How bad is an Elise as a road car?
#16
06-08-2010, 01:00 AM
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Tamuning, Guam
Posts: 569
Rep Power: 41 
No offense, really, but this car is absolutely not for you. You are over thinking this.
Understand, this car, literally, is a big go kart. Literally. If you think what a go kart is like to sit in, the chassis of the Lotus is essentially the same, just bigger. It is noisy, tricky to get in and out of, the stereo stinks, rides rough. The A/C sucks even when it's working. Interior bits are cheap. The bare aluminum in there is the actual chassis. The radio gets no reception. Things fall off the car. Squeaks, rattles, buzzes. Steering racks can go bad. 2nd cams can go bad in the 05's and some 06's. Shifter feel sucks. The turn signal lights in the front routinely pop out when you hit a bump, hanging by their wires. BUT if you try to remove one to change the bulb, it's next to impossible. No spare tire, just a can of fix a flat. "Curb" the car, just slightly bend the front suspension, and you've totalled the car. The chassis cannot be repaired in even a slight accident.
To change the oil you have to remove about two dozen bolts to drop the under tray, just to get to the oil filter and drain bolt. The cars are not at all water tight, and the owner's manual warns you of that.
The exterior is fragile, so a 'tap' in a parking lot will be several grand. SEVERAL grand.
You are shoulder to shoulder with your passenger.
If your significant other is a rugged individualist, who loves to kayak, or whitewater raft, hike/backpack, etc, it will be fine. If not, it's not going to work out so well.
This car is barely a car, in the typical sense of the word. Really.
They look like nothing else on the road, and stop traffic, literally. But after looking one over, nearly everyone likes to look, touch, sit in, have their picture taken with....but owning one, living with one, that's a different story.
And I love it. I would not trade it for ANY P car, or nearly any other car I can think of short of a Ferrari or Ford GT.
Understand, this car, literally, is a big go kart. Literally. If you think what a go kart is like to sit in, the chassis of the Lotus is essentially the same, just bigger. It is noisy, tricky to get in and out of, the stereo stinks, rides rough. The A/C sucks even when it's working. Interior bits are cheap. The bare aluminum in there is the actual chassis. The radio gets no reception. Things fall off the car. Squeaks, rattles, buzzes. Steering racks can go bad. 2nd cams can go bad in the 05's and some 06's. Shifter feel sucks. The turn signal lights in the front routinely pop out when you hit a bump, hanging by their wires. BUT if you try to remove one to change the bulb, it's next to impossible. No spare tire, just a can of fix a flat. "Curb" the car, just slightly bend the front suspension, and you've totalled the car. The chassis cannot be repaired in even a slight accident.
To change the oil you have to remove about two dozen bolts to drop the under tray, just to get to the oil filter and drain bolt. The cars are not at all water tight, and the owner's manual warns you of that.
The exterior is fragile, so a 'tap' in a parking lot will be several grand. SEVERAL grand.
You are shoulder to shoulder with your passenger.
If your significant other is a rugged individualist, who loves to kayak, or whitewater raft, hike/backpack, etc, it will be fine. If not, it's not going to work out so well.
This car is barely a car, in the typical sense of the word. Really.
They look like nothing else on the road, and stop traffic, literally. But after looking one over, nearly everyone likes to look, touch, sit in, have their picture taken with....but owning one, living with one, that's a different story.
And I love it. I would not trade it for ANY P car, or nearly any other car I can think of short of a Ferrari or Ford GT.
#19
06-14-2010, 08:31 AM
I had one when I lived in LA. Owned it for about a year and then had to move back to Wisconsin and only had room for one car in the garage. A sad, sad day, as it was a wonderful car. The best road car I've ever driven? Probably. Incredible steering feel, fantastic brakes, and TONS of grip, even though the thing was set up to understeer like crazy to prevent people from doing themselves in.
