[Closed] Entry-level Lotus car (new version of the Lotus Elise is a lot more affordable)

good family car there, hora.

Public transport system for them 8)

Funny cars Elises. I tested a 111R - brilliant handling and quick but the engine sounded like a chavved up Nova and the interior was so flimsy and cheap it made a Yugo look like a mid 80s Merc for build quality. It also has the same engine as (the now defunct) Toyota Corolla T Sport - which was £16k. Hmmm...

Its a face-lift, work to design/produce the new car [i]may[/i] have begun...

I wouldn't own a current Lotus though, not even if they cost 27p

I think "Loads Of Trouble Usually Serious" still applies unfortunately.

Kit car?

You could build something like a JP-15 for 9k, all you need is friendly breaker with a banged up 1.6/1.7 fiesta/puma, a garrage and a bag of spanners*. Its esentially a mid engined take on a lotus 7 chassis but with a fairing to help it allong on the straights. And being designed by JP its going to be good 😀

*more tools may be required.

don't build a kit car hora, please.

I couldn't take all the 'these shocks don't work' posts.

I dunno, he could be gone a long time if he did 😉

I couldn't take all the 'these shocks don't work' posts.

Funny guy 😆

O/T I've never blown a FOX RP23 shock but countless forks..

Oldgit, I wouldnt be that long. I'd ensure I had wireless on a laptop 😉

Check this Lotus accelerate, my mates old car, has a Honda type R engine in it, build quality on the car is rank though. In the dry it leaves motor bikes from the lights !!!!!! 😯

I think "Loads Of Trouble Usually Serious" still applies unfortunately.

kingkong....
😯

And who cares if they DO break down anyway? You don't buy a car like that to be sensible.

Strangelove - you get some Renaults and Alfas that last years with no issues at all - does that mean they are all reliable?

There's a world of difference between wanting to buy a car and being prepared for a huge project like building a kit car.. silly..

Affordable if you are a late middle-aged old biffer who has always wanted "something for the weekend" and have more money than sense.

Thirty grand for something that is going to get driven about 2500 miles a year and depreciate like its been dropped off a cliff.

I think that Loads of Trouble Usally Serious thing is like the Cannondale Crack 'n' Fail. It was true once and has stuck because it is 'witty' even if it is no longer appropriate

Sports cars in general are the slowest depreciating cars in my experience. Even the fastest in the range (ie, GTIs, RS etc.) hang onto their money really well.

I like the Elise and the Evora but I just think they are flimsy and rather steeply priced for what they are.

I'd happily have one if given one but I wouldn't spend £30k on one.

I most certainly wouldn't kick a Elise out of bed for farting.

Had an S2 in Touring spec (context!) and to this day, it's the most fun thing I've ever done. Whilst moving, anyway. Dodgy build quality, farty engine noises, supposed unreliability...none of it matters a jot when you're "on it": engine on-cam, apex clipped, feedback almost overwhelming, car responding to your every input telepathically. It's something only true petrolheads would know. Everyone else can stick to their diesel german estates and other such four-wheeled tedium.

Would need a new exhaust if it was farting!

Don't all brilliant cars have their foibles? A Ferrari with a Tubi exhaust. Oh dear gawd. I saw a Enzo the other day from the lights onto the sliproad and the guy short-shifted up to circa 3rd then kept is footdown. I had both windows down and to be honest my ears were in heaven.

I still love the look of the S1 Elise and they can be picked up relatively cheaply these days. Long term as a second car I reckon they make a lot of sense as you'll have none of the corrosion issues with the chassis or body, so it's only keeping the thing mechanically sound that's going to cost.

Although the real cost is arguably that second garage to keep it in;-)

I love Elises - certainly dont depreciate like a stone - If anything the origonal S1 from the mid 90s are appreciating (what was available for £5-7k grand a couple of years ago is now going for £7-8k)

only had a 111s (had a 1.8vvt toyota engine rather than the more powerful 111r) for a few weeks, very easy to drive around town and on the motorway, even in the snow. and of course for a nice blat at the weekends.

But yeah, - wouldnt class the new elise with the 1.6 at 27 as 'affordable'
That would go to Caterham for a new 'classic' 7 at £13,000 (of course if you want to spec options like say a windscreen or paint then the price goes up a little. 😉

it is pretty affordable. Here's some other prices (without adding on extra packs etc) of cars today

Vauxhall Astra Hatchback 2.0 CDTi Elite 5dr £22,890
BMW 320d Convertible M Sport 2010 2dr £37,655 (£38k for a 2litre diesel!!!)
Ford Kuga Crossover 2.0 TDCi Titanium 4WD 5dr £25,658
Citroen C5 Saloon 3.0 HDi V6 Exclusive Auto 4dr £28,295
VW Golf R 2.0 £32,190

A friend has just sold his Elise for more than he paid for it about 5 years ago (paid £7k, just sold for £9k) very few mods apart from uprated exhaust and it has put on quite a few miles in that time too.

