The new bodywork also improves aerodynamic downforce by incorporating ground-effect diffuser at the bottom of tail. Unlike the previous 111S, rear spoiler in new Elise is an integral part of the glassfiber body. Moreover, the body is shaped such that the distribution of downforce coincides with the distribution of weight, hence a consistent handling characteristic in whatever speed. 

Suspension is the second-most improved element. The old Elise was born in a the darkest days of Lotus so that it chose standardised dampers for the benefit of price. As annual production rose from the originally planned 800 to 3000, the new Elise can afford a special damper tailor-made by Bilstein, which enables spring rates to be stiffened (30% up front and 25% at the rear) without sacrificing ride comfort. Besides, 10 mm lower ride height, slightly wider tracks and revised anti-roll bars are also tweaks made to improve handling. 

The innovative aluminium chassis is unchanged. Power plant remains to be that K-series displacing 1796 c.c., and it becomes the only choice because the more powerful VVC version is no longer available. However, Lotus rewrote the engine management program to improve throttle response and by the way adds 2 hp and 1 lbft - forget it. In total they are 120 hp and 124 lbft. Sharper throttle response is undoubted, so is better noise insulation thanks to the newly added thin sheet to the firewall. Now the engine feels less harsh and sound better - not in Alfa’s league but it won’t be disgraceful either. As for the future, I am praying to have a stronger engine, perhaps a tuned Mondeo’s 2.0 Duratec HE with 170 hp ? it’s also all-alloy ... 

Power transfers via 111S’s close ratio 5-speeder to Bridgestones RE 040, another tailor-made item. Wheels have grown an inch both front and rear, but the front tyres measured just 175 in width in contrast to the rear’s 225, obviously designed to kill lift-off oversteer but you know, a combination of new springs, damper, wider track and new tyre compounds might be unpredictable. We shall see the outcome in below. 

Most concerned is the important kerb weight. Lotus claimed a new production technique results in thinner glassfiber body panels thus canceling the weight gains in other parts. However, our record shows that the 750 kg new Elise is actually 27 kg heavier than the early Mk1. This inevitably worsen acceleration a little bit. 

On The Road 

Although Lotus says the cockpit is better trimmed - such as adding plastic cover to sills (I’d rather have the aluminium sills exposed like the old car) and an easier-to-operate soft roof from sister car Opel Speedster (still manual and not all that easy) - it is still by all means spartan. There is no air bag and no air conditioning. The latter would have been a nonsense considering the poor-quality sealing at roof and windows. Lotus still doesn’t care much about build quality and this is the biggest obstacle preventing it from challenging Porsche. Good luck, M250. 

Turn the key, the engine fires into life. Transmission noise and vibration disappear, what leaves is exhaust and induciton noise that you want. Flick the close ratio gearbox, gears by gears, hearing the engine revs to 6,500 rpm, you’ll feel the reworked engine management brings more eagerness, responding to your slightest pedal action. So it must be faster ? no, stop watch actually tells you that it reaches 60 mph from rest in 5.8 seconds or 0.3 later than the old one. No matter 0-100 or in-gear acceleration it is also a bit slower. Only top speed of 124 mph levels with the outgoing car. 

Never mind, because this is already a very quick roadster, trailing just Boxster S, S2000 and Opel Speedster (for higher speed acceleration). After all, the fun of driving roadster depends on subjective feeling rather than scientific data. In this respect, the Elise is hard to beat, especially it handles so good in corners. It’s no secret that the original Elise is the King of handling, but the new Elise has improved on that solid basis and cured the only flaws: lift-off oversteer. The old Elise rode on Pirelli P-Zero whose stiff sidewall required softer springs for compensation. It meant the Elise changed direction brilliantly and didn’t understeer but when the driver back off mid-corner, the tail runs wide.  

New Elise has soft-sidewall RE 020 and stiff springs, the nightmare has gone. It corners at higher limit and in a predictable manner. When you enter a bend too fast and back off, the nose will tighten its line. On the other hand, high speed cornering is a lot more reassuring, thanks to real downforce generated.  

There is probably no other cars in the world could be more involving to handle (well, perhaps the unusual 340R could be). Think about it: a mid-engined sports car weighing just 3-quarter of a ton, with all wheels riding on double wishbones suspensions, steering rack is unassisted (thanks to little load on front wheels) .... these results in a highly controllable handling. In particular, the uncorrupted steering feel remains to be the biggest advantage of the car. It is perfectly weighted and gives the driver flows of information about grip level. The car is so agile that it goes to wherever you point. On the other hand, as always, it rides with amazing suppleness - we are not talking by sports car’s standard but also by sedan’s standard. You see, lightweight is a double-edge sword. I love Chapman ! 

