My friend has a Lotus Elise and we went to a car show together in his car. He basically drives it at 6K at 100 along 280 in N. Cal. I think that's 4th gear. He thinks he's on the track whenever he's in the car. It's pretty funny. There is no place to hang on in the car for the passenger when cornering and we touch shoulders it's so small. Engine sounds nice at 6k-8k or where ever it redlines.
We also drove up to big sur together except I was in my 914.
My car is way more comfortable to drive in and I didn't feel much of a difference in terms of acceleration. His car can go to a higher speed than mine because I don't want to drive my car beyond 120 or so because I'm a scaredy cat and I dont' have aero set up or anything kinda gets floaty. Plus I don't want to hurt my car.
handling wise he has sticky compound tires and I have SO2s but we are close in the sense that I didn't feel like he was taking corners faster.
I think my car sounds better and can accelerate faster but that could be because my car sounds like it is. I like the sound of my car better.
All in all I would take my car over the elise from a comfort and safety aspect. He gets better gas mileage and has air con though. But I don't drive my car daily.
Just my .02