The only negative at this point is the un-interesting exhaust note. The standard exhaust on the Elise has always had a reputation of being a tad ‘bland’ - and this one is the same. There’s no sports car howl or rumble present… no wonder the first thing on most Lotus owner’s options list is a Lotus Sport exhaust or a set of aftermarket pipes (like a Larini exhaust).
Travelling along the motorway in sixth is surprisingly comfortable - the sixth gear ratio of 0.815:1 equates to 3500rpm at 110kph. Once we hit the National Park, the twists and turns of the roads show what this car is really about, and what the time and effort of the engineers and the countless years of racing have produced.
The six-speed manual gearbox with a short accurate action is so precise you would swear the cogs were directly under the gearstick itself. This is definite track day material. There is also no power steering – meaning no power-assisted servos getting between you and the feedback through the wheel from the road. Positive and negative camber corners can be taken at speed with confidence and with ease.
The setup of the Elise R’s weight distribution is 40 percent front and 60 percent rear, the front tyres being 195 versus the rears of 225. With this setup the car naturally understeers when taken to the limit. It was chosen by Lotus’ chassis engineers to set the car in this way to allow less-experienced drivers recover more easily from the limit. (Rather than the beginner’s panic-stations situation of an over-steering car.) In this setup it encourages you to push harder exploring the limits of its corning ability. When people say ‘this thing corners like its on rails’, I absolutely agree.
So we know this car is an absolute hoot to drive near the limit, but what about its everyday driveability? Fuel consumption? The Elise R delivers a combined cycle of 8.8 l/100km. Let’s compare that to our previous example, the Porsche 911 S (977), which returns a rating of 17.9, that’s near as dammit to 10l/100km difference.
Price, safety and options
The additions of everyday items we take for granted in other cars such as air-con, full leather interior, fully fitted carpets, ABS and traction control are all now included in the Elise R, albeit most of them as options.
Safety updates to the Elise now include LED rear lights, dual airbags, both for driver and passenger and side-impact protection bars.
The options list for the Elise R is pretty substantial: there is the ‘Touring Pack’ ($8000) which adds a leather interior, embroidered carpet, noise-insulated roof and panelling, auxiliary front driving lamps, and Alpine CD/MP3 stereo which includes an iPOD connector.
The ‘Sports Pack’ ($7000) includes the Lotus switchable traction control system, stiffer sports suspension (front 12%, rear 8%) featuring Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs, twin oil coolers and lightweight seven-spoke forged alloy wheels in your choice of Hi-power Silver or Black.
2009 Holden Cruze CDX 
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2009 BMW 335i Sedan 
2010 BMW 120d Hatch manual (E87) 
2009 Holden Commodore SS Sportwagon 
2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage 
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One of my favourite cars ever.
One day I will own one.
Great write up and true to form. As I was given the great pleasure taken around a track
With a professional driver. Who said that good things come in a small package.
Its f1 minus the power and gimmicks!!
A few months back I had a stint in one of these little beauties, and one thing that impressed on me being 195cm tall, was just how damn hard it was to pull my carcass from the seats, I quite literally had to open the door and put my hand on the ground to level myself out of the car. Not great if you think about it. Imagine this scenario: You roll up to your favorite restaurant in your new Lotus Elise, you look and feel a Million Dollars but then having to open the door and reach for the curb with your hand just to lever yourself out of the car. Classy!
Getting back into the car with the roof on presents more problems for tall blokes too. If the Lotus is simply a ‘must have’ then ownership of this car will require at least a half dozen yoga classes just so you can bend your frame to fit under the low slung roof. I know for me if I was to seriously consider the Lotus, it would be as a 2nd car proposition only, and I wouldn’t be parking out front of any fancy restaurants, saving myself the embarrassment.
Now I confess the Lotus struck a chord with me, as it’s the only car I have ever driven where I have come back to the car to find a lipstick proposition on the windscreen complete with phone number. Obviously the writer of the proposition had only seen the car and not the driver, otherwise there never would have been a note left, (I’m not oil painting, that’s for sure!) but nonetheless I was rather chuffed of the idea thinking that while driving the Elise I was at least 20% better looking.
Another thing I took note of was taking the roof off or putting it back on, as it’s more of a chore than anything else. Considering that in recent times, everything in the way of soft tops is going in the trendy direction of retractable hardtops, the little Elise still requires its owner to fuss over it, not a bad thing really, as a car like the Elise is all about proper ‘sports car ownership’ which should mean getting your hands dirty, and having to become intimate with all the workings of the car, that’s just part and parcel of it all. Although a retractable hardtop would attract unwanted extra weight which is dead against Colin Chapman’s cores values, it would be a nice touch if it could be done in a weight saving manner. So there is a tip for the Lotus product planners and dev team.
I loved it when I drove it, but could I live with it? That’s the 1 Million dollar question I asked myself after handing back the keys, and after several months of pondering I still don’t have an answer to that.
Fantastic, just fantastic. Still too pricey IMO but with Lotuses you always pay for what you dont get
I would have thought the LSD would have been standard though. Definitely the first checkbox I’d tick!!
You might want to check your weight for the 997S - no 911 ever made was 1800kg.
The correct weight is 1530kg - the 1835kg you used is the max permissible weight (ie fully laden).
That makes the pwr/wt more like 185kW/t
Lucky devil. Nice review. Though, I must write that a Lotus can be a little soft - the fabled Esprit was kitted out in contrast piped leather seats for years.
this is one of the sweetest looking sports cars ever
i really want one!
I have shown interest in this model for some time. I have checked out a lot of cars and keep coming back to the Elise R. I will buy one this year.