Thanks for the words of encouragement. I can't stop thinking about the decision. My wife and I talk about it allot and every time we completely tear down the Elise and why we should go with the Bimmer, we still can't shake the feeling of wanting the Lotus. I found a review on Edmunds.com with a nice video. The thing that grabbed me was when they said the Elise was 500 lbs lighter than the MX5 Miata and 1,000 lbs (A full half ton) lighter than the pontiac solstice/saturn sky!!! DAMN!
Anyway, I think we might go back and check out the BMW's again just to see how we feel. The Lotus dealer has the disadvantage of being 3-1/2 hours away, so it's a major deal to get another look/impression of them......like I really need it.
The latest idea, and I ran this past my wife tonight, was if we get the BMW, how about we spend the extra dough and get the M!?! It goes up to 330 hp, that should make me feel a little better about passing on the Lotus......Shouldn't it??? I don't know, we'll see.
For God sakes, I'm of British heritage (okay, half British, half Hungarian, but still!)........I'm drawn to the Lotus. I can see myself gaudily draped in green and gold, kind of like Joey on friends with the Porsche stuff. I'm not a BMW driving, tennis at the club playing, tickets to the Opera kind of guy!
Thanks for all your patience, encouragement and input. I'll let you know what happens, no matter what. Like every car dilemma I end up with, I tell myself "this is a good problem to have."