[Adultery] The Day I Step Out of the S2000. A Serious Assessment of the “Lotus Elise Final Edition” and “GR Yaris Evolution” as Successor Candidates!

2026年4月7日

I, who swore a “35-year double suicide” with my car, have been staring at used car sites and new car catalogs night after night with bloodshot eyes.

Losing 4kg to Norovirus, my beloved car silent with a dead battery… during that “void of time,” my logical brain suddenly ran a forbidden simulation.

“If tomorrow, the S2000 became irreparable, what would I drive next?”

My preferences are extremely clear. Basically, I love a low-slung, 2-door silhouette where you can recognize at a glance, “Ah, this is a sports car.” A weak word like “practicality” does not exist in my dictionary.

After repeated independent investigations among many modern cars, I have reached “two extremes” that could (maybe) replace the S2000.

One is a British viper that further refines the analog madness of the S2000. The other is a mutant—though it falls outside my visual preference—born from a major Japanese corporation turning WRC madness directly into a production car.

This time, I will logically and thoroughly assess these two machines using the “most troublesome yardstick” known as an S2000 owner.

I’ve researched quite a bit online, but my apologies if there are any errors…

■ Assassin No. 1: Lotus Elise Final Edition

First up. The one that satisfies my “it has to look like a sports car” desire with 120% purity: the “Elise Final Edition,” the culmination of a quarter-century of Lotus history since 1996.

The Elise and S2000 have often been compared, but they are fundamentally different machines.

Driving an S2000 makes you realize how “heavy” modern cars are. But in front of this Elise, even the 1,200kg S2000 looks like a “clunky minivan.”

Because the vehicle weight is a mere 922kg.

“Simplify, then add lightness.” This philosophy of founder Colin Chapman—some might call it a curse—remains unshaken even in the final model. The “Aluminum Bathtub Frame,” assembled with powerful aerospace-grade adhesives, boasts extremely high rigidity without the heat distortion of welding.

At its heart is a Toyota-sourced 1.8L inline-4 “2ZR-FE” with a supercharger shoved in. Max output is 243ps. The power-to-weight ratio is a staggering 3.79kg/ps. Putting over 240 horsepower in a 920kg body is just disrespectful to the laws of physics.

What attracts me is the absolute lack of useless equipment and the bare minimum of electronic control. Even though the Final Edition features a “TFT Digital Dashboard” as a modern touch, the essence of the drive remains insane.

The heavy steering has no such indulgence as power assist; the sensation of every single pebble on the road is transmitted to your palms. As for the brakes, they don’t even have a servo (booster). The driver’s foot pressure becomes the braking force directly.

“Your skill is everything. No cheating allowed.”

The directness feels like the car is glaring at you. This is the ultimate form of “dialogue with the machine” that S2000 owners crave most.

Unfortunately, like the S2000, production has ended, making it a collector’s item. Prices are glitched out, ranging from 9 to 12 million yen—higher than when new—but as the “Pinnacle of the Internal Combustion Engine,” there is no better choice.

■ Assassin No. 2: Toyota Evolutionary GR Yaris (Late Model RZ High Performance)

Toyota GR Yaris — Source: Toyota Motor Corporation

And for the second one. I’ll be honest: it completely violates my core principle of “it must look like a 2-door sports car.” It has a chunky silhouette based on a hatchback.

However, Toyota’s sheer devotion and the glitched-out internals have forcibly overwhelmed my logic. That is the “GR Yaris (Late Model).”

I drove the early model once. It was nimble and fun, but it had a fatal flaw: the seat position was so high that with my height (181cm), my head almost touched the roof. Back then, I dismissed it, saying, “A sports car with poor visibility and an undecided driving position is out of the question.”

But Toyota is a terrifying manufacturer. By repeating the process of “break it and fix it” in motorsports, they completely rebuilt the car’s framework for the 2024 minor change (Late Model).

GR Yaris Cockpit — Source: Toyota Motor Corporation

This is where I was most surprised and impressed. The late model tilted the operation panel 15 degrees toward the driver and lowered the driving position by 25mm! Furthermore, they lowered the top edge of the center cluster by 50mm and moved the inner mirror upward.

You might think it’s just a few centimeters. But the fact that a manufacturer spent time and money to thoroughly improve the “driver’s posture” for those few centimeters is proof of Toyota’s serious commitment to annual refinement. This leads to the ultimate sense of security for the buyer.

And the 1.6L inline-3 turbo heart has undergone a violent evolution from 272PS to 304PS / 400Nm. In contrast to the Elise, it’s a mass of electronic control (GR-FOUR), but the body—stiffened with more spot welds and 24% more structural adhesive—slams this crazy power onto the road surface.

The icing on the cake is the newly developed 8-speed AT “GR-DAT.” It senses the driver’s brake and throttle inputs in milliseconds and performs “predictive gear shifts” before the behavior changes. It’s an all-weather speed machine that overturns the concept of an automatic. I feel a strong sense of jealousy toward the overwhelming potential of this nimble, compact body. The “GR-DAT” is being praised across media, and even as a manual enthusiast, I find this evaluation truly pleasing.

■ Conclusion: Can they replace the S2000?

The “Elise Final Edition,” an ultimate analog that puts the driver to the test. The “Evolutionary GR Yaris,” an ultimate digital that opens up professional-level driving to everyone.

Both are overwhelming masterpieces that deserve to be engraved on the final page of internal combustion engine history. Even if I stepped out of the S2000, if either of these were in my garage, my automotive life would undoubtedly be rich and full of stimulation.

But now that I’ve finished this investigation and written this long report, what I feel in my heart is a strange sense of relief.

I learned the awe of the stripped-down Elise and trembled at the evolution of the GR Yaris, a mass of latest technology. Because of that, the “S2000″—positioned in the middle, old but within my control—has become irresistibly dear to me.

The charm of the “main wife” that you only realize after seriously considering an affair. Thus, I gaze at my car once more, ready to face that near-dead battery.

“There are many terrifying cars in the world. But for me, you (S2000) are still enough.”

Author of this article

Buri-shabu

Mid-life salaryman by day, surviving the pharmaceutical trenches with logic. But the moment I step out, I’m a "fanatic" devoted to my S2000. 20 years together—VTEC kick is pure ecstasy.