This feat is made possible by the Elise’s revolutionary bonded, extruded-aluminium chassis. The 1.8-litre Rover K-Series engine is not an exotic powerplant, but delivers plenty of power – if you do the maths, the Elise S1 has 164bhp per tonne. Add in communicative steering and there’s no better car to enjoy on a British B-road.
BMW i3
By Richard Ingram
- Price new: £33,085
- Price now: £10,000
- Powertrain: 42.2kWh batt. 1x e-motor; single-speed auto
- Power: 170bhp
- 0-62/top speed: 7.3sec/93mph
As cars get bigger and heavier, they become less efficient, and in many cases, not as sharp or slick to drive.
It’s a problem plaguing the new-car market as the popularity of EVs grow, so to think that BMW launched its pioneering four-metre-long, four-seat electric i3 supermini over a decade ago proves how far ahead of its time the car was.
Okay, so the exterior styling won’t be to all tastes, the range isn’t great, even on the later models, and it won’t charge very quickly either. But if you’re after an urban runaround that’ll cost pennies to run, then the carbon-tubbed i3 is a guaranteed future classic. Its light, roomy interior is filled with sustainable materials, and BMW’s excellent iDrive infotainment still feels modern to use, even compared with today’s systems.
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