Often heralded as one of the best handling sports cars ever made with lightning performance to match, the Lotus Elise is every petrolhead’s dream. John-Joe Vollans certainly had to pinch himself when he took this Series 1 Elise to Classic Team Lotus in Hethel, Norfolk

Words: John-Joe Vollans
Pics: Martyn Barnwell

AN ELISE FOR A DAY
These thoughts were stirring around my head as we arrived at Kelvedon Lotus in Spalding, Lincolnshire – our starting point for the trip. Proprietor Pat Thomas very kindly loaned us his own Elise for the day (which is for sale see: www.kelsport.net). This particular example is one of the last series one Elises, a ’99 T-registration, which means it still carries the Rover K-series engine and the original purity of styling and lack of interior comfort.

To thoroughly test an Elise we needed a route mixed with high-speed dual carriageways and vitally, some twisty B-roads to contend with. The route from Kelvedon to Lotus HQ in Hethel provides all of the above, and as much of the A17 and the A47 past King’s Lynn are single carriageways, there would no doubt be some overtaking opportunities.

Taking the keys from Pat and opening up the doors on the Elise, the first dilemma hit me: how do I get in without looking like a prat? The high sided sills on the Elise make a conventional entry and exit next to impossible. Instead I found the best tactic was to step into the car and hold onto the steering wheel as you slide your back down into the seat. Something our photographer didn’t manage at first and fell into the passenger seat with a painful sounding bump. Settling into the driver’s seat I’m surprised by how much room there is. At my height (six foot two) I was expecting to feel a bit cramped, but if anything the seat needed to be pulled forward slightly.

You do instantly notice the lack of padding in those figure-hugging bucket seats but in a nod to creature comfort, Lotus provided an inflatable lower back support, so a few squeezes of the hand pump and things are improved… a little. To be honest, complaining about the lack of comfort in an early Elise is a bit like Jensen Button whingeing about the lack of air-conditioning in his McLaren Mercedes; both cars are built for one purpose… performance.

FACT FILE
 

VALUES
This is the time to buy. In fact the time to buy cheap has already passed, but prices are certainly climbing at the moment. A sloppy Elise can be a very expensive prospect to return to peak condition as a car this finely balanced really needs a specialist to get the best out of it. Failed bushes are a common occurrence and are often traced as the cause of a shoddily handling Elise. Projects are virtually non-existent and any that do come up are snapped up very quickly by track enthusiasts.

A realistic figure to begin with is £7000, which will buy you an early S1 Elise that is sound but may have a few niggles or high mileage – or most likely both. The baseline figure for something useable and well looked after is £10,000. Above this is reserved for very well looked after or recently restored cars such as the one we used for this test. These cars can fetch over £12,000 but beware of owners who are trying to jump on the price hike bandwagon with cars that aren’t as good as they look.
 

NEED TO KNOW
Kelvedon for Lotus
01775 725457
www.kelsport.net

THINKING OF BUYING ONE?
Panel gaps and body condition are the key giveaways of accident damage to an Elise. Head gaskets can fail just like the MGF. The single best indicator of how well an Elise has been maintained is in its suspension condition: the handling should be tight and scalpel-sharp, so if a test drive reveals anything less, do not be fobbed off with a seller’s excuses.

To read the complete road test see the August 2011 issue of Classic Car Mart - back issues available here