Lotus Elise Mk1 anybody got experience of these cars

Lotus Elise Mk1 anybody got experience of these cars

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Discussion

TV8

3,118 posts

174 months

Saturday 5th November 2016
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I have been thinking about changing mine but, so far, I cant bring myself to do it. I have driven it much in the past few weeks but I see one parked up on a road near me most days now and they are just one of the finest looking cars out there!

Not sure what I would replace it with, maybe a Boxster but they seem to be almost speed 6 like in terms of random dodgy engines out there!

ClassiChimi

Original Poster:

12,424 posts

148 months

Saturday 5th November 2016
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Don't bother it's all much of a muchness.
Price for price there's nothing that seems better than the Tvr.

I walked the dog earlier and noticed a chap loading a 4 door 3 series BMW boot, looked smaller than the Tiv!

ClassiChimi

Original Poster:

12,424 posts

148 months

Saturday 5th November 2016
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What about an Esperit ?
Fantastic styling, ace interiors, rear engine smile

2.2, is that an old Vauxhall engine or something more exotic.

pwd95

8,382 posts

237 months

Saturday 5th November 2016
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It's Lotus's own but the idea was based on the Vauxhall slant 4 as I understand.

ClassiChimi

Original Poster:

12,424 posts

148 months

Saturday 5th November 2016
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CF Bedford van engine.
cheap parts hehe

Exotic cars are addictive
All I can say is there's hardly any cars worth looking at unless your going north of 25/30 K

Lotus on the other hand, don't even need to be that fast, all those great drivers who've driven them, it must be something to own the keys too a mean Lotus

There's a really sorted Renault GTA my mates got, that's still on my radar as it's cheap and hits allsorts of buttons when driving it.
He happens to know them inside out as he's done what many of us have done with our Tvr's rebuild them!

The simple fact is non of these cars will have the grunt of a good Tvr.




N7GTX

7,823 posts

142 months

Monday 7th November 2016
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The new series of Wheeler Dealers starts this week and the prize car to win in the draw is, unbelievably, a Lotus Elise valued at £15k (they say).
So there you go Alun, a cheap way to your dream car and you get to keep the Chim too. biggrin

ClassiChimi

Original Poster:

12,424 posts

148 months

Tuesday 8th November 2016
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N7GTX said:
The new series of Wheeler Dealers starts this week and the prize car to win in the draw is, unbelievably, a Lotus Elise valued at £15k (they say).
So there you go Alun, a cheap way to your dream car and you get to keep the Chim too. biggrin
Sadly I've concluded the Elise is not my dream car but I'll enter anyway smile

I had the choice of a VW caddy or the Tvr today, as it was -6 and ice all over the car at 6 am I thought I'd use the Tvr hehe
Started on the key after one full engine revolution and after warming it for about 30 seconds, I was off and running.

On about 1500 revs I was getting wheel spin out of a junction, don't half wake you up Iain. The Tvr is still a bit of a dream really.

Hope your in good spirits mate. thumbup

speedtwelve

3,510 posts

272 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
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When younger and having tried both I decided I had to have a TVR and a Lotus Elise-derivative at some point. Bought a Chimaera and kept it 6 years, for all the reasons listed above. The looks, noise, rarity, the 'event' of even just starting it up. With GGPs it handled well and was a hoot to drive on track. I occasionally imagined what an Elise would be like, with more direct steering and sharper turn-in than my (heavy, non-PAS) Chim, but lightweight 4-pot car thoughts were quickly drowned out by the V8 racket coming from the Tiv.

After 6 years, Chim engine let go (again), and considering the car also really needed a respray I chopped it in for a 6.0l Monaro. 400bhp, lairy, quicker than my 4.0l Tiv. Great fun, but all those nimble, direct, adjustable, inertia-free Lotus thoughts cropped up again (the Monaro was like piloting a WW2 pocket battleship).

Monaro gone, looked at Elise S1/2 & VX220. Have had the VX for 4 months. Quick enough to be fun (the restraint required when driving the Monaro made 400bhp largely redundant to me), handling as you'd expect. On-track it's just brilliant, exactly what I wanted, despite being on original Bilsteins. It doesn't leak at all inside (unlike my Chimaera), and is comfortable enough for 5'6" me! Elise slightly sharper to drive, but VX NAs are a fair bit cheaper at the moment and I prefer the looks of the Vauxhall. Drove the turbo, decided it didn't make the car any more fun on the road.

The TVR was fun. I don't regret keeping it for years (or running the Monaro). They were an itch I had to scratch. But I wished I'd 'gone Lotus' sooner. In the almost 2 years since the TVR went I haven't missed it at all. In a similar vein I held onto my Corrado VR6 for years until selling it and realising that yes, there are other cars out there!

phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Thursday 10th November 2016
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And honest and informative post. Well done.

ClassiChimi

Original Poster:

12,424 posts

148 months

Sunday 13th November 2016
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Excellent view speedtwelve

For me to have a Lotus I'd have to sell my Tvr to fund its purchase, I've now avoided getting a drive in a Lotus or VX mainly because im sure I'll really fall for them both.

The mere idea of selling my Tvr to swap then gets me looking at the Tvr more clinically, it's better than even I thought!

It does a Mirriad of things well, by employing a more upto date Ecu etc it's become so good I struggle to see or hear cars that run better, I'm getting 25 mpg regularly and on a constant 70-90 mph it's touching 30 mpg,
Whatever I got from a Lotus it will not have the charm of my Tvr.
The VX would allow me to have a very nice car and change in my pocket, but owning a car with the distinguished name of Lotus or Tvr is hard to beat, Lotus represents design excellence
Tvr represent bonkers over powered cars that take muscles to drive.
It shouldn't be forgotten that Tvr' s are rather good round tracks themselves.

What I have observed and admired is the Lotus owners are similar to Tvr boys, lots of valuable info out there, loads of upgrades and things you can do with the cars,
I've realised my Tvr Chimaera is part of me, I've put many upgrades and changes into the car, I know every inch of it,
It's very personal and by using expensive but worthy Tvr experts to do the technical stuff I've ended up with a car that's elevated it above the norm. Removed some of the base reasons for not trusting a Tvr (electrics) etc and so it's like many of the Lotus I looked into, personalised, really loved and made better and better by enthusiastic owners.

For some time I've been thinking, thatsit, it's done, the car is sorted, I don't have any work to do,,, that leads to thinking of other projects,
First time I've thought of anything but a Tvr for almost 5 years,
What I've come to the conclusion is my Tvr is actually all I need and more, I can concentrate on other aspects of the car and keep developing it, suspension and stiffer chassis for a start.
I've become more satisfied with what a Tvr Chimaera is, a truelly great car with many fine virtues, simple in construction and parts plentyfull, the easiest chassis to work on and an engine that's got tonnes of back up and tuning possibilities.
Cheap wheel bearings, bushes and wishbones, compared to anything like them they are like the last form of DIY home brewed sportscar, Brit development at its best, shed cars that go like st off a stick hehe