Thinking of coming back to the NSX world...except for this one thing.

[MartinSD]

Greetings

Go and rent a Lotus (or any other car you are interested in buying) so that you can drive it without a salesman or owner sitting next to you. You need to drive it for several hours. You may have to fly somewhere in order to find a rental, but airfare is dirt cheap right now. I rented several cars out of the 46 that I drove before buying my NSX -- took about 10 months to complete. I drove 5 NSX's before buying mine -- colors were not right. I had 2 particular colors in mind.
Good Luck and congrats on graduating as an engineer. I to am an engineer - chemical engineer. I miss not doing actual engineering anymore.

Cheers,
Martin

 

[Dr.Honda]

Alex,
as a toy, the Exige is hard to beat. If you are planning to track it, bring your helmet to the test drive/"fitting". Alot of taller guys have trouble fitting w/ their helmets on, there are some after-market lower seats on Sector111 and other sites, also depends on the brand of helmet, Bell and G-Force are not as low-profile as Arai. Look for a car that has an after-market rear toe-link brace like RTD (again, S111) if you plan on doing alot of track work. pm me if you have more specific questions...
good luck!
Jim

 

[EuroBoutique]

I won't comment on the NSX since you owned one and should have some experience there. However I must say if you have not owned one, buy a 2002+ car and get it supercharged! Any thoughts of the Elise will leave you at that point.

Anyways here's my experience on the Lotus cars:

1) My g/f and every other girl I talked to here in CA consider's it a cute chick car like the Miata so go for it if that is your taste....cute like a puppy

2) Unless you ride mostly by yourself or with a girl, I would not drive it since every shift you end up grabbing the guy's leg ~ no kidding!

3) Never crash tested and IMO not a safe car just like the SMART car. A death trap if you were to get hit by an SUV.

4) Not that great styling anyways IMO and reminds me of a mosquito - small and annoying that buzzes around.

5) I had 2 s2000's and thought about buying the Elise and after I drove one for 10 min I was like enough of this crap and bought another s2000. The s2000 feels like a Mercedes compared to the Elise.


As you can tell from my comments I don't like the car unless it's my dedicated track car and I'm simply no baller like that!

 

[W]

If it's just a toy, have you considered other options, such as a Lotus 7 clone or a well built track only car? If between the NSX and Exige, I'd go with the Exige since you don't have to live with it on the street.

 

[docjohn]

With the lotus you need to be very comfortable in you own skin and in the skin of your passenger:wink:If all you do is drive people you are attracted to then it is a great car:redface: If you want to take your buddy to the car show 2 hours away........its gonna be a long two hours of your shoulders/arms and anything else rubbing together:biggrin:

 

[alexchannell]

Some funny comments here

Safety: Not concerned - I ride motorcycles can't get a worse crash rating than that.

Closeness to passenger: The girlfriend is 112 lbs and 5'3" and hardly ever will a guy ride in there with me.

Loud, noisy rattly: I have a 4runner for when I want to be quite and smooth.

Styling: Yeah it's a little strange, I kinda like it though. Definatly not "classy" though.

Track only type car: This would be used on the street a lot, else I'd be searching for a Radical with the V8


Update: I went to the dealer, they only had a couple Elises. I was suprised just how well I fit! More headroom than my nsx hardtop.
I could use a few more inches but it looked like the seat was right on the floorpan. I didn't have time to take one for a drive however, I'd really like to find a SC model to try too.
I am leaning more towards one after seeing it in person. The fit and finish really didn't seem bad at all.

 

[docjohn]

Lol, the fit is tight .......and there is no "finish"

 

[Dr.Honda]

My Elise attracted crowds like no other car I've owned, unfortunately, mostly teen-aged boys. It was not fun to drive 5 hours to Road America but a blast once I got there. I liked the sport bike on crack sound, ran a decat pipe and Arqray exhaust. You definately have to be chummy w/ your passenger. Most people don't "get" the Elise/ Exige, it looks ridiculously small (even next to an NSX) and it is NOT a chick magnet by any means!
But, take one to the track or your local autocross and everyone expects you to kick ass!

 

[DrVolkl]

Safety: Not concerned - I ride motorcycles can't get a worse crash rating than that.

Closeness to passenger: The girlfriend is 112 lbs and 5'3" and hardly ever will a guy ride in there with me.

Loud, noisy rattly: I have a 4runner for when I want to be quite and smooth.

Styling: Yeah it's a little strange, I kinda like it though. Definatly not "classy" though.

.

Sounds like you've made up your mind. Enjoy it! We'll see you back in a year. :wink: