DBarthorpe

All,

I'm not about to slag off the Impreza because it is a truly fabulous car. I have never driven such a brilliant all-rounder and I STILL can't help smiling when I put my foot down.

I am considering looking at a Lotus Elise for the summer. Reasons....

1. I will buy another Scoob when I've got it out of my system. (best reason of all??)

2. If I don't do the 2-seater soft top thing soon I never will...I'm not getting any younger....etc...etc

3. I fancy growing old telling my kids/grandkids/everyone else I once had a Scooby AND a Lotus (shan't tell them about the Mondeo / Rover!!)

4. There's nothing quite like an open-top car down the lanes on a summer's day (although the Scoobysport box in a tunnel / multi-storey car park comes VERY close!!!).

Has anyone got experience of them? I've driven two of them and loved it, but I decided on a Scoob for practicality. Now I don't need the practicality of the Scoob so much (girlfriend has a medium sized hatchback) so I can get what I want (under £20k that is!)

Any thoughts much appreciated...HELP!

Dave.

SDB

Hi Dave

The Elise is a fabulous car. IMHO as good as the Scooby, but not at the same things.

The Elise will be faster than a Scooby on a dry smooth twisty road (if your man enough) but take away any part of the perfection and the Scooby starts to excel.

You will not be able to throw the Elise into corners in the same carefree way you can with the Scooby, you will have to be more subtle with the controls and more intuitive with the balance of the car. It really will bite you if you disrespect it.

They look fabulous (IMHO one of the most georgeous cars ever made), the chassis is one of the best, the handling and steering are superb. The power is somewhat underwhelming after a Scoob, but enough.

They're great fun at MIRA, very twitchy (not necessarily a bad thing ) loads of grip good amount of (oposite) lock for those roundabout moments, unmlike the TVR's which only seem to have about 5 degrees of turning angle in the steering.

Mail me if you want more info... at work at present.

Cheers

Simon

dazdavies

iTrader: (22)

What about a Caterham Great handling great fun!!!

Orville

There's not vey much headroom. If I was a few inches shorter (I'm 6ft4) I probably would have bought one. I followed one a few weeks ago down some local country lanes and they do go really well. Acceleration (once rolling) is very similar to my MY99 Scoob and they corner extremely fast also. They are also the best looking and least hairdresserish 2 seater you can buy. Probably best suited as a second car though.

DazW

iTrader: (1)

I agree with daz on this one, my mates got an Elise and he's getting rid of it! he's getting an Accord Type R for the time being and then he's gonna get a Caterham as a second car laters!

Box

I own ans elise & an STI
The lotus is for sale ? enough said

Davvers

I've just sold my 111s Elise after 11000 miles and 16 trackdays, they are fantastic little cars, they handle supremely and in 111s guise with a close ratio box go like stink, they certainly lack the top end of the scooby but in the real world and on twisty tracks there is little to touch them. On several dry Doningtons I could easily pass standard scoobs, though not a well driven STI. On very twisty tracks such as Angelesey the elise definately has the edge. In the wet you just have to except that it is a light rear wheel drive car and you will slow down, it feels very skittish particularly at the front end, and will understeer (and that was proved at MIRA). It is also intolerant of mistakes or rough driving it pays to be smooth lest you end up in a hedge, lift off oversteer can be very entertaining but difficult to catch.
On practicality side, you can live with it all year, though its beautiful body is fragile and will pick up stone chips like anything. On long journeys the noise and ride can be uncompromising, but for a Summer toy like you mention it would be difficult to beat. This time of year second hand examples are dirt cheap, watch out for Lotus dealers though, they are Tw*Ts, £300 for a service but didn't notice I had no pads left.
I loved it, but I sold it as I am getting my MY00 from Holland next month, and a nice R500 for the track in April...I am a lucky ******* aren't I.

DBarthorpe

Cheers for your comments everyone.

S de B - I'll mail you soon, probably tomorrow.

DazW - why is your mate selling? Is it the headroom or other things as well? I'm only about 5'10 so hopefully that won't be a problem!!

Box - why are you selling?

James Adlington

Elise would be great for dry summer use, but for all round performance stick with the Scooby.

Had an eye opener at Knockhill yesterday - on track with a load of Elises, my first time on the track in my standard UK MY98. Weather was cold & the track was slightly damp & greasy. I expected to be a bit of a mobile chicane (being my first time) but I found myself overtaking the Elises with no problems at all . May well be different on a warm dry day, but how often can you guarantee those?

Davvers

'Damp and Greasy' nightmare in an elise!

SDB

Wow!!!

I just drove one at MIRA which was without doubt the most challenging car to hold sideways that I have ever driven. Even by elise standards it was a nightmare!!!

Great fun and tremendously satisfying to do, but only due to the incredibly high level of concentration required to hold it on the limit.

It was a bit unusual though.... It was turbo charged for a start, apparently 240BHP or similar. Horrible tyres (for the wet).

Not sure I could live with it, but a great experience all the same. The owner was a complete dude also, happily took the roof off for me so I could actually get in!!!! Great bunch of guys today.

Cheers

Simon

James Adlington

On the plus side for the Elise - they still manage 25mpg on the track - I don't even get that on way to the track!

HUNTY

I owned an Elise and my current 97MY Scooby Turbo at the same time. I always wanted an Elise and when it finally came (12 months wait in 97) it was a big thrill.

But once the novelty wore off it underlined the fact that the Impreza is so superb in all areas.

Sure the Elise is stylish and the better pose value, but if you like driving hard you can do it all year in your Impreza. The roads needed to be bone dry to inspire confidence in the elise and even then it was not as sure footed as the Impreza.

I am an average driver and perhaps the Elise was beyond me but I have no regrets about my choice. I also like to keep my cars in top condition and the Elise is just to fragile to want to use daily.

