I dont think that they will ever build anything like the Elise again. They will need to sell in big numbers in the future, especially now that they are owned by the chinese company. On one hand it makes me sad, as i will never get to by a new car without powered steering and with a manual gearbox in my life, on the other hand there are still quite fun cars out there like the 718 Cayman or the 4C or the 124 Spider, not perfect like the Elise but fun. Greek greetings from Germany :)
Still sold here in the UK. The current base spec S3 Elise has 220hp and 0-60 in 4.2sec, under £40k new. There should be an S4 out in the next few years and apparently they are planning to re-launch in the US. But it's going to be a new design and bit bigger car to meet safety regulations :)
Okay so why did i find this channel just now?!?! An Elise has been my absolute number one dream car ever since i was 10 years old, next month i'm 25, and my #1 has never changed. I still have the information booklets of the Elise and Exige from 2005, with all the specs, little pieces of plastic painted with the original Lotus colors to choose from, .... The guy from the local Lotus dealership gave them to me 14 years ago. About 3 years ago i visited the dealership again. I was pretty nervous walking in because at the time i was just a broke student with only a dream to ever be able to own one. You would expect if you would walk in a dreamcar showroom as a broke student with no chance of buying one, you would get kicked out. (Try entering a Ferrari dealership like that, good luck) But he just welcomed me with a big smile. I told him the story of my visit over 10 years ago, and that he gave me those information booklets. He told me these are actually worth some money now :P He offered me to drink some coffee with him, gave me a complete tour of all the cars, i could sit in every car that i wanted, without even supervising me. I could do whatever i wanted and he trusted me. Another Lotus owner was there and he offered me a ride. And although my mommy always told me, don't ever enter a stranger's car if they offer you, i said yes within 1 millisecond. (But this was different offcourse ;) ) I think i was talking with the owner of the garage and that customer for at least 2 hours. Half a year later i was at the "Autosalon", a car show where they show off all the newest cars. In the hall of dreamcars every booth was sealed off with glass offcourse, like always. The owner of the Lotus dealership saw me walking around the glass and he called me BY NAME. He remembered my name! And he told me to come in and offered me a drink and another tour of the cars. I will never forget that moment. If by any chance Thierry Verhiest is reading this comment, you're my hero. THIS IS WHY I LOVE LOTUS. Everyone is so humble, and there's never a "i'm better than you"-attitude. This Lotus community is absolutely incredible. And i hope i can be part of it some day... I really really hope i can buy one in 2 years or so because i feel like now is the moment.... This "electric cars are the future" thing really scares me, and i'm afraid by the time i'll be able to afford one, being able to go to the gas station to fuel up is going to be a thing of the past... :'( I mean come on, my dreams aren't that big, i don't want a big mansion with a swimming pool, a helicopter in my back yard, a private jet and 7 Bugattis..... The only thing i want is my own Elise 111R and my life is complete.
No, no more cars like ours. We are blessed to have the greatest Sports Car ever created. Your blog was spot-on in every respect. A new car must be way too heavy. I have to say my friend's Seven is a blast, but a different animal entirely, as is his Elan S2. And of course he has an Elise as well. Lotus on...
Great video, having owned Vipers, TVR Cerbera, Porsche and up until recently a 2010 Lotus exige 260S........I found imop the perfect perfection of drivers cars, my 1999 S1 Elise S111 ......absolutely love this car, enough power to scare you, enough performance that you can safely use most of it on the road and a lightweight chassis that works perfectly with the power train..........and it looks stunning. I personally don't think we're ever see a car like either the S1 or S2 Elise. It was and still is one of the legendary drivers cars of recent times.
Hi - don't forget for the US market there will be a shot in the arm when the S1 and non federal S2's (K Series) hit 25 years old and the restrictions are lifted and they can be imported as classics. This will open up a new market in the US for the truly classic S1 and push up prices here in Europe. Sadly I think Geely are going to leave behind the Elise concept of affordable lightweight sports cars as is evident by the imminent release of the Type 130 which they are branding a "hypercar" it doesn't bode well for the humble Elise - I hope I'm wrong but you just have to look at the price of a new base Elise now. The Elise ownership will stay strong and loyal and is already well supported by third party business - LONG LIVE THE ELISE!!
