Lotus Elise Sport 220

Only 83 of the 600 cars in this catalogue use an inline 4 engine, yet just 3 combine that layout with both supercharging and rear wheel drive. That tiny subgroup defines the Lotus Elise Sport 220 more clearly than any isolated specification, because it sits at an unusual intersection rather than chasing the biggest numbers. Within a field crowded by more cylinders, more power and higher speeds, it takes a rarer technical route and follows it consistently.

The figures reinforce that character. With 217 bhp, it stands 563rd for power across the collection, while its 233 km/h top speed places it 557th. Read in isolation, those positions could seem modest. Read together with its 4.3 second run from 0 to 100 km/h, ranked 361st, they tell a more interesting story. It accelerates faster than 239 cars in this catalogue despite sitting close to the bottom of the power and top speed tables. That contrast is the point, not an exception to explain away.

Its mechanical recipe stays focused. A supercharged 1.8 litre, 1,798 cc inline 4 sends 250 Nm to the rear wheels, packaged in a 2 seater fixed head coupé. Within the catalogue, only 30 cars pair an inline 4 with rear wheel drive, making that drivetrain combination far less common than the engine layout alone. The Elise Sport 220 therefore occupies a distinctive niche even before the stopwatch enters the conversation.

Price adds another layer. A typical used value of £42,000 places it 475th by cost, making it more expensive than 125 cars here, while its cost per bhp comes to £194. That is not the profile of a car competing on headline output for every pound spent. Instead, the numbers suggest that buyers are paying for a particular combination of engineering choices rather than a place near the top of the power rankings.

The wider context matters too. Lotus contributes 15 cars to this 600 car catalogue, and 160 entries come from the UK, placing this model within a substantial national tradition while remaining unusual inside its own mechanical peer group. If your garage already contains the obvious high power choices, this is the car that changes the conversation through a different set of priorities. The statistics never pretend otherwise, and that quiet consistency is exactly what gives the Elise Sport 220 its place.