Lotus Cars designed, prototyped, and produced the new Elise 2-dr sportscar in just 12 months. Impossible? Not when the chassis is already one of the best in the world, the engine is a K-series block supplied ready-to-go by Rover, and anything that is a luxury isn't needed.
That's how Lotus kept the kerb weight of the Elise to just 756kg. No tin roof, no electric seats, no cruise, no anti-lock brakes, no airbags, bugger all sound deadening, in fact bugger all anything in a car that costs $79,990 plus on-roads.
Buy an Elise and your concept of cash-for-comfort goes out the window. For starters, it takes a bendy bloke to contort sufficiently between a very high door sill and a fabric roof just 1.14m off the ground. The cabin, as viewed from super tight sports seats, is best described as snug and spartan. We counted just four buttons aside from the radio and HVAC controls - one of which we couldn't figure out.
Turn the key, blip the throttle and the Elise's design concept becomes immediately obvious - performance. A paltry 88kiloWatts isn't going to scare your V8 mates, until you mention a kerb weight less than half a Commodore SS. Add short ratio gearing and lightning quick steering response and the Elise morphs into the ultimate weekend weapon.
Despite its head turning looks, the Elise is not a car for posers. The ergonomics are nightmarish, and the bumpity-crash ride - smoother than the old model - is a real patience tester around town. Couple that with steering that reacts to your softest breath and the Elise becomes too much of a weekday headache.
Head beyond the city limits and everything bad becomes blissful. The cockpit ergonomics are perfectly designed to keep the occupants' weight as low as possible in the mid-engined chassis. Pedals, steering wheel and gear lever fall immediately to hand, facilitating lightning quick inputs and adjustments.
The brake pedal, firm and belligerent around town, translates every nuance of the bitumen back to the driver so cleanly you can almost feel the coarse chip blacktop beneath. Lock a wheel under brakes and you know it almost before the tyre does.
Under acceleration the mid-mounted engine's note is rather flat and disappointing, taking the edge of the Elise's otherwise ballistic performance. Rest to 100km/h in 5.6 seconds is not hanging around, while 16in Bridgestone fronts and 17in rears do hang on tenaciously.
The Elise is not a cool commuter, far from it. Buy one so you can look good, and you will, until you try to get in - or out - of it. Buy an Elise to drive far and fast and you'll never want to get out again...