I'm sure I've recounted this story on here before but a friend of mine had a Elise, purchased from new.
On the drive home, after collecting it, he could hear something sliding around the car; at first, he assume something had been dropped in the car. Upon getting home, he scoured the car and couldn't find anything amiss; thus, he though perhaps he was imagining it.
Next drive out, same noise, same check over - again nothing found. After a few more drives, it was wearing thin... imagine the sound of something sliding against a surface when you were doing anything other than going in a straight line.
Dealer got the car in and after a few drives to 'diagnose' the problem, they came to the conclusion that during build, something had been left in the bonded tub. Their solution was to drill a myriad of holes into the bottom of it, whilst on a ramp, to try and find what had been left in. After visiting the dealership, seeing his new car on a ramp, looking like Swiss cheese, he formally rejected the car.
My experience with Lotus, and an Elise, wasn't much better.
If we're discounting Morgans, imho there are only two sports cars that really spring to mind, that suit narrow lanes and less than ideal roads: 2024 or newer Mazda MX-5 ND RF - there is a good reason it was joint runner up in ECOTY 2024 (the one that also featured a Morgan Plus Four) or, the now defunct, Alpine A110.
I owned an Elise 111R for 7 years and it was the most reliable car I had owned at that time. The only problem I had which occurred once was a wire vibrating out of the fuse system and which simply needed pushing back. The performance was great and the steering sublime. It was even a decent touring car which my wife and I took to Spain - the leather Probax seats were great. Depreciation was almost non existant.
Its weak point was access, not so much for the driver but for my wife. My boredom threshold seems to be about 7 years because I have sold two boats after 7 year ownership too. Anyway, when I did sell it the nearest I could get to the driving feel of the Lotus was the first Ferrari and as far as I am concerned that was a complement to Ferrari.
But you get enthusiasts for every make of car. You only need to go to a car show to see that. There even are enthusiasts for the sporty Dagenham Dustbins like the Cossie etc.
