RE: Lotus Elise at 20: PH Heroes
Discussion
NelsonP said:
PeterGadsby said:
Years ago I had a Lotus Elise S1 in the exact same colour as the car in the article (mustard yellow) ... I wonder where R417 FAV is now
- Pete
According to the MOT history site its still going strong, passing MOTs with aplomb and doing around 1000 mile pa (up to 48k now)- Pete
- Pete
Leggy said:
skatureliya said:
AL5026 said:
There must have been a change in the heaters later on. I had a 2002 Elise sport 135, which never ever warmed up. I remember a particularly cold schlepp down the M1 from work and it was baltic. Bought an Exige new in 2009 and the heating was never an issue with it blowing nice and toasty very quickly. Night and day difference between the two.
I had the same 'poor heater' problem on my 2001 S2 Elise Sport 135 ... The way I got round this problem was to slow the air flow going into the heater matrix.. I did this by just removing the grill and squeezing 2 washing up sponges into the 2 inlets just behind the front grill .. get black ones or at least with the dark gren ones so they are not so visible .. Worked a treat, though a bit more whistly !!skatureliya said:
Yeah..on these latest S3 elises its nice to see they have addressed so many of the niggles on the S2..HGF...rattly windows..A heater that heats.. Aircon to quickly demist windows..reasonably well sealed windows to keep moisture out in heavy rain..better headlamp indicator seal design...cleaner boot design (hidden wires etc)...sadly they are 150kg heavier.. and still have the odd no-so-bad niggles (inconsistent boot release/ rattly brake pads)....suppose u cant have it all.
Hmm, apart from the head gasket bit, my earlyish S2 hasn't suffered from many of those problems - the windows don't rattle; the heater works fine once the engine is warm (I certainly can't leave it on full blast even when it's sub-zero outside); it's never leaked a drop; the lights don't let water in; I could have had air conditioning if I'd wanted it but I specifically found a car without it so I'm not sure if that one counts; the brakes don't rattle; and the boot release works fine (how can that fail, it's just a lock mounted on the boot)? It's not without its niggles, certainly, but that list doesn't really much any relationship to them.
Miss my old S1 badly. Third owner, was immaculate, had lived all its life here in NZ but was lovely minimalist spec with a nice set of magnesium rims when it was specc'd at Bell & Colvill. Sold it back to the original owner in 2007 who also missed it very much, and he still has it to this day. Thankfully I still have visitation rights and get to take it for a spin every now and then.
Sold it to get an Exige S1, which I still have, and it's even more intoxicating. I do just miss the easygoing nature of the Elise, it was a lot easier to enjoy than the Exige and a better car to steer most of the time.... the Exige is just an indulgence for that 10% of the time where you find yourself really able to exploit the extra nuttiness of the car.
Sold it to get an Exige S1, which I still have, and it's even more intoxicating. I do just miss the easygoing nature of the Elise, it was a lot easier to enjoy than the Exige and a better car to steer most of the time.... the Exige is just an indulgence for that 10% of the time where you find yourself really able to exploit the extra nuttiness of the car.
bungle said:
Corranga said:
Love mine to bits. Bought it 8 years ago and doubt I'll ever part with it, as the years have gone on it's changed from a rough one to a great one, and just the way I want it
Love the colour. And looks great with a hardtop. 
HeMightBeBanned said:
SidewaysSi said:
That looks lovely. I take it that it is not standard?
Thanks. It used to be gunmetal grey, but I had it resprayed pearlescent white with a burgundy stripe a couple of years ago. Gets lots of positive comments.
SidewaysSi said:
HeMightBeBanned said:
SidewaysSi said:
That looks lovely. I take it that it is not standard?
Thanks. It used to be gunmetal grey, but I had it resprayed pearlescent white with a burgundy stripe a couple of years ago. Gets lots of positive comments.RobM77 said:
Having said that, a lot of highly respected engineers and professional racing drivers don't 'get' the Elise. I've spoken to many well known people in motorsport and R&H who fall into this category
The thing about the Elise is that they can be and are set up so differently either by accident or design. After driving my friend Mike's 340R, I was surprised how light, safe and easy it felt with all the controls - still a load of fun, whereas my car has pretty heavy but more direct steering and is very much more steerable by the throttle (which I like). Mike got a bit of a surprise with it at one point and backed off slightly, but in reality it's much more benign than it first feels, but the setup gives it a lot of mid-corner adjustability once you're used to it.Main point here being that they are so configurable, that driving and judging one example doesn't really tell the full story of the breed.
HeMightBeBanned said:
simonrockman said:
One of the things which made the S1 very special was the brakes. They were aluminium and had a bite like nothing I've encountered since.
The MMC brakes that you're talking about didn't stay in production long before being replaced with steel items.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff