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

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JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,534
911
126
I did some more research on renting one and looks like Enterprise dumped their fleet of Lotuses after all 4 of them had to have their clutches replaces at 10k miles LOL.

I've been looking around to see how much it would cost to rent something like that for a day or two, obscenely expensive is what it is. 300 a day for a plain jane Cayman? Ridiculous I guess.

Yeah, the one I rented had less than 3,000 miles on it and the clutch felt pretty good. I'm guessing that people would rent them and then go do track days with them. I originally rented it for 1 day at $200 but then extended it to 4 days (over the Christmas holiday-Merry Christmas to ME!!!) for $150/day and 150 free miles a day.

My car was in the shop anyway to fix a body work issue so I needed a rental car. :p
 

PhoKingGuy

Diamond Member
Nov 15, 2007
4,685
0
76
Yeah, the one I rented had less than 3,000 miles on it and the clutch felt pretty good. I'm guessing that people would rent them and then go do track days with them. I originally rented it for 1 day at $200 but then extended it to 4 days (over the Christmas holiday-Merry Christmas to ME!!!) for $150/day and 150 free miles a day.

My car was in the shop anyway to fix a body work issue so I needed a rental car. :p

Yeah the lowest they wanted to go was 250 a day on a regular cayman, but that was if I took it for a minimum of 2 days. Only with 100 miles to boot as well.

The dude at the shop was saying that they have A LOT of arab/saudi customers who rent Rolls/Bentleys hourly or weekly. They usually show up in some camry or C class merc and drive off in one of those. I found it pretty funny.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,534
911
126
Yeah the lowest they wanted to go was 250 a day on a regular cayman, but that was if I took it for a minimum of 2 days. Only with 100 miles to boot as well.

The dude at the shop was saying that they have A LOT of arab/saudi customers who rent Rolls/Bentleys hourly or weekly. They usually show up in some camry or C class merc and drive off in one of those. I found it pretty funny.

Enterprise picked me up at the body shop where I dropped my car off and some hot young chick drove me back to their office in a minivan because only managers were allowed to drive the Lotus. I used to work in the replacement car rental industry so I found the entire experience amusing...and then I was driving off in a Lotus Elise on a soggy Friday morning out of Oceanside, CA to go meet a friend of mine who lives in Seal Beach. It was great fun! :D
 

PhoKingGuy

Diamond Member
Nov 15, 2007
4,685
0
76
Enterprise picked me up at the body shop where I dropped my car off and some hot young chick drove me back to their office in a minivan because only managers were allowed to drive the Lotus. I used to work in the replacement car rental industry so I found the entire experience amusing...and then I was driving off in a Lotus Elise on a soggy Friday morning out of Oceanside, CA to go meet a friend of mine who lives in Seal Beach. It was great fun! :D

Its their company policy only to rent Autos now, and you have to rent their "exotic" cars at a few locations only. Nothing really exciting though is worth the price IMO, 300 for a Cayman/Boxer is about the cheapest thing they will do. Other than that its 700 for a Vantage, 600 for a 911 (base model bleh), 1200 for an F430.

I just wish they still offered the lotus, I would do that in a heartbeat for 200 a day.
 

RichieZ

Diamond Member
Jun 1, 2000
6,549
37
91
Its their company policy only to rent Autos now, and you have to rent their "exotic" cars at a few locations only. Nothing really exciting though is worth the price IMO, 300 for a Cayman/Boxer is about the cheapest thing they will do. Other than that its 700 for a Vantage, 600 for a 911 (base model bleh), 1200 for an F430.

I just wish they still offered the lotus, I would do that in a heartbeat for 200 a day.

find a friend with a porsche and buy them lunch and drive the loaner car when they service it, or pay for 1/2 of the oil change ($75 - $100) if you need to accelerate this. thats how my friends "rent" a cayman for a day. and its only $60 to keep the car for each additonal day.

my boxster has gone in for more than one early oil change just for this reason
 

PhoKingGuy

Diamond Member
Nov 15, 2007
4,685
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find a friend with a porsche and buy them lunch and drive the loaner car when they service it, or pay for 1/2 of the oil change ($75 - $100) if you need to accelerate this. thats how my friends "rent" a cayman for a day. and its only $60 to keep the car for each additonal day.

my boxster has gone in for more than one early oil change just for this reason

Lol I'd love to do that but i'm 24, not many of my friends have cars like that. Well a few do, but they would never let anyone else drive them or such.
 

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
2
0
Its their company policy only to rent Autos now, and you have to rent their "exotic" cars at a few locations only. Nothing really exciting though is worth the price IMO, 300 for a Cayman/Boxer is about the cheapest thing they will do. Other than that its 700 for a Vantage, 600 for a 911 (base model bleh), 1200 for an F430.

