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

[BlahBlahYouToo]

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.

i heard you can't drive stick.
truth?

 

[Fritzo]

Have you driven one?

Yes, on Need for Speed 5 I drove one all the time

Seriously, I drove one 3 years ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. I was considering a new Mustang convertible, and then saw an Elise on the way home---all those feeling came back to me.

 

[exdeath]

Don't do it. A Camry is faster. An expert will chime in shortly to explain.

 

[MJinZ]

Don't do it. A Camry is faster. An expert will chime in shortly to explain.

I'm sure the OP realizes the Elise has a Corolla Engine in it and the Evora will have the Camry Engine.

But Ford is not special enough to provide engines to companies like Lotus. :whiste:

By the way, since you are here to troll, I'll give ya one...

YOUR MUSTANG IS A POS!!!!

Happy now?

 

[JulesMaximus]

i heard you can't drive stick.
truth?

He can quote Nurburgring lap times though...doesn't that count for something?

 

[MJinZ]

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.

Holy crap 5900 miles? If it's that brand new, why even sell it?

 

[MJinZ]

He can quote Nurburgring lap times though...doesn't that count for something?

LOL, I just remember what's faster around a ring. Wikipedia gives all the answers.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yes, on Need for Speed 5 I drove one all the time

Seriously, I drove one 3 years ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. I was considering a new Mustang convertible, and then saw an Elise on the way home---all those feeling came back to me.

:thumbsup: I drove one 4 years ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. No other car has ever made such a lasting impression on me quite frankly and I've driven Porsches, Corvettes, 350Zs, Mustang GTs, Mustang Cobras, M3s, WRX-STi, etc.

 

[JulesMaximus]

LOL, I just remember what's faster around a ring. Wikipedia gives all the answers.

But no real world experiences.

 

[MJinZ]

But no real world experiences.

No, I don't have the money to be driving these expensive cars. It's not like you can't size someone up without having ridden them. :whiste:

 

[MJinZ]

:thumbsup: I drove one 4 years ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. No other car has ever made such a lasting impression on me quite frankly and I've driven Porsches, Corvettes, 350Zs, Mustang GTs, Mustang Cobras, M3s, WRX-STi, etc.

Never driven a Corvette or a Cobra, but have been in everything else. Rental Mustang and no one I know owns a domestic.

 

[RichieZ]

i've gotten a ride in a exige at the track, here's one chasing me:

I'm pretty sure I could never DD one, but its amazing track toy

 

[exdeath]

I'm sure the OP realizes the Elise has a Corolla Engine in it and the Evora will have the Camry Engine.

But Ford is not special enough to provide engines to companies like Lotus. :whiste:

By the way, since you are here to troll, I'll give ya one...

YOUR MUSTANG IS A POS!!!!

Happy now?

No they just provide engines for things like the Ford GT super car and the Saleen S7 among others...

If you think a Terminator and its engine are a POS, no car enthusiast is going to take you seriously. Not that anyone does already...

Tell OP how many Elises you've smoked in you Camry. Its obviously faster since the Camry is .1 second faster 0-60.

 

[roguerower]

Damn, I would love to be able to drive one of these things and at my age I could do it since I have no responsibilities but to myself, but damn, 5 minutes on the jobsite and something will happen to it. Maybe one day...I'll just have to stick with my dream motorcycle for now.

EDIT: Where could you rent one of these things? Jules?

 

[MJinZ]

i've gotten a ride in a exige at the track, here's one chasing me:


I'm pretty sure I could never DD one, but its amazing track toy

This is going to be my D D

At one point people were thinking the Evora was going to come here at extreme prices (closer to $100k), but it's going to be a stretchable $75K.

 

[MJinZ]

No they just provide engines for things like the Ford GT super car and the Saleen S7 among others...

If you think a Terminator and its engine are a POS, no car enthusiast is going to take you seriously. Not that anyone does already...

Tell OP how many Elises you've smoked in you Camry.

Don't worry, I'll have 2 Camry Engines at some point and I'll tell you how many Mustangs I smoke in my Evora.

