carspath

I have just bought a 2010 Elise R with the old 2ZZ-GE engine , but the newer S3 body. Very excited I really like the Cup style rear wing -- as seen in the latest Elise 250 Cup. Elise-shop do an aftermarket replica Cup wing If anyone has had direct experience of this rear wing , please could you tell me : 1) The quality of the wing 2) What are the uprights made of , and colour what are they ? 3) As I would be running the car without the front spoiler and the side skirts , I would want to set the angle of attack of the Elise as close as possible to zero degrees -- is this possible with the Elise-shop part 4) Please could you upload any photos that you have of circa S3 elises ==particularly side profile hotos of the S3 carrying a Cup style rear wing 5) Any other sources of an after market rear wing ? Thank you.

Hi everyone , I have read all the relevant threads , but wanted an up-to-date summary , esp re the risk of fires , and engine damage . I would like a LOUD , HIGH PITCHED scream please , but NO car fires ( exhaust flames are fine) and no engine damage please . Any first hand info gratefully received 2bular ? , Hangar 111 ? , Quicksilver ? , Lotus ? , others ?? thank you Path

Dear Fellow LTF'ers , Yesterday I bought a 2010 Elise R N/A , and am delighted to have finally joined the Lotus family . I wanted to tell you about the wonderful service that we had from Jamie Matthews at Bell & Colvill yesterday , and to introduce myself and the car , and also to tell you about a book that I am planning to write on the Elise / Exige , and to ask you to contribute text and photos of your experiences and your cars . I had had plenty of time to think about what to replace my trusty 1993 Series 1 MX5 with , as that car , which I have owned for the last 17 years , first started to flood its footwells about 18 months ago . So everything from another Series 1 MX5 , series 3 ,&4 MX5 , Loti , Alfa 4C , Gallardo , 540C / 570S ( in my dreams ) was considered . Late on Friday , B&C posted an advert for an Orange 2010 facelift Elise R ( N/A 189 bhp ) I spoke to a highly efficient receptionist called Lucy first thing on Saturday morning , who put me through to Jamie Matthews. I asked Jamie some specific questions about that particular car , and he said that he would ring me back with the answers within 15 minutes , which is exactly what he did .Every question was fully answered . He said that he had appts right through to 2 pm , and we agreed to meet up then . We arrived about 1/2 an hour early , and were greeted by a very pleasant young man who was working at the Lotus / Morgan subsidiary . The car was already waiting for us , freshly washed , on the forecourt . Jamie's prior customer left about 15 minutes later , and he attended to us ( rather than his lunch ) immediately . At that stage , we did not know if we would actually indulge , but Jamie was happy to spend a lot of time showing us that car , and also a supercharged Elise . Totally delightful throughout , and a mine of Lotus information - my wife said that she had never had such a concentration of car information imparted so succinctly or so generously . A long test drive in both the N/A and the S/C car for each of us , despite it being late on a Saturday evening , and with 2 punters who might not have purchased . A direct and honest negotiation on price , and the deal was done ( I had explained right at the start to Jamie that the S/C car was outside the budget - yet he was happy enough to spend an equal amount of time talking us through that car as well ) We noted 2 small issues on the car - the roof seal was detaching / torn , and a squealing noise , but Jamie noted these almost before me , and said that both would be rectified even before I could ask . Normally I would examine each document in great detail before agreeing to anything , but for the first time in my car buying career , I did not , purely because I genuinely felt that B&C and Jamie would look after me , and the details . Its nice dealing with such people . If you are thinking of a Lotus , my admittedly limited experience , would suggest that you consider buying through Jamie and B&C . Onto the final 2 points : The car I bought was a 2 owner car , and the 1st owner was the current Director of Communications at Hethel , whom I had been in communication with about 6 months ago , regarding writing a book on the Elise / Exige . Completely fortuitous , and a real thrill to find that someone I knew at Hethel had been the first owner . I have written 2 books on cars thus far , and although this is my first Lotus , I have been enamoured by the marque for the last 30 years . My plan is therefore to write a book on the Elise / Exige , and I would welcome any text / photo contributions from owners and enthusiasts . To give you an idea on my writing style and my background , my previous books are : 1) Lamborghini Murcielago ( Please Google : 9781845849221) 2) KTM X-BOW ( Please Google : 9781787114333 ) Both these are the first books worldwide on these respective models , are available on Amazon , and are only what they are because of the very generous contributions from fellow owners and enthusiasts ) I am currently about 3/4 way through a book on the Lamborghini Countach ( which I hope to have ready for the Countach prototype's 50th Anniversary next year ) , and immediately after this would like to start on the Lotus marque . Lotus and KTM and Lamborghini are all so intertwined , albeit in a veiled manner -- when we met Giampaolo Dallara ( Haas F1 & IndyCar ) , Lambo's first Technical Director , and the brains behind the X-BOW , he told us that the person that he most admired as a young engineer , and the person whose engineering philosophy he most closely attempted to follow , was Colin Chapman . I am an absolute amateur , and write purely because I love these marques ( I ordered my first Lotus in 1989/90 , but had to pull out when the price of the Elan rose from £18.5 k to £22k and rising ---- yes , its been a 30 year wait to get my first Lotus --- you can understand why i'm so excited --- esp as its the N/A 2ZZ engine -- the S/C engine will have to wait for now ) Your contribution / involvement will be valuable beyond compare ( and Hethel have been very positive about helping --- I found that Lamborghini and KTM factory involvement invaluable ) . If you would like to be involved , please e-mail me at : [email protected] best wishes Path ( Dr T Pathmanathan BSc MBBChir (Cambridge ) MRCOphth FRCOphth FRCS Provisional Member Guild of Motoring Writers UK )

