RE: Lotus Elise S1 - PH owners speak

[angelicupstarts]

RYH64E said:

otolith said:

Probably not so much of a problem with one that has air conditioning. But the minimal interior means they retain very little heat. Add in a bit of leakage and demisting them can be something of a pain in the arse.

My S1 was the only car I've ever owned where the dash needs defrosting if you leave it outside, the Stack dash used to get ice on the inside in winter.

yes, I had a sponge to wipe the inside windscreen down on my elise 1 plus the dash problem as well !
mind when i was a student I had a spitfire that had about 2 inches of frozen water in the footwells every winter , just like an ice rink !

[itcaptainslow]

I find on winter drives the problem with mine in summer (hot interior) becomes a very useful addition! A pair of driving gloves however is essential as your hands are in a cold air stream. The heater isn't too bad though once the engine is up to temperature.

Mine is kept in a garage though-so the heater doesn't have to battle de-misting.

[AER]

Ex Boy Racer said:

Sorry to spoil the party...
I had a really early S1 - I did some consultancy for Lotus at the time.
I had a Caterham HPC at the time, which I intended to sell and keep the Elise, but the opposite happened.
Problem was, Elise impressed me, but the Caterham made me shout out loud with excitement. It was faster, wilder, crazier - and in truth no less practical.
Elise S1 was neither fish nor foul. Not as mad as a 7, but not practical enough to use much.
Made £5K when I sold it after 5000 miles though, so not all bad.

I dare say you weren't a crash safety consultant for Lotus then...

[zebedee]

otolith said:

Probably not so much of a problem with one that has air conditioning. But the minimal interior means they retain very little heat. Add in a bit of leakage and demisting them can be something of a pain in the arse.

But the eyeball vents sit right by the glass, so with a wipe over with a cloth when you get in, both windows open an inch and fan on full blow, I'd say you are look at 2-3 mins to get clear for driving, and that is when it has so much condensation it is running down the inside! My trick is to start with the 2 vents on the right, leave the others closed - you get more air pressure so it clears faster, then once they are clear, you can open the others and spin the outside ones to the side windows. It really isn't that much of an issue.

[pthelazyjourno]

Ex Boy Racer said:

Sorry to spoil the party...
I had a really early S1 - I did some consultancy for Lotus at the time.
I had a Caterham HPC at the time, which I intended to sell and keep the Elise, but the opposite happened.
Problem was, Elise impressed me, but the Caterham made me shout out loud with excitement. It was faster, wilder, crazier - and in truth no less practical.
Elise S1 was neither fish nor foul. Not as mad as a 7, but not practical enough to use much.
Made £5K when I sold it after 5000 miles though, so not all bad.

Don't see how claiming the Elise isn't any more practical than the 7 is a more valid claim than the Elise being more exciting - neither are true.

The Caterham is every bit the faster, wilder, crazier car but the Elise is massively more practical - I can get in the fking thing for starters!! It has proper doors, they're not big but I can still ferry elderly (well, 60s) friends around in all conditions occasionally - know several people who've switched to an Elise because they can't physically get in their 7s anymore.

The doors don't let bucketloads of water in from the inch-thick gaps at the front, my previous one didn't leak at all in any way, shape or form, it has a proper, lockable boot and is secure, it has decent crash protection (relative to a 7), you can fit a proper hard top - how does that not make it more practical?

The same standards obviously then apply to the Elise vs a hatchback - faster, wilder crazier car but the hatchback is massively more practical. It may not be the perfect track hack out of the box, but it fills a very real niche - there's a reason Lotus has sold tens of thousands of them.

As a daily I couldn't use a 7, it's not viable for me. I have done 80,000 miles in an S1 Elise.

[zebedee]

pthelazyjourno said:

Ex Boy Racer said:

Sorry to spoil the party...
I had a really early S1 - I did some consultancy for Lotus at the time.
I had a Caterham HPC at the time, which I intended to sell and keep the Elise, but the opposite happened.
Problem was, Elise impressed me, but the Caterham made me shout out loud with excitement. It was faster, wilder, crazier - and in truth no less practical.
Elise S1 was neither fish nor foul. Not as mad as a 7, but not practical enough to use much.
Made £5K when I sold it after 5000 miles though, so not all bad.

