Final destination
LOTUS ELISE FINAL EDITION
This really is it. The last Elise. After 25 years Lotus needs to stop building it, as well as stablemates Exige and Evora, in order to focus on the Type 131, Evija and other new stuff coming down the pipeline. It’s changed and developed over the years, but only power and weight are transformed.
This run-out special has twice the horsepower of the original's 118bhp. It weighs over 200kg extra as well. But it’s quite refreshing to jump in and realise that, yep, the roof still rolls up from one side to the other and at its heart nothing has changed: this remains a small, light, mid-engined roadster that is absolutely captivating to drive. Perhaps even more so now given the way that modern cars have developed.
What’s initially striking is the Elise’s solidity, integrity and quality. It feels well put together, the materials are tactile, and what bare metal is there is lovely to look at and touch. With so many cars getting carried away with screens, data and excessive ‘design’, the Lotus stripped bare approach has a lot of appeal. Best if you’re pocket-sized, too. If you’re much over six foot, forget it. This is a small, sinuous car for small, sinuous people.
But those who fit are in for a treat. Cracking driving position and a new steering wheel, Alcantara clad here, with a slightly wider diameter, lowering turning effort for the unassisted steering. That steering. Oh my. It just goes along a road so beautifully, so dexterously. Everything happens exactly, precisely as you expect. It’s a reminder that not much flows down a B-road as well as an Elise.
Down to your left is a gorgeous opengate manual gearlever that clicks and slips so nicely between its six forward ratios that you can’t help but shift for the sake of it. The engine, as always, is not the star of the show, but a good support act. The supercharged four is great at response, not so great at charisma. It doesn’t feel as fast as 4.1secs to 60 suggests and the power delivery is very linear, so there’s little sense of it building to a climax as the 7,000rpm redline approaches.
Who cares? This is perhaps the supreme chassis car. Often run-out versions of old models seem overwrought, the cars have had their time, lost their relevance and come across as gilded lilies. Not the Elise. Given our increased focus on treading lightly on the planet, a small, light car wearing narrow tyres, making little noise and consuming little fuel (36.2mpg on the WLTP cycle) feels just as appropriate as the day it arrived.