I just don't get why you would buy one new. Most of them are second cars, you can get a nice tidy low-miler and sell it for close to what you paid.

Its the Exige that gets me, stunning.

like most things in life, you end up paying one way or another, apart from MF's mate. 😉
buy new, run it on the track for a couple of years, chop it in and do it again. dealer loves you, looks after you, major cost is depreciation.
otherwise buy sh, service costs, depreciation, all yours.
want a fast car? cat 7 has to be the bargain. anything else is just an ( very marginal in the case of the elise ) increase in comfort and expense.

I have driven a supercharged Exige around a track at speed and it is stunning fun although a very un-nerving sensation feeling the weight of the engine behind you trying to be in front of you as you hammer the stop pedal at 120mph into a corner at Silverstone 🙂

[img] [/img]

That was never a Lotus. 😉

Kingkongsfinger: From that video I make 0-60 in 5 seconds and a further 13 to 120.

Guess your mate only raced slow motorbikes?

Whats a ford escort got to do with an ellise?

as is normally the case:

Tree: 1 - Car:0

it is pretty affordable. Here's some other prices (without adding on extra packs etc) of cars today

Vauxhall Astra Hatchback 2.0 CDTi Elite 5dr £22,890
BMW 320d Convertible M Sport 2010 2dr £37,655 (£38k for a 2litre diesel!!!)
Ford Kuga Crossover 2.0 TDCi Titanium 4WD 5dr £25,658
Citroen C5 Saloon 3.0 HDi V6 Exclusive Auto 4dr £28,295
VW Golf R 2.0 £32,190

Yebbut there's naff all in an Elise. It's just a honeycomb tub with a spiced up production engine in the back. Whereas stuff like the Golf GTI and R32 manage to be extremely fast point to point and a fairly quiet and sane family car.

I doubt, in event of any kinda of contest, a gti or r32 would not have the slightest idea where an elise went. completely different cars though - the point of the list was not to suggest competition, just the point that £26k for an elise isn't all that much money when you can splurge £32k on a warm golf, adding decent seats (£3325) and sat nav (£2225) to which brings the cost over £37,500

Whereas stuff like the Golf GTI and R32 manage to be extremely fast point to point and a fairly quiet and sane family car.

5lab - you beat me to it 🙂

I've taxed worse

No doubt an Elise is faster point to point than almost anything for the money. My point is that when you think of what goes into developing a hot hatch, it's a hell of a lot compared to using the same honeycomb tub for years and sticking Rover / Toyota engines into it.

I've never driven an Elise, but I did have a Caterham for a couple of years as my daily car. Before that I had a little 106GTi (I know, hairdresser's car) - for every day driving the 106 was probably faster because a hot hatch is a hell of lot more forgiving. But. The Caterham just [i]feels[/i] fast all the time, which is the only thing that counts. Absolutely no contest the proper sports car will reward with proper driving sensations even when you're creeping along in a traffic jam. (A Caterham is so low, for example, that you can put the palm of your hand flat on the road - just sitting in it is an experience, as is getting in it - in fact you don't really get in it as much as put it on.)

If it is thrills you're after don't bother with the Lotus, just man up and get a Caterham.

I doubt a 106gti could [b]ever[/b] be faster than a Caterham!!!

or build a "LoCost" [img] [/img]
which is a kit version of the Caterham, based on a space frame style chassis (is that the right term?) and the engine, transmission and drivechain from a Ford Sierra.
Bwarp.
very flexible though i think, can be modded to fit pretty much any setup (as when you "buy one" you buy a book with the "general plan of attack" iirc)

quite tidy ones have been built for £300, and putting an engine and transmission from a car that heavy and powerful into what is effectivly a rollerskate, its going to be scarily good fun 🙂

my uncle (favorite story incoming) has/had a LoMax, which is a spaceframe into which you stick all the parts from a 2CV. Running gear, drivechain, electrics. Even those stupid little lights were designed into it.

Looked the mutts, and wasnt the fastest thing in the world, but was pretty rapid as it weighed nothing, and was (apparently) great fun to drive 🙂

[img] [/img]

isnt that better than a 2CV? 🙂