Okay I drove this sucker.

It was a European 111S (with the British Rover K series engine.. something like 120+ HP). This car is tiny... like the teener.

Getting in is a bitch. It has MASSIVE longitudinals and door sills that drop off into the cockpit and the seat is like 8 inches lower than door sill. So first, I fumbled getting my big feet over the sill and underneath the steering wheel. Then I plopped down in the seat and attempted to pull my other leg in. Stuck again... Then Fwooomp... Everyone laughts. (oh sure, go ahead and laugh... until YOU try and get in). Anyways, now I'm sitting safe and securely in a non-tilting seat with vinyl sides and velour inserts that looks awfully similar to the vinyl sided - velour insert seats of my 914.

My wife had even more problems "falling in", I mean getting in the car. The passenger seet is nonmovable (hmmm sound familiar?)

Anyways, after in, you feel right at home. Tiny gauge cluster in front of you (Tach and Speedo). Shifter is higher up but in comfortable position. The e-brake is over the center tunnel however.

You start the car by first clicking a button on the keychain (I think it's just an anti-theft device and then you turn the key.) The new Federal S3 version that is coming to the U.S. is supposed to have a push button starter (ala Honda S2000). This car had manual windows winders and the configuration was eerily very 914ish. View through the rear window is about the same as a 914, maybe slightly smaller.

The shifter sucked (sort of vague downshifting and shifting in betwen gears).. Sounds familiar. The pattern was a familar (to the modern Porsche world)

1 3 5
2 4 R


Started the car and notice it has very light thottle. Barely press the gas pedal and it revs. The clutch pedal has very little throw for engagement and disengagement of the clutch and requires very little pressure. After revving the engine too high (because I'm use to the heavy Boxster pedal cluster), we're off.

Peppy little engine with a nice sound. Man, we're sitting low... it reminds me of (well it reminds me of when I drove my 914 last fall before I yanked the engine).

Anyways, we get out onto the highway and I start jerking the steering wheel around and the thing just turns instantly. Whoa!

Anyways, i take the next right turn under part throttle (about 50) and my wife grips my leg and the door and I swing it to the right and it just sticks to the road... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mueba.gif)

We cruised around for about 10 minutes (dealer is limiting the drives to about 10 minutes due to the fact that there are about 6 people at any time looking at the thing).

Overall, I was impressed. It reminded me of a beefed up 2.0L 914 that I drove several years ago. The good news is that the Federalized S3 Elise coming to the U.S. will have 50% more horsepower (190 HP vs 120+ HP) and a 6 speed gearbox both adopted from the Toyota Celica GTS, but with revised induction, exhaust, and modified gearing.

So if I had this much fun in a 120+ HP machine with crappy shifting, I can't wait until the new one hits our shores.

Needless to say, I kept my name on the waiting list...

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