2005 Lotus Elise Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Complete visceral driving experience. From the climb into the drivers seat to the sound of every pebble coming off of the tires . Simply put, it’s a underpowered race car on the street. The power to weight is exceptional but you will desire additional power as the chassis and steering feedback quickly give you confidence. Great value per dollar, rare, striking attention getter and will not loose value. Mar 17, 2021

The 2005 Lotus Elise is a niche vehicle to the extreme. Imagine driving a go-kart with more power and surrounded by a fiberglass shell. The car will go where you point it, but the drag-strip is an enemy... While the car will move from a standstill to sixty miles per hour quickly, anything beyond eighty becomes noticeably taxing on the low torque of the engine. The look of the car is based on the Ferrari Dino, and while beautiful it doesn't allow it to slip through the air, instead generating downforce and parasitic drag in the process.Jul 21, 2012

I have over 63K miles on my Elise with a mix of daily driving, track, and highway (trips from Houston to St. Louis MO and Aspen CO.) Car has been as reliable as you would expect a 4 cylinder Toyota to be. No significant problems. Car is very comfortable to drive. Seat and driving position are perfect for me. I wear the same headphones on road trips that I wear on commercial jet trips and the noise is not a problem. The car is very much at home on the track and driving it there is the only way to really appreciate what this or any other high performance sports car can do. Great car for driving on twisty country roads too. The Elise still gets looks, waves, and "Nice Car!" yells. I have even found lipstick lip prints on the rear clam twice. Most people think the Lotus costs several times its actual price. I have driven other high performance sports cars, most of which cost much more than the Elise. I have yet to find one for which I would trade even if cost was not an object. I found out the hard way that the costs of repairing a damaged Elise can quickly result in the car being totaled by an insurance company. Damaged the front suspension and body work and the cost of repairs was more than half the value of the car so it was totaled. There is nothing I would rather drive than an Elise so one week later I purchased a 2006 Elise. Like this one even better than the '05. Lotus made several improvements and the car is even better.May 21, 2012

yes it really is that good, fast and frightening on the corners. straightlie speed is very good indeed. breaks rip your face off, handling is like no other, well except maybe and exige lol. no repairs as such just and upgraded exhaust system from stock. its a stunner and small as hell. cost a wad and has only done 20,000 miles. she does roughly about 45 to the gallon which is not bad for something with its performance.Oct 06, 2009

The good: Handling: Nothing beats a Lotus in handling. Perfect for canyon roads, very predictable and easy to drive. Steering: The best in the world. Never driven a car with such a precise feeling. Transmission: Feels very solid, very rare to miss a gear, excellent transmission and clutch feeling. The bad: Minimal storage capacity. Not good for long journeys, will get you tired faster. If you have broad shoulders. You will be rubbing them with your companion. Could use more power. Maybe the Exige S240 is the cure.Jul 12, 2009

It's a Lotus Elise. I could write all the same stuff you have read many times over in car mag after car mag but it would just say a lot of the same stuff. It's a total blast to get up in mountains and wail around on the roads. You know a car handles good when guys in full leathers on Ducatti's wave you by. Has been very reliable, and is fairly economical to operate especially considering it's performance level. Tire replacement every 5-8K miles does add up a little though, as does insurance, but that doesn't stop me from daily driving it every day it's not nice enough to take the motorcycle.Jun 29, 2008