While I think it's amazing to live in a world where you can soon buy a mid-engined sports car that does 0 to 60 in less than 3 seconds for around $60,000, I think what gets lost is just how important it is to feel what you're experiencing. I don't have an Elise yet but I was lucky enough to drive one for a little while and to me, it is a car that feels fast and exciting at any speed. It connects you to a raw, visceral experience of driving like few other attainable cars ever have. I wish I could get excited about the new C8 Corvette. And while I still think 2.8 seconds to 60 miles an hour is a terrific achievement for the price the price, the reviews are anything but exciting: . The steering doesn’t communicate the handling limits either, neither changing in effort as the front tires fall into understeer nor, more disappointingly, coming alive if the rear end does starts to rotate. ... Road & Track . The other side of the coin is a disconnectedness from the raw performance of the car. The engine is rather quiet for a Corvette (though it retains that distinctive small-block roar), and the transmission is so smooth in Tour mode that you don’t get a sense of just how fast you’re going, at least until you brake. Similarly, it neither looks nor feels like a sub-3-second 0-60 sprint... The car stops fine, but the brake-bywire pedal feel isn’t reassuring. Chevrolet says the pedal travel and resistance characteristics change depending on the driving mode, but we couldn’t feel the difference. Although isolating brakes may be a shortcoming, the C8’s isolating ride... ...an unusually coddling interior for a Corvette. ... Car and Driver . What does it matter how fast a car goes if it's engineered so you don't really feel like you're driving it? Sure, I get that the G forces will be there, but otherwise it looks like driving the new Corvette will be little different from getting behind the wheel of a video game. You don't even get an option for a manual shifter anymore. I would like to like electric cars because of their impact on the environment and how much fun instantaneous full-on torque is, but until batteries gets lighter, they are still way too heavy to be nearly as much fun on the curves as a car in the class of a Lotus. Tesla's model 3 has some nice performance numbers and looks to be fun at the track, but it's twice the weight of a Lotus. Forgetting the $200,000 price tag for a second, add another second and will be going over 60 miles an hour in the second generation Roadster. Knowing that you can soon buy a production car that does 0 to 60 in less than 2 seconds is terrific but It's too bad that reports say it's battery pack alone would weigh about as much as an Elise does. There are tons of other possible comparisons but the bottom line is that none of them have that unique combination of light weight, quickness, road feel and everyday drivability -- unless of course a nicely engineered transparent removable roof add-on and HVAC system for the Ariel Atom becomes available. I really wish there were other cars worth looking forward to but until then I can't wait for the day when I look out at my driveway and see the last best attainable driver's car ever made, the Lotus Elise.
Absolutely! And yes, feeling the experience is the whole key to this! No doubt the new Corvette will be very cool, but it'll never be as cool as a Lotus! :)
@@AutoSugar Hey welcome back! Last I remember you have left your Lotus on the Left Coast hoping there was an outside chance Doug Demuro might take a look at it. That was four months ago! Everything good?
@@MichaelSTaylor Everything Is great! I drove the Elise back from San Diego in October - so it's safe and sound back in Boston! Unfortunately I was not able to get Doug to review it...but I did order a Cybertruck, and Doug doesn't like the Cybertruck, so you know, I can do without his review :)
@@AutoSugar Yeah your postings showed up a little late in my feed, but I just saw them like 10 minutes ago and great idea with the Cybertruck podcast. If you ever get to see one in person before yours arrives let us know if there is a pass-through in between the passenger compartment and the truck bed for carrying stuff like longer ladders or 10 foot two-by-fours without having them hang over the liftgate. Kind of a mundane practical question giving all the flashier stuff that truck is capable of, but all the same it is something I would like to know. Thanks again and welcome back!
I think its not just about mid engine. I think it is about driveability. That means keep it very simple, light and low tech. Yes such cars can be built again but the biggest obstacle is legislation. You have to tick a lot of boxes which add weight and complexity, and unreliability. Plus you have to make a decent amount of profit for research /future plant costs. So if the Elise car with the almost perfect formula cannot make a decent profit then what can? If Lotus came up with something radical and affordable (£15,000, no more ) then they should use Kick Starter or the equivalent to fund its development. Why not? Maybe millions of people may get behind it if they come up with the right product. This is just an idea.
I believe the next car is planned to replace the Evora as that car will be the first to be phased out. Price point will be higher than the Evora. Speculation is the Esprit but nobody really knows for sure. After this there will be an Elise Exige replacement. It is possible that between now and the new elise/exige there will be a new version of current elise/exige with the Volvo sourced 4cylinder engines.
