Let’s just come right out and admit it: it sucks to grow up. And not just because of the stiff knees and reading glasses and taxes; too often, you have to compromise. You can’t stay out till all hours, because you have to go to work in the morning. You can’t eat junk food because you’ll be awake at 3 AM with heartburn. It’s no fun at all. So on this Friday, let’s finish up our then-and-now week with a couple of cars from a company that never did really grow up, and until recently, refused to compromise.
Yesterday we looked at a couple of Volvo sedans from different eras, and, well, color me surprised. I expected the old 240 to run away with it; I figured the newer S60 would be too generic and too complicated to appeal to many of you. But as it turns out, the S60 won it, with nearly sixty percent of the vote. Maybe the 240’s long reign is finally coming to an end.
Except not for me, it isn’t. I am an enormous fan of black jellybeans, but I have no interest in a car that looks like one. Not when the alternative is an instantly recognizable classic that can still be used daily. Give me the 240, and I’ll spend the price difference fixing it up.
“Simplify,” goes the quote attributed to Lotus founder Colin Chapman, “then add lightness.” Take as much as you can away from the design, as long as it still functions. Make it light and agile, and you won’t need a big engine to power it. Lotus sports cars are wispy little things, built of spindly steel backbones and fiberglass shells, with just enough structure to hold everything together. And while most sports cars grew in size and weight over the years, Lotus maintained that lightness and simplicity, at least up through the newer of the two models we’re going to look at today. Let’s check them out.
1970 Lotus Elan S4 – $26,950
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6 liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: Sussex, WI
Odometer reading: 25,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
If you’re looking at the photo above and seeing a lot of NA Mazda Miata in it, there’s a reason for that; the Lotus Elan was one of Mazda’s benchmark cars for the Miata, and its front end styling is a pretty obvious homage. The smirky little grille-less air intake, the pop-up headlights, the wide and low stance – this is where it all came from. The Elan was Lotus’s second road-legal car, after the Elite, and it was produced for thirteen years – though, amusingly, no one is exactly sure how many of them were built. It’s around ten thousand, but precise counts vary.
The Elan is built on a steel backbone that runs down the middle of the car, with all the suspension and drivetrain components attached to it. The fiberglass body bolts to that backbone. It’s rear-wheel-drive, with the engine up front, based on a Ford design with Lotus’s own twin-cam cylinder head. The Elan has four-wheel independent suspension and disc brakes all around, fancy stuff for its day. This one has had a whole lot of work done recently, and the seller says it “starts easily, runs great, and is an absolute pleasure to drive.”
The minimalist theme is on full display inside; there’s no radio, and obviously no power features. I’m pretty sure it has a heater, but don’t quote me on that. it’s in passable condition, but the seats have a couple of popped seams, and there’s that small rip in the back of the driver’s seat. A good upholstery shop could fix that right up. But the wood dash has been replaced, and man, does it look nice.
The seller describes the car as a “five-footer,” but honestly, if you’re going to get any closer than that, get in the damn thing and go for a drive, and don’t worry about a few blemishes in the fiberglass. It’s shiny, yellow, and cool-looking, and that should be enough for anybody.
2005 Lotus Elise (its real name) – $34,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8 liter DOHC inline 4, six-speed manual, RWD
Location: San Gabriel, CA
Odometer reading: 66,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
After Colin Chapman died in 1982, Lotus flailed a bit. A dalliance with Toyota, a brief period of ownership by General Motors, and investments from all over the world kept it afloat, and the cars were as cool as always – yes, even the front-wheel-drive Elan S2 – but its future was never certain. A ray of sunshine arrived in 1996, in the form of a sleek, curvy, new little mid-engine sports car: the Elise.
The original Elise was powered by a Rover engine, but by the time it arrived in the US in 2005, it had Toyota power, in the form of a 2ZZ-GE four-cylinder and a six-speed manual, the same powertrain found in the sporty versions of the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe. This car has nine more horsepower than those cars, and it weighs a thousand pounds less. It’s a quick car. A little too quick, for its first owner, as it turns out – the current owner bought it with a rebuilt title. It doesn’t take much to total an Elise, with its fragile fiberglass nose that isn’t separately replaceable, and a lot of them have ended up with rebuilt titles for minor altercations. The seller says it runs and drives just fine, and there is no indication of frame damage underneath.
I’ve sat in an Elise – though I haven’t had the privilege of driving one – and I can tell you that at just a hair under six feet tall, IÂ barely fit in it. And it’s not easy to get in and out of, either. The Elise is pretty Spartan inside, but it does have air conditioning and a stereo, and both work just fine. It’s in great shape inside, too.
Outside, there’s no sign of the accident that dinged the title. It’s straight and shiny, and an excellent color. It has nice aftermarket wheels, and the original wheels are also included if you prefer. The Elise is a targa top, if you’d rather have fresh air than AC, and both the hard and soft tops are included in the sale.
