THE ICONIC LOTUS ELISE
The Lotus Elise sports car has long been celebrated as one of the purest sports cars money can buy. Few high performance sports cars can rival its tactile agility.
It is one of the best mid-engined, rear-wheel drive performance cars for sale in Australia. It has an ultra-responsive chassis, utilising lightweight materials such as aluminium and composite, to deliver the ultimate sports car driving sensation, providing phenomenal feedback with surefooted handling. It is the best sports car for sale under 100K in Australia
...the Lotus Elise sports car makes even a trip to the shops an adventure, with steering so feelsome it’s like running the palm of your hand down the tarmac itself. You can feel road cambers that you won’t have a clue about from the helm of any sports saloon, and when the car starts to reach the limits of its considerable grip, your bum will telegraph the situation to you well in advance...
LIGHT, AGILE, PURE
Smile inducing at each turn of the wheel.
A true sports car with a tactile, direct driving feel. A Lotus Elise sports car weighs as little as 866kgs to create an agile and very nimble vehicle which will have you searching for the closest corner or bend.
No power steering or fancy electronics you get to feel everything through your fingertips, feet & seat of your pants.
GOING.
BUT NOT QUIETLY.
Final Edition Lotus Elise.
The best and last.
WHAT DO LOTUS ELISE OWNERS THINK?
“The BEST balance of ride and handling car I have ever driven. Whether cruising on the highway or a session of enthusiastic driving on a track, the feedback and chassis balance is outstandingly unbelievable.”
Con
“I like the focussed and minimalist simplicity of my Elise. No power steering, no cup holders, no cruise control, no seat adjustment, no touchscreen, no GPS navigation, no lane control. Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci expressed it best when he wrote: ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'”
Murray
“Alive! That’s how I feel when I strap myself into my Elise. Driving a Lotus is an immersive experience, and I love the tactile signals…”
David
“I love driving my Lotus , I feel very proud and privileged to own one . The admiration and glances she gets is great . This is my third Lotus and the only make of car I would choice to drive.”
Theresa
“These cars are absolutely insane. If you want a totally different experience to driving a car (without any of the unnecessary “extras” that cars come with these days), then try a Lotus. I guarantee you’ll be hooked. I genuinely thought I was happy with my car … until I felt what Lotus were capable of – before long I was trading my car in for a new Lotus.
I recommend anyone considering a performance car to test drive a Lotus … Hand me the keys to ANY other car and I would GLADLY hand back the keys and state: “No, thanks, that’s not necessary”
Adam
“A single word to describe my Elise would be ‘purity.’ No ‘aids’ or ‘assistance’ of any kind diluting my experience, input yields immediate, unfiltered output.”
Tristan
THE PUREST SPORTS
CAR MONEY CAN BUY
A driver focused interior
Some drivers might prefer plush interiors full of gadgets, LCD screens and other creature comforts like cup holders. A Lotus Elise is not for you – the focus for this sports car interior is driving pleasure.
An Elise can be specified with leather, alcantara, carpets and other additions. Most people opt for keeping it simple with the focus on driving enjoyment.
A tactile, manual gearbox
The Lotus Elise is one of the last sports car models that you can buy with a manual gearbox. The unique, open gate design, gives you that tactile feeling every time you change gear.
Designed for those that love driving and love rev matching your downshifts, engine braking or even double clutching.
Precise, razor sharp, steering
Every piece of the Elise has been designed to focus on the simplicity of driver enjoyment.
The Lotus Elise has a very simple sports steering wheel with driver’s airbag. There are no gizmos or other buttons on the wheel to distract you.
The Elise doesn’t have power steering. It is so light you wouldn’t even know, but so precise you feel everything through your fingertips.
Safety harness ready seats
Straight from the factory the Lotus Elise has specially designed, light weight, sports seats that are ready for safety harnesses.
We can install our harness bar with Schroth safety harnesses ready for track day or targa rally use for driver & passenger.
Digital dash with lap timing
The Elise is focussed on performance driving. Optional on selected models and standard on the Final Edition range is the digital dashboard.
