I finally got an Elise after a long time of pondering whether I could live with one as a DD, it is an face lifted Graphite MY2010 SC, bought from Murray's.
The main obstacle preventing me from buying one earlier is that it took a very long time (years) of explaining/conning the OH that this car was relatively very safe, thanks to TC/ABS/Airbags... unlike the rented 1999 (it was an S135 or s160, not sure) that spat us off a roundabout and scared the living crap out of us.
My first experience of an elise was at a drivers dream days event at Bruntingthorpe. I got to drive a number of super/sports cars, including 360 modena, 911t, TVR Tuscan, Gallardo, Subaru WRX turbo, a Caterham and an Elise. I enjoyed the Caterham and the Elise the most!
The experience stayed with me and a few weeks later I decided that we should rent an Elise to take us on a family event trip to climb Ben Nevis.
This was a 1999 Elise S135 on semi slicks, hardcore to someone so out of their depth like me. It was raining... So I make my way nervously from Glasgow to Fort William, then on the last roundabout before Balloch I take it calmly and without rushing at something like 20mph, come the exit and I feel the rear snapping to the right, presumably caused by me not being used to the throttle response vs the civic... I don't have a clue what I'm doing so I liftoff... do a 360 and end up on the grassy triangle between lanes. Very fortunate that there wasn't other cars around, and that this roundabout was unfinished, a couple weeks later a barrier appeared where I had landed in the middle of the triangle. A very nice chap stopped to help, and helped push the car from the triangle and got covered in mud in the process... Forever grateful to him otherwise I would be stuck there looking like the idiot I was.
Amazingly there was no damage to the car, I guess I entered the grassy triangle at a good angle and it helped that it was a low angled kerb. So we continued on our way to Ben Nevis, that was the most nervous driving I have ever done, should really have turned round and gone home.
Anyway I don't like feeling like an ignorant idiot so this event prompted me to educate myself. I bought an S2000, did advanced driving lessons, airfield limits training at Crail, Knockhill tuition and a couple of track days. Now I'm back in an Elise! This car feels far more confidence inspiring than the S135 and even the S2000 (never felt confident with rear on less than perfect surface, odd movements).
Cheers!
S
