Twenty Years On, the 111S Is Still the Smarter Purchase

The numbers tell an interesting story here. The Cup 250 was never cheap at £46,500 new, and at roughly £168 per horsepower on today's used market it remains a premium buy. The 111S, by contrast, sits at around £115 per horsepower — and with auction prices holding near 79% of its original £22,995 asking price, it has clearly found its floor. A car that depreciated hard in its early years and has since stabilised is a genuinely different proposition from one that is still settling, and the 111S is firmly in the former camp. But the value case would mean nothing if the 111S drove badly, and it simply does not. This is the Elise that reviewers consistently describe as the most complete road car in the S2 range — not a stripped-out aggressor, but a car with real steering feel, proper lightness at 757 kg, and a chassis that communicates everything without demanding perfection from the driver. The 209 bhp per tonne figure sounds modest beside the Cup 250's 278, but on a public road the difference is largely academic. What you actually feel is the balance, the directness, the way the car shrinks around you. The Cup 250 is genuinely fast and genuinely impressive, but it is a specialist tool — stiff, intense, and priced accordingly. The 111S is the car you can drive hard on a Sunday and not feel punished by on Monday. That breadth is worth more than the extra horsepower.