As for day-to-day driveability: it was a second car and I thought it would have to be when I first test drove one. I race a single seater too, and the similarities in build and dedication to purpose are evident. It creaked, rattled, and whined (engine and gearbox), but I definitely got used to it. It seemed so "ricketey" initially and I never got into the hot cam part of the motor (or vvti or whatever it's called) on the test drive. But it's such a great car and so light that you can still haul the mail without revving above 6K. When you do get into the vvti, it's a frightening car, particularly for passengers. I scared myself more in that Elise than I did driving a 997 turbo for a weekend.
I've never heard Clarkson's quip, but it applies for sure. Another thing I noticed: in traffic, you feel as if you are in danger of being crushed by a Toyota Corolla.
Ingress/egress was no problem for me (5'9", 155 lbs), even with the top on, and the trunk is bigger than it seems, especially if you can make your luggage conform. No problems with the, but the stereo was absolute crap. Not that it mattered.
I'd go for it. I will own another someday. Such a great car.
As for day-to-day driveability: it was a second car and I thought it would have to be when I first test drove one. I race a single seater too, and the similarities in build and dedication to purpose are evident. It creaked, rattled, and whined (engine and gearbox), but I definitely got used to it. It seemed so "ricketey" initially and I never got into the hot cam part of the motor (or vvti or whatever it's called) on the test drive. But it's such a great car and so light that you can still haul the mail without revving above 6K. When you do get into the vvti, it's a frightening car, particularly for passengers. I scared myself more in that Elise than I did driving a 997 turbo for a weekend.
I've never heard Clarkson's quip, but it applies for sure. Another thing I noticed: in traffic, you feel as if you are in danger of being crushed by a Toyota Corolla.
Ingress/egress was no problem for me (5'9", 155 lbs), even with the top on, and the trunk is bigger than it seems, especially if you can make your luggage conform. No problems with the, but the stereo was absolute crap. Not that it mattered.
I'd go for it. I will own another someday. Such a great car.
#20
06-15-2010, 07:39 PM
I haven't turned on my stereo in 6 months. I'd rather listen to the engine. It sounds so much better anyway. The stereo is downright terrible when listening to the radio. Listening to the ipod is a major upgrade but still sucks, but I didn't buy the car to listen to music or haul around a cup of whatever. I bought to be driving in a way that you have to have 2 hands on the wheel. Most fun you can have on 4 wheels for under 60K!
#21
07-01-2010, 06:13 AM
I've driven a boxster, and will probably buy one when i get home. I got a chance to drive an exige (briefly) and realized it was perhaps the most impractical thing I had ever been in. Even my dad's 77 MGB is a more practical car than that thing.
For some reason, though, I fell in love with it immediately. I'm craving convertible, though. I keep looking at the elise and thinking I must be crazy to want one, but I can't shake the thought.
Am I crazy?
For some reason, though, I fell in love with it immediately. I'm craving convertible, though. I keep looking at the elise and thinking I must be crazy to want one, but I can't shake the thought.
Am I crazy?
#22
07-01-2010, 06:27 AM
I've driven a boxster, and will probably buy one when i get home. I got a chance to drive an exige (briefly) and realized it was perhaps the most impractical thing I had ever been in. Even my dad's 77 MGB is a more practical car than that thing.
For some reason, though, I fell in love with it immediately. I'm craving convertible, though. I keep looking at the elise and thinking I must be crazy to want one, but I can't shake the thought.
Am I crazy?
For some reason, though, I fell in love with it immediately. I'm craving convertible, though. I keep looking at the elise and thinking I must be crazy to want one, but I can't shake the thought.
Am I crazy?
Best of both worlds.
On the N/A 06 Exige, the roof has no scoop and no real function other than just being a roof. For the supercharged 07's and later, you still have some semblance of the scoop in the roll hoop which still gets air to the intercooler with the hard top off. Even with the top on, the intercooler gets too little air to prevent heat soak if you're tracking the car, one of the foilbles of the car.
So, just driving around town and on the highway, not on the track, taking the roof off in now way impedes the car's performance as far as the intercooler goes.
The hard top on the Exige is NOT structural and in no way contributes to rigidity of the platform, so taking it off has no drawbacks there.
