WARNING: Long post ahead!
Okay, you should all know what the Lotus Elise is. If you don't, I'm sorry. For reference, please see this, this, and this.
Now, since you're all dying to hear what it's like to drive this beast, let me give you my impression. My experience is as follows:
Over the past week I've been emailing back and forth with the local (Portland, OR) Lotus dealership's manager. We had an established relationship before I even set foot in the dealership. After introductions and some talking, we took out a 2006 soft top model. British racing green. Nice. He drove first just to explain some things and get me used to the car. We went out no a bunch of windy roads. He wasn't pressing the car too hard but it's still very, very obvious the thing sticks to the road. Anyway, we went up, stopped, took the top off, and switched driving positions. Taking the soft top off is really easy. It unclips from both sides, rolls up, and stashes in the generous 4 cu. ft. of trunk space. Okay, so it's not generous at all. You could get a small duffle bag or a backpack in there. But not at the same time. A grocery sack and a gallon of milk might fit. Maybe if it's a half gallon.
I drove my new best friend (the car, not the salesman) back to the dealership down the same winding roads. It's incredible. The lack of power steering is nutty. The wheel, which is probably only 10" across, is pretty soft at dead center but the effort increases just as it should as it turns one way or the other. Taking a hard turn is disconcerting at first because the car's abilities are so far beyond anything I'm used to. You point, it goes. Period. I didn't even come close to figuring out what the car is capable of and it's already the best driving experience I've ever had. Again, for reference, I've got significant experience with BMW coupes (328Ci, Z4, 330Ci), the Nissan 350Z track model, an Audio S4, a Porsche 944 and Carrera S, and a Honda S2000. The Elise handily trumps them all in terms of pure driving involvement and enjoyment.
You can feel everything. Every bump, crack, and pebble in the road is transmitted, unfiltered, straight to you. Your hands are constantly chattering with the steering wheel. Your ass is constantly chattering with the seats. That said, the ride was not anywhere near as brutal as I would have expected. In fact, it was quite comfortable. I'm well aware that I'm willing to accept a lot more ride stiffness than the average guy but I was still surprised. The car sadly didn't have the sport suspension which would indeed make the ride much more aggressive. The standard setup's rebound is about half as fast as its compression rate. In the sport setup they're equal. And the wheels are each about 7lb lighter. The ride and handling of that setup must be unbelievably tight. Gonna have to try that out.
Anyway, we cruised back to the dealer after he told me to remember that any ticket I get on the way back is my ticket and my ticket alone. Sweeeeeeeeet. We got back, kept talking for a while, and after another customer came in, he just tossed me the keys and offered only one bit of advice. "Please don't wreck it." Hell yeah!
I kept driving it around for another 30 minutes or so. It feels so good. The pedal spacing is perfect. It took a second to get used to because the first time I hit the brake, I caught a bit of the accelerator, too. Once I got over that, I realized the spacing is perfect for heel-toe shifting. I'm fairly confident that's not an accident. The shifting is perfectly notchy. The throws are slightly longer than I'd expected but it works. The best thing about it is that the gates are slightly angled towards the driver. They're turned about 15 degrees so that, for instance, you push forward and slightly away to hit first. Going to second requires a pull back and slightly toward the body. It's a standard 6 layout. Reverse is beyond the 5 - 6 gate on the low side. Getting to reverse requires pulling up on a small tab below the shift knob. It's exactly like Opel's system if you're familiar with that. I haven't seen that system on any other cars.
Inside, you're surrounded by aluminum. The floor, the center console, the pedals, the dash, shift linkage and parking brake handles - it's aluminum everything. The white face gauges are large and easy to read. The tach spins all the way to 10,000 though, since the car wasn't completely broken in, I was ordered to keep it under 8,000. The high performance cam kicks in at 6,000 and the jump in performance is incredible. It just pulls and pulls and pulls. Shifting up at 8,000 or above keeps the revs high enough in the next gear to stay on the performance cam. Even below 6,000 the engine still pulls strongly. Lugging it is almost impossible. That may have something to do with the lack of weight. Maybe.
