straight line, perhaps a domestic car makes more sense. If you only talk about speed in terms of 1.4 mile times, then it's a lot cheaper to get a mustang or camaro to go fast. Nothing wrong with that, but that is not the reason for existence for an Elise.

What an Elise has-

1. Weight. The weight of a car is very important in a few different ways. The best way to add horsepower is to remove weight. One can take any car and add more ponies... and that is good for a straight line. But weight has other benefits in making the car nimble and able to stop faster. Making a car lighter is not easy. After a certain point, it becomes quite expensive and involves exotic materials and assembly methods. The Elise uses both exotic materials and an exotic bonding assembly to create a very light weight and yet strong chassis. Many of the cars you mght compare to an Elise are a lot heavier. Some a little, like a Miata, but some much heavier.


2. Handling. Something Lotus has been renowned for. The car can turn very well and stick to the track. The light weight, low center of gravity, and Lotus suspension equal a feeling similar to driving a go-cart or an indy race car. If one has not experienced that, it's hard to describe... but it's the ability to feel like you can toss the car, make fast steering/throttle corrections, and get the car to dance.

3. Performance. Obviously the light weight and higher horsepower engine will mean the car accelerates. With a 0-60 under 5 seconds, the car is a screamer. Not many street legal factory stock cars under $40k will do 0-60 in under 5 seconds. Because the car is lighter, the brakes have a LOT less work to do, so the car can brake a lot faster and in a shorter distance. On a track, this means you can go in deeper. Since the car is lighter, there is less mass pulling sideways, so you can corner faster.

4. Midengined and Rear Wheel Drive (RWD). It's discussed elsewhere (insert link Randy!). But in a nutshell. A true sportscar is either AWD or RWD. Not FWD. A FWD car has problems because the front tires are asked to do too much work. A tire can only do so much. In the case of a RWD car, the fronts are turning and the rears can be applying torque. When coupled with a midengined car, some neat things happen.

Under acceleration, weight transfer applies more load to the rear tires. This allows more grip on the rear and better cornering under acceleration. The rear weight also means that the car brakes better in a straight line.. because braking shifts weight to the front of the car. If the car is already front heavy, the front tires end up doing almost all the work. In a midengined car, the rear tires/brakes can get more involved.

The car maintains a more cental polar moment. That is, it rotates easily about it's center because the mass of the car is more to the center. This is good for performance near the edge.

5. Exclusive/unique. You will own a car that is very different. It will attract a lot of attention (that can be good and bad). You will probably drive a lot without ever seeing another one where you live. Some people like that. It's different. It also means that the car can hold it's value to some extent. If they made 100,000 Elises, you would see more depreciation. I am expecting that the numbers being imported will not support the demand and the used cars might even be going for higher than list for a while. In any case, the car will maintain it's value well, as long as you maintain it.

6. Styling. Of course this is subjective. But for me, and others, the styling of the Elise is incredible.

Now some of the above may not matter to you. If you want extreme reliability. If you want interior luxury, heated seats and cupholders. If you want to have a dealer down the block from you. If you only want to use the car to get groceries and never take an offramp a bit fast. Perhaps almost all of the above do not matter to you. That is cool, that is why there are so many different cars.

Every car represents compromises IMO. This is a car that does the best at not comproming performance, for a relatively good price. All of the above is just my opinion and reflects my reasons for selecting an Elise instead of some other car.