 

[RichieZ]

This is going to be my D D

At one point people were thinking the Evora was going to come here at extreme prices (closer to $100k), but it's going to be a stretchable $75K.

http://www.planet-9.com/reviews/magazine-articles/p336-driving-the-lotus-evora.html

i'll be honest i'd rather have the cayman S, or perhaps a used GT3

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

LOL, I just remember what's faster around a ring. Wikipedia gives all the answers.

ok, so it's true you can't drive stick.

keep quoting track times, mag racer.

 

[MJinZ]

http://www.planet-9.com/reviews/magazine-articles/p336-driving-the-lotus-evora.html

i'll be honest i'd rather have the cayman S, or perhaps a used GT3

Porsches are great around a track, but they are not my style. Plus, most of them are butt ugly. I'd take a BMW over a Porsche even.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Never driven a Corvette or a Cobra, but have been in everything else. Rental Mustang and no one I know owns a domestic.

Rental Mustangs are V6 and completely meh compared to the V8 powered cars. I've owned two V8 Mustangs and test driven a couple of Cobras and late model GT's. I had a friend who owned a modded Corvette and he let me take it for a spin a few times, I've also test driven a few late model Vettes on top of that. My Father-In-Law owned a Porsche 911 and he let me drive it a few times. I owned a WRX-STi for a brief period and I have another friend who let me drive an E36 M3 and an E46 M3. Oh, I've also driven a BMW M Roadster. I've tested a couple 350Zs and a '06 Pontiac GTO as well. Plus, I spent 4 days with a 2005 Lotus Elise at my disposal and put about 300 miles on it during that time. So, I've DRIVEN these cars, not just ridden in them.

I've driven so many foreign and domestic family sedans (rentals, friends and family owned cars, etc) over the years that I couldn't even name them all...nor are any of them really worth mentioning in the company of the cars I mentioned above.

 

[exdeath]

Don't worry, I'll have 2 Camry Engines at some point and I'll tell you how many Mustangs I smoke in my Evora.

Cool, I can't wait for everyone here to call you out when that list mysteriously excludes 5.0s, Cobras, and GT500s.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Damn, I would love to be able to drive one of these things and at my age I could do it since I have no responsibilities but to myself, but damn, 5 minutes on the jobsite and something will happen to it. Maybe one day...I'll just have to stick with my dream motorcycle for now.

EDIT: Where could you rent one of these things? Jules?

Enterprise used to rent them but I don't think they carry them anymore. I think I lucked out with that and I rented it strictly for the fun of it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This is going to be my D D

At one point people were thinking the Evora was going to come here at extreme prices (closer to $100k), but it's going to be a stretchable $75K.

What's funny is from the Evora specs I've seen it isn't any faster 0-60mph than an Elise and only 12mph faster top speed. Oh, and it only comes with a 6speed manual gearbox.

 

[MJinZ]

Rental Mustangs are V6 and completely meh compared to the V8 powered cars. I've owned two V8 Mustangs and test driven a couple of Cobras and late model GT's. I had a friend who owned a modded Corvette and he let me take it for a spin a few times, I've also test driven a few late model Vettes on top of that. My Father-In-Law owned a Porsche 911 and he let me drive it a few times. I owned a WRX-STi for a brief period and I have another friend who let me drive an E36 M3 and an E46 M3. Oh, I've also driven a BMW M Roadster. I've tested a couple 350Zs and a '06 Pontiac GTO as well. Plus, I spent 4 days with a 2005 Lotus Elise at my disposal and put about 300 miles on it during that time. So, I've DRIVEN these cars, not just ridden in them.

I've driven so many foreign and domestic family sedans (rentals, friends and family owned cars, etc) over the years that I couldn't even name them all...nor are any of them really worth mentioning in the company of the cars I mentioned above.

I've driven them but never hard or on a track obviously, they are friends and family vehicles.

But then you're an old fart so I still have plenty of time.

 

[MJinZ]

What's funny is from the Evora specs I've seen it isn't any faster 0-60mph than an Elise and only 12mph faster top speed. Oh, and it only comes with a 6speed manual gearbox.

Nothing wrong with that. It's a first generation car that, as we all know, the manufacturers purposely do this to give the refreshes and updates boosts in engine power and weight tweeking.

A 2GR-FE can easily put out much more power with a bit of additional air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Aurion#TRD_Aurion