I don't think becoming electric would be a problem. I would really like to see that (I've driven the Tesla Roadster. After that I wanted an Elise). But selling such a minimalistic car is probably the problem. Legislation demands more and more electronic features and at some point it is just impossible to build a minimalistic car and still be road legal. Not to mention that there aren't a lot of people who would want to buy a minimalistic car anyway. And to be honest: If I'm forced to buy a car that has quite a lot of electronic "junk" in it, why not go full out and have it comfortable and add other unnecessary junk? You won't get the full driving experience anyway...
@@hpomen9681 I don't think we're going to see any updates on the small platform cars 'til the end of this year or maybe next year. It appears that Lotus is more interested in something in the Evora/Esprit class for a next offering - I think we will be waiting for a new small platform car, especially in the USA.
Probably not but electric hasn't hit it hard yet, even though Elon Musk took the chassis right away. I got mine 14 years ago and when I think maybe I will sell, my ass is getting big. I just can't think of owning anything better for the kind of driver I am. It's fun to walk into a room and be able to legitimately say you own the perfect sports car, not much anyone can say, and if they do? lets hit the autocross meet next week. And now it's also outpacing my investment portfolio, 12 years down the road these are 120,000$ cars, if they are in good order. Anyone on the fence BUY NOW!!!!!!!
Do you think there will ever be a NEW Lotus Elise? Leave your question or comment in the area down belowtus!
I dont think that they will ever build anything like the Elise again. They will need to sell in big numbers in the future, especially now that they are owned by the chinese company. On one hand it makes me sad, as i will never get to by a new car without powered steering and with a manual gearbox in my life, on the other hand there are still quite fun cars out there like the 718 Cayman or the 4C or the 124 Spider, not perfect like the Elise but fun.
Greek greetings from Germany :)
Good points and thank you for watching!
Still sold here in the UK. The current base spec S3 Elise has 220hp and 0-60 in 4.2sec, under £40k new. There should be an S4 out in the next few years and apparently they are planning to re-launch in the US. But it's going to be a new design and bit bigger car to meet safety regulations :)
@@BlatentlyFakeName Lol yeah I was thinking im pretty sure they said they are bringing back to USA and it never left UK
Okay so why did i find this channel just now?!?!
An Elise has been my absolute number one dream car ever since i was 10 years old, next month i'm 25, and my #1 has never changed. I still have the information booklets of the Elise and Exige from 2005, with all the specs, little pieces of plastic painted with the original Lotus colors to choose from, .... The guy from the local Lotus dealership gave them to me 14 years ago. About 3 years ago i visited the dealership again. I was pretty nervous walking in because at the time i was just a broke student with only a dream to ever be able to own one. You would expect if you would walk in a dreamcar showroom as a broke student with no chance of buying one, you would get kicked out. (Try entering a Ferrari dealership like that, good luck) But he just welcomed me with a big smile. I told him the story of my visit over 10 years ago, and that he gave me those information booklets. He told me these are actually worth some money now :P He offered me to drink some coffee with him, gave me a complete tour of all the cars, i could sit in every car that i wanted, without even supervising me. I could do whatever i wanted and he trusted me. Another Lotus owner was there and he offered me a ride. And although my mommy always told me, don't ever enter a stranger's car if they offer you, i said yes within 1 millisecond. (But this was different offcourse ;) ) I think i was talking with the owner of the garage and that customer for at least 2 hours. Half a year later i was at the "Autosalon", a car show where they show off all the newest cars. In the hall of dreamcars every booth was sealed off with glass offcourse, like always. The owner of the Lotus dealership saw me walking around the glass and he called me BY NAME. He remembered my name! And he told me to come in and offered me a drink and another tour of the cars. I will never forget that moment. If by any chance Thierry Verhiest is reading this comment, you're my hero. THIS IS WHY I LOVE LOTUS. Everyone is so humble, and there's never a "i'm better than you"-attitude. This Lotus community is absolutely incredible. And i hope i can be part of it some day...
I really really hope i can buy one in 2 years or so because i feel like now is the moment.... This "electric cars are the future" thing really scares me, and i'm afraid by the time i'll be able to afford one, being able to go to the gas station to fuel up is going to be a thing of the past... :'(
I mean come on, my dreams aren't that big, i don't want a big mansion with a swimming pool, a helicopter in my back yard, a private jet and 7 Bugattis..... The only thing i want is my own Elise 111R and my life is complete.