Lotus is now owned by Chinese firm Geely, and its future seems to be electric and luxury-oriented, which is neither light nor simple. And I think that’s a shame, but at least Lotus’s lightest and simplest road car is still available, from Caterham. And of course, there are always used ones like these. Which one appeals to you?
Side note: a terrible-but-fun idea would be to pit two of the Autopian’s writers’ spouses against each other in a Shitbox Showdown. The classy and tolerant Elise-Not-Her-Real-Name vs. kickass lawyer Sheryl.
Both! But if forced to choose, I’ll take the one without a salvage title. Without a salvage title, the Elise (her real name) would be the easy winner for me.
Of all the days not to give us a both option…
Both.
BOTH!!!
Please?
I am not sure it makes any sense that the Hagerty value of a 2005 Lotus Elise is a grand less than one that is being offfered with a salvage title that will forever haunt it.
I might have gone the new route as I hate Yellow cars with a passion, but I can wrap them cheap enough I guess. And this lotus while being very British is at least odd enough that I can say I have never seen one int he wild that I can recall, so it does seem like an intriguing and in this instance better option.
Yellow cars are awesome, hater 😛
I like Elises, and this one is in The Good Color — but that Elan is just too cute.
We’ll take the yellow one.
“(its real name).” Now, that was funny. It caused me to chuckle audibly as I sipped on coffee.
It’s gold, Jerry.
I actually LOL’d.
Which one has a more comfortable seat? I’ll choose that.
Probably the Elan. The 05 Elise seats are terrible. The 06+ are shockingly amazing. They look the same, but the padding was completely reworked and the 06+ seats are the only car seats I have ever happily spent 6+ hours in without having a sore back and butt. Arms on the other hand… That lack of power steering and tiny steering wheel means that a few hours driving this properly is a fantastic work out
The Elan is pretty, but typifies the “Lots of Trouble, Usually Serious” thing.
Or at least simply because of its age and method of production, it’s going to be needy.
The Elise. Have wanted an Exige, Evora, some other kind of modern Lotus for a long, long time.
There’s no way in hell my fat ass is fitting in either one of them. Since we’re playing with fake money and an imaginary skinny body, I’ll have the classic one.
Two words: Emma Peel
I’d be thrilled to own either car actually, but Mrs. Peel’s Jaguar Opalescent Blue Elan S3 (when the show was in color; during its B&W years it was a white S2) and leather catsuit were a large part of my puberty.
But those prices: Guess those stem from the unbearable lightness of being Lotus.
Did you know that “Emma Peel” was supposed to stand for “Man Appeal”?
Mission accomplished.
The Not-Her-Real-Name is one of the most modern pure sports cars you can buy. There are no GT pretensions here, just driver engagement. If you can afford one you probably already have a comfy car for your long drives anyway. As much as I like it though that little yellow fellow Elan speaks to me more. Both is a solid voting option but if I have to pick one I’m taking the Elan. No offense to David’s lovely spouse of course.
Hardest SS ever. Correct answer is “both”, since if you can’t afford both you can’t afford to maintain either, and if you have both of them you can drive the least broken while you fix the other one!
Gonna pick Elan, because if you’ve ever DIYed on an Elise, well… you know why… At least you can get at most of the important bits of the Elan pretty quickly.
Saw the yellow Elan, scrolled down, and voted. I’ll always love the look of those and love the Miata for copying it. I really like the steelies on it but noticed they’re using knock off hubs? Doesn’t that add weight vs wheel studs and nuts?
I think that’s the “Simplify” part.
I don’t know about the weight difference, but the Elan used a hybrid setup that employed four or five drive pegs like a normal wheel stud. But instead of using separate nuts to secure the wheel, a knock-off bolt secured the wheels by turning inside the hub.
It kind of makes sense since Lotus engineers were constantly using Rudge-Whitworth knock-offs for racing. This was an evolution of that with some extra reliability and safety. It’s possible this setup was first used on the Elite S1, but I’m not sure.
IIRC, Elans had knock-off steelies from the start.
Pretty sure Elites all had wire wheels.
Yes, all Elans came with drive pegs on the hubs. The early had four, later SE had five. And yes the Elites all had Borranis, even the racers it seemed.
Ah, I saw 5 holes in the rim but no lug nuts and was confused. What you said makes sense. I brought up the issue because I had to replace the hub on my Healey BN-4 and it was a big heavy hunk of steel, like everything else on that car.
Easiest Both of my entire life. If I HAD to pick, it would be the Elise, just because the modernity and relative reliability, and the 2ZZ is an absolute gem of an engine.
Why not both?
So true! If I can’t afford $26K (which I can’t), I certainly couldn’t scrape up $60K.
But we’re talking Internet Money here, so yeah.
Agreed! I can’t afford either, but if I could, this would be a good case for “buy both”.
Because you’re not Billy Ray Valentine sitting on a beach after grifting the Duke brothers.
I’m not even 50 yet but I just look at the Elise and think of how graceful, or not, I would look getting in and out of the thing. Also the front is a little overwrought for me. Give me the Elan with that beautiful wooden dash.
