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Originally Posted by BoxsterSbob
Hi, xclusivecar can you describe your Lotus Elise experience? And, why you sold it? I drove one recently (stage II) and it was a hoot! Just curious.
04S
bob
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Sure...Had deposit down for 4 years. I was concerned from the beginning that the car would be basically a small, impractical, stripped down go-cart for the street but was advised that the US version would have "creature comforts" not seen before. Now...I DO NOT track cars. I wanted a fun little car that was neat for the streets and was told this would be. WRONG! This is a track ONLY car! Sure it can be driven on the street but you will get punished. It's loud, rattles, shakes, shimmies, and has NO POWER under 6500 RPM. The creature comforts consisted of a piece of carpeting and a radio. Wash the car and the trunk fills with water, touch the car and the paint falls off. DO NOT grab the windshield to get in/out of the car. It's just literally glued on and will snap off. You must get some sort of 3M starshield not only for the front of the car but for the rear quarters as rocks fly off your front tires and absolutely pulverize this area. The brakes had tons of travel before they grabbed. When they did grab it was almost surprising. Other drivers CANNOT see you! Almost died 3 times in parking lots as an SUV thought I was a speed bump. Headlights suck.
Like I said I didn't track the car and believe it would be great as a track car. There were probably other things but can't remember since I bought the Boxster and my memory has been wiped free of the loss I took to get rid of it. The Boxster is the PERFECT compromise between a track only Elise and a reliable, comfortable, sports car. Lotus need another Boxster type model to compete in the States. The Elise is not doing all that well. Only a couple thousand copies are being imported and you can find a year old one with 5,000 miles for under $37,000 now. I just received a flyer in the mail from my local Lotus dealership offering special financing on all remaining '05s.
Finally, check elisetalk.com for a bunch of info on the car. Great site!