I just wish they still offered the lotus, I would do that in a heartbeat for 200 a day.

Dude, I fail to see what's "bleh" about even a "base model" 911.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
I also wonder who the hell are paying these rates. I can see $1000 or so for a true exotic like a Ferrari with its ridiculous maintenance requirements but a Boxter shouldn't be so expensive. I remember looking at an exotic-rental place in Toronto and it had similar rates.

On the other hand if you team up with a buddy and spent $500-700 each you can spend 24 hours living truly huge in a car that the majority of people in the world will never be able to even sit in let alone drive.

http://www.gtaexotics.ca/dev/

EDIT: In fact an F355 spyder for $600/day isn't bad. Viper for $400/day? I swear these prices used to be higher, that is not expensive at all for that thing! A dollar a mile after the first 60. NSX for $200. Boxter 200. The lamborghinis are silly, like $1900/day for murcielago. The porsche twin turbo is $400, though. Beats that $600 for a NA 911.
 
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JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,534
911
126
I also wonder who the hell are paying these rates. I can see $1000 or so for a true exotic like a Ferrari with its ridiculous maintenance requirements but a Boxter shouldn't be so expensive. I remember looking at an exotic-rental place in Toronto and it had similar rates.

On the other hand if you team up with a buddy and spent $500-700 each you can spend 24 hours living truly huge in a car that the majority of people in the world will never be able to even sit in let alone drive.

http://www.gtaexotics.ca/dev/

EDIT: In fact an F355 spyder for $600/day isn't bad. Viper for $400/day? I swear these prices used to be higher, that is not expensive at all for that thing! A dollar a mile after the first 60. NSX for $200. Boxter 200. The lamborghinis are silly, like $1900/day for murcielago. The porsche twin turbo is $400, though. Beats that $600 for a NA 911.

Who is going on the rental agreement though? The thing with the Lotus was that ONLY I could drive it and MY insurance was covering it. They didn't even offer collision coverage on this car. I can't imagine it would be any different for an exotic like a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. The one thing that would be different is how much more likely it is that you'd bin it.

Would you put it in your name and let someone else drive it? Would your insurance cover that person if they wrecked it? Would the rental company come after you or your friend who wrecked it? I actually know the answer to all these questions. No, no, and they'd come after you.

<--Used to work in the car rental industry.
 

MJinZ

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2009
8,192
0
0
who is going on the rental agreement though? The thing with the lotus was that only i could drive it and my insurance was covering it. They didn't even offer collision coverage on this car. I can't imagine it would be any different for an exotic like a lamborghini or a ferrari. The one thing that would be different is how much more likely it is that you'd bin it.

Would you put it in your name and let someone else drive it? Would your insurance cover that person if they wrecked it? Would the rental company come after you or your friend who wrecked it? I actually know the answer to all these questions. No, no, and they'd come after you.

<--used to work in the car rental industry.

wtf that is y you got a leg up on me yo vtec
 

PhoKingGuy

Diamond Member
Nov 15, 2007
4,685
0
76
Who is going on the rental agreement though? The thing with the Lotus was that ONLY I could drive it and MY insurance was covering it. They didn't even offer collision coverage on this car. I can't imagine it would be any different for an exotic like a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. The one thing that would be different is how much more likely it is that you'd bin it.

Would you put it in your name and let someone else drive it? Would your insurance cover that person if they wrecked it? Would the rental company come after you or your friend who wrecked it? I actually know the answer to all these questions. No, no, and they'd come after you.

<--Used to work in the car rental industry.

Yeah thats the thing, they told me each persons insurance had to be personally verified by the manager on duty that day, each additional driver was charged a fee on top of the original daily rate. I really want to do it, but I don't think its worth it sadly. I might try and find a Mustang GT or something.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,908
2,141
126
Well, I drove to Columbus OH over the weekend and tried out a 2008 Lotus on a dealer lot---sort of. It turns out I drove 3 hours to find out I CAN'T GET MY LEGS UNDER THE DAMN DASHBOARD OF THE THING! I'm about 3" too tall to sit in the car lol! It was a beautiful British green with a black racing strip down the center too- sharp as hell, but I'm too damn tall for it.

Also tried a Saturn Sky Redline---same issue :( Next on the list is a BMW Z4 M...found a few in the $25000 range, but my wife is harping louder about getting a larger car because the kids are growing, so I'm probably going to have to put this on hold for a couple of years. Oh well, was a fun dream while it lasted.
 

satyajitmenon

Golden Member
Apr 3, 2008
1,911
9
81
Am trying to remember when I last sat in the Z4. I think it had more leg room than the Elise.

I'm only 5'7 and even I felt the Elise was a squeeze.

If you're looking at the Z4, you might as well start adding others to your list of potentials. Maybe an S2000 or a miata.

