RE: Lotus Elise 250 Special Edition

RE: Lotus Elise 250 Special Edition

Friday 26th August 2016

Lotus Elise 250 Special Edition

50 cars to mark 50 years at Hethel, plus a sub-900kg kerbweight too



Anyone expecting a return of the Esprit or something similarly dramatic to mark Lotus's 50th year at Hethel must continue to wait - that hasn't happened. What there is instead is the Elise 250 Special Edition, a new model "drawing inspiration from some of the company's most alluring models".

What's the silver strip for?
What's the silver strip for?
As the name implies, this Elise is based on the 250 Cup that so impressed us earlier this year. However, rather unlike everyone else and certainly in keeping with the Lotus ethos, this Special Edition is lighter than the car on which it's based. Yep, thanks to a raft of standard carbon parts - the front splitter, rear wing, boot and front access panel - this car has an 899kg unladen weight.

Mechanically identical to the 250 Cup, the Special Edition makes 246hp and 184lb ft from a supercharged 1.8-litre engine. With 270hp per tonne, it's capable of 154mph, 4.3 seconds to 62mph and 1min 34secs around the Hethel test track. Which sounds about fast enough.

Naturally though there are some key differences to mark out the Special Edition from the Cup, this car only available in four colours (classic metallic blue seen here, red, yellow and white) as well as leather seats with contrast stitching. The forged wheels are available in silver or black. Or you can send it to Lotus Exclusive, pay more money and get whatever paint you want.

There will be 50 Special Edition Elises made, available now and priced from £47,900. What could be next for Lotus in this anniversary year? An Exige would surely suit the special edition treatment very well...





 

Author
Discussion

Oddball RS

Original Poster:

1,757 posts

217 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Scraping endlessly scraping............... surely there is no bottom left in that barrel?

SuperchargedVR6

3,138 posts

219 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Looking seriously dated now, imo.

hughcam

411 posts

164 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Looks absolutely fantastic to my eyes. I might even buy one if there any left early next year...

tadaah

214 posts

210 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Looks awful and is positively ancient now.

Equus

16,770 posts

100 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
It was all going well until I spotted that rear wing.

CABC

5,533 posts

100 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
i agree it's looking a bit dated, not least through familiarity.
Thing is though, Hethel are finishing their cars so much better these days, and it's still the driver's car of choice, bar track specials.. For the fan base this could be a great car, end of line keeper before the next gen gets fattened up. For some new drivers they might be pleasantly surprised if they test drove one.

A lot of new cars haven't improved on design though, very little that's new is so inspiring, not until you look at Ferrari or McLaren.

CraigyMc

16,326 posts

235 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
6 comments and 4 of them are about how the thing looks.

It's a Lotus. You can't *see* how the steering feels.

Ikemi

8,438 posts

204 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
I'm a massive Lotus enthusiast and it pains me to say it, but that rear end is ugly ... Big wing, motorsport-style protruding diffuser and a huge single exit exhaust? This Elise is almost becoming a caricature of itself! frown

saaby93

32,038 posts

177 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
What happened to 720kg? They could save some weight by removing that rear wing thing and the carpets

Davey S2

13,075 posts

253 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Oddball RS said:
Scraping endlessly scraping............... surely there is no bottom left in that barrel?
+1 and nearly £50K!

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
It looks a bit subtler to me than the 250 cup, I like it.

truck71

2,328 posts

171 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Love it (sans rear wing).

Quickmoose

4,482 posts

122 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
It's a bit crap for the company's 50th celebration....and certainly due for a facelift.
Underneath the shiny things and stupid price tag, lies one of Britain's finest.

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Quickmoose said:
It's a bit crap for the company's 50th celebration....and certainly due for a facelift.
Underneath the shiny things and stupid price tag, lies one of Britain's finest.
It's 50 years at Hethel, not 50 years of Lotus (that was in 2002 or 2009 depending on whether you want to use the formation of Lotus Engineering or Group Lotus).

Oddball RS

Original Poster:

1,757 posts

217 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
CraigyMc said:
6 comments and 4 of them are about how the thing looks.

It's a Lotus. You can't *see* how the steering feels.
I know how the steering feels from having owned an S160, 240Cup and 340R.......... that do ya?

They need something that adds to the idea, and it needs to 'look' new.

Edited by Oddball RS on Friday 26th August 14:41

Audemars

507 posts

97 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
The Elise needs a rehaul. Used to like them 15 yrs ago but they have now dated.

Also get rid of that silly rear wing. Truely awful.

Quickmoose

4,482 posts

122 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
marshalla said:
Quickmoose said:
It's a bit crap for the company's 50th celebration....and certainly due for a facelift.
Underneath the shiny things and stupid price tag, lies one of Britain's finest.
It's 50 years at Hethel, not 50 years of Lotus (that was in 2002 or 2009 depending on whether you want to use the formation of Lotus Engineering or Group Lotus).
oops, so it is boxedin
In that case it's a perfectly judged bauble for a such an 'event'...
Will there be an anniversary addition for when the factory got it's first vending machine?

Impasse

15,099 posts

240 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
The new Elise is underway so in the meantime why not attempt to bolster sales by further enhancing an existing model?
It's of minimal development costs to Hethel and is a good substitute for a pricey advertising budget. The customer gets a honed version of the car and Hethel's bank account gets a few quid. Win, win unless you're on PH with no intention of ever buying anything but a silver coloured diesel saloon.

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Interestingly, the tarted up S1 I bought in 1999 for £27,000 would be £43,000 in today's money. As far as value's concerned, it's probably not that bad. The carbon tat needs to eat a whole bag of dicks, though.

Quickmoose

4,482 posts

122 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
Interestingly, the tarted up S1 I bought in 1999 for £27,000 would be £43,000 in today's money. As far as value's concerned, it's probably not that bad. The carbon tat needs to eat a whole bag of dicks, though.
I'm using some converter found via goggle and getting £32k..... if your maths are right, then it's a very relevant little factoid. If not... this is still marketing over substance...but as said...why the hell not.