Should I? Or shouldn't I?

[Dr_Rick]

So, age and stage and all that.

Currently my daily is a Lotus Elise S, which is awesome for all the right reasons.

But, I have two young kids,one about to start a school that also includes a bunch of after school activities / clubs, and the other is going to start nursery at the same site soon.

The problem I'd one of quart into pint pot as two plus one definitely doesn't fit into the Lotus. Plus luggage is not a Lotus strong point.

My wife drives a 5 seater so we're covered for a range of events, but my mind turns to 'sensible' /flexible driving options. Namely a need for another car with 4 seats for the times when I'm called into play.

Now my wife won't sit in the Lotus let alone drive it so a temporary straight swap is out. We can't justify 3 cars,so an alternative would be the only option. I've found an M3 saloon (early, low miles, good nick with full history, reasonable price) but I'm torn. I know I'm damaging the value of the Lotus by doing commuter mileages, but I still don't know. As an aside the drive of the M3 was great; with an exhaust tweak I could even get a similar and stellar pop / bang soundtrack I'm sure, handling spot on, creature comforts aplenty relative to the Lotus. But it's lacking the sense of occasion.

Head vs heart I suppose. Someone reassure me I'd be doing the right thing doing the swap.

[Dr_Rick]

This, I think -

f1nn said:

You are doing the right thing. You are on borrowed time with the Lotus due to the kids.

And, a lot of this rings true -

sebhaque said:

You sound like you've already made your mind up, deep down, and are just looking for people to agree with you so you can sleep easy.

It's a nice predicament to be in. I don't have children, however in my uninformed opinion I agree with your switch. The M3 has back seats so you can install the kids on your drive - and by doing so, you can get them interested in cars from the start. After all - would you rather have a Lotus and a family that doesn't get to travel in it, or an M3 and a pair of kids that'll prod your knee and say "look daddy, an Elise!" whenever one drives past after your family hoon?

And as for the 'start them young', that's easy and done. My 5yr old daughter loves the booster seat ride to school in the Lotus, and my 2yr old boy is a petrol head; he hears my car over all others coming down the road (even in his sleep) and come running out for a ride, and shouts 'fasser, fasser!!' at any opportunity.

And for the psychoanalysts in the room, notice I said reassure me rather than convince me. I know where family time is concerned I currently have to choose, but with the M3 everyone can play. Head to allow heart. There's always retirement!! Not sure I'll be able to get into a Lotus at 75 but there you go.

[Dr_Rick]

DavidJG said:

With this, your wife will drive it...... once. Then she'll either refuse to drive it, or refuse to get in it all. Been there, done that. Got three cars now!

I'm sort of with you on this. She was a passenger in the Lotus once, hated it and has refused ever since. From an aesthetic and practical perspective she likes the M3 which we viewed. However, and as you suggest, she may not like it from either the passenger or drivers seat on the move. I think I need to get her down there to have a drive of it. If that's a goer, we're good, otherwise I'm back to the drawing board.

[Dr_Rick]

Nickbrapp said:

Just buy a diesel c4 Picasso it's what you will end up with eventually

Neeeever goin' to happen.

[Dr_Rick]

She's getting the big and safe car. My only parameters were 4 seats and a boot. She even pushed for an RS6 Avant, but my view was that we wouldn't really need two large family cars. One would do the trick, with my one doing ferrying duties when necessary.

My wife also knows better than to try and eliminate my car fettish. She's known me long enough.

[Dr_Rick]

CGJJ said:

I am 45 with 3 kids- 19,16,12.

Please allow me to give you a piece of life advice-

Never sell anything you love because your missus doesn't like it.
You will resent her for it and your Lotus keeps you young.

Get your missus an RS6 Estate or an M5 estate and keep your Lotus.

I think there's an element of truth in your comments that can be applied to my situation. And looking at your garage I can see the evidence to back them up.

However, I suppose there's also an element of knowing that I'll need some extra seats at some point and if I keep on with 10k miles pa on the Elise I'm going to cripple the resale. I'm dead against purchasing on the basis of resale, but I'm very pragmatic; I know that on the car I have resale appears to be heavily influenced by mileage. Spec is there too but being the type of car it is almost every car is an individual. So, with that in mind, if I do need to jump, I'd rather do so before I've put the value through the floor (I have an 'acceptable' figure from the dealer I purchased through).

[Dr_Rick]

Trexthedinosaur said:

You mention you are taking a pragmatic approach and you are harming the Lotus resale value but surely adding the same mileage to the M3 would harm its future value even more so?

The Lotus will depreciate slower than the M3, the 10k going on the M3 per annum plus the 'M-Tax' of running the car will surely be higher than running a 3rd car (Volvo estate) and keep the Elise for the summer / weekends or if you want something for everyone to enjoy chop it in for a 2+2.

For me it would have to be three cars, whether the 'sports' car remains an Elise or swaps to a 2+2 for everyone to enjoy - BMW are just too run of the mill!

The age of the M3 I'm looking at is a low mileage 08 plate, so I'm hoping that the significant amount of depreciation has been through the system already.

[Dr_Rick]

DJP said:

CGJJ said:

I am 45 with 3 kids- 19,16,12.

Please allow me to give you a piece of life advice-

Never sell anything you love because your missus doesn't like it.
You will resent her for it and your Lotus keeps you young.

Get your missus an RS6 Estate or an M5 estate and keep your Lotus.

I completely disagree.

OP, you have children now. Your life as you knew it is over.

Accept your fate, buy a diesel people carrier and live on in abject misery like the rest of us.

No, I refuse!!

I'm only allowed to be miserable either:
(a) when I'm classed as middle-aged (parents aren't allowing that as I'm only 37, and it would mean they couldn't be middle-aged and would have to be old-aged).
(b) when I hit 40, as it's the rules.

Anyway, the 'other' car will be the diesel people carrier ... it'll probably be a Discovery 4 as my wife loves them.

[Dr_Rick]

ImpossiblyDaft said:

Well, something with four seats sounds like a good idea. If not the M3, how about an Evora?

No, because both my children have legs.

But the Evora is nice.

[Dr_Rick]

Mr Tidy said:

Parking space is such a problem, otherwise you keep the Lotus and buy a cheap daily.
Otherwise surely a C63 AMG would work, or maybe an M3 - can do daily school run but has some entertainment value for you when on your own.

Yep, this.

Drove a C63 yesterday as a counter to the M3. Interesting that they're so similar yet so different.

Not sure yet. Will try for a second test drive of the M3 today.