Definitely get an Elise. You could even manage an early S2 on that budget:
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1721283.htmThe boot is surprisingly big, it certainly held all of my stuff (and the roof) on a week's driving trip around the Alps, so don't dismiss it as totally impractical. As for the K-Series vs Toyota comment, I know a lot of Lotus specialists and most now say the K-Series is more reliable than the 'yota lumps as they tend to suffer bottom-end related problems whereas the K only has head it's famous gasket issues and most of the time they can be sorted for £500 or so. That said, I never had any head gasket issues on my K-series Elise S2 and it was by far the most fun car I have ever owned, I absolutely loved it and I will definitely buy another.
Last thing - resale values, buy and Elise and you won't loose a penny, in fact the price is more likely to go up than down.
