I was grabbing some java the other day and was in line. Some guy with a kid walked by and the kid started to go wow wow wow look! He was about 4 or so. Just a little guy. So - I got out of line and walked up and said - he can sit in it if you want... And opened it up. Kid looked at his dad and grabbed his hand. Dad says - you sure? I said - Just a car man - he can't hurt anything. So - the kid starts to walk towards it - looks at the inside and then all of a sudden he just fell over backwards onto his backside. Like he had seen the inside of a spaceship or something. He jumped up and into his dad's arms. Pretty funny. I always let people sit in it that want to. For such a relatively affordable little car - they are attractive in a minimalist way. I wanted one from the moment I first saw the design. Like instant love.
Some info -
My Elise is a 2008 with SC. 218 hp (163 kW). 0-60 mph is about 4.3 seconds. That's pretty ****ing quick off the line.
The Elise was designed by Julian Thomson and Richard Rackham. Both brilliant. A truly inspired concept. Car design like the Lotus Elise needs to come back fast.
One of the reasons you don't see more of them is that they are kinda of a pain in the ass for most people. Not much space. Two seats. Not much in the way of convenience. You have just what you need to be comfortable. I even have AC and a cup holder. They look like this:
A simple piece of machined aluminum with a leather strap. It even slides back out of the way. Simple - quality material. Done.
I have a hard time with new cars. For instance - I was in Idaho over Christmas. It was snowing like **** in Sun Valley. It was in the news. It was being talked about all over. Everyone in the place had been excited about the snow for days. So - I jump in mas new Subaru Forester. We start driving out into the winter wonderland. About 2 minutes after taking off - some stupid bell goes DING and a dumb ass voice says WARNING - Conditions may be icy and slippery. Seriously? No **** Sherlock.
I am glad I am going to be dead and gone before we see the end of drivable, proper autos.
Here is how I see it going...
You arrive at somewhere in an autonomous vehicle. You get out. It goes and picks someone else up like Uber without a human. When you are ready to go - a new vehicle picks you up in about a minute. When not in use - they go to an underground storage facility. If they need maintenance - they are fixed by robots. If they are broken - they dispose of themselves. They run on electricity or nuclear power or whatever. Real vehicles are not allowed in the city any longer. Or on the roads. The government stops maintaining roads. We are slaves to the government. Horses are extinct. We are ****ed. No thanks.