What inexpensive car comes closest to the Lotus Elise?

[451]

Originally Posted by scapamouche

Someone mentioned F5... Wait till next year, and the 818 comes out: MR layout, 818Kg, 02-07 WRX donor car: Lighter than Elise, More power out of the box (with WRX potential for MUCH more) and wishbone suspension, for ~$15k if you've got the mechanical skill to build from the kit.

Sounds great! Gotta wonder just how good the handling will be, but I am very optimistic, myself...

www.factoryfive.com/kits/project-818/

That was going to be my next car until they more or less finalized the body design. Neither version (track/street) is all that appealing to me. Maybe in another year when some more body kits come out though.

The idea of it sounds awesome enough, had my eye on the 818 for a while now

[Plackslayer]

The 818 simply looks like a modded Miata to me. Sad with the outcome of the final body.

I'm still an Ultima fan even though it is 20+ years old

[LARRY]

Forget inexpensive car.

Only the Porsche GT2, GT3, and Cayman come close to the Lotus Elise.

[Michael Mann]

Nothing quit like the elige but I would have to say a s2000 with coilovers. My elise was the weekend toy while my s2 was the daily. Had a 350z before the s2. There all somewhat similar. The elige is kno where near a Gt2/3 on a course with any open straights.

[RENDERMAN]

Originally Posted by scapamouche

Someone mentioned F5... Wait till next year, and the 818 comes out: MR layout, 818Kg, 02-07 WRX donor car: Lighter than Elise, More power out of the box (with WRX potential for MUCH more) and wishbone suspension, for ~$15k if you've got the mechanical skill to build from the kit.

Sounds great! Gotta wonder just how good the handling will be, but I am very optimistic, myself...

www.factoryfive.com/kits/project-818/

My friend you'll never build that car for $15K realistically a turn key car you're looking in the low $20K at best, I've built a kit Cobra and my numbers where way off, as a matter of fact last month I almost went into business with my friend (he would finance I would build the car) when we did the final numbers he backed out of the deal..

[RENDERMAN]

Originally Posted by SwingLo

Interesting fact - that 'Italian chick' is actually Romanian! Her name is Catrinel Menghia and she's insanely beautiful. She speaks PERFECT Italian too.

Che cosi guardi, eh?

Dude you have too much free time, how in F do you find out these facts, No more computers for the rest of the week for you Mr.!!

[Vulcan Grey]

Originally Posted by GuppyCaptain

The Elan is a good looking little car DESPITE its resemblance to the Mercury Capri. Now that orange Esprit in the photo above...........

Does anyone know if they actually made them in that color?

Yes, they made the Esprit in Chrome Orange.

[Saketome]

S2000 is the closest!


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[SwingLo]

Originally Posted by RENDERMAN

Dude you have too much free time, how in F do you find out these facts, No more computers for the rest of the week for you Mr.!!

Easy! Marius on the forum and his wife are Romanian and they told me. Then I googled!

I grew up own a home where both my grandparents spoke Italian and hers is spot on!

[ishur]

I had a Miata before getting my Elise. I wouldn't call it comparable, but I would view it as a natural precursor to the Lotus. It gets you used to pushing a car closer to its limits and having fun doing it. The Lotus just has much higher limits. And even more fun with more power (turbo or supercharger). When I got the Lotus, I also drove an S2k, M4 (I think that's what they called the BMW M version of the convertible?), Boxster. Only the Boxster turned me on anywhere near the Lotus, but in the end the uniqueness, looks, and steering won me over and I've never looked back. Drove the new Boxster S in an autocross a couple of months ago, and it was a great car, but all I could think of was "wouldn't it be fun to have my car here for this."

BTW, Swing, couldn't agree with you more on the Panamera 4S--just bought one as my daily driver, and it is an insane combination of performance and luxury, plus tons of room for four people. I know a lot of people don't like its looks, but it is definitely the nicest and best performing sedan I can think of.

[glb]

I love the Panamera, including its looks.

