The Motor Forum

Matt · Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:04 pm Post subject: Elise Facelift

This is lovely.

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Grampa · Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 11:51 pm Post subject:

Agreed, but I had to compare it to an existing one to see what had changed.
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Andrew L

PhilD · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:05 am Post subject:

Sav · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:09 am Post subject:

When is the Type 47.65 version coming out with a bigger fire extinguisher?
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Matt · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:56 am Post subject:

About quarter-past-three tomorrow.
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PhilD · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:09 am Post subject:

Dr. Hfuhruhurr · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:04 am Post subject:

Nelson · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:57 am Post subject:

Nice, successful facelift.

Budget Ferrari California if I ever saw one though
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.. · Nuclear My Car: Goes. Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 10607

Lovely but I wonder if I'd still be sat in a puddle whenever it rained and arrive at work with my trousers soaked from the back of my knees downover? I wonder too if the brakes would go on holiday at the first hint of moisture in the air? And, I wonder if when going out for a drive I'd arrive home again without dropping little bits of Lotus all over the road?

PG · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:32 pm Post subject:

Stuntman · Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:32 pm Post subject:

They need an all-new Elise with more powerful and less peaky engines. And an Exige with a proper back window and the option of normal tyres.

Then I'd be interested again. The facelift is nice, though...

Matt · Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:39 pm Post subject:

The 1.6 is a much better proposition than a Prius if you want fun with your greens.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/0...european-2011-lotus-elise-s-rate/
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.. · Nuclear My Car: Goes. Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 10607

Despite all the pain mine caused me I want one.

PhilD · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:12 am Post subject:

.. · Nuclear My Car: Goes. Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 10607

I had a MK1. I wanted one so much I ordered one before anyone had driven one. I think I was the 4th person in the north to get one. It was a great drive but there were soooo many problems.

I don't have any digital pictures of mine, this is a 35mm print scanned on an office scanner, so pretty poor...

And this is a picture of my other Lotus...posted because I can!!!

PhilD · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:26 am Post subject:

You like red cars then! Something about the 'poorness' of that photo that really works. Are Lotuses better built these days? You'd think there wouldn't be much to go wrong with such a simple car.

You should have kept the Elan, it's a modern classic.

.. · Nuclear My Car: Goes. Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 10607

The original prints are both good pictures, I have them both on the wall at A3.

The Elan SE was a good car and fast A-B but it was front wheel drive and I'd done over 100k miles in it when I sold it plus it was falling apart and costing too much to keep on the road but the main reason for selling it was poor backup. The dealer just wasn't interested or able to fix the problems the car had. Sad really, that Lotus were let down by such poor servicing.

The Elise reliability and build was worse and after those two experiences I'd have to think very carefully before buying another. Lotus make lovely cars and they're great to drive, but as an ownership experience - shit - due to poor build and couldn't give a feck and incompetent service. Dunno if I'd trust them again, maybe not.

PhilD · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:21 pm Post subject:

You take a good photo Alan, those are both magazine quality (which may be an insult?!)

My worry is that I use my car infrequently so I need reliability. I'm not too bothered about creature comforts, I ran mine though the winter with no heating... character building!

If you got 100k from your Elan it can't have been that bad?

.. · Nuclear My Car: Goes. Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 10607

The Elan was serviced with no expense spared which helped but there were annoyances...

The gear linkage cables kept snapping leaving me without either the gears needed when pushing the gear stick forward or those needed when pulling it backward. This happened time and time again and there didn't seem to be any sign of a permanent fix.

The dashboard dropped when a mounting snapped and the dealers attempts at a "fix" had to be seen to be believed.

Some kind soul slashed the roof and the replacement never fit properly leading to even more leaks than before.

Both of the windows worked loose and despite numerous visits to the dealer remained loose with the result that if either window was opened when closing it again there was a gap of about an inch and the rain pissed in as airflow worked it's magic. It was like having a tap turned on behind my shoulder. The whole interior was pertinently soaked.

A hole miraculously opened in the floor and the dealers response was "Take it to a boat builder." My response was to sell the car as it was now obvious that the dealer couldn't maintain it beyond changing the oil etc.

As for the Elan...every time I took it out something broke or fell off and the dealer (a different one this time) was a bodger.

Great drivers cars but a total nightmare if you needed to be anywhere on time or if you had to go back to the incompetent couldn't give a feck dealers.

I don't know what they're like these days. Your best bet would be to find a Lotus forum. I think you should do a bit of research on reliability and how good the dealers are or find a good independent before you buy.

Mike Amos · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:10 pm Post subject:

They have relied on the Elise for too long, the niche market must surely know better by now.

Unless they can come up with something genuinely new, and I do not mean the variations, Lotus will quietly rumble on until they lose credibility.
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PhilD · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:58 pm Post subject:

Gooner · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:15 pm Post subject:

That looks good and it's testament to how good the original Elise was that the same basic architecture is still going strong more than 15 years after it was first developed. There's a lot to be said for keeping things simple and not needing to plump up modern cars so they no longer hold true to their original values (as Lotus have also shown us with the Europa). They also made a really good decision to take Toyota engines on board when MGR went tits up, I think the 1.8 unit is much better suited to the Elise than GM's 20 T from the VX220 would have been.
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DarthBalls · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:26 pm Post subject:

Having spent a total of about 8 days driving an Elise I got the impression that they wouldn't be the best prospect for a daily drive. Amazing fun to drive, incredibly responsive and look great but having to take a towel along in case it rained was not fun.
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ALF · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:44 pm Post subject:

Like it, it's trying less hard than the original S2 and looks all the better for it - more classical like the S1.

Eff One · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:24 am Post subject:

I've always loved the S2 and that looks great, despite the colour. The under the skin updates sound good too.

I'd certainly take a punt on one if the opportunity arose - I think Lotus have come a long way since the S1 was launched. My VX220 ownership was nothing like Alan's S1 experience - the only thing that went wrong in 16 months was a loose exhaust heatshield which was fixed in ten minutes by the dealer. And I never got a drop of water inside despite several trips in torrential rain.

I've never actually driven an Elise, but I always got the impression they were just a touch sweeter - and although the 2.0 turbo leant the VXT serious pace, I think a revvy, lightweight NA lump probably suits the car better.
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