RE: Elise Importers Arrested
Friday 6th December 2002
Elise Importers Arrested
Imported Elises to be seized?
Discussion
Stan, I suppose you would argue that everyone in the (insert preferred country here) is worthy of an Elise or Exige. As an enthusiast from the US of A I can tell you that we have people here that should own and drive one of these fine autos *and* we have people who shouldn't - I suppose it's probably the same in the (wherever you are from), no?
I suppose your country isn't listed in your profile so that you don't embarrass your fellow countrymen/women.
I suppose your country isn't listed in your profile so that you don't embarrass your fellow countrymen/women.
It's so sad to be in the US. Foolish of the drivers to get in a hang up when they new they were pushing the legal edge. There were a few seemingly "unfederalized" Exiges, 304r's, and elises on Ebay for a while from Florida that were said to be street legal. Some rumours on the web were that a father son combo was importing them because dad worked in customs, or NHTSA. Total rumour thou and prol not related. I hate being reminded of how unfree a petrohead is in the US yet they can go out and buy a machine gun on a moments notice. 
For the the USA fans of the elise go to this webb site
and you may find something usefull for the elise in this site :
www.renaultsport.com/pr_els01.html
orisha-oko said:
Why do you "brits" hate us "yanks"
we all deserve nice cars like everyone else!!!
why always "yanks" "americaans" what is it with us
do you guys envy us or what!!!!
I don't understand what you are trying to say here. It seems that you are getting things backwards. Except of course that we would like to see the elise here in the states sooner rather than later. I suppose on that account we in the US do envy those who can legally drive the elise. What's your point orisha-oko?
The elise is due here in 2004 as a 2005 model and will have between 180-200 HP. Should be fun as long as they don't add too much crap for crash protection and emissions and make the thing heavy.
Anyone who is driving an elise in the US today is taking some big risks - I think it says something about the passion some of us have for driving great cars. It may not be worth the risks but I'm sure they had fun while it lasted.
PiB said: There were a few seemingly "unfederalized" Exiges, 304r's, and elises on Ebay for a while from Florida that were said to be street legal.
I think these are the guys who were arrested. The arrests were in Florida, and they were selling unmodified Elises on EBay.
While I'm sure the DOT is keeping watch on Sun International, if they had done something illegal they would have been stopped by now.
The only connection I know of is that some of the EBay adverts promised to have the car converted by SunSpeed, but none were.
None of the SunSpeed Elises were imported illegally, they were direct imports from European dealers, and they have all been converted to US spec engines.
I still have my "SunSpeed Elise", and if
they come 
and take it away, 
I'll let you all know.... 
FastSpider,
In simply importing an Elise Tom isn't breaking the law, but as soon as he releases a car to a customer that hasn't been brought up to full EPA and DOT compliance, he's illegal as hell. He does absolutely nothing in the way of DOT compliance work, and the fact that the Honda engine is EPA legal in a Honda doesn't make it legal in an Elise unless a Type-Certification has been granted by EPA. He hasn't done this either! The Fed's just watch and wait until they've got an airtight case, and then they drop the hammer. It's simply the way they work. Tom, and Sun's days are numbered. Enjoy your Elise while you can, your name is on the list as well.
In simply importing an Elise Tom isn't breaking the law, but as soon as he releases a car to a customer that hasn't been brought up to full EPA and DOT compliance, he's illegal as hell. He does absolutely nothing in the way of DOT compliance work, and the fact that the Honda engine is EPA legal in a Honda doesn't make it legal in an Elise unless a Type-Certification has been granted by EPA. He hasn't done this either! The Fed's just watch and wait until they've got an airtight case, and then they drop the hammer. It's simply the way they work. Tom, and Sun's days are numbered. Enjoy your Elise while you can, your name is on the list as well.
I am UK Elise driver who now lives in the US, and I spent some time looking into importing my car. In fact I can import my Elise for one year, then I have to export it again.
My local Lotus Dealer will sell you an Elise Mk1, but it is not road legal, which is how I think people get around the problem. It's not illegal to buy or sell, just illegal to register or use on the road, unless you are a foreigner, like me.