Don't see how claiming the Elise isn't any more practical than the 7 is a more valid claim than the Elise being more exciting - neither are true.

The Caterham is every bit the faster, wilder, crazier car but the Elise is massively more practical - I can get in the fking thing for starters!! It has proper doors, they're not big but I can still ferry elderly (well, 60s) friends around in all conditions occasionally - know several people who've switched to an Elise because they can't physically get in their 7s anymore.

The doors don't let bucketloads of water in from the inch-thick gaps at the front, my previous one didn't leak at all in any way, shape or form, it has a proper, lockable boot and is secure, it has decent crash protection (relative to a 7), you can fit a proper hard top - how does that not make it more practical?

The same standards obviously then apply to the Elise vs a hatchback - faster, wilder crazier car but the hatchback is massively more practical. It may not be the perfect track hack out of the box, but it fills a very real niche - there's a reason Lotus has sold tens of thousands of them.

As a daily I couldn't use a 7, it's not viable for me. I have done 80,000 miles in an S1 Elise.

or as I said, horses for courses!

[otolith]

zebedee said:

otolith said:

Probably not so much of a problem with one that has air conditioning. But the minimal interior means they retain very little heat. Add in a bit of leakage and demisting them can be something of a pain in the arse.

But the eyeball vents sit right by the glass, so with a wipe over with a cloth when you get in, both windows open an inch and fan on full blow, I'd say you are look at 2-3 mins to get clear for driving, and that is when it has so much condensation it is running down the inside! My trick is to start with the 2 vents on the right, leave the others closed - you get more air pressure so it clears faster, then once they are clear, you can open the others and spin the outside ones to the side windows. It really isn't that much of an issue.

My Elise certainly takes longer to demist in winter than any other modern car I've owned. So no doubt more winter usable than a Caterham, but not at the level of an ordinary family car. It's perfectly tolerable, just managing expectations.

[SidewaysSi]

pthelazyjourno said:

Ex Boy Racer said:

Sorry to spoil the party...
I had a really early S1 - I did some consultancy for Lotus at the time.
I had a Caterham HPC at the time, which I intended to sell and keep the Elise, but the opposite happened.
Problem was, Elise impressed me, but the Caterham made me shout out loud with excitement. It was faster, wilder, crazier - and in truth no less practical.
Elise S1 was neither fish nor foul. Not as mad as a 7, but not practical enough to use much.
Made £5K when I sold it after 5000 miles though, so not all bad.

Don't see how claiming the Elise isn't any more practical than the 7 is a more valid claim than the Elise being more exciting - neither are true.

The Caterham is every bit the faster, wilder, crazier car but the Elise is massively more practical - I can get in the fking thing for starters!! It has proper doors, they're not big but I can still ferry elderly (well, 60s) friends around in all conditions occasionally - know several people who've switched to an Elise because they can't physically get in their 7s anymore.

The doors don't let bucketloads of water in from the inch-thick gaps at the front, my previous one didn't leak at all in any way, shape or form, it has a proper, lockable boot and is secure, it has decent crash protection (relative to a 7), you can fit a proper hard top - how does that not make it more practical?

The same standards obviously then apply to the Elise vs a hatchback - faster, wilder crazier car but the hatchback is massively more practical. It may not be the perfect track hack out of the box, but it fills a very real niche - there's a reason Lotus has sold tens of thousands of them.

As a daily I couldn't use a 7, it's not viable for me. I have done 80,000 miles in an S1 Elise.

Well said. They are completely different cars IMO and I own both!

[573]

otolith said:

My Elise certainly takes longer to demist in winter than any other modern car I've owned. So no doubt more winter usable than a Caterham, but not at the level of an ordinary family car. It's perfectly tolerable, just managing expectations.

Fit a heated front screen. I have one on my S1 and it clears the screen in about 30seconds on the few times it's been parked outside overnight.

[otolith]

Yes, would quite like one of those.

[zebedee]

573 said:

Fit a heated front screen. I have one on my S1 and it clears the screen in about 30seconds on the few times it's been parked outside overnight.

where did you get it from?

[SidewaysSi]

zebedee said:

573 said:

Fit a heated front screen. I have one on my S1 and it clears the screen in about 30seconds on the few times it's been parked outside overnight.

where did you get it from?

I think Lakeside Engineering do this for the S1 - use a switch from a Pug 306 I believe.