Even the Exige 1 wasn’t angry enough

Yes, the S1 Elise looks like a playful puppy that just wants to run. But the S2 has a mischievous grin, like it just outran the cops.

I used to dislike the looks, on video it does look like a toy. In real life though, it looks planted and hunched. Not aggressive, but purposeful. I wonder how many commenters here dissing the look have actually seen one.

@@zzhughesd the s1 exige looks absolutely perfect.

@@wesleycardinal8869 38k CollectingCars auction and 41k S1 Exige for sale now, they look fantastic as a Series 1. Kinda rich for me but tempted go for one tho , maybe not, I've owned older Maserati and older x, y , z. Rather not 40k in a 2000 example, likely tracked, well, will be tracked.. I've owned the Exige both 2020 roof scoop S2 and also V6. The Series2 was likely my preferred by a smidge , but I took the V6 to Italy and back from UK with passenger seat out and bike and couldn't have dealt with the S1 noise that distance !!!!!!

Lotus ended when Colin Chapman did. I do like the Elise though.

👌👌👏👏

Well done, Elise is an icon and It can never be replaced... the market wouldn’t accept a car as pared back as the original today.

Well done mate! Another tick off the bucket list.

Congratulations I hope it stays in your family for generations so they’d get to see good cars not robots driving around cities

Congratulations! I’ve had my sport 160 , one of the fifty SVA cars for fifteens years and it’s been great.

Along the same lines "Say not in grief that she is no more, but say in thankfullness that she ever was"

i usually hear that in reference to the holocaust

I said that too. I wiped, got on with my life.

@@BeeRich33 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Dr suess is cancelled

C' est incroyable Erwan il y a 10 mn je regardais une vidéo dans laquelle tu tournais dans l' Elise 111r de François Briand au Castellet😊👍. L' Elise est une de meilleurs voiture de sport de tous les temps.

@@TheOrangeEliseCup250 je suis tombé sur la vidéo tout à l’heure aussi, après avoir regardé celle-ci!

Well I cried

Made me miss my Elise s2 😔... My mini hypercar

J'ai ma S1 111S de dispo sur Paris si jamais tu veux faire une balade un weekend Erwan :) (je viens de regarder ta vidéo chez Nache, si ils avaient eu une elise, ca serait rentré parfaitement dans le thème de ta vidéo !)

So true, another fish story of lengths. It was a very good chuckle.

What joke? that clearly is 6 to 12 inches.....

@@JakobusVdL that was 4 inches at best

@@StellarGale are you a woman? they're always saying that ;-)

@@JakobusVdL no, just speaking from experience 🙃

Exactly - missed his reviews !

Yes, does anyone know if he has been doing videos elsewhere?

Thought the same thing!!

@Paul Blackman the love child of Harry Hill and Richard Hammond!

He was the reason I watched carfection

I thought the same, didn’t want to say though as I know how long it takes to produce these videos! 😂

Snap (sorry, made the same comment before reading this). Not in any way a criticism of the video - aesthetics are a matter of opinion. 🙂

Aggressive by UK standards!

It looks like an aggressive little puppy

It was released 25 years ago though. It looked a hell of a lot more aggressive than the M100 Elan.

It must handle amazingly!

I can't understand why they didn't sell millions of these things. My S2 Exige was the previous owner's daily driver, and I understand why. It could easily be my daily driver, as well, and I'm 61. I've never had another car that came even close to being as much fun to drive as an Exige or Elise. You don't drive them. You wear them. The car really is an extension of you.

@@johncheves4740 Yeah but most people are stupid, so you have to think what will sell to them.

@@projectilequestion They didn't sell more simply because they are designed as a plaything. That's not an insult, because Lotus quite literally designed it, and priced it, as a fun 2nd or 3rd car. It may have been affordable compared to the likes of Jaguar and Porsche, but it wasn't cheap. It was too raw and impractical for most people to use every day. The MX5 filled that gap.

@@another3997 Oh, I'm not saying the MX5 was a bad car, in fact I want one, its you see a lot of ricers buying and spending so much money, they could have got an Elise.

Two of if not the best motoring journalists in the biz (Chris Harris as well of course).

