Help! Somebody convince me to keep the Elise!

[Palting]

Man, this is getting hard. I've originally picked the Elise over the Boxster S. Now I'm not so sure. I've been poring over the R&T article on the sports car shootout. See these related threads: R&T1 and R&T2

I'm buying the Elise as a track toy and weekend car to drive nowhere in particular. As a track car, I thought it had the Boxster S beat. But now, here's my tally so far.

On street tires, the Boxster S beats the Elise on the slalom and braking, and has better lap times. Slap some R compounds on, and it should run away from the Elise anywhere on the track. As a street car, the Elise doesn't even come close. As I have it configured, the Elise is set at $48K at new MSRP, the Boxster S at $55K will dealer incentives and customer loyalty discount. I'm hoping that with it's lighter weight, brakes and tires should last longer on the Elise. I'm hoping maintenance costs will also be less than a Porsche, but feedback so far has not confirmed that. The only other plus left on the Elise side is the bling-bling factor.

Help me stay with the Elise! Otherwise, I'm forfeiting my deposit.

[ex-M3]

Why don't you drive them both and buy the one that you like better. There are plenty of faster cars than the Elise, so don't buy just on the magazine specs.

[Palting]

Originally Posted by ex-M3

Why don't you drive them both and buy the one that you like better. There are plenty of faster cars than the Elise, so don't buy just on the magazine specs.

I've driven the Elise and the older Boxster S. Obviously just on street roads. It's a close call. I actually liked the "quirks" of the Elise, like the contortions to get in and out, spartan "I'm a track toy" interior, etc, and labeled these "character". "character" may wear thin pretty quickly, though, and just become "chore".

[Paul MD]

Seems to me you have the simple choice:

"Common as sh*te"

or

"Exceedingly rare and unusual; yes people I'm a tad out of the ordinary"

On the track they both live on their merits and unless your middle name is Fittipaldi I can't see much benefit either way (apart from $10-15k).

[aletes]

The Boxter S has too much unneccessary equipment ... Like cupholders!

[offroadr35]

if you drive both and don't overwhelmingly want the Elise, buy the Boxster

[Palting]

Originally Posted by Paul MD

Seems to me you have the simple choice:

"Common as sh*te"

or

"Exceedingly rare and unusual; yes people I'm a tad out of the ordinary"

On the track they both live on their merits and unless your middle name is Fittipaldi I can't see much benefit either way (apart from $10-15k).

Yup, as I said, the "bling-bling" factor. Not something to sneeze at, and I guess we can put our own personal monetary value on it.On the track, if Fittipaldi can bring out 100% of either car's capability, mere mortals can still bring out maybe 70%. The Boxster S would still beat the Elise.

The price diff as mentioned in my original post will only be about $7K. If I was looking for a daily driver, that's well worth the money. Since I'm looking for a track toy, I have to justify the price diff differently. That's where the article comes in. The factors the Elise beat the Boxster S was on skid pad and 0-60.The Boxster beat the Elise on the slalom, braking. Not much either way, but, the Elise was on R compounds. With R-compounds on the Boxster, the performance difference between the two would be even bigger. A whopping diff was gas mileage. Who cares about mileage when you're tracking the car? If you take out gas mileage, the Elise drops from second to fifth in the performance category.

I plan to make a decision by this monday. Right now it's boiling down to bling-bling for less, vs more performance for $7K. Product reliability and service support in the long haul on the one hand unknown vs known on the other. Unless you guys can point out something I'm missing.

[thegit]

Psst...Boxter.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Your *heart* seems apparent to me.
the matches for Your criteria for your selection are overwhelmingly in favour of the Boxter.
m

[Randy Chase]

Just another 2 cents.

I found those "quirks" that gave the Elise character did not wear on me, I got more used to them. Your mileage may vary.

To make an even comparison in terms of bang for the buck, could you not take the $7k in savings with the Elise and add the ForcedFed's turbo? The Elise with a bit more power will dominate the track over most any street car.

[adamant]

It sounds like you read too much into magazine articles. You should drive them both, the answer is clear. I drive (and on occasions instruct) in a 2.5L Boxster with a lot of race rubber. The Elise (with comparable driver) will be faster than a Boxster. I am sure some people will argue, but I apply 2 simple rules too see what a car is capable of: power/weight and weight. If you check the power/weight is around 10 for the Elise and something around 11.5 for the Boxster and the Boxster is 1200 lbs heavier. Just go drive them both and decide, you'll see what I mean.
Also if the power means that much to you, you can buy a new Elise and install the turbo kit for less than the price of a new S and that will be a truly insane ride

[jeff8875]

I am with Randy after reading about the Forcefed. NOTHING will be able to touch this car after adding a turbo

[grudkin]

I think if you plan to actually 'use' the car in any practical sense, you may be happier with the boxster. If it's really a weekend car/track toy, the Elise should prove more focused.

