2009 Lotus Elise Walkaround Review at Automotive.com
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2009 Lotus Elise Review: Exterior

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2009 Lotus Elise Review

Quick, nimble and responsive.
Walkaround
The Elise is available only as a two-door, targa-top sports car. Basic exterior lines and proportions reflect its two-seat capacity and mid-engine layout, which is to say it has both air inlet and extractor vents at the front and straked oil cooler intakes along the rear quarter flanks. The cabin is located well forward in the chassis, with a steeply raked windshield rising almost continuously out of the front clip. Behind the cabin are two buttresses which hide a steel roll hoop structure. Front overhang is noticeable, but there is very little rear overhang.

The body is made out of molded RTM composite fiberglass. The overall design could be called either sleek or busy, with multiple character lines, fillets and features punctuating every surface. A Coke-bottle shape within the wheelbase provides visual drama and glorious highlights, but detracts slightly from vehicle aerodynamics.

The Elise is very small, very sporty and very aggressive. Aside from alloy wheels in muted silver, all exterior trim is either body color or matte black. Lotus has invested heavily in the front lighting assemblies. A ribbed clear plastic lens covers projector-beam headlights. Taillights are round, basic and undistinguished.

Elise offers a broad exterior color palette and is most visible and striking in lighter colors. There may be a safety advantage associated with lighter and brighter colors being more easily seen in traffic. The Elise is small, after all, and turning on the headlights is not a bad idea.

Placed in a competitive context, the Elise is proportioned somewhat like a smaller version of a Ferrari F430. But, beyond that, it does not really resemble any other mass-production vehicle on the road. In just about every aspect, the Elise is in a class by itself.

We like and recommend the optional Starshield, a clear plastic film used to protect the paint on the nose of the car. It's impressively strong yet virtually invisible. Next Page



2009 Lotus Elise
  
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