The only thing you should avoid in the Elise is trying to slide its tail. Remember, 62% weight biases towards the rear axle so that going sideway could be dangerous. 

Excitement wise, nothing could beat the Elise, Porsche Boxster S included. It is fun to handle, reasonably quick and affordable. Nevertheless, as a daily car few could be worse. It is poorly built, unreliable, spartan and the company has a poor reputation about service. But you can’t have a lightweight roadster and simultaneously a high quality one. 
 

Lotus Elise Mk1 History

Throughout the following 5 years the Elise’s production went up steadily to over 2,000 cars a year and the 10,000 Elise was built in early year 2000. Now it has broken the company production record set by the original Elan. The affordable Elise quickly became the better known Lotus than the slow-selling Esprit, and it was derived into a big family consisting of the standard 118 hp Elise, the 143 hp Elise 111S (using Rover VVC K-series), the SVA-approved Elise Sport (with tuned K-series 190 hp), the kart-alike 340 R (177 hp tuned K-series) and the racy Exige (177 hp tuned K-series as well). Besides, some upgrade kits were provided to create Elise Sport 135 and Sport 160, both named after horsepower. 
 

Elise 111

Surprisingly, the new VVC engine has a very well manner, not only quieter but also less peaky than the old VVC as well as the standard 120hp engine. Not even the MG Rover version can match its wide spread of torque which produce 90% maximum torque across 70% of rev range. On paper, the max torque of 129 lbft is just 5 more than the standard car, but on road the difference is more than that - you feel the extra mid-range torque so that you can upshift earlier. In the old VVC you had to wind the engine to sky-high rpm to squeeze out the extra power, accompany with unhappy noise. The new VVC engine emits a deeper, special-tuned exhaust note which sounds better to ears while passing noise regulation. What did Lotus do to the engine? a new management program, variable back-pressure exhaust, larger intake ports and throttle body. That’s all. 

The 5-speed gearbox also received revised ratios - closer for the first 2 ratios and longer for the remaining. This sharpen low speed response a bit while reducing noise and fuel consumption when cruising. No wonder the latter improved from 38.1 to 40.9mpg. Combining the new engine and gearbox, the Elise 111 is actually more mature and refined to drive than the standard Elise, despite of the stronger performance. Conventional wisdom doesn’t work in this case. 

Because the Series 2 Elise has a chassis so capable, the VVC version does not need any tweak to suspensions, tyres and brakes at all. It just received a set of lighter alloy wheels and a more effective rear diffuser. All the goodies of handling and ride mentioned in the standard Elise report above apply to the 111. 

Apart from 111, Lotus is also selling a more expensive 111S alongside. However, the "S" is rather misleading because it actually offers extra equipment such as an improved sound system, carpet, leather trim and Alcantara seats. Theoretically it is actually a less sportier choice than the 111. 
 

Elise 111R / US-spec Elise

In DIN rating, the Toyota engine pumps out 192 horsepower at a sky-high 7800rpm. That’s 32hp more than the K-series VVC engine. Both engines rely on variable valve timing to achieve high efficiency, but their mechanisms are different. Rover VVC can infinitely alters intake timing as well as duration. Toyota VVTL-i alters cam timing infinitely, but it can switch to a more aggressive set of cams at high rev, thus increasing valve lift hence breathing. This accounts for the extra horsepower it generates. On the downside, the VVTL-i engine has a 2-stage power delivery - at regular speed it feels nothing special, once after the changeover point at 6200rpm it goes wild. Therefore Lotus had to rewrite the management system by itself to smoothen the transition region. 

The 1.8 VVTL-i is a peaky engine. Its maximum torque of 133 lbft (just 4lbft more than the K-series VVC) is not reached until 6,800rpm, where most other engines already has their rev limiters cut in. Below 6200rpm, its advantage over the K-series VVC is almost non-existent, but fortunately, the Elise is 330kg lighter than the Celica thus picks up rev much more quickly. If you are prepared to have fun, you will find the exotic power band easily accessible. Once entered the last 2,000 rpm, the engine pulls strongly and cleanly, delivering another level of performance.  

The C64 six-speed gearbox is a joy to use. Not only provides one more ratio than the Rover unit, its gearshift is quick and slick, far more satisfying than the old gearbox. Even if you are not in a mood to exploit the revvy engine, you will definitely enjoy the Toyota powertrain purely due to the beautiful gearshift. 

