4c ground clearance

[Fast Jonnie]

Hi all,

Really dull story, but I have recently moved house and the road camber combined with the drive rake is causing me a few hassles with car choices.

X5 obviously gets on without issue. M4 does too. Mini makes it just. Lotus Elise - no way (not all my cars I hasten to add).

4c looks glorious but also low. Does anyone know from experience if it is as low as an Elise? I know the real test is to book a demo but don't want to get my hopes up if you guys know I'm on to a loser.

Many thank in advance.

[Rochester TVR]

I don't have any experience of an Elise but my 4C is noticeably lower than either of the TVRs I had before. (Cerbera on adjustable dampers and a Sagaris)

It grounds out quite easily. Saying that, the bit that grounds out first is a plastic strip that runs the width of the front bumper not the actual paintwork. I tend to use this as a gauge to judge how close the bumper is to the ground. I do find myself crabbing over speed-bumps, but it doesn't stop me loving the car.

Hope this helps.

[Edin430]

It's lower than the Elise at the front. Most of the time you will hear the plastic trim noted above scraping but it does catch on a fair bit.

[Fast Jonnie]

Thanks guys. I guess I kind of knew the answer before I asked ......

This driveway is really limiting my car choices. My wife is happy as it is stopping me spending money but I am struggling to find much that is fun but will travel over the pavement on to the drive.

Thanks again

[Richyboy]

The dealer brought round one and managed to park it on my steep driveway. I think once I got used to it I could manipulate it through lock to lock steering to get it on my driveway but without power steering it seemed like a chore.

[WillS66]

Fast Jonnie said:

This driveway is really limiting my car choices. My wife is happy as it is stopping me spending money but I am struggling to find much that is fun but will travel over the pavement on to the drive.
Thanks again

I had a similar problem when I moved house. I decided, more for a laugh than anything else, to contact the council as both the road and pavement are their responsibility. I told them that the clearance issue was damaging my car and that I'd be treating the damage the same way as that done by a pothole, in other words I'd be claiming from them.

Heard nothing for a month, other than an automatically generated acknowledgement letter, then they fixed it! You could have knocked me over with a feather I was that shocked. But financially it makes sense for them, repeated damage claims would have added up but sending a chap over in a van to lay a small tarmac ramp was cheap.

Give it a go, what have you got to lose?

WillS