Elise S1 daily drive bad idea?

[ikatoro192]

I am thinking to buy green S1 at Paul Matty MY98 only 27000 mile it says cam belt will be fitted and full service plus MOT 13995£ looks fabulous trading my Audi A5
it must be my every day car. Is this bad idea? Most of people buy S1 as second car I know but I wanted for long time S1 Green and magnolia leather it looks perfect.
Is S1 usable every day in relibility wise ?
any advice appreciated
thanks

[MrVert]

That looks lovely, I saw that one in the classifieds but it was over our budget. Looks just about perfect from the photos.

We collected ours yesterday, S1, 37,000 miles - great little cars! Turning ours into a track weapon in the next few months..

You could run it as a daily, it would certainly wake you up in the morning! Not sure if I could have one as an only car, especially in the winter, dark and rainy months. Depends on the type of journey you make each day I suppose..

However, I'm sure you'd have a blast so have fun trying

[Lefty]

I use mine daily (well, 3 or 4 days a week). 80 mile round trip commute of mixed b roads and town driving. I fitted a heated screen and winter tyres and used it over winter too.

If I bought one with 27k on it Im not sure I'd want to put so many miles on it though!

[Thorburn]

How many miles are you going to be doing? I wouldn't buy a low mileage car to go and put 15k miles a year on it as you'll quickly knock off a chunk of value.

I used mine as a daily for 3 years, and personally I found it just made me not enjoy the car - I had a 4 mile drive across town each day and whilst it was perfectly doable, it just wasn't particularly pleasant. It only once let me down in terms of reliability, but I was only ever experiencing the awkward negatives of the car (ingress/egress, misting of the windows, leaky window seals, crap headlights, etc) and none of the positives (great handling and feel).

I enjoy it far more now having a cheap Fiesta (57-plate Zetec S which cost all of £3250) for day to day use and the Elise for fun.

[ikatoro192]

Thanks Guys,

normally people uses S1 as second car some difficulties for daily basis.
I will consider to buy it even I understand these negative point because still I love it all.
cheers

[Tickle]

Thorburn said:

How many miles are you going to be doing? I wouldn't buy a low mileage car to go and put 15k miles a year on it as you'll quickly knock off a chunk of value.

I used mine as a daily for 3 years, and personally I found it just made me not enjoy the car - I had a 4 mile drive across town each day and whilst it was perfectly doable, it just wasn't particularly pleasant. It only once let me down in terms of reliability, but I was only ever experiencing the awkward negatives of the car (ingress/egress, misting of the windows, leaky window seals, crap headlights, etc) and none of the positives (great handling and feel).

I enjoy it far more now having a cheap Fiesta (57-plate Zetec S which cost all of £3250) for day to day use and the Elise for fun.

I have got to agree with Thorburn, I ran an early S2 a few years ago as a daily (approx. 40m per day) for two years. The negatives outweighed the positives and weekend drives became less frequent as I had put up with all its downfalls through the week as a commuter car.

Having the S1 111s in the garage now for weekends and Summer evenings, plus a small car for the station run is pretty much perfect for me.

[JACK6284]

A S1 Elise is light years away from an Audi A5 in so many ways. All the things you take for granted in the Audi are missing on the Elise. I would suggest that you drive one or two or three different S1 cars if you can before making such a change.

No ABS, no power steering, no traction control etc, etc. Steamed up windows on a frosty morning as there is no air conditioning and wet seats where the roof leaks.

The Elise is a great car to drive, you are driving the car not the other way round. Diesel is your enemy on all roads and people don't see you as the car is so small. If you have a motor bike then all of the above can be ignored.

[itcaptainslow]

Don't use it as a daily. You'll ruin it and the car's shortcomings which don't matter on a sunny Sunday become a royal PITA on a Wednesday evening when it's pissing it down.

[Exige77]

There are lots of people who use them as daily drivers.

Ask over on Seloc

[kambites]

You certainly can; lots of people do.

I spent quite a lot of time in a friend's S1 before I bought my Elise; I decided an S2 was a more sensible (certainly more waterproof!) option. Reliability shouldn't be an issue, they're pretty simple things, but they all tend to suffer from niggles which can be a problem if you lean towards the OCD side of things. My S2 has never actually broken down in nine years of daily use and niggles have been minor; even the obligatory head gasket failure only added a couple of hundred quid to the cost of the belt change service it was due anyway.

Edited by kambites on Monday 18th April 19:00

[ikatoro192]

To be honest A5 engine idling stop , auto climate , rain sensor auto wiper,every thing automatic sometimes annoying. I want to back to basic focus to drive but budget limit. I wanted basic green S1 Elise long time ago so If I am maniac enough to ignore rain leak or mist window or awkward in and out, I go S1 like I did to replace i-Phone to Blackberry passport people said weired but I like it.
wish me luck.
thanks

[Mr_C]

I have used mine as my daily drive for 11 years now. Loved every mile.

[Lefty]

itcaptainslow said:

Don't use it as a daily. You'll ruin it and the car's shortcomings which don't matter on a sunny Sunday become a royal PITA on a Wednesday evening when it's pissing it down.

I think it depends on what your daily driving is. If I was doing a few miles of city driving or busy a-roads per day I would agree with the above.

If your commute is quiet twisties then an s1 is a brilliant commuting car and totally worth the compromises. IMHO

[selym]

I do 25 miles a day in my VX220 and will have done for three years in June. Get a hardtop for the winter, accept the hard times and enjoy the good times! The change will be stark, but you will get used to it.

[ikatoro192]

I am just wondering how to demist inside of window in cold rainy winter day? I guess simply wipe out using some kind of demist spray?
and water leaking I suppose A pilar window head
corner only? or anywhere else?
thanks

[Thorburn]

Lefty said:

I think it depends on what your daily driving is. If I was doing a few miles of city driving or busy a-roads per day I would agree with the above.

If your commute is quiet twisties then an s1 is a brilliant commuting car and totally worth the compromises. IMHO

Actually if you ignore the practicality issues I find them a great car around town too - torquey, small and lightweight gives positively rapid acceleration at lower speeds and can tick along happily in higher gears too. Turning circle and rear visiblity (particularly with the S2 Pro-bax Sports seats and 4pt harnesses in mine) can make maneuvering a pain though.

[selym]

ikatoro192 said:

I am just wondering how to demist inside of window in cold rainy winter day? I guess simply wipe out using some kind of demist spray?
and water leaking I suppose A pilar window head
corner only? or anywhere else?
thanks

Get hold of a dehumidifier pack (silica gel) that is usually found in caravan and camping shops. That'll reduce the condensation.

[jonathanbill]

I ran an S1 as my only car for over 10 years and loved it.

I can't do that now as I can't fit the whole family in it so I've got a barge as well but I still use the Elise if it's not raining and it's just me and the little man.

Ditto to the comment about silica gel to help with demisting although I always found that the best solution was to get up to a decent speed before the windscreen started to mist up - that doesn't help if you have slow moving traffic to deal with though!

[clarkmagpie]

I ran an S2 for 2 years as a daily, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Uncomfortable, hot, loud, bumpy, impractical but a hoot!

[Lefty]

ikatoro192 said:

I am just wondering how to demist inside of window in cold rainy winter day? I guess simply wipe out using some kind of demist spray?
and water leaking I suppose A pilar window head
corner only? or anywhere else?
thanks

I fitted a heated screen to mine - best mod so far!