The optional GPS upgrade lets you switch from daily driving info to track mode. Lap timing and data recording is built in, perfect for analysis after your track driving session.
Aerodynamic aids
Other sports cars might have a few wings or other bits added to their vehicle to help make it look aerodynamic.
The Elise though has been designed with downforce in mind. It has a flat bottom floor like an F1 car, rear diffuser and it’s overall body shape was created with aero in mind.
Sports brakes, wheels and tyres
There is no point being able to go fast if you can’t stop and turn. Every Elise is specified with high performance brakes including ventilated front discs & sticky sports tyres.
From the moment you leave the dealership you are ready to attack an apex or mountain pass.
High performance engine
The Elise is powered by a 4 cylinder, supercharged, engine which is incredibly reliable, tractable and a joy to listen to with the unique sports exhaust.
An Elise weighs less than 1,000kgs making it 200kg+ lighter than rivals. You will experience amazing acceleration, cornering & feel every bit of the road.
TRACK DAY OR TARGA RALLY READY
ARE YOU A DRIVING ENTHUSIAST?
Use a Lotus Elise sports car every week of the year
The biggest problem we know that faces many sports car owners is where or how can they use it and explore its full potential. Modern sports cars have so much performance that normal road driving isn’t really enough.
When you buy a Lotus Elise from Simply Sports Cars you get access to an annual event calendar of driving events. You can choose to do track days, targa tarmac rally events, driving training and even casual motorsport, our dealership makes it possible.
Join a local Lotus Club in Australia
Another great way to enjoy your Lotus Elise is to join one of the local Lotus Clubs. There is one in each state and they organise a mixture of events including social drives, local motorsport and other driving actvities.
Each club is welcoming and inclusive, creating the perfect way to enjoy your sports car with other driving enthusiasts.
CONFIGURE
YOUR ELISE
Go to the Lotus Cars website to configure your new Lotus Elise. you can select from colours, interiors and other combinations to build a vehicle to suit your tastes.
What are the Lotus Elise & Exige Final Editions?
This year marks the end of an era for Lotus Cars. As the business moves towards an exciting future as outlined in recent announcements, time is being called on production of the iconic Elise and the genre-creating Exige, after 25 and 21 years respectively.
In honour of these two legendary models, Lotus has announced a range of five new Final Edition cars which have higher power, greater standard specification and – in true Lotus style – light weight.
These cars are the ultimate versions of the Elise and Exige, and mark the pinnacle of technical development to showcase more than two decades of engineering excellence. To be built in limited numbers, each is a fitting tribute to performance cars that are, almost uniquely, legends in their own lifetime.
Five new variants – two Elise and three Exige – have been created and Lotus is anticipating high demand from global markets as customers rush to buy a slice of history. They are available with unique paint colours, new exterior decals, new wheel finishes, new trim and Final Edition badging.
The improvements continue under the skin, a fact reflected in new names which reveal higher power outputs on three of the five – the Elise Sport 240, Elise Cup 250, Exige Sport 390, Exige Sport 420 and Exige Cup 430.
Learn more about the Lotus Elise Final Edition
The Elise is a truly iconic Lotus, with 2021 serving as the 25th and final year of production. The Elise Sport 240 Final Edition is a fitting tribute, and the exclusivity and rarity will no doubt ensure high demand and guarantee future classic status. It retains all the core values and features that have made the Elise such an iconic car – a small, light and agile two-seater powered by a supercharged and chargecooled 1.8-litre, four-cylinder mid-mounted engine.
As standard, the Sport 240 features the most extensive list of interior and exterior features ever. The biggest upgrade is the all-new TFT digital dashboard with the choice of two screens, one with a conventional set of dials and the other a race car-style with digital speed read-out and an engine speed bar.
The steering wheel is of a new design and clad in leather and alcantara. It features a flat base to create better leg clearance for taller drivers and to aid ingress and egress. Every car comes with a Final Edition build plaque, plus new seat trim and stitch patterns.
