Two years ago, I spoke kindly and enthusiastically enough to the VP of Lotus Engineering at the LA Auto Show, that he took down the ropes around the Elise display and allowed me to all but drive the car through the display hall.
Strip down a 911 to its most minimum, but leave in RS door panels, and that's the Elise's interior. There is nothing to waste and no room to spare inside it. Big guys do not apply for this one. But if you're a little guy, the only better seat you'll get is on Seabisquit. The car is very little; smaller inside than my '74 911.
Targa911S has a point about the Elise's appearance. My wife called it an interesting "dune buggy." In person, the car looks much better. But it's a real form over function design. I don't think one could even put a laptop and a passenger inside the car without they intruding upon each other. There are, as I recall, storage bins behind the front seats, but those are for the roof (s). The praying mantis (Lotus insider term) front end is really nice when looked at the right way. The rear and sides are awesome.
A concern may be the torque curve of the car - doesn't sound exactly traffic friendly. But then at 1,975 pounds, a healthy go-kart engine could probably get it to speed.
I'd buy one - but honestly, not for $40,000. Mini will probably come out with AWD soon and 200+ horsepower. If it's light (which it probably won't be - that's probably up to the owner), I bet it'll be a contender to the Elise, but for about 20K less.
