martyn

I Have been looking for a new car for a while to replace the scooby andI fancy something fun for the summer!

So this is my list of choices (I have about £15k to spend): Lotus Elise, BMW Z3 or Alfa Spider.

I think I have decided on the elise but I was after as much info as possible from anyone who has/had owned one. What are running cost like, drive like (I don't expect creature comforts but how hard is it), performance figures, will it go wrong (rover engine) etc.

Also does anyone know if there is Lotus Forum?

Any advice would be excellent

Thanks

Martyn

NeilCH

Martyn

Try these forums

http://www.british-cars.co.uk/index.html
then select Lotus BBS

and

http://forums.seloc.org/portal.php

As for the choice I'm with you as long as you don't do massive mileage.
The elsie is good fun, feels great to drive, isn't that quick but still quick enough, handles well, and overall feels a bit special

Running costs can be high if you use Lotus main dealers, but there are now a lot more choices about.

As for ride its actully very good, I've got a mate who out off buying one for ages as he though it would be to hard. He bit the bullet bought one and is now amazed at just how well the ride.

Rgds

Neil

PS If ride is a concern you ight want to avoid cars with Lotus Sports Suspension (LSS)

NeilCH

Good lord

Just read that again, what a mess...sorry but I think you can work out most of it.

Note to self, read before pressing submit button

bdrought

I own an Elise, so my advice is predictable.

For £15K I'd suggest you get a VX220. No..really..

iguana

Also try pistonheads.com lotus forum

GaryC

I very nearly bought an S2 Elise 18 months ago...unitl I found what it would cost to get it insured. Bog standard car, £2000 per year. I only ever paid £1000 per year on a 280bhp scoob, pay £1100 now on a 300bhp V8 Merc M-Class, and the clincher, pay £300 per year on a Westfield with twice the PWR

That aside, very nice car, far more 'mini-gt' than true sports car, but then I was comparing it to caterhams and westfield!

Std car is not quick though. Many people have gone from scoob to Elise and been disappointed. IMO you need a 160 or better to put a real smile on your face.

dominicm

I went froma 340bhp EVO V to a 220bhp supercharger Elise 111s and to be honest found the Elise very flat!! The Lotus had motorsport brakes, leda adjustable suspension and a very good power to weight ratio, but I missed the accelerative trust of the EVO, so I sold it for 18K and got a STI RA MY95 for 7K!

I've tuned the STI to about 330bhp and can honestly say I've never looked back!

Just my opinion.

Dom.

NeilCH

Whoops forgot about insurance on the elise.

Elise 160 sport 4x the premium of a Caterham R500, work that one out if you can. Same driver, same address, half the value and about half the performance......

Rgds
Neil

martyn

Just checked on insurance, seems very cheap (cheaper than scooby anyway) Lotus Elise S1, garage at night, cat 1 etc... £685.47 a year fully comp £150 excess. I am a 27 year old, so that seems ok to me!

Still don't weather just to buy an 1.8 mx for summer fun?

Martyn

Gordo

I had one of the early ones so some of this may be out of date, but still....

LOTUS = Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious

I swapped an N reg std impreza turbo for a stunning looking 6 month old silver elise with blue leather seats (Colin Chapman always insisted on these colours on the motor show stands).

Pros
- It looked great
- Fantastic fun on a sunny day (I lived in the Peak District then)
- Relatively cheap on fuel

Cons
- Windows felt inside the doors several times (at the third attempt they resolved this at the dealership but not good)
- Roof leaked no matter what you did (the garage's solution? insulation tape that you used to see on windows)
- Gearbox always crunched when putting it in reverse
- Oil used to leak out of the exhausts all the time)

All of these were resolvable. However:

- The thing was slow. ok-ish up to 60 but above that it died (I remember being singularly embarrassed by an M3 on the motorway)
- Scary handling on country roads (great on the track, I took it round Silverstone which is how most journos that rave about it test it). Liked to try to kiss its 4rse goodbye and was terrifying in the wet - real Driving Miss Daisy territory
- Very noisy (radio a waste of time above 40mph, which made for very boring long distance journies)
- Seats a nightmare - my 4rse went numb every 60 miles or so with lots of layby stops to resolve this
- bugger all luggage space (not a car to take your bird away in for the weekend)
- always felt small and flimsy
- lost £8k on it in 12 months

I sooooo missed the Subaru which was nuclear by comparison. After a number of iterations of verious cars since, am now happily settled on the P1

For a 2 seater I'd look at (in order):

- Z3
- Honda S2000
- Boxster (third cos its slow and probably still too expensive)
- Vauxhall 220 thing (but I suspect this shares many of the problems listed above)

Have fun!
Gordo

kamikaze

i dragged my elise against my friends standard my00
Basically there was nothing in it performance wise.
We were both very supised as the impreza does feel faster. must be the turbo kick making it feel faster.
As for cost my insurance is the same as my old impreza 900 quid.
Economy isnt as good as i thought. 200 miles from 35 litres is average.