Lotus Elise (00 on) - Review

Review by David Ross on
Last Updated: 20 November 2009
The original Elise saw Lotus return to sports cars with a bang. The new car improves on that further but retains the same key ingredients - a light weight body, high-revving engines and superb handling. This is an old-school approach to sports cars. There are few luxuries (there's no power steering for instance) and it's not a comfortable car to travel long distances in, but for sheer enjoyment and involvement few cars come close. It lacks the practicality and usability to be everyday transport for most, but as an indulgence it's ideal. Affordable prices and good economy mean it needn't be expensive to run either.
4 out of 5

Other Lotus reviews

3 out of 5

Running costs

Considering the performance it offers, the Elise is affordable to run. Fuel economy is around 33mpg on average and reasonable emissions mean it isn't expensive to tax. Lotus. However Lotus servicing is pretty pricey and the Elise requires attention every 9,000 miles.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

9000 miles.

Warranty

Two years/unlimited miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£135.00 - £270.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

3 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
    149
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
    208
  • L
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

For a car with such impressive performance, the Elise has quite low emissions with the current S emitting 196g/km of CO2 - that's less than a Volkswagen Golf GTI. Even the supercharged model only puts out 202g/km of CO2 and returns 33mpg. Incredible considering it will go from 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds.

Find the exact engine and CO2