Early Driving Thoughts – Elise

We bought this Elise almost on a whim. It's a 2011 Elise R – naturally aspirated, the third generation (S3). It has ~11,000 miles on it.

Before we bought this car I'd never driven an Elise or Exige on the street. I have plenty of seat time in them on tracks, but never on the street. In my mind they are a quick, edgy car, eager to stab you in the back (spin) if you falter. I love that aspect of my 996, but I also love how easy it is to not get stabbed in the back if you're at 8/10ths (or less). I wasn't sure how shabby the Elise was when not pushing the limits.

I'm quite pleased so far.

I have driven it only twice now. The first time was on a back road we drive frequently, any time we're going to Blanco and are in a fun car. It was on 5 year old tires, so I didn't push, but all those benefits of the light weight were there.

Today I drove it to dinner. This was not on particularly curvy roads (I'm spoiled, these roads were wonderfully curvy compared to some parts of the country), and I wasn't interested in pushing the car's capabilities, just having more fun than a Cayenne. I've done this same drive in... just about everything we have. The 996 feels like the closest comparison.

Before I start comparing: The 996 GT3 has a hydraulic steering rack, but it's barely boosted. It's quite stiff at low speeds, and it communicates every feature of the road to the driver's hands. You can feel what sort of aggregate was used in the asphalt.

For this dinner run, the Elise does almost everything the 996 does that's fun, while being much easier to live with. "Um, Equiraptor," I can hear you thinking, "An Elise is easier to live with than a 911? Did you phrase that right?" Remember, this is the most track-focused GT3, and its suspension is stiffer than stock, louder exhaust than stock, and it has my track alignment on it (with toe out on the front and my nutty amount of camber). This Elise is close to stock and we have not yet aligned it. The alignment feels good (even/true), but like a normal person alignment, not a nutty-track-rat alignment.

The Elise is quieter, without being so quiet there's not auditory fun to be had. The Elise is less sharp over bumps. Rattles? They've both got 'em. The sensation of speed is higher in the Elise, with how low it is, but my comfort with speed is greater