Speaking of the engine, it's evil. I already mentioned the 10,000 rev limit. The fact it's sitting right behind you is heavenly in the most sinister of ways. It's like a little devil on your shoulder. You hit the gas and it just whispers in your ear to go a little faster. "Okay, sure," you think. Then it starts screaming it. "Faster, you say? Let's do it!" And then it rips your face off. The exhaust note is raspy but not whiney. For only 1.8L of displacement, it sounds big. Then again, it is big because the car is really tiny. ~1900 lbs. with a full tank of gas. Wow.
Finally, getting in and out is the royal pain in the ass you've likely heard it is. The doors are really small. Sitting in the car, the tub chassis wraps up high enough that it can almost be used as an armrest. It's wide, too. The side channels are about 8" wide and run right alongside you. Considering they're higher than your thighs, getting out is much more of a climb than it is a step. It's not graceful by any means. Ingress is the same way. You get one foot in and then just fall into the seat hoping to avoid hitting your head. It's easier with the top off, of course, but only just. Once inside, however, things are sublime. It holds you. It caresses you. Problems melt away. Everything is right with the world. That said, it's probably not a good date car. There's no way a girl in a skirt could get out without flashing the world her under bits. Maybe that's a good thing.
Can you tell I liked it? I WILL own this car. Mark my words, I will own it.
Oh, and as icing on the already delicious cake, the dealership also sells Ducati, Aprilia, and MG motorcycles. :heart: And they're an arm of the local Ferrari/Maserati dealer. Heaven? Yes.
Questions? Comments? Bring it! :thumbsup:
CLIFF'S:
1) Test drove a Lotus Elise,
2) Changed underwear,
3) Thought about the test drive,
4) Changed underwear,
5) Wrote a really long review/impression of car,
6) Proofread writeup,
7) Remembered the test drive,
8) Changed underwear,
9) ?????
10) Changed underwear.
Okay, you should all know what the Lotus Elise is. If you don't, I'm sorry. For reference, please see this, this, and this.
Now, since you're all dying to hear what it's like to drive this beast, let me give you my impression. My experience is as follows:
Over the past week I've been emailing back and forth with the local (Portland, OR) Lotus dealership's manager. We had an established relationship before I even set foot in the dealership. After introductions and some talking, we took out a 2006 soft top model. British racing green. Nice. He drove first just to explain some things and get me used to the car. We went out no a bunch of windy roads. He wasn't pressing the car too hard but it's still very, very obvious the thing sticks to the road. Anyway, we went up, stopped, took the top off, and switched driving positions. Taking the soft top off is really easy. It unclips from both sides, rolls up, and stashes in the generous 4 cu. ft. of trunk space. Okay, so it's not generous at all. You could get a small duffle bag or a backpack in there. But not at the same time. A grocery sack and a gallon of milk might fit. Maybe if it's a half gallon.
I drove my new best friend (the car, not the salesman) back to the dealership down the same winding roads. It's incredible. The lack of power steering is nutty. The wheel, which is probably only 10" across, is pretty soft at dead center but the effort increases just as it should as it turns one way or the other. Taking a hard turn is disconcerting at first because the car's abilities are so far beyond anything I'm used to. You point, it goes. Period. I didn't even come close to figuring out what the car is capable of and it's already the best driving experience I've ever had. Again, for reference, I've got significant experience with BMW coupes (328Ci, Z4, 330Ci), the Nissan 350Z track model, an Audio S4, a Porsche 944 and Carrera S, and a Honda S2000. The Elise handily trumps them all in terms of pure driving involvement and enjoyment.
