Saturday 22nd August 2015

£100K Garage: Andy McClean

Can you tell Andy owns a Lotus, has another Lotus on his shortlist and quite likes Lotus?

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Name: Andy McClean
Previously owned: SEAT Ibiza 1.2
Currently owned: Lotus Elise S2
On the shortlist: "Some kind of Shed, a Lotus Evora, a Ferrari 575M, a Ford Mustang and a Ford F150!"

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Lotus Elise S1
Cost: £12,998
Balance: £91,005
Why I chose it: "It's the 20th year of the Lotus Small Car Platform, so this is the perfect place to start. I grew up dreaming of a Yellow S1, and this example looks mint. An early model, with low mileage, and a few nice updates too. An absolute classic." [Sadly Andy's original Elise selection had sold but we found another yellow one! - MB]

Lotus Exige S S2
Cost: £29,995
Balance: £61,010
Why I chose it: "There were no S1 Exiges in the classifieds, and I already have an Elise S2, so this is next on the list. And a list like this would simply be incomplete without a mental looking Exige - although I'd prefer Scandal Green. These are the peak of what the platform became, and will be the ultimate track machine."

Lotus Europa S
Cost: £19,500
Balance: £41,510
Why I chose it: "OK, it's not the best looking or most desirable car on this platform, but it's probably one of the rarest. They are great small GT cars, and this is the only one in the classified in the UK. And with only 25K on the clock, it'll last a while too."

Vauxhall VX220
Cost: £7,995
Balance: £33,515
Why I chose it: The Lego brick had to be included, and they look mental in all-black. The platform was used by/for other manufacturers, and there isn't the budget to include a Tesla, Venom, or Rinspeed. It's a shame this one isn't turbo'd, but the colour won it for me."

Lotus 340R
Cost: £28,500
Balance: £5,015
Why I chose it: "The 340R is the ultimate car made on this platform for me, the real dream machine. This is the lowest mileage example on offer, in the classic colour combo, and just down-right awesome! The 340R wins its place in the list over the 2-Eleven, despite being even less usable, because (to me) it's more of a classic and more stylish. This leaves me with a grand to fill them up, or invest in a get rich quick scheme to help maintain them!" [But with a cheaper Elise as a forced substitute there are more pennies in the piggy bank now! - MB]

[Mike29]

Nice cars but they're so similar. No need for S1 Elise and VX220
Posted for a reaction?

[F1GTRUeno]

That's a rubbish list.

[Patrick Bateman]

Each to their own and all that jazz but way too similar for me.

[soad]

Lotus-a-holic!

Exige is all i need.

[RobinBanks]

100000-12998=91005?

Nice one.

[Lefty]

So he likes Lotus? fair enough but would anyone realistically only have those cars in his fantasy garage? I love Elises but if you've got one do you need all the rest?

[clarkmagpie]

Bit of a pisstake, think this idea has run it's course.

[crostonian]

I could understand going all Lotus if you threw an Esprit, Seven, 60s Elan or even a Carlton into the list but this is just boring.

[muscles76]

that's a @hit list.

[ILoveMondeo]

All that lotus and no esprit?

Bin the 340r or exige (and perhaps th vx) and put a esprit v8 turbo on the list!

[APW220]

Exige S is great fun, like a go kart. Anything else just doesn't give you such a feeling on the road. You simply can't drive something like a 458 on a country road and enjoy the sensations unless you go way too fast.
Just had 2 weeks in rural central France near Le Puy - absolutely exceptional roads for driving and not much traffic. But you need a small car not one of the fat supercars.
You need good ear plugs if you take it on the autoroute, it is pretty noisy at a steady 130 km/ hr.
Choose your car wisely!

[anonymous-user]

Nothing wrong with a bit of brand loyalty, although it is rather dull to read. Given the "previously owned" is an Ibiza 1.2 I do wonder if Andy is a bit Lotus obsessed because his previous car was a bit... well.... st? How many other cars have gone before the Ibiza?

Anyway, my list for the next one is:

Ford Mondeo Mk 1 Si
Ford Mondeo Mk 2 ST200
Ford Mondeo Mk 3 ST220
Ford Mondeo Mk 4 Titanium X Sport 2.5T
A stload of cocaine and high-end hookers

[soad]

Owns a Elise and his shortlist isn't bad either.

[Robert Elise]

Feels like click bait by PH, provocative

Happy with lots of Loti myself, but there's so much more

[sege]

wot no stupid SUV for days when there's puddles about?
no flash german mega thirsty uber wagon for moving a chest of drawers that you'll only ever do once in a blue moon?
No 330d because you really are that sad?

Interesting that the assumption is that these lists have to be versatile.
Because modern cars have such a narrow focus and ability range don't they? Actually no they don't. In my opinion the 'sensible' one in most of these lists is a waste of money.

This is a nice list! I hope it's not a total mickey take.

My thoughts:
I'm with you on the 340R, no question.
Also the S1 elise I guess. I would be torn between an S1 and a K-Series S2.
I would miss out the S2 Exige (based on what I've read about them). S1 or nothing.
I would also forego the Vauxhall. A VX220 turbo could be interesting, but probably not in this company.
Not sure about the Europa, never driven one so no idea what they're like. But I would guess they're too similar to the elise, so would swap that out and hopefully with all that saved add in an Evora, and no idea if there'd be enough left over for a nice example of an orignal Elan. Probably not but that would be a great list.
....also swap out any of the above for a non supercharged 2-eleven. Quite different to the 340R from what I've read. That would be the track (and part time road) toy, and the 340R would be the Sunday morning b road blaster! What a garage!

[Hooch747]

Just don't get the Elise, the Rover engined cars have horrible gearchanges, make lots of noise but are slow. The Exige S is better but look at the price.

[Gompo]

Price on the Europa gone up since this item was posted?

Showing as £20995.

[Richard A]

I've nothing against the 'completist' approach to a £100K Garage but, even as a Lotus fan, I couldn't envisage going for a Europa for two reasons:

1) The styling looks like it was done against the clock with the brief, "Do whatever you want as long as it's different to any existing car." It's a supreme example of the drag-and-drop approach that characterises so much modern CAD/CAM based design, with all kinds of disparate features shoved meaninglessly together.
2) The Lotus small car extruded/bonded aluminium has its strengths (no pun intended) but, having driven mine several times for long journeys across southern Europe in the summer the degree to which the structure can soak up the heat is phenomenal. When you get out after a few hundred miles above 30C, even the ignition key is hot. I've not driven a Europa in such conditions but I can imagine its aircon is going to struggle to keep things under control.

Styling wise, it's a shame that the clay buck proposal shown at Hethel in the early days of the Elise didn't come to fruition instead:

[anonymous-user]

Thing is, the £100k garage posts ran their course months ago, they gain very little comment in the forums these days.

I can only assume they still exist because the business sees them driving classifieds traffic and from that point of view it's fair enough.

[hwajones]

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