If you want to put adults in the back seats, that is the necessary roof line.

Every owner I've met loves his Panamera.


Porsche joke, from Gary Shandling:

"My friend just bought a Porsche.

Some say Porsh-a, some people say Porsche.

I don't know which is correct.

All I know is I drive a Toyot."

[RENDERMAN]

Porsh-a is the correct way!!

[Bane]

How has no one mentioned the Porsche 914?

I'd say:

914
X1/9
AW11 MR2

... in about that order. Of course the 914 and the X1/9 are going to be old and slow, but they most feel like an Elise to me

[ishur]

I had an X1/9 in the mid 80's. It was similar in that it had pretty nice unassisted steering, but that's about it. Soooo slow, and suspension was much less firm than the Elise. It was surprisingly useful, though--pretty big front trunk that didn't lose much capacity when the targa roof was slid into it, and a useable back trunk, too. Spare tire vertically in a well behind the passenger's seat. Well designed packaging.

But, very slow...

[squidward]

Originally Posted by RENDERMAN

OP next time put a price range, I think people are going over board with their choices unless your nephew and you got drunk and this whole conversation is hypothetical LOL

I guess it wasn't obvious when I wrote "Short of buying an Elise"...

The question was if a person can't afford an Elise, what could they buy?

...I thought it was obvious that it wouldn't make sense to spend MORE than the Elise itself to get close to the desired experience of driving one, when one could just be bought.

The question isn't about just any car that has a similar steering and road feel to the Elise. It was about figuring out what the best possible cheaper alternative would be.

There... You now have 3 explanations to choose from

Anyway, I hope that clears things up for the few folks who didn't see that in the Original Post.




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[mr.woolery]

A generally stripped down NA Miata with a turbo, coilovers, all the bracing, and good rubber. Still cheap....

[RENDERMAN]

Originally Posted by squidward

I guess it wasn't obvious when I wrote "Short of buying an Elise"...

The question was if a person can't afford an Elise, what could they buy?

...I thought it was obvious that it wouldn't make sense to spend MORE than the Elise itself to get close to the desired experience of driving one, when one could just be bought.

The question isn't about just any car that has a similar steering and road feel to the Elise. It was about figuring out what the best possible cheaper alternative would be.

There... You now have 3 explanations to choose from

Anyway, I hope that clears things up for the few folks who didn't see that in the Original Post.




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Thank you sir now I can stop taking sleeping pills, I love the Panamera one, you could buy about 15 used Miatas with that kind of money Lol

[jbs986]

I know there's a lot of Porsche heaters on this board but, you can get a used Porsche Boxster 1999-2002 anywhere from $8,000-$14,000 with well under hundred thousand miles on it.

My Point is these cars handle great, it's as close to an Elise as you can get And it's the mid-engine sports car, yes it's a convertible ,for those who don't like a convertible a used used hard Top can be easily purchased for $1200 or less. as much as I like Miatas the Boxster can float circles around them.

For the money I can't think of a better sports car.

[aschen]

I think many if us like Porsche's. Id like to have a Cayman s about as much as my exige but im afraid of maintenance costs and engine longevity. I think the boxster twins are some of the greatest modern sports cars

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[me73]

Originally Posted by jbs986

I know there's a lot of Porsche heaters on this board but, you can get a used Porsche Boxster 1999-2002 anywhere from $8,000-$14,000 with well under hundred thousand miles on it.

My Point is these cars handle great, it's as close to an Elise as you can get And it's the mid-engine sports car, yes it's a convertible ,for those who don't like a convertible a used used hard Top can be easily purchased for $1200 or less. as much as I like Miatas the Boxster can float circles around them.

For the money I can't think of a better sports car.

The driving experience of a Boxster is VERY different from the Elise, unfortunately. The 9x6 and later cars are luxury sports cars, GTs, which is in stark contrast to the Elise.

The 914 is a much better Porsche correlation. Although I still think the SC 911s were also very similar in the level of information that comes from the car.