2006 Lotus Elise consumer reviews

This car is EXCELLENT for what it is. It is a street legal performance race car. It is not a family hauler. If you are into performance and exclusivity, this car is for you. There is not a better handling/braking car made...period! To make this claim at under 50,000 is incredible value. It runs fast and sounds great. It looks like 100k car and I continually get people surrounding the car asking what it is and guessing it to cost over 100k. I have not had a single problem with the car, except for the soft top trim which was replaced under warranty. It is small...but it is light. Ohhh, it also gets great gas mileage and I drive it for the most part as my daily driver. I would recommend this car to any performance minded car enthusiast. For the money you will not find anything even close to it.

I love the Elise; and would have difficulty finding a car in it's price range, that I would rather have. However, in the year and 15,000 miles I have owned it; I have had multiple mechanical problems with it. Having problems with a new car; especially one that is in it's first year of prodution, is to be expected. However, when those problems have been worked on 3-4 times, and still have not been fixed; I begin to get concerned! I have talked to my dealership and Lotus several times, regarding my concerns. Unfortunately, thier primary response has been "What do you expect from a sports car?" and "These problems are inherent with all the Elises.". My response to them was "Other comparable sports car do not seem to have all these problems." and "If these problems are inherent to all Elises; then all of them should be fixed.". Ultimately, I informed my dealer and Lotus; that I felt my car qualified as a lemon, and requested a new car. Lotus' response was; that I could keep bringing the car back for repairs (to work on the same problems, that 3-4 previous attempts have not fixed) or I could hire an attorney! What is most disconcerting; is that on more than one occasion, Lotus' regional representative has admitted that Lotus was aware of some of the problems I have encountered, and felt that they were an acceptable trade off for performance. My concern is, if I am having these very noticable on-going problems now; what other current and/or future problems are present but unnoticable? Just for the record; I have not been rough on my car, it has never been on the track, and I service it religiously!