@@TheWallBeyond agree

If sports car market goes down then lotus would declare bankruptcy

Lotus has confirmed an all electric range going forward. No more engines 😟

@@grantfoster8833 And then the Emira was announced...although it is a fat V6, it's still a very nice car, available in manual no less

@@tomatodamashi Beautiful car, but it comes in at a shade over $100k, in the USA that is.

@@biffbifford402 Yep $177,000NZD. Puts the Emira out of reach of even those us who have appreciating S1 sitting in our garages that could be traded in.

ditto !!

Don't say it'll never leave the garage. Try a new battery? 💛

@@Lemma01 Think he means it will never be sold.

@@LewisMR2 Bless you. I was making a joke... 😉

No chance as an electric car. They will never be able to keep it under a ton and have sensible range :(

Yeah not happening unless Lotus plans to sell ICE cars outside of UK. UK is forcing electric cars on its population by 2030...

So is the US and most of Europe. Some are doing it even earlier I think. No one is developing any new engines now.

@@EjinRenos it’s pretty sad

@@BlatentlyFakeName Well the original Tesla Roadster was built around an Elise chassis and wasn't bad the batteries are packing more and more power and the motors are getting smaller. With the huge instant torque from electric motors the weight is much less of an issue than it is with an ICE engine so I live in hope that they'll still pull off something good. Acceleration will be better from any speed.

My 111R was storm titanium on colour but they look great in chrome orange. I’d be tempted by an S3 Exige if I had the cash.

Lucky dog!

It was a sales success for Lotus. I mean it doesn't compare to mainstream cars like the Prius, but about half of the cars Lotus has ever produced was an Elise.

Thanks for that, very interesting.

Best car I’ve ever owned. Was one of the early examples in 2004; needed revs but was frantic on cam and the handling was sublime.

@@MrGwaldo Absolutely agree, I owned an Exige S2 190, much purer and charismatic than Exige 220 and Cup 260 that followed

It's what I drive and I'll never get rid of her.

Who wants to live forEVer?

Me too, but get in to a Caterham and you'll add 25% to it's weight. They make the Elise look heavy in comparison. 😁

Yeah it does look like a very British 246GT!

@@TheWallBeyond I can remember a time when a 246GT could be purchased for less than an Elise would now cost.

A DVA tuned, 200+ bhp S1 Elise is, in my view, better, as it's lighter and more versatile. The S1 Exige is certainly more aggressive looking.....

So you're saying Lotus did not improve the Elise in newer generations?

@@theunheardprophet4315 define “improve”. It’s so subjective. The 1999 111s is the perfect, literally perfect blend of lightness, chassis usability without being a Catererham Supersport. Weight... ABS... aircon! None of those are improvements. YMMV

​@@robertdavies922 I sort-of agree. I had an early S2 K-series (similar weight to your 111s probably) for a few years, then replaced it with an S2 SC. It's heavier enough (100kg or so) that the feel is quite different - it's just not so delicate and feelsome. It's like I'm carrying a passenger around all the time, which in a car this light you can really notice. Throttle response isn't so good, either. On the other hand, it's much more livable on long journeys, with the carpets and the aircon. Heat soak through the aluminium chassis can be a real pain without aircon, especially on long road trips in hot weather. The ABS only kicks in when you really need it, and the extra power _really_ helps with overtaking slower traffic on interesting roads, enabling you to enjoy them more. Swings and roundabouts, really. I personally think the S2 SC is the better car for me, but there's not much in it, and I could well understand someone preferring an earlier K-series S2 or an S1 instead.

@@AlastairMaw great summary of the differences - but all fantastic cars

@@robertdavies922 I too have a nice 1999 111S but tuned to over 200bhp and with rebuildable suspension. I think it has the perfect balance between power, weight (760kg) and handling, at least for my taste. I have retrofitted the MMC brakes, and the Lotus hardtop, and it's a truly beautiful thing. It's capable of 154mph on the autobahn, and has been a lot of fun on the circuit. I don't think top speed is of any importance in reality, and I'll never forget a drive in a stock 120bhp S1....the fluidity, the perfect behaviour at speed on twisty French roads was a revelation to my passenger, a pure bike guy.