Lotus Elise S - Up close and personal, a test drive!

The Series 2 Lotus Elise has been in production from 2002 till present. This was my first encounter with a Lotus, and one I shall never forget!

Wikipedia ... The design philosophy of Lotus is "Performance through light weight", first adopted by the founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman. The motto drives Lotus to obtain performance with lightweight cars instead of high power outputs, emphasizing driving purity and dynamics. The Elise S with a 134 bhp (100 kW; 136 PS) , 1.8l Toyota 1ZZ-FE engine and 5 speed manual gearbox (0-60 mph in 5.8s, top speed 127 mph (204 km/h).


My first impressions ... Low slung, sleek, and absolutely gorgeous!

I want one!

Some close-ups...

New rear lights, and a "little" boot!

The Toyota-sourced 1.8 litre normally aspirated engine, the VVTi kick-in at about 5,000 rpm really brings live to the engine! The hood is surprisingly easy to take off and put back on!

Some interior shots, all taken with my Nikon D80 and Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

Focused, basic and simply marvellous!

Magical ... yummm!

TW taking me out for a spin ... what a ride!

I had a chance to drive this beauty! Thanks to TW for the lesson on heading into a bend at 130km/h in 4th, caressing the brake pedal, and quick-shifting the gear up to 3rd, turning-in and taking the bend at 100km/h, at 5,500rpm ... Swwwwwwweeeeeet. The S grips like mad on its Yokohamas!

And back to Terra Firma, time for some GT5!