Reply With QuoteWe have a few Elise owners here.
Lotus Elise.
Parked beside one today... and it has officially become my dream car when I can afford one. It's like Miata 2.0!
We have a few Elise owners here.
If all goes well I'm thinking about picking one up in the next year. Hoping I can convince one of our locals to let me play with one before I decide, though
09 Lexus RX350
.... no Miata
I doubt I'll have the potential of buying one for quite a while.... 5+ years.... but I definitely would love to drive one too! I hope you end up getting oneOriginally Posted by MadMonkey
If all goes well I'm thinking about picking one up in the next year. Hoping I can convince one of our locals to let me play with one before I decide, though
No way... I parked next to one once too.
Flimsy British kit cars. They're pretty to look at, but driving a couple of them cured me of any desire to ever own one.
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
If you call smashing them into cones driving one.
M3 is always the answer.
I have smashed dozens of cars into literally hundreds of cones over the last fifteen years. The only car that suffered significant ($$$) damage was a Lotus Elise.
I stand by my assessment. Pretty, but flimsy. And expensive to repair. Great car for somebody, but not for me.
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Yeah I saw some things about very minor Lotus Elise crashes that resulted in being totaled over very minor damage.
How is it a kit car? It's made in a factory and designed by some of the best chassis tuning engineers in the world. You can option them out to your spec and buy them turnkey from a US based dealer network just like any other production car. It has a/c, stereo, power windows, ABS etc. It's not flimsy either unless you drive head first into a cone wall at 60 mph and hit a cone at exactly the right place in the clam to crack it. I've punted cones at 70+ mph with no damage.
Sounds like sour grapes to me from one isolated incident. I've had mine nearly 4 years probably put 500+ runs on it and it's been trouble free, fun and easy to maintain. I think most the people that have actually owned one in the area would have similar experiences to share.
Last edited by CosmosMpower; 09-22-2011 at 12:04 PM.
VW Bug in running shoes
M Porcupine sedan
M Porcupine coupe
Crusty old e46 beater
Battery Powered appliance car
I'm very jealous of your Elise! :) What would you say are some bad points of owning one? Other than the getting in and out part (which I love about it anyways), and I would assume repair costs are high? Or am I mistaken? Hows the sound in the cabin from the engine? Is it enjoyably loud... or eardrum poppingly loud?
As far as I'm concerned, any car that needs a waiver from the federal government because it can't meet mandatory low-speed impact requirements is a kit car. I can buy a turnkey, road legal Atom from a dealer in Wichita Falls, but that doesn't make it a "real" car either.
Lol. If it's so sturdy, how did the battery break loose in yours and damage the rear clam? What would that have cost to fix out of warranty?
I've driven enough of them at autocross and on the track, and I don't particularly like them. As I stated above - it's a great car for some people, just not for me.
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Elise did go through and passed federal low speed crash testing. In 2005-2006 it got waivers for the 2.5 mph bumper which is not part of occupant safety. In 2007 they added some foam inside the front clam and crashed enough cars to get off the waiver.As far as I'm concerned, any car that needs a waiver from the federal government because it can't meet mandatory low-speed impact requirements is a kit car. I can buy a turnkey, road legal Atom from a dealer in Wichita Falls, but that doesn't make it a "real" car either.
Lol. If it's so sturdy, how did the battery break loose in yours and damage the rear clam? What would that have cost to fix out of warranty?
I've driven enough of them at autocross and on the track, and I don't particularly like them. As I stated above - it's a great car for some people, just not for me.
Lotus is a real production road car manufacturer and has been forever, not the same as Ariel. In CA you have to register cars like the Atom, Noble etc with a SB100 kit car registration, the Elise is registered as a normal car not a kit car. Hell Lotus has multiple F1 world championships, not exactly kit car material...
The battery issue was a design issue, the total cost to fix the fiberglass and paint was less than 4 digits. No different than a Corvette or boat. Let a 25 pound battery bounce around in any car and it will likely cause close to the same amount of damage. Has nothing to do with how fragile the car is.
Hey if you don't like it, you don't like it. Surprised though, we have pretty similar taste in sports cars (Miata, RX-8, S2000). Out of those 4 the Elise has the most sublime pure driving experience to me.
Last edited by CosmosMpower; 09-22-2011 at 01:15 PM.
VW Bug in running shoes
M Porcupine sedan
M Porcupine coupe
Crusty old e46 beater
Battery Powered appliance car
It is because you are Caucasian......
What are you trying to say here?
+1
Now, THAT'S funny.
I thought my next car would be an Elise. I didn't even DRIVE one... a simple ride in one proved that I'm too fat and enjoy a reasonably "street-able" suspension to pursue that option. I'm sure it's an awesome car for some people.
You should try and drive one before getting too excited either which way.
My advice: Don't take anyone's advice.
You are exempt since you have mancrush on Miatamoto.What are you trying to say here?
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