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Sam Charlwood12 Jan 2018
REVIEW

Lotus Elise Sprint 220 2018 Review

Stripped-back purity is both a highlight and bugbear of Lotus’ track-ready road car
Review Type
Road Test
Review Location
Central Coast, NSW

Lotus has introduced a lighter, faster version of its long-standing Elise to Australian showrooms, the Sprint 220. Boasting additional performance courtesy of new components and an aggressive weight loss regime, the Sprint is the penultimate model in the Elise range, behind only the Cup 250. It is priced at $97,990 plus on-road costs.

There are road cars pretending to be track cars, and then there is the Lotus Elise Sprint 220.

To look at British manufacturer’s latest lightweight offering through any lens other than as a race-ready track weapon would be unfair.

It has no cruise control, a leaky soft-top roof and one of the most primitive infotainment systems going.

But give the baby Lotus a racetrack and it leaves a raw, viscerally endearing impression that few road cars – some wearing much more storied badges on the snout – can beat. And it does so for under $100K.

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A quick history lesson
The Lotus Elise is not a new car. It has been around since 1996 and, despite two significant facelifts since that time, still shares much in common with the original.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The pure, less-is-more style engineering principles of the Elise perfectly echoes Lotus-founder Colin Chapman’s philosophy of ‘adding lightness’.

In this latest form, Lotus has sped up proceedings by taking a leaf from Chapman’s own book.

Adding carbon-fibre at various points around the chassis and shell, the British firm has managed to strip weight back by 41kg to 851kg dry.

The visible carbon-fibre parts include a pair of near-competition-ready seats, rollover hoops and engine cover.

There’s also a lighter polycarbonate rear screen, plus a lithium-ion battery and new forged alloy wheels.

At the same time as adding lighter parts, the Elise’s aero has also been tweaked. Underneath, this has seen rubber elements added ahead of the front wheel-arches that, combined with a modified rear diffuser, are said to reduce drag and increase high-speed stability.

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Elements of that light-weight ethos permeate the interior, too, such as the hard-core open-gate gear selector that is said to whittle 1kg from the scales. Optional carbon-fibre sill covers save a further 0.8kg.

The lightness complements the Elise’s modest engine, a 1.8-litre supercharged four. Before you write off its 162kW and 250Nm, remember the kerb weight.

The translation is a power to weight ratio of 190 Watts per kilogram – higher than a Porsche 911 -- and an official 0-100km/h time of 4.5 seconds.

Better yet, that’s with a slick-shifting six-speed manual transmission sending drive to the rear wheels. And the car’s modest pretensions mean it won’t burn through consumables like many other sports cars.

The Sport 220 is backed by a three-year, unlimited-km factory warranty.

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Getting in
The pelvic voodoo begins before you even throw a leg over the high-mounted, carbon fibre-lined door sill.

The Elise is low. So low, in fact, that one unassuming prime mover with a B-double trailer in tow almost ended this road test before it began.

Anyway, with the roof tipping the ruler at an insignificant 1117mm, getting in can require some mild contortion. Lift your left leg, bend your mid-section, twist and release.

That’s one leg in the door. Now lower yourself gently, dip your head and allow your rump to drop into the low-slung bucket. Well done.

The good news is that once you’re in, you’re in. The Elise’s semi-naked structure, high sills and race-ready chairs position driver and passenger well within its slender frame.

There’s a unique sense of occasion to the cockpit, a mechanical edge not abundantly available with most modern cars.

That’s even with the daft and frankly hard to use Clarion stereo in the picture. And cup-holders need not apply.

Pricing and Features
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That said, the overall build quality feels strong. The panels align neatly and the workmanship suggests someone has spent a bit of time cobbling the thing together – as evidenced on a plate adorning the words ‘handmade by Karl’.

The Elise isn’t particularly comfortable on longer journeys. The soft-top opening is prone to leaking in heavy rain, the seats are hardly the latest word in support (though they do hold you in around faster bends) and road noise is ever-present, particularly on coarse-chip bitumen.

But you can begin to see past the flaws when you appreciate the open-gate manual shifter, the small and slender steering wheel devoid of buttons, the simple displays and the ease of vision front and rear. In a word: simplicity.

There is a singlemindedness with the way Lotus does things. There’s no reversing camera, for example, no automated emergency braking or other modern functions – which can be good or bad, depending on your priorities.

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On the road
As car-makers venture down a more user-friendly, gentrified approach to going fast – think benign aids and electronics that cannot be switched off – there is something viscerally appealing about the Sprint.

First, the engine. Raucous in noise but not so in delivery, its modest outputs feel perfectly mated to the Lotus’s compact dimensions. Up it for the rent and the engine becomes more willing the closer you climb to the circa-7000rpm cut-out.

There’s never blinding progress, but rather an endearing reach to redline that rewards patient inputs into and out of corners.

Equally satisfying is the Sprint’s six-speed manual, which feels nicely apportioned and a delight to shift – particularly when heeling and toeing the foot controls.

The driveline’s inherent playfulness is well matched to the Elise’s chassis, which will happily dance around on a close circuit and comes to life with speed.

Moreover, a lack of power steering helps telegraph road surface blemishes more acutely than electronically-assisted packages to offer an engaging and lively experience at the driver’s hands.

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The wheel weighs up nicely through corners at speed, and adds to the car’s stripped back ethos.

There are negatives to the car’s sporty premise. Heavy steering at low speeds, short gearing for highway driving (about 3000rpm at highway speeds) and tyre roar are constant reminders of the Lotus’ limited skillset.

That said the Elise is relatively efficient in the way it irons out road bumps, suppressing pitter-patter imperfections adeptly while taking the edge out of larger hits.

The appeal of the Elise Sprint 220 boils down to the way you look at it.

On one hand it is extremely single-minded. Or perhaps the bugbears are just a reminder that the Sprint 220 does one thing better than most: track work.

Either way, the baby Lotus certainly isn’t pretending to be something it’s not.

2018 Lotus Elise Sprint 220 pricing and specifications:
Price: $97,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.8-litre four-cylinder supercharged-petrol
Output: 162kW/250Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 7.5L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 173g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A

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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Expert rating
75/100
Engine, Drivetrain & Chassis
15/20
Price, Packaging & Practicality
13/20
Safety & Technology
12/20
Behind The Wheel
18/20
X-Factor
17/20
Pros
  • Track-ready dynamics
  • Perky engine
  • Simplicity
Cons
  • Tiresome road car
  • Infotainment, or lack of
  • Tyre noise
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