The road to Elk Lake is rough, but passable.  I was there last summer and backpacked up the Elk Lake Trail.    I'm not sure if it is accessible right now.  There are still patches of snow that are quite deep in some places.  I'm sure what the elevation of Elk Lake is, probably a little less than 4000', so it is probably accessible, but you won't know unless someone has been there.  This is an odd year for snow......

The other thing about the Elk Lake trail is that you have to ford the creek in several places and it might be rather high with all the runoff now.

Yes, you can drive all the way to the lake now...My boy said the trout are extra hungry right now.

Remember, no gas powered boats in Elk Lake now. YESssssssssss !  I along with Trout Unlimited worked hard to convince the marine board to change the regulations to only allow people or electric powered watercraft in this lake....They agreed 🙂  

Also, Elk Lake is going through a transformation right now...slowly but surely. The FS is converting it into a pay campground. That means all the primitive spots along north shore will be for day use only. They'll probably pay a host to stay all summer, which will help keep vandalism to a minimum. I was promised that the road will NOT be fixed. They sort of fixed it enough a few years back to move in the precast CXT toilets (nice addition). Hopefully they keep their promise. That will limit the traffic, and discourage trailers. 
  

So if I were to drive my low-clearance Nissan Sentra to the lake it would make the trip and back in one piece, right? I've heard the road has been improved enough that it's still rough but decent enough for anyone with common sense to get there without issue.

I've seen cars in places I would never take a car.....With that said, I would think that you could take a car to Elk Lake if you drove very slowly and carefully.  I've been on roads that were much worse than it was, but then again, I have a truck with high clearance and 4WD....