Elise Outlaw Canyon Testing + Boxster Comparison

 A fellow Elise owner from OR was in town this weekend so we met up on Monday for some canyon carving.  He rented a '13 Boxster.  We drove some of my favorite canyons including DeLuz.  This road is made for a Lotus - especially Elise/Exige.  The road variety on offer to challenge a driver is plentiful - tight, fast sweepers, off camber, elevation change, blind crests, broken pavement and more.  It is a great road and one that I often use for R&D when we can't get to the track.

My current Outlaw Elise is a 111RS test mule that is running most of our upgrades.  The KATANA3 is the key bit that is still getting shook down on this car.  We had to swap out O2 sensors and the cat to address a niggling code that kept popping up.  It seems these changes have worked.  The car is sporting Racetech SCCA with soft 250/350lb springs coupled with the DNA front and rear swaybars.  FASTarms are also on this car.  Plus we swapped out the stellaCORSEs wheels for the 15/16 ETHOS + RA1s.

It has been a long time since I drove a Boxster and fortunately this one was a 6spd.  The gear changes were actually nice.  This car had 90k miles on it but it was still rattle free.  Ergonomics were fine for me but you really feel the size of the car and the weight.  The styling is still looking good to me.  This car was wrapped in an olive green with a nice red interior.

You can clearly see why Porsche have such a broad client base.  The Boxster is fun through these roads but remains very civil.  It is hard to argue with practicality of a convertible that also has some luggage space.  Honestly, it is a GT and not a pure sports car in my eyes.  Too cush for my taste.  Though I wouldn't hesitate to take the car on a long road trip.

I think a better comparison would be against the Evora/Emira.  I do think the Evora is more engaging than the Porsche so I suspect the Emira will be as well.  Of course, both of these larger Lotus are better GTs than the 111 ever will be.  I think for those of us who are still in love with the feel and engagement of driving, a Lotus is the choice. 

For the roads we were strafing, the Outlaw was the better tool.  It is far more engaging with instant handling response and power that is plentiful.  The torque from the KATANA3 is noticeable and keeps the car on a searing pace.  The small size of the Elise gives it additional advantage over the Porsche - you can easily thread the needle on these narrow roads.  I truly appreciate the soft springs + swaybars on rough segments more and more.