Thursday 19th March 2015

Lotus Elise 20th Anniversary launched

'Classic Elise colour schemes', 914kg and £39,900 for new Elise special edition

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Yes, it has been two decades already. It was the Frankfurt show back in 1995 when the Elise was first exhibited to the world and Lotus hasn't matched its impact since. That clever bonded aluminium chassis, the sweet good looks plus an affordable entry price created the Lotus sports car many had been hankering after for so long.

Feeling old now?

To mark the momentous occasion, Lotus has created the Elise 20th Anniversary Edition. Rather than a limited numbers special with a huge power and a wild appearance, this is a rather more subdued birthday celebration. Indeed, the fact it replaces the Elise S Club Racerin the Lotus range is telling; aside from the new colours it appears very similar to that car.

Still, that can hardly be seen as a bad thing. Weight is down 10kg over a regular Elise S to 914kg (although that will jump up again if the air-con and stereo are optioned back in) with the powertrain unchanged too. That means 220hp, 4.6 seconds to 62mph and 145mph. Handily as well it still returns nearly 40mpg and 173g/km on the official cycle.

20th Anniversary replaces S Club Racer

Marking out a 20th Anniversary from a regular Elise are a few external decals, black accents, lightweight black wheels, body-coloured inserts on the (also lightweight) seats and dash plus the auxiliary driving lights. Colours are limited to Blue, Green, Yellow and Silver.

Jumping the anniversary gun a little, the Elise 20th is on sale now. It costs £39,900, £2,700 more than standard Elise S but with, according to Lotus, another £5,150 of additional equipment. See the new wheels, seats and lighter centre console. To add back in air-con and a radio will cost £1,250 and £1,200 respectively. And if all this has rekindled an affection for the Elise, S1s are for sale this way...

[soad]

How much for a radio?

[WCZ]

10kg weight reduction over the S
the S has Radio and CD/MP3 player, integrated iPod® connectivity, with 4 speakers as standard and this doesn't
pretty weak imo.

[j_s14a]

Oh dear.

Somehow they missed the entire point of the original car. It didn't have fancy wheels etc, it was a basic, spartan car with small wheels and amazing handling, and was affordable.

[redroadster]

Price Lol.

[otolith]

Predictably amusing comments on price - 1996 S1 Elise was £18,950. Inflation adjusted that's £31,786. Current entry level Elise is £30,900.

They were never cheap.

[SidewaysSi]

otolith said:

Predictably amusing comments on price - 1996 S1 Elise was £18,950. Inflation adjusted that's £31,786. Current entry level Elise is £30,900.

They were never cheap.

Exactly. As good value as the original.

[Frentzen]

I ordered one in 1996 and the £18950 price was never held.When they realised the demand it immediately became £19950 and with the leather,stereo,driving lamps,metallic and alarm etc it was £22000 OTR.Still £40k for this one seems steep...

[K2iss]

Looks nice in yellow with the black accents. I'd still rather have an S Cup with no air con and no radio for near the same price.
Does anyone know whether the 24 months 0% finance offer will last after the 31st of March?

[otolith]

£37,200 for the basic supercharged car, I suppose whether the special edition is worth the extra depends whether you would have specced the extra equipment or not - and whether 37k for the S is worth the money depends on your priorities. If you want a faster sports car you would either have to stump up quite a bit more money or make some more sacrifices on the practicality side. You could certainly have a slower sports car with more luxury for that much.

[chickensoup]

+100 horsepower
+150 Kg
+£20,000
Progress?

[EK993]

chickensoup said:

+100 horsepower
+150 Kg
+£20,000
Progress?

+ inflation?

[cheddar]

otolith said:

Predictably amusing comments on price - 1996 S1 Elise was £18,950. Inflation adjusted that's £31,786. Current entry level Elise is £30,900.

They were never cheap.

1989 MX5 new price £14,200

2015 MX5 new price £19,500 (with free radio)

Economies of scale?

[windy1]

Performance through light weight I thought used to be their motto.
It's a shame, with the advancement in lightweight materials & taking the unneccessary fat off structures by design simulation, the current elise isn't much lighter than the series 1 car. It should be at least 200kg lighter by now I'd have thought.

[moribund]

Yes, and does that MX5 have 250bhp/ton?

150kg for the now mandatory ABS, airbags, emissions kit and intercooled supercharger does not sound that bad.

[moribund]

windy1 said:

Performance through light weight I thought used to be their motto.
It's a shame, with the advancement in lightweight materials & taking the unneccessary fat off structures by design simulation, the current elise isn't much lighter than the series 1 car. It should be at least 200kg lighter by now I'd have thought.

They had engineering and computers in the 90's too you know, the original was hardy dripping with excess weight. Where does 200kg come off ~775kg and still end up with an road-legal everyday car with doors, roof and boot? Unless you want a Caterham, which Caterham already do quite well?

Honestly.

[otolith]

cheddar said:

otolith said:

Predictably amusing comments on price - 1996 S1 Elise was £18,950. Inflation adjusted that's £31,786. Current entry level Elise is £30,900.

They were never cheap.

1989 MX5 new price £14,200

2015 MX5 new price £19,500 (with free radio)

Economies of scale?

And differences in the relative costs of mechanised versus substantially hand built construction.

[otolith]

windy1 said:

Performance through light weight I thought used to be their motto.
It's a shame, with the advancement in lightweight materials & taking the unneccessary fat off structures by design simulation, the current elise isn't much lighter than the series 1 car. It should be at least 200kg lighter by now I'd have thought.

The current car is heavier than it should be, but expectations have changed - it's less unrefined and safer than the original car. I'd like to see Lotus take a chunk of weight out of it. I'm sure there are savings that could be made, for example the aftermarket exhaust I fitted to my 111R gave the impression the original equipment part was carved out of lead!

[slipstream 1985]

A lotus special edition? Wow thats rare.

[kambites]

How does it manage to be only 10kg lighter when the air-con alone is significantly more than that?

[Leggy]

otolith said:

windy1 said:

Performance through light weight I thought used to be their motto.
It's a shame, with the advancement in lightweight materials & taking the unneccessary fat off structures by design simulation, the current elise isn't much lighter than the series 1 car. It should be at least 200kg lighter by now I'd have thought.

The current car is heavier than it should be, but expectations have changed - it's less unrefined and safer than the original car. I'd like to see Lotus take a chunk of weight out of it. I'm sure there are savings that could be made, for example the aftermarket exhaust I fitted to my 111R gave the impression the original equipment part was carved out of lead!

There ain't much to take outgo make any substantial weight savings. Unless you use more exotic materials.