Vehicle Description
2005 Lotus Elise
Like Enzo Ferrari, Lotus founder Colin Chapman started building
road cars primarily as a means of feeding a racing habit, and for
many years, Lotus was one of Ferrari's chief rivals on the
racetrack. Although gone from racing's top echelon for many
years-2010 marks Lotus's reentry after a 16-year absence from
Formula 1.
For consignment, a mid engine light weight aluminum tubbed glued
together to a frame car weighing in at a mere 1500 pounds, we have
a racing inspired car in our midst. With its emission compliant
engine provided by Toyota in 1.8 liter form and this mid mounted
mill that produces 190hp. With only 24,655 actual miles clocked,
leather interior and very sporty CanAm series lines, lets go turn
some heads.
Exterior
Speaking of turning heads, now this racer is bathed in Orange
Chrome Metallic and it shines like a crazy mango diamond.
Curvaceous lines abound, from the encased front head lighting,
rounded integrated bumper with its elongated oval grille all in
black, hood intake venting also in black and curving all with the
other lines. Not unlike the DP cars of today, a nicely rounded
windscreen framed also in black, was ahead of its time. Doors allow
easy access to the passenger compartment which can be opened to the
fresh air by the removal of the top panels. The doors are
supporting a massive inset curved cove for air cooling of the mid
engine. Above the rear glass starts with what is essentially a roll
bar with a piece of vertical glass floating just before more rear
deck black vent openings and curved flying buttresses from the roll
bar to the rear deck. The rear of the car is curved and vertical
supporting round tail lighting, Elise badge and black lower roll
pan pre rear splitter. It's a bit stubby in its design for the rear
of the sports car but remains to the proportion for the car. We can
roll on16-inch front and 17-inch black 8 spoke mag wheels wrapped
in all weather F-1 style intermediate tread 195/50RZ16 rubber in
front, and larger 225/45ZR17's on back from 2017.
Interior
As we pass through the curvaceous doors which sport curvy panels in
black leather for the inserts undulating around the door actuator,
we will need to step over a wide sill to gain access to the
cockpit. Here we seat ourselves into high back thin sleek leather
covered buckets in black. They have some gray edging on the
bolsters which are small by today's standards, but still sexy in
their design. As I reach for the small racing style steering wheel,
I can peer into the dual circular white faced instruments and
digital readout odometer. This is within a hooded curved padded
dash top and it stretches across the entire dash top. Round eyeball
air vents are futuristic and apropos in their nature to the inside
of this sports car. An Alpine AM/FM/CD/XM radio is just below two
of the eyeball vents on the dash top. Below this are some billet
styled climate control knobs. The interior also uses an interesting
mix of black rubber flooring and aluminum drilled pieces as weight
saving accenting for the toe kick areas and seat mounting to the
floors. This faux satin finished plastic/metal look also shows up
on the center console where the shifter is located, as well as the
handbrake. This whole motif gives somewhat of an industrial feeling
to the interior. White stitching in the seats also adds to the
mystique.
Drivetrain
A flip of the vented trunk lid and we have access to the tight mid
engine bay where a LOTUS badged, (actually Toyota in reality), 1.8
liter 2ZZ-GE engine resides. It has EFI and a mated Toyota C64
6-speed manual transmission that drives the rear axle with 4.53
ratio. Original OEM dual exhaust provide the exhale. All is nice
and clean for this midsection power plant area.
Undercarriage
Independent coil springs on all 4 corners provide the handling and
ride and disc braking is also on all 4 corners. There are plenty of
aluminum and black plastic covers under here and these are all road
dirt free which is amazing considering how prevalent this stuff is
under here! I can also note some scratching in the bodywork
underneath within the metallic orange paint on several sections of
the bottom end.
Drive-Ability
The car fired right up and after a panic stop test out was off to
the races. Albeit whilst the car alarm was constantly going off. It
handled nicely, and all functions were working at the time of my
test drive. The removable panels allow plenty of fresh air to enter
the cockpit and gave me a nice view of the blue sky above which is
always prevalent at a place like Classic Auto Mall!
Not your typical find with this Lotus Elise, curvaceous racing
inspired design, mid engine road car meant for some fun and
performance to boot. G'day mate.
SCCPC11195HL34909
S-United Kingdom
C-Lotus
C-Passenger Car
P-2ZZNA
C-Manual Belts, Front Airbags
111-Elise
9-Check Digit
5-2005
H-Hethel Assy Plant
L-LHD Federal Emissions, AC
3-Elise
4909-Sequential Unit Number
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our
showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just
1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The
website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888)
227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come
see the vehicle in person.
