Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise
is an exercise in making the bare minimum all you'll ever want from a
sports car. Fantastic to drive, with jaw-dropping performance, delicious
steering and stunning grip.The Elise uses a 1.6-litre Toyota engine,
but even though the car is light, its 134bhp isn't quite enough to
excite. Come up behind another car and you need a decent amount of space
and planning before you can get past, which is frustrating in a sports
car.The Elise
set new standards for cars of this type with its superlative grip and a
surprisingly comfortable ride. Its sharp, accurate steering is more
communicative than the average after-dinner speaker, while the
suspension is not rock-solid, and country roads can be attacked with
verve. The brakes are a perfect match for the pace, but you should be
wary of unsettling the rear if you lift the throttle mid-corner.Don’t
expect the Elise to have a cosseting, hushed cabin. Even with the
optional hard top in place, wind noise whistles around the cockpit and
the engine produces a constant drone, which can prove extremely tiresome
over long distances. All of the controls feel precise and
well-weighted, however.
Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
The idea of possessing a Lotus
as an everyday car used to be completely ridiculous. The Elise gives
excellent fuel economy for such a sporting car. Its residuals are strong
and the 2011 car now comes with a three-year warranty, rather than the
two-year cover previous models had.Lotus cars of old had a reputation
for being fragile, but the Elise
blows that right out of the water. Its plastic composite body is tough
as old boots and the aluminium chassis has proved to be rugged. Toyota
supplies the 1.6-litre engine, so it should be bullet-proof, while the
build quality of the Elise is top-notch.The Elise comes with an alarm
and immobiliser as standard. On the safety side, you get driver and
passenger airbags, plus anti-lock brakes as standard, but you have to
specify traction control at extra cost.
Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
There’s not a whole heap to look at from
behind the wheel of an Elise. What there is, though, is brilliantly laid
out in a neat, race car
style dash with digital read outs. The steering wheel is fixed, but the
seat is comfortable and the driving position is superb. Cabin stowage
is minimal.
Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
Many people will scoff at the concept of a mid-engined sports car being
even remotely practical. However, the Lotus does have a boot behind the
engine, which is big enough for two soft bags, and there’s room in the
cabin for two six footers. What does let things down is the fiddly hood
that takes an age to raise and lower.
Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
This car is about excitement rather than comfort, so whichever version
you buy, you'll get a similarly miserly amount of kit, which includes
alloy wheels, central locking, a leather steering wheel and a CD player.
There's a variety of option packs to fill the gaps, but you'll still
pay more on top if you want to add air-conditioning.
Lotus Elise
Lotus Elise
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Lotus
Lotus
Lotus
Lotus
Lotus
Lotus
Lotus
Lotus
No comments:
Post a Comment