[Evl]

I just got back from being the first (I think) to test drive Chriswell's silver/hard-top/touring elise. This is my portrait taken just afterwards: I'm not sure when the grin will go away, but suffice it to say the wait for my car will be worth it.

Anyway, Tim was great. It was also his first time out, so he drove around a little while first to warm up the engine to its operating temp etc. (It won't let you onto the cams before then). Riding around as a passenger wasn't as bad as I thought/remembered based on the 111s drive, altho the window sticks cut down on the view. The ride is firm, but the combination of a super-stiff chassis, lotus nailing the damper setting just right, and god knows what other wizzardry resulted in a very composed ride. The chassis wasn't unsettled at all by bumpts etc.

Anyway, we pulled into a metro station to swap sides, and I got behind the wheel. There is a _huge_ difference to the 111s which was somewhat gutless till you got to redline. Not at all so in the fed car, which will push you around in the seat all day long. Anyway, we drove around some nice swoopy freeway ramps for a while (and I won't even mention the speed I attained without realizing it before I took a glace at the dash), and then into a new/empty commuter parking lot, where we proceeded to test out the autox abilities of the car. The car was very easy to drive in tight corners, you can have a blast pushing the back out with the throttle, its very easy to catch.

Lets see, what else, oh the brakes are pretty amazing too. The pedal feel probably is a little softer at first than I would have gone for, but thats more a matter of recalibrating my foot a little bit more than anything else. In sneakers I didn't have any problem with the brake/gas pedal, but finding a place for my left foot to rest was a little awkward.

My only complaint is that with my height and the lack of a tilt wheel, I couldn't see the top of the tach very easily. There has been some talk of tilting the seat back with washers, maybe that would help adjust my sight line.

Anyway, I've definitely put all other cars out of my mind now, there is simply no comparison. And for all this praise, I doubt I got past 75% of redline (altho see note above regarding sight line).

 

[YELOTUS]

I too just came back from Criswell>>

Have pics and observations... about performance and finish. Had fun and doing some auto cross type power drifting showed me how well balanced this car is...no sudden surprises etc...but will post little later more details about my observations...also took some 'side by side' pics of the Elise next to my AMG SLK...surprisingly the two cars are very similar is size except height...but pics will speak for themselves...

 

[Evl]

Yeah, I guess I should thow in some fit and finish comments too, although I may not be the most qualified, since my main ride is a '72 datsun with a stripped interior and a roll cage.

Overall I think it was screwed together quite well, I never heard any squeaks or rattles at all. The flip side is that it is a very spartan car, you aren't going to confuse it with a BMW on the inside, and the shifter boot does look a bit cheap. None of this really bothered me tho, it was far too much fun while under way.

Another concern of mine was road noise with the top up, and at least with the touring pack, it was fairly quiet. You can definitely have a conversation without shouting. I'd like to hear from the non touring pack people about road noise levels, as I'm planning to skip the extra insulation myself.