Hi Barry .... thanks for that heads up .... I had just e mailed the seller ( apparently in Perth , Australia ) i shall be very careful The power of The Lotus Forums !! Thanks again

Thank you Barry How serious do the other issues sound to you , esp the oil pressure reading issue ? Path

Thank you Sailorbob i actually contacted the owner about a month ago re the seats !!!! , but he wouldn’t part with them ( v understandably ) in your collective wisdom , what do you feel about buying this CAT car , and also the defects that he has pointed out . I tend to to keep my cars for decades rather than years , so my initial feeling when I saw this advert last month was to give it a wide berth . It would need a full PPI at a classic lotus specialist aa a minimum , I would have thought . Also as it is a 1997 car it will have the Delco braking system ...... how much of an issue is this ? , and how much would it cost to parade it please ?

Just to update , and to justify my previously mentioned discombobulation : the same orange GT3 car has now gone back to the original dealer in Kent , and the price has gone up to £32,000 So within about a month the car has been at 2 specialist lotus dealers , gone to Brightwells Auction , and the price has varied as follows : £32k... £25k.... £21.5k( Brightwells )..... £32k . I can only presume that no significant work has been done on the car over the last month , but that’s a price variation fluttering between 25% and 33% ! Is this what is commonly called ‘ extracting the urinal downflow ‘ ?

Thank you , I’ve seen the red S4S for sometime now . Looks like I’ll just have to wait for Sparky to trade up to an Evija Are there any Esprit meets coming up in the spring / summer ? I was at the Beaulieu Supercar showdown but there were only a couple of Esprits there . Also has anyone got/moved from an S2 Exige to an Esprit, or vice versa ..... how do the two compare ? thank you

Dan E .... thank you for the invite . Gin is the one thing that I can do Path

Hate to interrupt the pressing issue re ( Sparky,s ) hot pants for the much more mundane and less glamorous topic of Esprits . The (same) green GT3 is still being advertised on carandclassiccar.co.uk for £26750 , so you can understand my confusion re pricing and availability ( 2 dealers miles apart selling the same car !) I take on board the point re provenance that all of you have made ...... so much easier to buy directly off the owner . I,m based in Dorset Where are you based Sparky ... I assume , not really Florida !? Path

Thank you all for your detailed responses. Its great to have owners with direct experience , and obvious enthusiasm , answering the questions . The green GT3 ( in about Sept ,I tried to get over my green phobia ) ... I think that this is the same car that was on sale in Oxfordshire , and I rang the then dealer who was prepared to let the car go for about £25.5 k If it is the same car then that’s a £10k increase ...... maybe that’s the Surrey tax. Looks like I need to reproduce what Sparky has ..... I’m used to waiting for the good things in life . Meanwhile , thank you again for your replies , and I’m here to hear any more advice that you might have , and most importantly enjoy your lovely Esprits Path

Thank you all for your detailed responses. Its great to have owners with direct experience , and obvious enthusiasm , answering the questions . The green GT3 ( in about Sept ,I tried to get over my green phobia ) ... I think that this is the same car that was on sale in Oxfordshire , and I rang the then dealer who was prepared to let the car go for about £25.5 k If it is the same car then that’s a £10k increase ...... maybe that’s the Surrey tax. Looks like I need to reproduce what Sparky has ..... I’m used to waiting for the good things in life . Meanwhile , thank you again for your replies , and I’m here to hear any more advice that you might have , and most importantly enjoy your lovely Esprits Path

Thank you Dragan ..... I’ve seen that advert .... just can’t really love a green or blue Esprit. Path

Thank you once again .... this time for putting the S4 and S4S on my radar. i,m aware of the spec differences , but I presume that you prefer these for the way they drive . please could you elaborate why you prefer these ?.... ? Reliability? Straight line performance ? Handling around corners ? Gearchange THANK YOU Path

Thank you Barrykearley . Yes , £32 k would indeed have been very rich . Maybe a near miss there . Have you any experience re GT3 vs Esprit Turbo ? Also as per the McLaren Facebook page , is there a forum/meeting point where Esprit are traded by word of mouth amongst owners ? Tx Path