I've been wanting to get an Elise and looking at a possible purchase within this year. There is no Lotus dealer nor anyone have an Elise in where I live. So this will most likely be a blind purchase in the mainland USA without a personal test drive and it will be shipped over. Therefore, before doing any purchase, I would rather ask first on how bad the negatives are for this car. I already know the positives so no need to ask for those.

This is not going to be a DD but more like a weekend car or some occasional night time sprints. I already have 2 sports cars that I can daily-drive, a P996 and a Z3 3.0 Coupe.

1. Ingress/Egress - I'm 5'10" in my early 40s. I go to the gym with a decent fitness & muscular level with probably less than average flexibility, but I'm neither fat nor thin. I do visit my chiropractor for the occasional spine alignment treatment. How bad is the ingress/egress of this car? I'm limiting myself to an Elise (not an Exige) so there would be the option to leave the targa top off for easier ingress/egress, if needed.

2. NVH - i know insulation is close to non-existent, therefore, noise and vibration is surely gonna be a part of this car; but, again, how bad is it? Is it like late 60s, early 70s economy car type of NVH?

3. Air Conditioning - i've read the A/C isn't that great, and most likely i wouldn't personally be needing it for this particular car, but just in case i need it, how bad is it? Temp here are usually in the 85- to 95-deg range. I don't expect it to be Toyota-cold, but is it worse than '80s & '90s german cars in general?

Hope I could get some answers here as I'm trying to balance out the pros and cons of this car and see if this is a purchase I would like to pursue.

Thanks!

 

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...g-commute.html here ya go buddy!

 

meh i'll bite

nvh- you hear everything, feel everything. but it doesnt feel econobox cheap. its well bolted ?(err glued) together. tire noise, engine noise, and at higher speed, wind noise is what youre going to hear, plus some squeaks and rattles. id have to assume youre use to a stiff ride with a 996 on 19s. i know it doesnt ride as well as a 997 on the same size wheel.
im 5"10 200. granted im 25, but once you get in and out a few times, you develop a method that works for you. its a non issue, and i think adds to the ownership experience at some level. i have been in an elise, and felt it was easier to get into than my exige fwiw. with the top off, its a non issue.

the heat/ ac works fine. its not going to blow hot or ice cold, but in a car this size its sufficient. again, as a toy, you wont mind it.

 

I've been tempting this idea also. The prices have really went down.

 

They are very appealing.

 

Hmmm.. how about for Canadian winters???

 

making out just fine in a boston winter as a daily.

 

Toughest part is the winter/snow driving. I used mine as a daily driver for a while and that was the only difficult part.

 

I don't use my Exige S240(which is for sale BTW) as a daily driver, in fact, it's only got 3200 miles on it after 2 years. However, I think it's pretty comfortable to drive around in, and of course, incredibly fun! My previous car was a BMW Z4M Coupe. As for the A/C, mine blows super cold, but I've only used it a few times. I much prefer driving with the windows down

 

im 6'3" and had no problem getting in and out, you get used to it with practice. also snow driving wasnt doable with the r compounds

 

it's simple..you'll loose boring comfort of 996 for about as much fun you can have in sports car. LSD and winter tires will get you anywhere...i drive many sports cars every day...elise is the toy you'll never get bored with.
get normal one and VF supercharge it..you still be running with turbo porsches and z06 corvettes at the race track...and 30+mpg on the freeway ,i'll deleted a/c in mine..
THE BEST SPORTS CAR FOR $$$ hands down

 

This is hands down the best road car I have driven. I've had mine 7 months and logged about 1000 miles. I don't drive it in the winter.

I think Jeremy Clarkson said it best when he said you can tell what kind of bug you just ran over in the Elise. Getting in and out is tricky the first few times, but you get it down pretty fast. Just don't use the front window to get in and out. It's much easier to get in and out with the top off. The noise and vibration with the stock exhaust is actually not that bad. There are fixes for the AC and heat to make them better, but I personally don't use my AC as the top is usually off or the window is down.

I'd suggest taking more than one test drive before you decide.

 

Really appreciate all the response.

I can't take a test drive due to the fact that there is not a single Elise in where I live nor a Lotus dealership. That is why I depend on all the online reviews and forum feedbacks that I could get my eyes on.

I've also joined lotustalk and learned much more about these cars. I feel it can be a bit fragile due to the clam and there are a lot of inconveniences, but in my heart, I know I still want one. And I will eventually get one around the end of this year. I am now working on a deal for a Cayenne Turbo (make the wife happy first) before I get something that she would really hate (the Elise). Besides, I feel I needed to do more research on the Elise before the actual purchase. However, if this deal falls through, then it may be the Elise.

 

No offense, really, but this car is absolutely not for you. You are over thinking this.

Understand, this car, literally, is a big go kart. Literally. If you think what a go kart is like to sit in, the chassis of the Lotus is essentially the same, just bigger. It is noisy, tricky to get in and out of, the stereo stinks, rides rough. The A/C sucks even when it's working. Interior bits are cheap. The bare aluminum in there is the actual chassis. The radio gets no reception. Things fall off the car. Squeaks, rattles, buzzes. Steering racks can go bad. 2nd cams can go bad in the 05's and some 06's. Shifter feel sucks. The turn signal lights in the front routinely pop out when you hit a bump, hanging by their wires. BUT if you try to remove one to change the bulb, it's next to impossible. No spare tire, just a can of fix a flat. "Curb" the car, just slightly bend the front suspension, and you've totalled the car. The chassis cannot be repaired in even a slight accident.

To change the oil you have to remove about two dozen bolts to drop the under tray, just to get to the oil filter and drain bolt. The cars are not at all water tight, and the owner's manual warns you of that.

The exterior is fragile, so a 'tap' in a parking lot will be several grand. SEVERAL grand.

You are shoulder to shoulder with your passenger.

If your significant other is a rugged individualist, who loves to kayak, or whitewater raft, hike/backpack, etc, it will be fine. If not, it's not going to work out so well.

This car is barely a car, in the typical sense of the word. Really.

They look like nothing else on the road, and stop traffic, literally. But after looking one over, nearly everyone likes to look, touch, sit in, have their picture taken with....but owning one, living with one, that's a different story.

And I love it. I would not trade it for ANY P car, or nearly any other car I can think of short of a Ferrari or Ford GT.

 

My father is 65 and bought his Elise new in 2005. He's 6' and about 190 pounds. he has no trouble getting in or out of the car but it's not good for running errands, nor good for long distances. He's put about 35,000 miles with basically no problems. His only complaint is how quickly the rear tires tend to wear away. Averages about 33mpg. Strangely for him, it's a very economical car. I wouldn't hesitate buying one for weekends or a cruise at night.

I've driven his Elise probably about 2,000 miles.. (taking it to the track, flying around town and it's simply unlike anything else.)

I wouldn't hesitate buying one if I were you. If I had another parking spot I'd buy one in addition to my Audi S5. Parking spots in downtown Boston are well over 100K, not really worth it for me, plus I only drive about 6-10K a year on my one car..