A new selection of colours has been introduced for the Elise Sport 240, harking back to some of the iconic colour schemes from the Elise and Lotus’ past. They are split into two; Select, which includes Daytona Blue, Fire Red, Metallic Orange and Motorsport Black; and Heritage, which includes Racing Green, Nightfall Blue, Essex Blue and Calypso Red.
The Elise Sport 240 Final Edition gains an extra 23bhp from a revised calibration and so replaces the Sport 220. Delivering 240bhp and 244Nm of torque, the engine has been tuned to provide stunning real-world performance and class-leading efficiency. The 0-60mph sprint is completed in 4.1 seconds thanks to a power-to-weight ratio of 260bhp per tonne. CO2 emissions of 177g/km are extremely low for the performance on offer.
The car comes with 10-spoke Anthracite lightweight forged alloy wheels as standard (6J x 16” front and 8J x 17” rear). They’re 0.5kg lighter than the wheels on the Elise Sport 220 and shod with Yokohama V105 tyres (195/50 R16 front and 225/45 R17 rear).
Lotus Elise reviews
EVO MAGAZINE CAR OF THE YEAR – BEST SPORTS CAR
‘Twenty-one years on and no one has matched the Elise in terms of undiluted driving enjoyment,’ says Gallagher. ‘It feels as refreshingly brilliant as it did when we first drove it, only now every area has been improved upon.’ Time spent in this car has been a tonic. A glorious relief from a life that these days is spent writing endlessly about SUVs and listening to nonsense spoken about self-driving cars.
The Lotus Elise Sport 220 shows not only how it used to be done, but how it should still be done.
TOP GEAR
“No car for the money gives you less car. But no car for the money gives you more sensation.”
AUTOCAR
“what else, at either price, offers this level of pure driving pleasure as well as enough practicality for hardy types to use for all seasons and reasons. The answer is the same as it’s been these past 21 years: none. Then, as now, the Elise is a unique proposition whose charm has barely diminished over the years.
AUTOCAR
“The tactile pleasure begins from the moment its wheels revolve, the steering taking instant effect, its sensitivity just so, the Lotus turning with total obedience. Add lock and the lightness turns to heft as the castor and trail angle take effect, providing enough resistance that you sometimes have to put some muscle into turning the wheel, a sensation almost alien to drivers of modern power-assisted cars.”
Richard Rackham: the Elise’s chief engineer
“….The original brief for the Elise was simple: to be a modern successor to the Lotus Seven….” “…‘What you have to remember is the Elise was all about creating a race car experience for the road…..They’re noisy as hell, but it is supposed to feel like a racing car….”
EVO – Porsche Boxster vs Lotus Elise S
“…The Lotus thrives on commitment and raw speed, so you tend to find yourself going like the clappers for 20 minutes before easing off to catch your breath….raw thrills, pace, involvement and excitement so readily served up by the Lotus. If you’re after an adrenalin pump, the Elise S stands head and shoulders above the Porsche…”
Frequently asked questions about Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise and Exige share the same chassis and are both designed to be very focussed, pure, sports cars. The main difference is the Exige has a slightly larger wheelbase & track as well as the more powerful supercharged V6 engine configuration.
Depending on the configuration an Elise has around 200 horsepower and weighs around 1,000 kgs. The Exige has 350 – 420 horsepower and weighs around 1,100-1,200 kgs.
The interior layout is practically identical as are things like seating, switchgear etc.
Yes a Lotus Elise is a rear wheel drive, mid engine, sports car that is one of the lightest available for sale in Australia.
The Lotus Elise has used a few different engines over its model years. Early models used a Rover engine but this was changed to a Toyota sourced engine with naturally aspirated and supercharged options in more recent models. Lotus tunes the engines and electronics to suit the high performance nature of an Elise. You get the benefit of a reliable powertrain combined with an incredible handling & driving experience.
The Elise design philosophy is very similar to an open wheel racing car. The driver is seated low with a mid-engine, rear wheel drive configuration that is like most race cars. It is light weight, agile and one of the best track cars you can buy in Australia.