Not really a "street encounter", more of a "parking lot encounter".

I know this is not a big deal for the people outside of US, but
for me it is. I've been wanting this car for a looong time, but
Lotus never imported it to the US. So I had to "settle" for
an S2000.

Drove back from lunch today and I see at the Rice U. paring
lot a yellow Elise. Of course, had to stop and look at the car.

It's a lot smaller than the S2000. It is very low, and quite
wide, so from behind looks quite menacing. From up front
it looks, well, cute, kinda Miata cute.

If you thought our cars were "spartan" inside, you should see
the Elise. No carpet, no radio, no A/C, just the shifter, steering
wheel and pedals. As it should be.

I have no idea how this guy managed to get it. It has proper
(or they appear to be proper) plates, inspection and registration
stickers. And no, I managed to look trough the engine cover
(it has some sort of mesh on top of it), and the car does not
have the ITR engine in it (I know there's some company that
will sell you an Elise in US with a ITR engine). It says "Elise"
on the engine.

The car is a left-hand drive. The best color too (yellow ).

Anyone has any idea how this is possible? I'll lurk
around and try to see whose car it is, and talk to him to see
what's the deal. I have seen a Lotus Elan and a Lotus Esprit V8
parked in the same spot before, so I'm pretty sure it's the
same guy.

All in all, wonderful little car. I want one.

Zoran.

 

if i remember right the company doing the ITR engine swap to pass emissions was selling them around 50k.. and it still pulls similar #'s. it was in Car and Driver forget which month.

 

i want an elise.....thank you drive through

 

When I was in England, I saw the Elise for the first time. I asked one of my UK friends what kind of car it was and he told me. He also told me that there were rumors of it being sent over to the US with a Saturn badge. Bever happened, and probably never will.

 

Well, there's Opel Speedster in Europe, which is a GM car
based on the Elise platform. There's a lot of rumors that
that car will make it to the US as a Saturn or Pontiac.

I'd much rather own a Lotus than a Saturn or Pontiac,
thank you very much.

Zoran.

 

As an ex-owner of a 95 Lotus Esprit S4S I can tell you that if you do have one(Lotus) then I suggest you have another car for the other 6 days of the weak.

They are great cars and super fast, but are a pain in the ass to drive, especially if you live in/near a city. They are also not very reliable. After all, they are British and the British are not know for their reliability especially when it comes to elecrtical systems.

I ended up getting rid of it because it was cheaper to take the money spent on maintenance each year and buy a new car(2001 Audi TT Coupe 225hp)

 

There are indeed several street legal Lotus Elise in US. 6 of them were imported from my local dealership. They were going for $60K each. All of them were sold. I know there are some people in US federalized their Lotus and shipped from UK. I don't know how people pull it off, but it does exist.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PHUNBALL
[B]As an ex-owner of a 95 Lotus Esprit S4S I can tell you that if you do have one(Lotus) then I suggest you have another car for the other 6 days of the weak.

They are great cars and super fast, but are a pain in the ass to drive, especially if you live in/near a city.

 

Hey, dude, Lotus Elise is one of my favorite too!
They r really good looking.
Too bad US doesn't import Elise...
They r only legal on race tracks right?

 

I love that car, I hope i get to drive one someday. It has to be so much fun.