Find a used soft top for around $500 or $600, make sure it has the support rods. You need to buy two of the grommets into which the ends of the support rods go (about $15) and install them in the roll hoop. About a 30 minute job with very careful measurements and a dremel tool. Lotusform has a detailed description how to do it.
The grommets for the front end of the rods are already in the Exgie windshield from the factory, being as how all the parts are the same as the Elise.
#23
07-01-2010, 06:28 AM
No offense taken. All the things that you mentioned, I am already aware of them as I've already learned a lot about this car even since I started up this thread. I currently have 7 cars. The Lotus will eventually replace one of the sports car in the fleet. I still have 6 others that I can use as my daily. And I just bought a Cayenne Turbo (to replace my Jeep Wrangler) to give my wife another option for her daily driver so she wouldn't complain if I get the Elise. The Elise will just be solely for me. I won't be driving this to the mall or to be a grocery getter. I just want a really fun car and a big go-kart is what is missing in my fleet. I did have a supercharged Z3 with LTW flywheel that was rough and noisy (and I know the Elise is gonna be worse than that) that I sold. It felt like a go-kart as well (and the Elise is gonna be more of a go-kart than that) and I miss it very much and none of the vehicles in my current fleet deliver that kind of feeling. Thanks for your opinion though.
#24
07-01-2010, 11:28 PM
Find a used soft top for around $500 or $600, make sure it has the support rods. You need to buy two of the grommets into which the ends of the support rods go (about $15) and install them in the roll hoop. About a 30 minute job with very careful measurements and a dremel tool. Lotusform has a detailed description how to do it.
#26
07-02-2010, 05:43 AM
All the same mounts, hardware, seals, everything. There is an appropriate Torx wrench in the standard tool kit that will remove the bolts. Taking the top off is very easy, is about a 5 minute job once you've done it once.
The only things that need to be cut are two relatively small holes...about one inch by 3/8 inch, into which you glue the grommets that hold the aft end of the fiberglass rods used to support the soft top when it is in place.
When you take the roof off, the inside of the roll hoop, above the rear window, is exposed. That is where the grommets go. With the hard top on, you don't see them once they are installed. The front grommets, for the front end of the support rods, are already in the windshield frame, having been put there from the factory.
I've done a couple of these conversions. When you first cut the first hole, you get a pit in your stomach because you ARE cutting into the car. That's why it's a good idea to measure, measure, measure and measure again.
The two grommets are about $15 total from a Lotus dealer.
#27
07-02-2010, 05:46 AM
Yes, it has a trunk, and it really is not all that bad. The opening is small, so it seems smaller than it is. Cargo can be stuffed into the fender wells. It is NOT big enough for golf clubs or hard suitcases, but you can easy get two soft cases with enough for two for a long weekend in there.
The thing to watch though is that there is no inner liner in the trunk. If something is sliding around, and you corner too hard, the object will slide into and possibly damage the body from the inside. There have been more than one instance where the battery in the trunk has not been fastened down properly, and literally flew completely through the body when the driver was cornering hard.
The thing to watch though is that there is no inner liner in the trunk. If something is sliding around, and you corner too hard, the object will slide into and possibly damage the body from the inside. There have been more than one instance where the battery in the trunk has not been fastened down properly, and literally flew completely through the body when the driver was cornering hard.
#28
08-14-2010, 05:09 PM
Drove one in Atlanta, commuted everyday without too many problems. Hardest thing to deal with was the lack of others paying attention and not seeing me.. 18 wheeler wheels are awfullyyy big out the window of an elise.. 
#29
08-19-2010, 08:42 AM
I had one back in 05
went through a lot of different cars.. I currently have a Ferrari and Maserati and I just purchased another Elise that I may keep and supercharge.. I can tell you for pure driving excitement.. neither the ferrari or maserati match the elise.. it's a real blast of a car..
went through a lot of different cars.. I currently have a Ferrari and Maserati and I just purchased another Elise that I may keep and supercharge.. I can tell you for pure driving excitement.. neither the ferrari or maserati match the elise.. it's a real blast of a car..
