I had a student driving his 1 of 1 Moonlight silver pearl (or something like that) painted Exige. It had to be the best looking paint color I've ever seen!
And that car was a blast! It felt like a mid-engine Miata on steroids!
I had a student driving his 1 of 1 Moonlight silver pearl (or something like that) painted Exige. It had to be the best looking paint color I've ever seen!
And that car was a blast! It felt like a mid-engine Miata on steroids!
A word of warning if you like the "lifestyle colors". I painted my Locost in Lotus Chrome Orange. It's a awesome color - looks better on the Seven than the Elise, but still - but it's most awesome for the price. It's a triple stage of which at least one of the stages is hugely expensive. Don't scratch it.
I sold all my miata stuff last year and bought a '05 Elise sport package. Other than the obvious lack of storage space, this is an incredible car and quite acceptible as a daily driver.
There are several fixes for the AC which I had to do so that I could drive the car in the summer. I got both tops and used the hardtop during the summer to help the AC system. You can also remove the recirculating air shades under the dash, insulate the air ducts and block off the fresh air pickups in the air intake to make the system work better. It still is not a GM system in 95 degree weather in the South.
There are multiple factory designated pickup points for jacks and lifts. They are marked with small stickers and I painted 3" squares in yellow to make it easier to find the pickup point. Yes, you have to remove an access panel to work on the motor from underneath and the factory manual recommends that you lift the car to remove the panel and then lower the car and reposition the car to lift it again for real work.
The Elise feels like a fast miata driving around town in normal operation and then you keep the pedal on the floor and the variable cam kicks in at 5500rpm and you are on a full fledged thrill ride until the shift lite comes on at 8200rpm and the rev limited kicks in at 8500rpm. OMG, it will make you feel like superman. It is as fast to 60mph and to top speed as my LS1 GTO. Oh yeah, and it gets 34 mpg.
To date I really havent found a downside to the car. I did scrape the nose backing out of a driveway and it will require some fiberglass repair. The scariest thing to do in the car is to drive it to the mall or other SUV hangout at nite. Quite frankly they cant see you so an aftermarket horn is a requirement.
An Elise is not a low profile car so you must get used to attracting a crowd wherever you park it. You will also get your picture taken frequently as you try to negotiate the sidepod getting in and out. Practice this in the privacy of your garage before you venture out into the public.
Mods? I added a K&N filter and swapped out the horrible stock Blaupunkt radio. I do plan to get another set of wheels so I can have a set of aggressive ie summer tires. I have autocrossed the car on several occasions and while I have plenty of road racing and other track time, I am not an accomplished cone chaser. Having said that, I usually won my SS class by 3 seconds or better over the C-5/6 vettes. It would be interesting to see what I could do with proper tires on it. A lot of Elise owners add the aftermarket supercharger for even more thrills and it doesnt seem to affect durability. Otherwise it is a Toyota mechanically and has few vices. Having said that, you will be amused that the typical repair or maintenance instruction begins with remove the tire and inner fender panel.
Find a good Elise and buy it. You wont regret the decision.
(Fingers in ears) Bla lalalalalalalalalalalala! I can't hear you!
carguy123 wrote: (Fingers in ears) Bla lalalalalalalalalalalala! I can't hear you!
How do think I feel... I drive by a Lotus dealer every morning on the day to work... These threads are hell for me...
It's the only car out there I'd trade for my S2000. I like lean, light, well handling cars.
Here's the oil cooler thread on Elise Talk:
I've left the hardtop on mine -- it adds a degree of anonymity, and I prefer the look, too.
Dr. Hess wrote: Zoo, that's called "The Lotus Position." I'm glad to see that it is still relevant with the new ones.
BWAHAHAHAHAH....
fastmiata wrote: Find a good Elise and buy it. You wont regret the decision.
Crap. I was afraid of that.
Why did I open this thread? Torture.
My day will come...my day will come...my day will come...
What a torturous thread this is for so many. Incentive to go to college or find a trade?
Yeah, I have to keep saying to myself 'no you aren't going to sell everything and go Elise huntin'.' Much as I'd like to.
There just seem to be too many drawbacks to daily driving one. Bumped in parking lot? Car is totaled. Run over a speed bump too fast? Car is totaled. Scrape too hard on driveway? Car is totaled. Run over a board? Car is totaled. Hit a possum or roadkill? Car is totaled.
It's awesome in theory, but the reality is that you have to have the right kind of driveway, the right kind of neighborhood, you have to scope out parking lots and make sure you can enter and exit without messing up your car, and you HAVE to use heart healthy parking. God help you if it's a small parking lot.
rotard wrote: There just seem to be too many drawbacks to daily driving one. Bumped in parking lot? Car is totaled. Run over a speed bump too fast? Car is totaled. Scrape too hard on driveway? Car is totaled. Run over a board? Car is totaled. Hit a possum or roadkill? Car is totaled.
Hmm... good point... I barely tagged a deer the other day in the TDi... it felt like I ran over the back legs as I was sliding to a stop... no damage at all to the car... I doubt I would have been so lucky in an Elise...
Then again, an Elise would have stopped in time. 
I just don't enjoy having to be totally paranoid while driving/parking/whatever. The Elise would make a great daily driver for people in the right circumstances, but I'm afraid that you have to drastically limit what you do if it's your only car. Of course, a lot of wealthy people do treat them as throwaway fun cars. You know, driving the Elise into town so that you don't have to worry about someone bumping the Ferrari.
Full coverage insurance is a nice thing.
Very good points, rotard. I'm not sure people realize how easy it is to damage a clamshell beyond (reasonable) repair, and how breathtakingly expensive they are to replace. For that reason alone, I would never daily drive one... and it is a big factor in why I don't own one right now.
FYI folks, rotard is almost not exaggerating. While a busted clamshell on its own won't total the car, you're looking at $5k+ just in paint and parts, never mind the labor, for something as simple as a parking lot bump. If anything underneath it gets damaged... look out.
EDIT: Yes, full coverage is a must. However, I can't imagine your insurance company hanging onto you after more than one pricey repair.
accordionfolder wrote: Full coverage insurance is a nice thing.
It is, but you have to realize that you can do serious damage by scraping on a speed bump. How many times have you accidentally scraped a low car on a speed bump or driveway?
If I had the means, I don't see any of these types of issues preventing me from buying and driving a used Ferrari. So why not a Lotus instead?
Regarding all the damage to the clam shells being discussed, are we talking just cosmetic fiberglass damage? Or real structural damage to the chassis?
In other words, if I don't care about ratty fiberglass, is a sub-$20k-mechanically-sound-but-salvage-title Elise a realistic dream?
From what I understand, the proximity of the fiberglass to the aluminum substructure makes any damage suspect.
Ian F wrote: From what I understand, the proximity of the fiberglass to the aluminum substructure makes any damage suspect.
This. They have salvage titles for a reason. If it were only fiberglass, the car probably wouldn't be a total loss. It's the same reason there are so many "cheap" salvage-titled Vipers available.
You'll need to log in to post.
