Good points about the 0-60 time. When I first saw a projected time of 4.5 seconds, I assumed that it was a marketing ploy to indicate that the car would be faster than most of its competitors.
When I drove the Euro-version test car, I was quite impressed with the acceleration, and I'm assuming that the US version will have even more oomph, with the higher hp offsetting the minor (hopefully) weight gain. I wasn't able to get out of 3rd on my test drive, as we were tooling around residential streets in Beverly Hills. So, how does the car accelerate in the higher gears? That is one problem with my Miata; in third and fourth, the acceleration is ok, but if you use fifth to cruise at high speed, you have no acceleration after being forced to slowdown without downshifting (maybe this is called driving, but I prefer to have some guts in top gear).
Of course, the US Elise is supposed to have a six-speed transmission vs the five-speed in the European version. Is that better?