To be honest Moppie I can't see either being a city car. Both are indulgences to be used as the second or possibly third car.
I've been to drive days @ Pukekohe with the Lotus car club - including riding around and been lucky enough to drive quite a few cars on the track and on the road including the odd Lotus. (incidentally I'd recommend the Holden Advanced Driver Training course out there as well)
The Elise is a lovely car, beautifully balanced in handling but on the drive days I've noticed it's a noisy and uncomfortable thing. Even when you put the clutch in there's the clank when the pedal hits the bottom of the footwell - there's no sound deadening, the vibration and noise are great when you're doing hot laps but they'd be a pain sitting around in the usual Southern Motorway crawl. Esp with no air-con or a CD. Even getting in and out can be a pain too. Oh and the wind buffeting gets annoying too.
The Esprit isn't the greatest city car either. All the things that work on a track or on the open road can compromise the city experience. The lack of rear-vision, the windscreen rake and geometry limit vision over the binnacle looking forward, I have no idea where the front of the car is and the reflections off the dash on a summer's day can drive you nuts. You are so low to the ground that it's difficult to see past other vehicles (and likewise they have trouble seeing you). And all that power can be intoxicating on the open road but can be a liability in the wet around town even with a gentle right foot.
It's not to say I wouldn't buy one if I had the cash - I'd gladly have the Opel Speedster (or VX220) in my garage or for that matter a road-version of the Fraser race car I help out with. But it would be for those early morning blasts to Piha for the hell of it rather than doing the commuter grind...