Man if the Elise was black it might be a different story, but that is a really nice looking Elan, even if it’s yellow, and fits perfectly in my fleet as “nice enough to drive proudly but not nice enough you’ll worry about driving it.”
I’ll take the Elan.
Bordeaux Red Pearl is actually a pretty rare color (I believe it’s one of the few that are 2005 only), but a case for why you wouldn’t want it in black is visibility. I remember quite a few cars were getting into accidents early on, and they were almost always dark colors like Nightfall Blue or this Starlight Black. It’s the primary reason I ordered mine in Krypton Green.
seems a good price for the elan
No question: has to be the Elan.
I’ve driven both, and loved both. The Elise is a real go-kart and has plenty of suds. If it has a deficiency, it’s perhaps a certain casual approach to fit and finish. That “rebuilt” title bothers me more than the likelihood that some trim piece wasn’t screwed on properly at the factory, though.
On the other hand, the Elan does everything the Elise does, if a bit more slowly, and adds a perky demeanor to the list of attributes. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time I drove it. It felt lighter on its feet than the newer car, which it is.
Try to find an earlier example, though, which would have had a pair of Webers instead of Stromberg carbs, and be prepared to make a handful of updates if the previous owners haven’t (by now, the “rotoflex” axle joints have surely failed, and replacements have good ol’ U-joints).
Mainly, be prepared to have a great time behind the wheel. Let your Inner Jimmy Clark loose!
I have an ND Miata, which basically splits the difference between these Loti. But as the Miata is my primary vehicle, I would need to go with the Elise.
Nuclear take-I’ve always been bothered by the simplify then add lightness quote. It’s a grammatical mess. You don’t ADD lightness, you subtract weight. Ugh. Those cheeky Brits….
Anyway give me the Elan. That Elise was ridden hard and put away wet. 66,000 miles and a rebuilt title for $34,000? Are they high? This was some dude who grew up with Need For Speed’s dream car and he abused the shit out of it, and whoever owns it now has realized they’ve made a terrible mistake and are trying to jump ship.
The interwebz is filled with this alarmingly pervasive idea that Lotuses aren’t that bad to own because of their Toyota powertrains and they could be more wrong. If literally anything happens to the body or chassis of the Elise may god have mercy on your soul.
I’ll take the cheerful Elan that’s in driver condition and not look back. You’re not daily driving either of these but I’ll enjoy it on weekends.
Adding lightness is possible. You need to add material that is less dense than the surrounding media. A blimp adds lightness by adding helium. Does this apply in the context in which the quote was presented initially? No, it does not.
When I started 3D printing one of the things you can do is “Add negative part” and I was like..Huh?
F=ma. If I reduce mass I effectively add lightness. So there.
I’m here to be the grammar police, not the science police, NERD!
Why, that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me today! OK, back to cranking out plans.
“You don’t ADD lightness, you subtract weight.”
That’s the joke.
You’d be surprised by the sheer number of Elise models with rebuilt titles. The front clamshell is one gigantic piece of fiberglass, so the second any of them get so much as a crack of any capacity, they are all totaled immediately due to replacement cost. I’m not even exaggerating here. Also clean title Elise of this vintage in NA form are nearing 50k on the regular, and 34k for a salvage title is actually on the lower end of what I’ve seen transact recently, to it’s a much better price than you would think.
This is the right take. A rebuilt title on a clean, running car is almost certainly bodywork damage and is worth a $10K+ discount. These are also cars that have often been modified in questionable and particular ways, from superchargers to crazy bodywork alterations. This example at $34K might not be the best on the market but the price seems fair.
I strongly suspect it’s something that Chapman may not have ever said. I haven’t looked into its origin, but that’s the case for so many of these apocryphal aphorisms.
(most flagrant example: Henry Ford never, ever said “if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” A British journalist mused that one into being in the late 1990s.)
your take on the chassis and body costs to repair definitely help the seller explain salvage title I suppose, but not the asking price premium over market standard.
“I am an enormous fan of black jellybeans”
So THAT’S what’s wrong with you. Explains a lot, really.
Anyway, I voted Elise (NHRN). This is one of the few cars that a rebuilt title doesn’t bother me that much. And while the Elan is objectively the best color, a convertible, a stick shift, RWD, AND has pop up headlights, I think the Elise would be something I could drive all the time.
….are you familiar with the Elise? Unless you want to make your chiropractor very wealthy you’re not driving it all the time
I’ll admit I’m not, but where I normally drive, the roads are pretty smooth. I’m in my mid 50’s and have never had back problems. Maybe it’s time to change that?
Once you’re in an Elise, I find them quite comfy. It’s the getting in that’ll do ya.
I would LOVE either of these…but probably would fit in neither unfortunately. That’s why an Evora has been my dream car pretty much ever since they came out, I could probably squeeze into one of those.
Well played. I’m still not voting for it, but that’s a good joke.
Same here, good joke, rather have the Elan.