2017 Lotus Elise Cup 250 gets lighter and more aerodynamic – costs at least £47,400

The Lotus Elis Cup has been updated for 2017 with another cut in weight and aerodynamic tweaks and is the quickest of Lotus’s entry-level range.

Lotus continues to fiddle with what it’s got to create ‘new’ or refreshed models, which is probably as much as it can do until the deal for Proton to sell Lotus to Geely goes through properly.

Then, we might start to see Lotus realise some of its real potential thanks to the input of Geely and Volvo, and perhaps even see some properly new models to prove Lotus is still a force to be reckoned with.

For now though it’s onwards and upwards with titivations of what Lotus already has to offer, and this, the 2017 Lotus Elise Cup 250, is the latest titivation from Hethel.

Still using Colin Chapman’s ethos of lightest is bestest (to paraphrase) Lotus has worked hard to make the Elise Cup 250 lighter still, with bits of aluminium, carbon fibre and titanium added to the mix of ingredients to deliver a car that weighs a whole 14kg less than before. That’s about the weight of a two-year old child in the passenger seat. We’re sure it’s worth it.

But you can go further and start speccing the Elise up with even more lightweight bits by digging in to the options list, when the entry-level price of £47,400 spirals up well beyond £60k. Ouch.

The added lightness isn’t the only update for 2017, with a modified family nose and new light clusters at the back, a new spoiler at the back too (we can’t actually see the difference) and a few other aerodynamic titivations.

Power is unchanged in the Elise for 2017, with its 1.8 litre supercharged engine delivering 243bhp with a six-speed manual gearbox, a combination good for 62mph in 4.3 seconds.

The 2017 Lotus Elise Cup 250 is now on sale at Lotus Showrooms, and it costs from £47,400. But if you want all the lightweight option stuff, you’ll be getting very close to Porsche 911 money.