Oh, what a sweetheart. Visually, the two-seat Lotus Elise is one of the most stunning cars I’ve driven lately. Everywhere I went, people wanted me to roll down the window and answer the question “What kind of car is that?” The British designers laid on some truly delicious curves, which looked great in my car’s metallic purple.

The Elise is fun to drive, too. It’s so light that its 190-horsepower engine, adapted from the Toyota Celica GTS, is plenty peppy, particularly since the car has a six-speed manual shift. Mind you, it doesn’t have the electrifying acceleration of, say, a 550-horsepower Bentley Continental, but this is an entirely different class of vehicle. Call it a Miata on steroids. The vroom-vroom reminded me of the Honda S2000.

The tires (16 inches in front and 17 inches in back) are also special. They are Yokohama AdvanNeova and are made to cling to the pavement. “They are sticky tires.” says John English, president and CEO, Lotus Cars U.S.A. “They are designed to put a tremendous footprint on the road.” And the cost won’t kill a CEO: The base price is about S40,000; you can throw in the sports package and hard-top roof for less than S4,000.

Excerpt from “The Chief Executive”

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