Fantastic story and so sorry for my late comment! Thank you for watching!
No, no more cars like ours. We are blessed to have the greatest Sports Car ever created. Your blog was spot-on in every respect. A new car must be way too heavy. I have to say my friend's Seven is a blast, but a different animal entirely, as is his Elan S2. And of course he has an Elise as well. Lotus on...
Good point!
ill just say hopefully because by the time i am old enough and have enough money the elise won't be around.
I hope so too!
Great video, having owned Vipers, TVR Cerbera, Porsche and up until recently a 2010 Lotus exige 260S........I found imop the perfect perfection of drivers cars, my 1999 S1 Elise S111 ......absolutely love this car, enough power to scare you, enough performance that you can safely use most of it on the road and a lightweight chassis that works perfectly with the power train..........and it looks stunning. I personally don't think we're ever see a car like either the S1 or S2 Elise. It was and still is one of the legendary drivers cars of recent times.
Cheers and thank you! I agree!
Hi - don't forget for the US market there will be a shot in the arm when the S1 and non federal S2's (K Series) hit 25 years old and the restrictions are lifted and they can be imported as classics. This will open up a new market in the US for the truly classic S1 and push up prices here in Europe. Sadly I think Geely are going to leave behind the Elise concept of affordable lightweight sports cars as is evident by the imminent release of the Type 130 which they are branding a "hypercar" it doesn't bode well for the humble Elise - I hope I'm wrong but you just have to look at the price of a new base Elise now. The Elise ownership will stay strong and loyal and is already well supported by third party business - LONG LIVE THE ELISE!!
Very good point and I CANNOT WAIT for the S1s to come in - I can do without the S2 K-Series, but I'd LOVE an S1!
My favorite car of all time, and I agree with the Cali Elise owners as a Texas owner. I’ve had mine 12years and have zero intent in selling it.
Awesome!!!
While I think it's amazing to live in a world where you can soon buy a mid-engined sports car that does 0 to 60 in less than 3 seconds for around $60,000, I think what gets lost is just how important it is to feel what you're experiencing. I don't have an Elise yet but I was lucky enough to drive one for a little while and to me, it is a car that feels fast and exciting at any speed. It connects you to a raw, visceral experience of driving like few other attainable cars ever have.
I wish I could get excited about the new C8 Corvette. And while I still think 2.8 seconds to 60 miles an hour is a terrific achievement for the price the price, the reviews are anything but exciting:
.
The steering doesn’t communicate the handling limits either, neither changing in effort as the front tires fall into understeer nor, more disappointingly, coming alive if the rear end does starts to rotate.
... Road & Track
.
The other side of the coin is a disconnectedness from the raw performance of the car. The engine is rather quiet for a Corvette (though it retains that distinctive small-block roar), and the transmission is so smooth in Tour mode that you don’t get a sense of just how fast you’re going, at least until you brake. Similarly, it neither looks nor feels like a sub-3-second 0-60 sprint...
The car stops fine, but the brake-bywire pedal feel isn’t reassuring.
Chevrolet says the pedal travel and resistance characteristics change depending on the driving mode, but we couldn’t feel the difference.
Although isolating brakes may be a shortcoming, the C8’s isolating ride...
...an unusually coddling interior for a Corvette.
... Car and Driver
.
What does it matter how fast a car goes if it's engineered so you don't really feel like you're driving it? Sure, I get that the G forces will be there, but otherwise it looks like driving the new Corvette will be little different from getting behind the wheel of a video game. You don't even get an option for a manual shifter anymore.
I would like to like electric cars because of their impact on the environment and how much fun instantaneous full-on torque is, but until batteries gets lighter, they are still way too heavy to be nearly as much fun on the curves as a car in the class of a Lotus. Tesla's model 3 has some nice performance numbers and looks to be fun at the track, but it's twice the weight of a Lotus. Forgetting the $200,000 price tag for a second, add another second and will be going over 60 miles an hour in the second generation Roadster. Knowing that you can soon buy a production car that does 0 to 60 in less than 2 seconds is terrific but It's too bad that reports say it's battery pack alone would weigh about as much as an Elise does.
There are tons of other possible comparisons but the bottom line is that none of them have that unique combination of light weight, quickness, road feel and everyday drivability -- unless of course a nicely engineered transparent removable roof add-on and HVAC system for the Ariel Atom becomes available. I really wish there were other cars worth looking forward to but until then I can't wait for the day when I look out at my driveway and see the last best attainable driver's car ever made, the Lotus Elise.
