To Lotus Elise, or not Lotus Elise: That is the question.

W

Will

A2OC Donor
I've been spending the last week or so reading up about Lotus Elises. There's a lot of good website on the marque and a decent forum too. Naturally on the forum the question is not so much if to buy an Elise, but which model.
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It seems to boil down to a second generation 111S or 111R. I wont bore you with the details of how they differ
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So I thought I'd return here, to a well balanced forum, to take a step back and ask: Am I barking mad even considering an Elise as a daily driver?

There seem few other cars that quite tick all the boxes for me right now (performance, economy, no rust). Feel free to throw a few suggestions my way.

Oh BTW this is to replace the Smart car, not the A2!

Thanks.
 
I've driven Elises a few times - on the track (with an instructor) and in the Swiss Alps for a few days. They are stunningly good cars. At my work there are a couple in the car park (amongst all the A4s, Beemers and Mercs) and they are clearly being used as daily commutes. They are remarkably frugal considering the performance so financially they work in that respect.

If you've got the money and you've got the space go for it. I've always promised myself an Elise for when the appropriate mid-life crisis hits!

Actually in my work car park is a stunning Exige. It's in what I can only describe as "Stealth" paint work - it's matt grey. It has uprated AP racing brakes, Toyo R888 tyres, something gnarly under the bonnet which requires an air scoop on the roof, and LOTS of carbon bodywork. Must be a pretty extreme version of what is an extreme version of a pocket rocket!
 
Thanks Dan. It's good to see there are Lotus' being used as daily drivers. Like you say, they do stand out in the office car park as something a little different.

At 35, I'm not quite in the mid-life crises, but do feel that if I don't have one soon, it'll be many years before I can afford one again.

The 111S amuses and appeals to me since it falls in to a low road tax bracket and averages 40mpg yet does 0-60mph in 5s.

I hope to test drive a few next week :)
 
How old and bendy are you?

That is the only deciding factor.................................especially with the roof on.
 
Both Elises I've driven were the 111S models, although I think the first one had the Kseries engine.
At 6ft 3 I would say the only issue with them is the getting in and out with the roof on with dignity (keeping your suit clean) but apart from that...
 
I'm 6'2 and slim, so quite bendy ;) I don't wear designer suits, so happy to have a bit of dirt on my trousers :)

I suppose it boils down to: how badly do I want one to suffer its short comings.
 
In my opinion, it is criminal to buy an Elise and not use it on the track. Speaking of Elise and dirty trousers, I almost had dirty trousers in an Elise at Snetterton, fortunately the rear toe-link broke at the start and not at the end of the pit straight! Just make sure you get the uprated rear toe links (and spares) if you do start doing track work!
 
Hi Will, just seen this post - I have owned an Elise for the past three years.

I've read your thread on Seloc, there's plenty of good advise on there and Willb is a well respected buyer/seller of quality Elises.

Happy to offer any advise I can as an owner, I will say though that it's quite a dilema deciding between K series or Toyota power unit.

The K series had a lot of bad press re. head gasket failures but these issues are well known now and when sorted together with a cleaned up head and a pair of cams you'll have a grunty, reliable 160+bhp that you wont have to scream to the red line in every gear a la Toyota.

Good luck in finding a good one and keep trawling seloc for info - mostly everything's been covered there (many times over!).
 
Thanks for the words of advice. Yes, seloc is a good forum, though I find the search tool rather hard to use, as like you say I'm sure eveything has been covered many times before.

I'm still interested to know how easy/cheap it is to buy spare wheels for a set of winter tyres.

The chassis is aluminium and the body glassfibre, but what bits are made from steel that will rust over the winter use?

Is the VX220 a LWB version of the Elise and therefore the same as the Europa?

Remove the badge and for the money the VX220 turbo seems the 'no brainer' option, or have I missed something?

Thanks.
 
Well it looks as if tomorrow will be the big day. Off to view a nice 111S with a price agreed in principal. Fingers crossed.
 
As a smart roadster owner I think I couldn't live with the Elise on a daily basis.

I think it is a great car but just lacks a bit of comfort for every day use.

On the roadster.net forum this comes up now and again.

A few roadster owners moved on to Elise and have since returned to the fold.

Roadies have better fuel efficiency, lower tax and insurance and from their reviews better road manners BUT roadies have less power and that thrill you get from owning a Lotus.

I had thought about hunting down an Elise or Elan until I saw my roadster, it was love at first sight and now we will never be parted.
 
I too considered the Smart Roaadster. Having also a ForTwo it would have been the natural choice. But somehow after 2 years of ownership it felt like the right time to move on from the marque. Maybe I'll be back one day, but with some many cars to choose from in this modern age it's a shame not to try as many as possible :)
 
Doesn't Lotus stand for, Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious:eek:

Or does that just refer to the old elans esprits and eclats!

I always admire them, Elises that is, not the older ones, although those early esprits still look stunning.
 
Black Pearl said:
Doesn't Lotus stand for, Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious:eek:

Or does that just refer to the old elans esprits and eclats!
Click to expand...

Time will tell :)

From what I've read the weakest link is the head gasket, a resonably common issue on Rover K-series engine. Correct servicing and mechanical sympathy should go some way to minimising this risk.
 
That does look rather nice! Must admit now my work situation is showing signs of picking up at long last I will be looking at second car agian and a VX 220 would be tempting as being just a bit more civilised than the Elise...... And in spite of my horror of the Smart fourtwo I wouldn't say not a Roadster having tried and nearly bought one when they were running down production.
 
The Elise/VX220 certainly makes sense to me; good performance, good economy, aluminium. Mine has the removeable hard-top and a/c, so should be civilised for all the seasons.

We'll see.....
 
That does look nice!!

I ran an S1 Elise as a second car for three years and apart from a burst water pipe had no problems at all and can honestly say it was the most memorable car I have ever owned.

Enjoy your new toy.
 
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