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Thinking of buying a Lotus Elise. Anyone have/had one?

Fritzo

Fritzo

Lifer
I'm going to be 40 next month, so I have to line up my "mid-life crisis" car 😀 I've always been a Lotus fan, and the Elise is a freakin' awesome looking car. It would be used on weekends/go to work (about 30 miles round trip). My trusty Scion xA would be the winter car.

Anyone have/had one in the past? What kind of mechanical problems did you have? I know it's a small car, it's loud, and not very easy to get in/out of, but driving the thing feels like playing a video game 🙂

The wife gave the OK to get it (budget around $25000), but I'm probably going to get her an Acadia or a Traverse first, save some cash, and buy it in a couple of years. Mainly looking to see if this is something I'm going to want to own.

Thoughts or comments?
 
Rain. I was driving home yesterday and there was a sudden downpour. The guy in the yellow Elise in front of me was getting soaked(he had the roof off). Engine is pretty bulletproof.
 
I rented one for 4 days a few years ago. Most fun you can have with you clothes on IMO.

Like you stated though, you have to be a contortionist to get in and out of it, especially if you're over 5'10" tall. Driving it for more than an hour might leave you with a sore lower back and the radio is almost completely useless at freeway speeds due to road noise and engine noise.

Reliability is very good as it has a Toyota Celica drivetrain (modified by Lotus). The only shortcomings are the battery is tiny and if the car is going to sit you might want to get a battery tender for it. Also, a minor fender bender will cause major major damage as the body of the car consists of two parts a front and rear clam bonded to the chassis. They are very expensive (like $10,000) and not easy to repair if damaged. As such, insurance might be kind of high on this car.

It is such a great driver's car though. I would buy one in a second.

Haha! Found the thread I made back in 2006 when I rented the Elise. Pics are gone though...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1984951&highlight=lotus+elise
 
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Yeah, but roof requires assembly vs pushing a button. I know it takes like 20 seconds to put it up, but some people are really lazy.
 
punjabiplaya said:
Rain. I was driving home yesterday and there was a sudden downpour. The guy in the yellow Elise in front of me was getting soaked(he had the roof off). Engine is pretty bulletproof.
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He should have stopped and put the top on...

I've driven an Elise in the rain and it didn't leak.
 
Yeah, he pulled over under a bridge and did it. I'm just saying. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I had that money to spare too.
 
Have you considered the Exige? I'm not fond of soft-top looks.

The question is, why a Lotus Evora? Is it the styling or the drive? What about a new MIata?

The Lotus Evora is on my list of cars to own before I turn 30 though. 😉
 
MJinZ said:
Have you considered the Exige? I'm not fond of soft-top looks.

The question is, why a Lotus Evora? Is it the styling or the drive? What about a new MIata?

The Lotus Evora is on my list of cars to own before I turn 30 though. 😉
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Evora is $$$$$. The Exige is basically the Elise with even stiffer suspension (ie- it's track ready) with little other benefit. I want to drive my car to work. Also a used Elise is in my price range.

The new Miata's are a little too tame for me. I have a need for speed, and I want to turn heads 🙂
 
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Fritzo said:
Evora is $$$$$. The Exige is basically the Elise with even stiffer suspension (ie- it's track ready) with little other benefit. I want to drive my car to work. Also a used Elise is in my price range.

The new Miata's are a little too tame for me. I have a need for speed, and I want to turn heads 🙂
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Actually, Exige is just a hardtop Elise (with whatever other minor changes they make).

I suppose a Corvette is out of the question if you want to turn heads?
 
MJinZ said:
Actually, Exige is just a hardtop Elise (with whatever other minor changes they make).

I suppose a Corvette is out of the question if you want to turn heads?
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Corvettes are like Camrys...everyone has one. I see them all over the place so rarely give them a second glance. You rarely see an Elise/Exige and when I drove one people would come up and ask about it or comment on it all the time. It does get a lot of people interested in it simply because it looks like a mini-exotic.
 
Fun, but a pricey toy since that's all it is. I got the go ahead recently on a Miata. No idea on a timeline when that will happen, though. I have driven neither and of course the Elise is going to be a lot of fun but I understand that Miatas are, too, and 25k buys you a new one. The Elise has zero of the ghey-miata vibe, though. But I bet insurance is higher, as Jules said. Mostly only women and old farts appear to buy Miatas so when I quoted recently its insurance was the same as a minivan.
 
Insurance will be high mainly because it's quite expensive to replace parts on it, and even small hits on the body requires a large panel to replace it. Will be damn fun though! I see a fair number around where I am as they stop in town on their mountain runs. I don't usually catch them in the mountains though..which is odd.
 
StageLeft said:
Fun, but a pricey toy since that's all it is. I got the go ahead recently on a Miata. No idea on a timeline when that will happen, though. I have driven neither and of course the Elise is going to be a lot of fun but I understand that Miatas are, too, and 25k buys you a new one. The Elise has zero of the ghey-miata vibe, though. But I bet insurance is higher, as Jules said. Mostly only women and old farts appear to buy Miatas so when I quoted recently its insurance was the same as a minivan.
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I'm 40 with zero accidents or tickets, and plan to drive it 6 months a year. How expensive could insurance be?

Man, this thing just screams sex:

151449d1281833769-2005-co-elise-w-sport-package-hard-top-15k-27k-elise_early_2.jpg
 
Naustica said:
Which is still too much. Elise was mid 40k car new. I remember seeing cars with like 5 - 10k miles for about $25k two years ago.
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I don't know about that. I only found 11 of them for sale within 75 miles of me. $25k seems to be about the lowest I've seen them going for unless they had a salvage title.

Most of the clean low mileage examples I see the owners are asking around $32-35k for them.

Expanding my search to 200 miles revealed a whopping 15 cars for sale including this gem

2005 Lotus Elise, red, 5,900 miles on it, One owner, Always garaged, Low mileage, No accidents, Never seen snow,interior/exterior in excellent condition. Looks pristine and he's asking $36,000 for it. Might get him to knock a couple thousand off but I bet he wouldn't go too much lower.

Just for kicks I did a search for 2005-2009 model year Corvettes and came up with 255 listings within 200 miles of me. 😉
 
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