Matt Prior: Falling in love with the Lotus Elise S1

Today, I person go the envy of my colleagues portion immoderate of america are gathered successful North Yorkshire to trial a clump of electrical driver’s cars.

The amusive EV that I had hoped to bring was sufficiently caller that it couldn’t marque it adjacent successful aboriginal left-hand-drive form, truthful I’ve had to get successful thing else. Hence the envy.

Now, this isn’t an EV versus ICE car look-at-me smugathon (although it did instrumentality rather a agelong clip for 1 of america to get from the southbound seashore successful a Honda E). No, alternatively I’m the envy of my colleagues due to the fact that I’ve arrived successful a Series 1 Lotus Elise. And I’m not unsocial successful reasoning it’s fabulous.

This is simply a reasonably aboriginal example, from 1998. Although astatine 1 constituent severely damaged, it’s successful precise bully mechanical order, if a spot scruffy astir the edges – arsenic a 59,000-mile, 25-year-old car should be.

It belongs to a person of mine, Simon, proprietor of autarkic Lotus specializer Scott-Russell Sports Cars. It hardly turned a instrumentality past twelvemonth and was taking up abstraction astatine his workshop, and arsenic idiosyncratic who thinks cars are amended erstwhile utilized regularly, helium asked if I would beryllium capable to adhd a fewer miles to it. So present I am.

There volition beryllium much connected these pages successful a mates months, but for now, I’m acrophobic to accidental that I’ve go obsessed with it. It’s conscionable truthful good.

As bully present arsenic the Elise was erstwhile it was launched successful 1996 – possibly adjacent better. Now, erstwhile penning tests, referencing caller car prices and a car’s value, idiosyncratic volition ever tube up astir utilized cars.

I precocious said that I thought the Citroën C5 X, priced from £28,000, was bully worth for a big, practical, immensely comfy household wagon, but matey connected the net said it had thing connected his £12,000, 10-year-old BMW 5 Series. Maybe, but that was £45,000 erstwhile it was new, and it’s nary bully banging connected astir aged cars erstwhile you’re investigating a caller one, different you’re not comparing similar with like.

I’ve felt firmly that mode connected everything I constitute about… but for my ain weakness connected this front, the Elise. Later models, fabulous though they inactive were, precocious the Lotus crippled lone a small from the purity, simplicity and, supra all, operator enjoyment of the original. As a utilized car, it has everything of a caller one.

Much of that is down to the information that, made from bonded and extruded aluminium and with integrative bodywork, it doesn’t rot, it doesn’t sag and it doesn’t flex. The torsional rigidity of an Elise was claimed astatine 11,000Nm/deg erstwhile it was caller and, from a chassis perspective, this 1 inactive feels similar it could person lone precocious rolled retired of a showroom.

Everything that hangs from it is fundamentally a consumable, truthful successful bully mechanical nick, arsenic this 1 is, it’s similar going backmost a 4th of a period and being blown distant conscionable similar we were successful 1996, erstwhile we were presciently assured successful calling the Lotus “a notation constituent successful the past of the centrifugal car” (even if it was “more hard to ascent aboard than a Caterham”).

It outgo £18,990 then, made conscionable 118bhp and 122lb ft of torque and weighed a specified 723kg connected our scales, and its show numbers (0-60mph successful astir 6sec) were irrelevant to the amusive it provided connected the road, wherever it was – and remains – a full joy.

“There’s a portion of past waiting retired there,” we wrote, adjacent to a representation of the Elise parked successful a tract not 15 miles from wherever I’m presently writing. It’s inactive waiting today.