Absolutely! And yes, feeling the experience is the whole key to this! No doubt the new Corvette will be very cool, but it'll never be as cool as a Lotus! :)
@@AutoSugar Hey welcome back! Last I remember you have left your Lotus on the Left Coast hoping there was an outside chance Doug Demuro might take a look at it. That was four months ago! Everything good?
@@MichaelSTaylor Everything Is great! I drove the Elise back from San Diego in October - so it's safe and sound back in Boston! Unfortunately I was not able to get Doug to review it...but I did order a Cybertruck, and Doug doesn't like the Cybertruck, so you know, I can do without his review :)
@@AutoSugar Yeah your postings showed up a little late in my feed, but I just saw them like 10 minutes ago and great idea with the Cybertruck podcast. If you ever get to see one in person before yours arrives let us know if there is a pass-through in between the passenger compartment and the truck bed for carrying stuff like longer ladders or 10 foot two-by-fours without having them hang over the liftgate. Kind of a mundane practical question giving all the flashier stuff that truck is capable of, but all the same it is something I would like to know. Thanks again and welcome back!
I bought a 2006 Lotus Elise (US version) thanks to your channel.
That’s amazing!!! What color did you get? Any options or modifications?
Great summary of the Lotus Elise.
Thank you!
I think its not just about mid engine. I think it is about driveability. That means keep it very simple, light and low tech. Yes such cars can be built again but the biggest obstacle is legislation. You have to tick a lot of boxes which add weight and complexity, and unreliability. Plus you have to make a decent amount of profit for research /future plant costs.
So if the Elise car with the almost perfect formula cannot make a decent profit then what can? If Lotus came up with something radical and affordable (£15,000, no more ) then they should use Kick Starter or the equivalent to fund its development. Why not? Maybe millions of people may get behind it if they come up with the right product. This is just an idea.
Thanks so much - great points and good ideas!
I believe the next car is planned to replace the Evora as that car will be the first to be phased out. Price point will be higher than the Evora. Speculation is the Esprit but nobody really knows for sure. After this there will be an Elise Exige replacement. It is possible that between now and the new elise/exige there will be a new version of current elise/exige with the Volvo sourced 4cylinder engines.
I think you are probably right!
Can't be replaced. That's why i'll never sell my 2005 elise with 22000 original miles.
Totally!
I think there is...Ariel Atom
About the closest thing there is!
Sadly not by Lotus ( or probably anyone else) 😭
If there is a market for it, they will build it.
Hope so!
Watch it buddy. I’ve owned both and I know which one I prefer.
Thanks for watching!
Little Lost Lotus you are welcome. 😇
I think they'll become electric though
Entirely possible!
I don't think becoming electric would be a problem. I would really like to see that (I've driven the Tesla Roadster. After that I wanted an Elise).
But selling such a minimalistic car is probably the problem. Legislation demands more and more electronic features and at some point it is just impossible to build a minimalistic car and still be road legal. Not to mention that there aren't a lot of people who would want to buy a minimalistic car anyway.
And to be honest: If I'm forced to buy a car that has quite a lot of electronic "junk" in it, why not go full out and have it comfortable and add other unnecessary junk? You won't get the full driving experience anyway...
Not many more light sport cars
Indeed!
I'm a lotus fan but I can't buy one here in India. 💔💔💔
Sorry to hear that - I didn't know that!
Buy a Lotus Elephant then.
2020s elise
We're all waiting!
@@AutoSugar What do you think about a 2020 exige? Do you think that'll happen?
@@hpomen9681 I don't think we're going to see any updates on the small platform cars 'til the end of this year or maybe next year. It appears that Lotus is more interested in something in the Evora/Esprit class for a next offering - I think we will be waiting for a new small platform car, especially in the USA.
Probably not but electric hasn't hit it hard yet, even though Elon Musk took the chassis right away. I got mine 14 years ago and when I think maybe I will sell, my ass is getting big. I just can't think of owning anything better for the kind of driver I am. It's fun to walk into a room and be able to legitimately say you own the perfect sports car, not much anyone can say, and if they do? lets hit the autocross meet next week. And now it's also outpacing my investment portfolio, 12 years down the road these are 120,000$ cars, if they are in good order. Anyone on the fence BUY NOW!!!!!!!
Must be of Italian heritage, talks loudly and uses sign language......
Thanks for watching!