It's hard to factor money in right now -- with resale taken into account, either could prove the better 'value.' Too soon to say (though I think you'll take a bigger depreciation hit with the Lotus).

Another issue -- the Elise will be great on a track, but a significant 'off' may cost you more, and take longer to repair than with a Porsche. But you will save on brakes and tires with the Elise, I think.

You can drive yourself nuts with analysis, though. So in the end, drive both and get what makes you smile the most. They are both really great cars.

P.S. -- think about waiting for the Boxster S coupe -- there are rumors of a 'clubsport' version coming -- stripped and track-ready.

[Jefft]

Im not sure when the boxster became so uber, its still the entry level porsche. If you like magazine articles, read this post again


http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5206

"With the Sport Pack our car pulled 1.05g around our skidpad and blasted through our 700-foot slalom at 73.8 mph. Both are the best handling numbers we’ve ever recorded from a stock car by a considerable margin."


And you can only put so much weight on one persons thoughts and numbers, like how car and driver reviews the elise to run 0-60 in 4.4 seconds while lotus claims it does it in 4.7/4.9. I mean are you actually racing for something when your at the track or are you there to drive fast? Both of those cars will drive fast. In my opinion the Elise is a perfect 3rd car, as a 2nd car I can see your concerns.

[jml1952]

If you need to talk yourself into an Elise, then you weren't meant to buy one. Go get the Boxster and be done with it.

[Allan Gibbs]

Keep in mind that this is only one test. Hardly enough to make a conclusive decision - especially if you're looking at dropping $48K+.

[fastliz]

The Boxster never even entered my mind as a possibility. I've driven one of the early generation Boxsters. Certainly, it's a nice car. But, regardless of a magazine's comparison of the Elise and Boxster, they are entirely different types of cars in my mind.

Mike - STILL waiting for mine

[David]

First, buy what you want, because in the end, who cares but you?

My reason for choosing the Elise over the Boxster are these:

I don't like the looks of the Boxster, even though my wife loves it.

The way I'd want a Boxster configured would put it in the low $60s. My means are fairly modest, and I cannot pay more than I am for the Elise.

The Elise is the only ecologically responsible sports car I know of. I know that's not an important factor for most car enthusiasts, but it is for me because this way, I'm only burning my gasoline, not my daughter's.

Finally, I want a pure sports car, not a sports car-GT. I like the inconvenience of the awkward entry/exit, I like not having a cup holder, I like the manifestation of a theory and an ideal: less is more, lightness over power, grace and intelligence over grunt and bhp.

I understand why the R&T article would cause you to reconsider your choice. On the other hand, I think you may be putting too much weight in it. I think the article was fair, but also that the drivers knew how to get the best out of the Porsches, not the Lotus. After all, Porsche is familiar and respected by their drivers, so even if they attempted in every way to be objective, the fact is they still understood the way Porsches work better than the new-to-them Lotus. Everything else being equal, and even with their best attempts to be neutral, I don't know how they could have avoided a slight bias in favor of the Porsches.

But that said, the Boxster is an absolutely amazing car, a spectacular combination of sports car capability and everyday liveablilty. Get what you want.

[Stan]

Drive both in extensive test drive more than once...and then choose the one that calls out to you.

[Johnny B]

I realize that the Elise isn't for everyone. However, I've never wanted to own a Porsche. I went to the Houston Auto Show last weekend and I liked the Boxter, 911, Audi TT, C6, etc., but they all struck me as too luxury oriented and too GT.

I have a modified Passat that gives me good handling, good acceleration, comfortable interior, a great stereo (custom) and is a good compromise between practicality and fun. No, I'm not comparing the Passat to the cars mentioned above.

I love the single minded purpose of the Elise. It makes no bones about its mission. I love the spartan interior and the driving experience. I love that it isn't a GT. I wanted something that has nothing in common with the Passat.

I wouldn't have bought a sports car if it weren't for the Elise. The Elise is my first and hopefully last (plan to keep it forever) sports car.

[Palting]

Hooo-boy. Excellent points from all. Thank you. I am truly torn. I have this whole weekend to do some soul searching.