Of course, none of these are going to be anywhere close to an Elise in the bendy bits. Then again, very little is.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,908
2,141
126
Am trying to remember when I last sat in the Z4. I think it had more leg room than the Elise.

I'm only 5'7 and even I felt the Elise was a squeeze.

If you're looking at the Z4, you might as well start adding others to your list of potentials. Maybe an S2000 or a miata.

Of course, none of these are going to be anywhere close to an Elise in the bendy bits. Then again, very little is.

The Z4 is supposed to be "tall people friendly", and it actually has a trunk :) The M series kicks some serious ass (in fact, the host on Top Gear mentioned that it's the car he would buy if he was looking for a roadster). Looked pretty nice on the lot, I'll have to try one out sometime.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,534
911
126
Am trying to remember when I last sat in the Z4. I think it had more leg room than the Elise.

I'm only 5'7 and even I felt the Elise was a squeeze.

If you're looking at the Z4, you might as well start adding others to your list of potentials. Maybe an S2000 or a miata.

Of course, none of these are going to be anywhere close to an Elise in the bendy bits. Then again, very little is.

I'm 5'11" and I fit fine in the Elise. Getting in and out of it is a PITA, you have to put your legs in first and then slide the rest of your body in. With the soft top removed it is a lot easier. Once inside I had plenty of legroom and headroom. It is a no-frills sports car though for sure.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,908
2,141
126
I'm 5'11" and I fit fine in the Elise. Getting in and out of it is a PITA, you have to put your legs in first and then slide the rest of your body in. With the soft top removed it is a lot easier. Once inside I had plenty of legroom and headroom. It is a no-frills sports car though for sure.

I'm 6'4"---my head was touching the roof and I couldn't get my legs under the dash. I actually had to lift my butt off the seat and was unable to sit to get them under there LOL. I'd have to sit on a couple of phone books and drive around with my head sticking out of room looking above the windshield to drive it :D
 

IcePickFreak

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2007
2,428
9
81
I'm 6'4"---my head was touching the roof and I couldn't get my legs under the dash. I actually had to lift my butt off the seat and was unable to sit to get them under there LOL. I'd have to sit on a couple of phone books and drive around with my head sticking out of room looking above the windshield to drive it :D

This is how I figured me (6'6") would go trying to squeeze into an Elise. Jules posted a vid of Clarkson doing a review on it, and while I got a chuckle at him literally crawling in and out of it, it looked like he had enough room once inside. I believe he's 6'5" or right around there. Granted not everyone is built the same and know how some cars can just be uncomfortable despite having "room."
 

satyajitmenon

Golden Member
Apr 3, 2008
1,911
9
81
I'm 5'11" and I fit fine in the Elise. Getting in and out of it is a PITA, you have to put your legs in first and then slide the rest of your body in. With the soft top removed it is a lot easier. Once inside I had plenty of legroom and headroom. It is a no-frills sports car though for sure.

I didn't even bother trying to get in with the top up. :D
 

PsiStar

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2005
1,184
0
76
Fritzo, I feel your pain & it is easy to pi$$ away $$. I have rented an Elise, fun, but that took care of it for me. 'vettes, beemers ... yadda yadda yadda ... personally what I think you should do and it costs nothing to investigate or at least not much & only a few hours; is to join NASA. Additionally I will be so bold to suggest that you buy a used Miata!!

Once you get an understanding of NASA, and the Midwest is the best locale for tracks (ma-a-aybe Cali, but you are not there), you will then understand why I suggest the Miata.

I have a lot more of what I did & did wrong, spent too much & all that ... but take the winter & drill into this. NASA HPDE is soooooo much fun. And the Miata lets you do soooo inexpensively. Last, your wife will not be convinced that you are trying to kill yourself (because it is only a Miata) & will not surreptitiously up your life insurance.:biggrin:
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,908
2,141
126
Fritzo, I feel your pain & it is easy to pi$$ away $$. I have rented an Elise, fun, but that took care of it for me. 'vettes, beemers ... yadda yadda yadda ... personally what I think you should do and it costs nothing to investigate or at least not much & only a few hours; is to join NASA. Additionally I will be so bold to suggest that you buy a used Miata!!

Once you get an understanding of NASA, and the Midwest is the best locale for tracks (ma-a-aybe Cali, but you are not there), you will then understand why I suggest the Miata.

I have a lot more of what I did & did wrong, spent too much & all that ... but take the winter & drill into this. NASA HPDE is soooooo much fun. And the Miata lets you do soooo inexpensively. Last, your wife will not be convinced that you are trying to kill yourself (because it is only a Miata) & will not surreptitiously up your life insurance.:biggrin:

At first I was like "WTF do you want me to become an astronaut for?", but then I clicked on the NASA link.