USED Lotus Elise Open (99 - )

My car

I thought I'd write this after reading reviews that were so wrong about the Elise. I bought a new Elise three years ago for my 25-year-old fiance. She has used it every day to run to work and it lives outside in all weathers.

The car has been 100% reliabile, still looks great and costs nothing to run (compared to other machines of its performance). It has been practical and even managed to accomodate us for a two-week holiday drive to Italy and back!

We're so impressed that we've just ordered a 111R - this is after looking at the (yawn) MX5, SLK, S2000 and MR2... If you are considering buying one - just do it, you'll never look back!

My car

This car is about driving and not about gadgets that remove you from the driving experience. It's driving in it's purest form. Buy one and feel the road you're driving on!!

My car

I bought the car on a mild sunny day last February. This meant that my first experience of the car was as it should be, with the wind blowing through my hair (well across my dome actually).

The car has been a joy ever since. Performance and handling are of course breathtaking, but what sets it apart is that you can have fun at relatively low speed - at its best on wide, open, snaking undulating B roads you can test it whilst still on the legal side of the limit.

Motorway driving is relatively noisy and boring. Forget listening to the hi-fi at speed, the engine is much more stimulating to listen to anyway - though you soon tend to ease back the speed and enjoy the admiring glances.

These two attributes combine to make the car ultimately much safer than I expected. In the hands of a nutcase, it could be seriously dangerous. But respect it and learn how to drive it properly and you'll grow to love it!

I've marked it down on its quality and practicality in the cabin. But consider this in context. The ethos of this car is to maximise driving properties, at the expense of unnecessary modern comforts. Electric windows, aircon, or big carpets? I choose the weight-saving honesty of the car as it was conceived.

My car

Things I love:

Economy - over 65,000 miles I have AVERAGED 42.6 mpg - mainly motorway driving. Lowest figure recorded was 23.5mpg on a very fast journey Performance - 140mph motor car with 40 plus MPG... Handling - the best Looks

Comfort once in the driving seat. I can live with it as my everyday car - it's only two years old! And I am over 50, over 6 foot and over 15 stone!

Things I hate:

Leaking roof whenever it rains in spite of it being highlighted as a problem on every one of the last 6 services Getting in and out Ripping the front number plate off on sleeping policeman Air-conditioning - spent over £2,000 out of warranty trying to get it working properly Now given up and drive it with the heater jammed on Reliability - although it has never let me down on the road, I had an engine misfire that took over 50 hours labour for someone to work out it was an HT lead as I had originally suggested. At Lotus prices excluding VAT the costs can run away so easily...