I just jump in the Impreza and go for it 365 days a year. If I had to do it again I would have got a Honda S2000 instead, does everything you want an Elise for and has the reliability thats built into jap cars.

Keep the Impreza!

chrisp

When I brought the impreza I basically had to choose between the elise and impreza. Anyone who knows me will tell that I am not exactly built for an elise.

A guy in the office brought an elise a month or so after I had the impreza. He uses it all year round (hard top) and has had no reliability problems and the build quality and attention to detail is excellent.

I went to another guy from work, house with the guy in the elise behind on a country lane. He is a better driver than me (kart racing, hill climbing, TVR and Esprit background) and then only time I really pulled away 30 yards was on a short stretch after a turn. He caught me on the next bend under braking. The brakes are very good on the elise, mind due with a 500kg advantage its not surprising. I must add the weather conditions were dry and sunny .

I would recommend anyone thinking of an Elise go for driver training especially if you are going from an impreza. They are a completely different animal. If I ever lose 6 inches in height, 5 stone and buy an Elise it would be the first thing i would buy .


cheers

chrisp

tiggers

I will be able to answer this soon as I take delivery of an Elise on March 1st. I have driven them sevral times both on the road and the track and just love them so much I had to have one. It will be a second car so I'm not too worried about the practicality and after being in touch with othe Elise owners via the web I think they are pretty reliable which is incredible for anything built in Britain.

I am worried about the stone chipping and fragile comments as I happen to think the Scooby is pretty atrocious in this area. My front bumper and bonnet front look as if they have been through a shot blaster in certain areas and the car is only 1 year old. Still we will see. At least the Elise won't rust.

Regards,

Tiggers

Davvers

The elise is awful for stone chips, a combination of being low down and having wafer thin paint are not a good combination. Its not so bad on the grey/silver cars as the undercoat is a similar colour, if you are getting a dark blue or green its probably worth gettin the front armourfended otherwise it will get destroyed in weeks. Also the driving lights are particularly prone to breaking and are expensive and a pain to replace.
rumour has it that dealers get the fronts of most of their second hand cars resprayed before sale.

chrisp

Definitely get the armour fend stuff . Also the guy at work has a removalable steering wheel, for two reasons. Getting in and out easier and security. Get the light covers it makes it look better and protects the lights. His Lotus sports exhaust is a lot louder than my scoobysport backbox. Kenwood do a special CD head unit especially for the Elise, with elise badging on. Turbo techics also a supercharger kit to give 200+ bhp. Giving close to 400bhp per ton - serious supercar and Rainbird territory .

DazW

iTrader: (1)

Dave,

Basically, my mate has been using his Elise as his everyday car, which would be fine....but for the fact that getting to work involves a 100 mile round trip mainly on dual carriageways and a motorway, so he's just tired of it (I used to do a similar journey in a Delta EVO and I used to get home physically and mentally drained.... so I know how he feels!) He says that eventually the cons outweighed the pro's and that's why he's getting rid of it! Our carpark at work has quite a few performance cars in it (Scoobies, an EVO 6, TVR, 911, F60 Modena!) so getting a decent testdrive of a car isn't a problem, and his choice was a Type R Integra but he wanted a bit more practicality and went for the 4 doors of the Accord (Scoobs and EVO's were out due to running costs!)

Nightmare

Dave,

Will add my opinion soon as am going on the Lotus track day with all the lotus test drivers etc.... 22nd feb at Snetterton. Am very lucky as it just arrived through the post asking me if I was interested! Silly question frankly....

Davvers..you suggesting Im damp and greasy???

grief

Dave,

Carpe dium. Get the Elise before you regret it. I chose the scoob for reasons of practicality and marriage (my wife wouldn't have married me with an Elise), however I still hanker for the Lotus.

No, not practical, a bugger to get in and out of, bit twitchy/uncomfortable on dual carriagways, but that's all. Ride is really good when you're not blasting around.

I don't regret the Scoob, however.

Robbie

In recent years I have owned 2 MGF VVC's, a Lotus Elise(wouldn up to 140bhp) and STi V Type R a Caterham 1.6k Supersport and 1.8k Superlight. So I think I have room to comment here

Ok on comfort levels - Subaru killed me, ended up getting rid of it cos it was so uncomfortable and yes I did try every position before anyone says a thing about it. Elise for me was far far superior in seating position. Agility wise not sure why people think they are skittish on dual carriageways - never noticed that myself - have the suspension set up how you like it and you can really enjoy the car. Only when I added Leda B suspension to my scooby did I get anywhere near the level of agility of the Elise. Practical terms forget it - it isn't a practical car - so don't even think of slagging it off for that - it was never designed for sole use. Personally I can't do a summer without a softop car and will be looking at buying my third Caterham( the superlight bought the farm this weekend - or rather a tractor drove over it when my sister moved it out of its winter storage). Yes the Elise is tricky to get in and out of. Yes the roof is fiddly. Yes stones ping off the underbelly and sound like a machine gun. Yes it is mid engined so displays all the traits of a midengined car - ie don't suddenly back off mid corner when you have screwed it up or it will hurt. BUT BUT BUT you soon forget all these things when you are driving down sun soaked country lanes getting a nice tan and just enjoying life. So go into Elise ownership with both eyes wide open......its like any love affair - basically you would hate to be without it but it does have its rocky patches.

GranTurismo

Hello,

Antoher "my mates got one" reply.

Make sure you get the suspension well checked if you by secondhand, his has had all sorts of ware and alignment problmes due to the poor roads around our way and the elises firm set up. The engine has been OK apart form overheating once.

We both like each others cars but I know why I have a Scooby and He knows why he has an Elise.