[widebody911]

A buddy of mine just bought an Elise and I drove it last weekend. This is the type of low-frills lightweight car that Porsche should be making.

The interior is austere, but a little cheap at the same time. They were going for the bare-bones "aluminum panel" race look, but executed it with plastic which will probably be showing it's age in a couple of years.

It doesn't have a lot of torque, and the power doesn't come on until 6k, but it's very light and well set up out of the box. They even come stock with R-compound tires.

OTOH, it's a PITA to get in and out of, and apparently the A-pillars and windshield frame are a weak spot. Every time you try to get out, the owner is going to scream "DON'T GRAB ONTO THE WINDDSHIELD!!!!"

As far as styling, they're a light year away from the homogenized Bangle-ization going on today, so they attract a lot of attention. Japanese look-alike arriving in 4... 3... 2...

What I found interesting was the ECU prinout he got with the most recent service. I'm not up-to-date on car electronics, but this report showed the top n speed runs, with top speed, TPS and water temps; it also showed the most recent n times he's hit the rev limiter. I have to wonder how this will be used to invalidate warranties, and how long until somene comes up with ECU-sanitizing s/w.