Elise test... Disappointed :-) ...

...that i could not bring it home right away :-(

Two disclaimers: 1) i have never drove or been in a sportscar before (daily driver is a bmw e46 318) 2) i am looking for a sportscar to drive occasionally to work and to have fun on weekends.

I first saw an elise in the uk in 2002. I immediately fell in love with the looks of the car. At the time i really liked the Z4 so i really didn't think seriously about the elise. Then i started reading about it here and in a couple of other on-line fora and fell in love with the concept behind the car.

After reading about suspension, radio, safety, i felt it was to extreme for me. I had been bitten by the sports car bug and salary went a bit up so i started to look at boxsters. The sportscar among the roadsters, as porsche claims.

Yesterday i went for a test drive on the elise in a city 200 miles north of where i live. I wanted to rule out the elise once and for all and i was sure that a test drive would show the suspension to be too hard, the car to be too spartan.

My test drive was booked for 2pm. I could not sleep the night before and took a 7am train. At 10:30 am i already was at a shopping mall 20 mins away on foot from the lotus dealer. I couldn't resist. I walked to it for a peek (hadn't seen na elise 'live' for two years). As i walked i caught a glance of the back of the solar yellow test drive car. It looked so beautiful. A bit more angled and a bit less round from the back than i had expected. I liked it. I walked on the side and saw the interior (soft top was on)... Nice. I looked at the front, my first glance went to the feline headlamps.

I only felt that way a couple of times in my life... I call it love at first sight.

I really wanted to be what you guys often call 'a lotus driver', someone that loves this car for what it is and who understands why it is a truly genial driving machine.

The car stand was on a cobblestone road with some potholes. 'that will show me what this suspension really feels', i thought.

There were still three hours to go for my appointed time. I could have gone in but i was too overwhelmed and went back to have lunch. Came back at 2pm sharp. My heart was pumping hard.

The salesman was really nice. We took out the rooftop and i sat at the wheel.

It felt crazy unbelievably fantastic. Wow. My cheekbones were hurting from the huge grin on my face. I said something like 'wow, this is, wow!' I turned the key and the elise woke up with a growl. My smile widened as I gave it some revs, 'oh my god, wow'. My negotiating position was gone, lol

I took a look at the cabin. The exposed aluminium, the large exposed bolt on the passenger's footweel, everything felt like a true pure sportscar. All my senses were in awe.

The time had come for me to find out if i was really a lotus driver.

I engaged the clutch. I thought it would feel delicate and flimsy. Instead i was rewarded with a strong mechanical feeling. I loved it. As i turned the wheels to get to the road i was surprised with all the information coming through the steering wheel. Amazing. As i drove through irregular coblestone and potholes, i could certaintly feel them more than on my bmw 318, but it was not really unbearable or uncomfortable just enough to give you the feeling of being in na uncompromising sports car. Not that i would want to make a 30 mile trip on a road like that, but neither would i on my bmw. It would be more comfortable on my bmw, but the elise could take it for half a mile with no big lack of comfort. After all i read about how awful the suspension is, i was really pleasantly surprised. Also ground clearance was not as bad as i expected. The car didn't scrape when i hit the potholes. I know one has to be careful with curbs and ramps. I just expected it to be worse.

Another sort of good surprise was the radio. It's not as good as a bmw but on city traffic and with the top off, it was adequate. Not great, but still good enough to enjoy music while waiting for the lights to turn green.

I was really overwhelmed with the car. I didn't really drive it fast and don't remember much. Among all the excitement, everything was a blur of joy. It didn't feel like there was na avalanche of power at the pedal waiting for me to release it. However, there was always power there when i needed it.

But then my slaesman intervened. I was cruising at 45 mph on 4th and he told me to drop it into third gear.

Holy ****!!!! Who just turned on a rocket engine on the back of this car?!

The engine roared as the 2nd cam got about its business and then I really felt that avalanche of power ready to be summoned at my will. Wooo hooo... All of my remaining bargaining power with the salesman just went out the exhaust :-)

This is a long write up already, so i'll just share a couple of other things. At one point i stopped in a red light behind a schoolbus and all these kids came to the back windows and started waving at me. I waved back and hit the high-beams a couple of times. Really cool!
I also stopped in traffic next to a boxster. The driver kept staring at the elise and gave me a thumbs up!

Two neat things about the elise that i hadn't read about before. When you're driving, your view on the bonnet is framed by the two side arches that end on the headlights. I really liked that because of the sporty feel. The other thing is the cool gold elise logo on the driver's side. It was painted on the three elises at the dealer. Looks cool, imho.

I now understand how much all of you that own or have driven na elise feel for this little bundle of joy because i feel it too. It's wild, insane, unbelievable, brilliant. It's... wow!

As i left the dealer after discussing options and pricing, the salesman drove me to the subway on a jaguar sedan. I took a glance in the rearview mirror and took a last look at the elise.I also noticed that the wide grin on my face hadn't faded a bit.

I had discovered, to my surprise and joy, that i am indeed a lotus driver.

Can't wait to be a lotus owner in a few months :-)