You can feel everything. Every bump, crack, and pebble in the road is transmitted, unfiltered, straight to you. Your hands are constantly chattering with the steering wheel. Your ass is constantly chattering with the seats. That said, the ride was not anywhere near as brutal as I would have expected. In fact, it was quite comfortable. I'm well aware that I'm willing to accept a lot more ride stiffness than the average guy but I was still surprised. The car sadly didn't have the sport suspension which would indeed make the ride much more aggressive. The standard setup's rebound is about half as fast as its compression rate. In the sport setup they're equal. And the wheels are each about 7lb lighter. The ride and handling of that setup must be unbelievably tight. Gonna have to try that out.
Anyway, we cruised back to the dealer after he told me to remember that any ticket I get on the way back is my ticket and my ticket alone. Sweeeeeeeeet. We got back, kept talking for a while, and after another customer came in, he just tossed me the keys and offered only one bit of advice. "Please don't wreck it." Hell yeah!
I kept driving it around for another 30 minutes or so. It feels so good. The pedal spacing is perfect. It took a second to get used to because the first time I hit the brake, I caught a bit of the accelerator, too. Once I got over that, I realized the spacing is perfect for heel-toe shifting. I'm fairly confident that's not an accident. The shifting is perfectly notchy. The throws are slightly longer than I'd expected but it works. The best thing about it is that the gates are slightly angled towards the driver. They're turned about 15 degrees so that, for instance, you push forward and slightly away to hit first. Going to second requires a pull back and slightly toward the body. It's a standard 6 layout. Reverse is beyond the 5 - 6 gate on the low side. Getting to reverse requires pulling up on a small tab below the shift knob. It's exactly like Opel's system if you're familiar with that. I haven't seen that system on any other cars.
Inside, you're surrounded by aluminum. The floor, the center console, the pedals, the dash, shift linkage and parking brake handles - it's aluminum everything. The white face gauges are large and easy to read. The tach spins all the way to 10,000 though, since the car wasn't completely broken in, I was ordered to keep it under 8,000. The high performance cam kicks in at 6,000 and the jump in performance is incredible. It just pulls and pulls and pulls. Shifting up at 8,000 or above keeps the revs high enough in the next gear to stay on the performance cam. Even below 6,000 the engine still pulls strongly. Lugging it is almost impossible. That may have something to do with the lack of weight. Maybe.
Speaking of the engine, it's evil. I already mentioned the 10,000 rev limit. The fact it's sitting right behind you is heavenly in the most sinister of ways. It's like a little devil on your shoulder. You hit the gas and it just whispers in your ear to go a little faster. "Okay, sure," you think. Then it starts screaming it. "Faster, you say? Let's do it!" And then it rips your face off. The exhaust note is raspy but not whiney. For only 1.8L of displacement, it sounds big. Then again, it is big because the car is really tiny. ~1900 lbs. with a full tank of gas. Wow.
Finally, getting in and out is the royal pain in the ass you've likely heard it is. The doors are really small. Sitting in the car, the tub chassis wraps up high enough that it can almost be used as an armrest. It's wide, too. The side channels are about 8" wide and run right alongside you. Considering they're higher than your thighs, getting out is much more of a climb than it is a step. It's not graceful by any means. Ingress is the same way. You get one foot in and then just fall into the seat hoping to avoid hitting your head. It's easier with the top off, of course, but only just. Once inside, however, things are sublime. It holds you. It caresses you. Problems melt away. Everything is right with the world. That said, it's probably not a good date car. There's no way a girl in a skirt could get out without flashing the world her under bits. Maybe that's a good thing.
Can you tell I liked it? I WILL own this car. Mark my words, I will own it.
Oh, and as icing on the already delicious cake, the dealership also sells Ducati, Aprilia, and MG motorcycles. :heart: And they're an arm of the local Ferrari/Maserati dealer. Heaven? Yes.
Questions? Comments? Bring it! :thumbsup:
CLIFF'S:
1) Test drove a Lotus Elise,
2) Changed underwear,
3) Thought about the test drive,
4) Changed underwear,
5) Wrote a really long review/impression of car,
6) Proofread writeup,
7) Remembered the test drive,
8) Changed underwear,
9) ?????
10) Changed underwear.