Lotus Elise S1

The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The series 1 Elise had a hand-finished fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provided a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum. It is capable of speeds up to 240 km/h (150 mph). The Elise was named after Elisa, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time of the car’s launch. The Elise’s immensely strong but lightweight aluminium chassis (the rear subframe is steel), glassfibre body and absence of bulky luxuries such as servo assistance for the brakes and steering mean it tips the scales at just 725kg. As a result, its modest, mid-mounted 118bhp 1.8-litre Rover K-series engine can fire it from 0-100 kmph in just 5.5sec. Throw in all-round double wishbone suspension and you’ve got a quick, agile and astonishingly communicative two-seater. The car on offer has covered just 22K kms in seventeen years and is probably one of the best in existence.

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