If your desire is to be seen in a Lotus, and you can get it for less than a used Elise, then it’s a good car. However if your desire is something fun to drive and you don’t care about being seen in a Lotus, there are better cars for far less money.
It was not a bad car at all, but at $40,000 brand new it was completely out performed by cars costing less than half as much (Eclipse/Talon/Laser is one example). That’s why only 599 were sold in the US.
Unless it’s really cheap, I would skip.