Drivin' Ivan's Great Cars: Lotus Elise + NEW LOTUS ESPRIT?

 

I had only seen a picture of the Lotus Elise in print, but as I was traveling through Ireland in 1997 I came across the car that would become the measuring point of ultimate sports car handling to this day.  This one was ocean blue with a light blue-grey cloth top.  Its swooping lines were evocative of the excellent handling prowess that the car delivers.  From the front, I always thought the original series one cars resembled the Lotus Europa. 

 

The English made Lotus Elise was released in Europe in 1996 with a curb weight under 1600 lbs. and a 0-60 time of 5.8 seconds. A slightly modified second series came in 2000 with a modified chassis and engine control unit.  It was a long time coming, but the Lotus Elise finally made it to the US in 2004 as a 2005 model.  The shape has been refined a bit recently, but I am still a fan of the original Elise shape.  

 

Lotus has always been one to lend there chassis expertise to other manufacturers as they did with Isuzu in the 1990's.  Many cars have been built based on the Elise's extremely capable chassis.  The Vauxhall VX 220 and Opel Speedster are produced in Hethel, England.  The Tesla Roadster is an electric version currently in development that is said to deliver a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds and 105 mpg!  The Rinspeed sQuba is an underwater electric version that can be driven on land or in water.  It has three electric motors, one for land and two for underwater movement!  Rinspeed founder Frank M. Rinderknecht got the inspiration fittingly from 007 James Bond's underwater Lotus Esprit seen in the 1977 film "The Spy Who Loved Me" . 

 

The Lotus Elise along with its many sport models, and after market tuners have made the Elise a true exotic car beater at a fraction of the price and weight of its competitors.  Recent models are true performers with a top speed near 150 mph and 0-60 times under 4 seconds.  The Elise regularly out performs other super cars in road tests throughout the world.  This is no surprise though when considering Colin Chapman's original idea for the Lotus cars.  Use a small, reliable engine and fit it into the lightest, best handling chassis available.