The Toyota engine and gearbox might started life in the Federal Elise project, but it vapored into the European Elise 111R as well. Now the Elise 111R sits above the 160hp Elise 111S and the 120hp standard Elise. Compare with the US-spec Elise, the 111R is sportier, with stiffer suspension setup and less burdening with equipment (such as airbag and air-con). Despite that, it is still more luxurious than lesser Elises, as it has ABS system (first ever to Elise), central locking and standard audio system. Besides, the Toyota engine together with 6-speed gearbox is 36kg heavier than the K-series VVC with 5-speeder. As a result, the 111R is also the heaviest Elise by a lot. It tips the scale at 860kg, compare with 806kg of the 111S, 780kg of the stripped-out 111 and 750kg of the standard Elise. 

Anyway, with 32 more horsepower and a 6-speed gearbox, the 111R is capable to accelerate from rest to 60mph in 4.9 sec and then 100mph in 13 second flat, the latter is 1.5 sec quicker than the VVC-engine 111. More important, the top Elise finally has a superb engine and gearbox to match its superb chassis. It is now as quick as sister car Opel Speedster Turbo (Vauxhall VX220 Turbo), just being sharper, more agile, more responsive and more involving to drive. Flyweight sports cars never come this good. 
 

Elise S - the new base model

When Lotus gave birth to Elise in 1996, it intended to make it a performance bargain. Therefore the car was made small, simple and powered by a small engine to enable a price of just under £20,000. As it became popular, inevitably, Lotus started increasing its power and price to raise profit margin. Today, the Toyota VVTL-i-powered Elise 111R (now called Elise R) is sold at close to £30,000, closer to Porsche Boxster territory and moving away from the philosophy of the original car.

Recently there are some changes in Lotus. In May 2006, Kim Ogaard-Nielsen resigned and left his CEO position to Mike Kimberly, a 22-year Lotus veteran and worked as CEO for 8 years since the death of Colin Chapman. Soon, we saw the "new Esprit" project accelerated and then the introduction of Elise S, the new entry level Lotus. It is priced at only £24,000, closer to the £19,000 Mazda MX-5 than the £33,000 entry-level Porsche Boxster. It signals a new direction for Lotus: on the one hand, it moves to the mid-price segment with Europa S and high price segment with new Esprit; on the other hand, it retakes the low price segment once left to Mazda MX-5. This mean Lotus will appeal to wider audiences and hopefully will improve financial stability.

Technically, Elise S is very simple. You can see it as a 111R with its VVTL-i engine replaced with the cheaper, fixed-valve-lift VVT-i engine and a 5-speed manual box instead of 6-speeder. This sounds too simple to be believed, but it is true. In other words, the chassis, suspension setting, tires, wheels and brakes are all unchanged from the more powerful car. The VVT-i engine might lose 56 horsepower to VVTL-i (that is, 136hp vs 192hp), but in real world the difference is negligible, because everybody knows the variable-lift engine is peaky and needs to be worked very hard to deliver its performance advantage. In fact, if you leave the rev at low to mid-range, the VVT-i engine is actually more flexible. It just loses the extra horsepower at the very top end. The car goes from 0 to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, still significantly faster than any roadsters at comparable price.

Perhaps the best news is Elise S possesses the same first class handling as 111R, because virtually everything other than the engine is the same. This make the £6,000 price difference very appealing. Undoubtedly, the standard Toyota VVT-i engine is not that much cheaper than the Yamaha-built VVTL-i engine, so obviously Lotus reduced its profit margin in the Elise S. To the fans of Lotus, what can be better than this?
 

Exige

As for chassis, the Exige rides on 10% stiffer suspension setting than the Elise 111R. But most significant is the adoption of Yokohama A048 semi-slick tires, which give it superior grip on track. The new Exige corners quicker and flatter than the Elise, especially at higher speed where downforce starts digging in. When it slide, the Yokohama tires keep that happen progressively, therefore oversteering is confidence inspiring. Compare with the first generation Exige, it rides more supple, handles more tidy and is quieter in the cockpit. Besides, standard ABS and power steering make it easier to live with. 

Nevertheless, I suspect Exige is slower than the equivalent Elise, as the additional bodywork adds 15kg to the kerbweight. Lotus claims the same acceleration figures and a slightly lower top speed at 147mph, blame to the drag generated by the rear spoiler. 

The problem is, the second generation Exige differs not that much from the Elise and does not deserves a separate label. If you remember, the first generation Exige had wider tracks, stronger engine, a more diversified look and a far sportier character to distinguish it from the contemporary Elise. Now this Exige is just an extension of the Elise range.