I'm still looking into the purchase of an Elise. The problem is that I don't have a dealer here and would have to rely on my indy who also does work on my 996. Mechanically, my indy mentioned he shouldn't have any issues. However, since there is not a single Elise in where I live (and if I ship one in, it would be the first one), he is mostly concerned on the car's electronics. I know this kinda sounds silly as the Elise is probably a modern car with the least electronics, but I would like to know up to what extent does the Elise have when it comes to electronics? I would safely assume there is at least an OBDII, but since it has a Toyota engine, does it use Toyota's OBD programming? How about Traction Control? Security System? Remote Key programming (if it does have a remote from the factory)?

Thanks for any help.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Elise has some good overview information, I recommend you look at LotusTalk or BristishSpeed for more information.

The ECU is not from Toyota, but Lotus specific. It does have the cobra security system with remote unlock/lock. Does have traction control.

 

be warned though, the Cobra security system is a serious PITA to use/work with, lol.

 

only when the battery on the key fob dies when you get early dismissal from work on a beautiful Friday afternoon!

 

what do you guys mean? what happens when the battery on the key fob dies? does it need some sort of reprogramming by the dealer (of which does not exist in my location)?

 

lol pixieluv got locked out of her car the other day. when you lock the doors with the fob, you can ONLY unlock them with a fob (you cant just put the key in the door and turn it). So when the battery in her fob died, I had to go get her her spare fob.

What I meant was simply that it is very twitchy. If the sensors arent all just right (didnt close a door right, loose panel, whatever), then when you lock the car it will beep incessantly. Sometimes a strong breeze or some rain will set off the alarm... And sometimes you could hit it with a sledgehammer and not set it off lol.

 

LOL! So just gotta be sure then that the spare has a battery that's all charged up.

 

and that you have easy access to it

 

with all of the above said, there are about 15 wires in the entire wire loom.... ok so it's not quite that simple, but pretty darn close. I never had a single problem with mine...

 

for a competent mechanic.
Electrical system on the Elise is pretty simple.

Most problems can be solved on the lotustalk.com forum.

GPA

 

Dear JR1966,

You will find complete electronics information on lotus at this

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f129/