My local Lotus Dealer will sell you an Elise Mk1, but it is not road legal, which is how I think people get around the problem. It's not illegal to buy or sell, just illegal to register or use on the road, unless you are a foreigner, like me.
This is insane... this sort of beurocratic bull(censor) is what makes me, well, right now I am livid.
They're going to EPA crackdown on the Elise, when in Europe it actually gets a tax break for being fuel efficient? How about we back up a C5R and Exige to two differant rooms, and leave them run to fill up the rooms and ask the beurocrats after 5 minutes, they MUST choose a room.
C'mon, you SAID the Exige breaks your laws... so, prove it's worthy of being picked on.
They only crack down on it because they can, it makes them look like they're doing something constructive... when in reality all they are doing is validating their jobs.
Absolute bloody-minded beurocracy. I've never ever been violent to someone, but I think for my (restricted) freedom's sake, I have to avoid politicians and government agency workers.
Golem Grey, Australia
Cerbera Speed 6: The car I want but most likely will never have.
MX-5: The one I want and will have, come hell nor high water!!
They're going to EPA crackdown on the Elise, when in Europe it actually gets a tax break for being fuel efficient? How about we back up a C5R and Exige to two differant rooms, and leave them run to fill up the rooms and ask the beurocrats after 5 minutes, they MUST choose a room.
C'mon, you SAID the Exige breaks your laws... so, prove it's worthy of being picked on.
They only crack down on it because they can, it makes them look like they're doing something constructive... when in reality all they are doing is validating their jobs.
Absolute bloody-minded beurocracy. I've never ever been violent to someone, but I think for my (restricted) freedom's sake, I have to avoid politicians and government agency workers.
Golem Grey, Australia
Cerbera Speed 6: The car I want but most likely will never have.
MX-5: The one I want and will have, come hell nor high water!!
The dude above is right, I can walk into the Lotus dealership, and buy an elise. They sell it as a track car only, with racing harnesses, racing seats, and a fire extinguisher. All you have to do to drive it on the street is get a dealer's license, then you slap a dealer plate on it and drive it around. As long as you dont try to sell it to anyone there isnt anything they can do about it. The epa is BS, just like DEQ and CARB, they are smog nazis working for the government to distract everyone from seeing that the real pollution is coming from big industries, and not my car. They wont crack down on industry because they are in bed with the government. There was a program running in the 80s where large companies could crush older cars, then claim the smog "credit" for all the pollution that these "dirty" cars were putting out. They would then be allowed to pollute that much more without persecution by the EPA. Tell me that isnt crooked bullshite.
We care about Sun International because we're very interested in what they're doing both from a getting the Elise into the USA perspective and also a getting a Honda engine into an Elise perspective.
My teeth aren't rotten, they fell out when I was 14. Apples and pears guv'nor.
P.S. If you registered just to post an insult, then that was very clever of you well done, but it wasn't a very good insult so why not post under your usual username?
My teeth aren't rotten, they fell out when I was 14. Apples and pears guv'nor.
P.S. If you registered just to post an insult, then that was very clever of you well done, but it wasn't a very good insult so why not post under your usual username?
Nope Im not one of the regulars here who registered just to come back to STAN.
Im someone who's been on this forum for a long while lurking and reading and decided to buck up and join today. This just happened to be my first post.
I enjoy the banter here both on topic and off topic. Im a fan of the elise. Im also American. I love cars, enjoy modifying cars of all types. I have 2 elises on order for their arrival next year here in the states.
I guess Im just more than a little tired of the American bashing that goes on here and the funny part is that 90% of the bashing is completely off base and it makes me wonder where you come up with your stereotypes?
Cheers
Jennifer.
Im someone who's been on this forum for a long while lurking and reading and decided to buck up and join today. This just happened to be my first post.
I enjoy the banter here both on topic and off topic. Im a fan of the elise. Im also American. I love cars, enjoy modifying cars of all types. I have 2 elises on order for their arrival next year here in the states.
I guess Im just more than a little tired of the American bashing that goes on here and the funny part is that 90% of the bashing is completely off base and it makes me wonder where you come up with your stereotypes?
Cheers
Jennifer.
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