The Lotus Elise. My one indulgence.Hand-built in Norfolk, there's no carbon footprint in manufacturing, just an (albeit six-toed) human one.
The car returns 35mpg on combined urban/non-urban use since it is incredibly light: the aluminium bonded chassis, fibreglass monocoque body and 1.8 litre 2ZZ-GE metal matrix composite engine result in a kerb weight of less than 850 Kg.
Plus there are no silly add-ons like cupholders or air-conditioning (just take the roof off) to add weight and hamper the blistering performance: 0 to 60 in 4.9 seconds.
Ferrari performance for a quarter of the price and none of the running costs or social stigma (people let you out at junctions in an Elise). What's not to like?
Since 1995 it is still the purest, best sports car on the planet. Lotus returned to its roots and has been great again ever since...
ReplyDeletesix-toed?
ReplyDeleteDA ;-)