I'm about to re-drive a 2005 Elise and compare it to a 2006 Honda S2000. Both cars have roughly equal mileage (under 20,000). Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get the opinions of folks here on the forum.

If anyone has an opinion, that is.

The difference in asking prices is considerable: $23k for the Honda and $37k for the Lotus. That's a big difference in hard earned American fun bucks.

So...is the Lotus worth the extra 14 thousand or so dollars? What do you think?

 

This is a fairly easy decision based on your particular needs. If it's the only car, S2000. You won't want to live day-to-day with an Elise and that horrible ingress/egress where you have to sit on that ledge and fall in then climb your way back out. Not to mention how tiny and cramped it is with two people in the car (or hell, even one). If it's just a fun car and you can afford the Elise, it will be the better pure fun car. How much better is up for debate. The S2000 is still an extremely capable car with excellent handling but it won't be quite as pure as the Lotus.

If I were in a position to be able to afford a $37k car I'd probably get a C6 Z06 and call it a day. If you're only interested in the lightweight, high-revving type of car then I would probably do an S2000 + turbo kit and upgrade the drivetrain to make it reliable even while taking a beating. I don't think I'd buy an Elise for $37k personally.

 

I'm looking to add a small, fun car to my garage which is currently occupied by a boring hatchback and 5 bicycles. With all those bikes, the car has to be small.

And I'm beginning to think the asking price is just right for the S2000 and waaaaayyy too much for the Lotus especially when you consider that the Honda is only a little behind in performance and is a lot more reliable and comfortable.

 

Seems pretty high of an asking price for the lotus no? I've seen them for 30 or under low mileage I believe.

For a pure fun car I would go with the Elise probably however with the money saved you could easily throw a sc on the s2000 and to be at least it would be much more fun and faster at least straight.

 

Good point about the supercharger. Hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it.

And yeah, that asking price for the Lotus is absolutely insane. Not sure I have the patience or ability to haggle them down to a respectable price.

Kevin

 

spend that 14k extra on the s2000 and it will run circles around the lotus, straight line, track, mountains, autox, etc ect...

 

I've owned both. I'll keep it short and simple. If you have another car and just want a weekend car and don't care for using it on a "more-than-2times-a-week" basis, get the Lotus. I recommend finding a Lotus priced properly for the market however, 37k is ridiculous.

If you are planning to mod the car for performance (supercharger or suspension, etc) then I would go with the S2000. Performance is very similar once modded. I would even venture to say the S2000 is the better car if you're modding.

 

As always: the answer is in the test drive. Worth is always highly subjective on any topic. Even S owners don't all have the same sense of worth. That said, the Lotus you're asking about does seem overpriced. Have you shopped around at all?

 

As always, test driving is the key to answering questions like this. They're not a one-size-fits-all matters no matter which cars you pair up. Test drive the options and choose whatever suits you best. Polling is never the way to determine your preference.

 

If you're not hung up on staying with ultra-low-mileage (i.e. can you stomach under 40k miles instead of under 20k?) then you should be able to find an Elise for upper-20s and an 06+ S2000 in the upper teens. Both the prices you noted are on the higher side especially since winter is almost here.