Can a decent S1 Elise be had for £9k?

[grenpayne]

Earlier this year I sold my wonderful R300 spec'd Caterham 7 to help finance a house move and renovation project. This was an incredibly painful decision and I bitterly miss the early morning Sunday drives I had in the car with it's delightful handling. I did manage to hold on to my lovely near mint 205 GTi 1.9 (my wife took pity on me ) and although it drives superbly and is great fun, I can't help myself looking in the classifieds at S1 Elises. Finances are tight due to the house not being finished yet so if I was to trade the Peugeot for an S1 Elise the budget would be a measly £9k.

So....can a decent Elise be had for £9k? And am I possibly making a mistake selling a well sorted and potentially appreciating 205 GTi for an Elise? Thoughts welcomed!

[grenpayne]

Thanks for the honest answers, much appreciated. To address some specific points:

moribund said:

I think it's been true for a while that a good Elise S1 costs at least £10k, you either pay that at the start or in instalments.

I had strongly suspected this might be the case and this was pretty much why I asked the question. After stripping, upgrading and rebuilding my Caterham over a six month period, it's not something I want to have to do with an Elise as I won't have the time for at least another 18 months. And sadly the budget cannot be increased as even £9k is a stretch

SidewaysSi said:

I have a Caterham and Elise and used to own a 205 GTI. A bog standard Elise is not a replacement for a Caterham - it's too quiet, too slow, too comfortable and quite frankly, lacks the mad element of the Seven.

A bog standard car will be rather dull-I bought a S1 Sport 160 and am heavily modifying it to get it near the thrills of the Caterham. At the end I would have spent approximately £20k and that's having bought my Lotus a few years ago. The same base car has probably gone up £3-4k in that time.

That's not good news but again, I suspected that might be the case. In truth, I am looking to get back to as many qualities of the 7 as I can and it sounds like I'm not going to do that by getting a cheap Elise. I'm not saying I'm getting them in the 205 GTi either but spending an extra £4k (or more) to not get to wheer I want to be seems daft.

I'm lucky enough that in 3-4 years time (when I leave the military) I will be able to afford another 7, most likely an new R400. So it's probably better to keep the 205 GTi for now and use it as a nice deposit on the next 7!

[grenpayne]

Interesting. I hadn't considered VX220s at all but I agree it's probably going to be along the same lines as the Elise The main problem is I now realise I miss the thrills of a 7 and as much as I'd love an Elise or VX220 they're not the same type of car.

I'll have a think about the other cars you mentioned, I have always fancied an Integra and my uncle has a Porsche 968 Clubsport so I'll chat to him too. I suppose I could always consider a W*stf*eld

Funny you should mention Evos; I had a Lancer Evo VI GSR and it was supremely good fun. It just cost the same as the mortgage to run the thing in the 2 years we had it!