May go for a new Elise S rather than a used 111R ...........

[scotte]

Getting nearer the time to buy. Moved house, got a garage .... should I hold out for a new Elise S (with the Toyota MR2 engine @ 24k i believe) or go for a second hand 111R ? (I would prefer a Toyota block to drive the beast).

When is the new Elise S due for launch ?

Will be running it as a second car on nice summer days.

I thought the Elise S power distribution may be easier to deal with over the 111R's second cam (i guess nobody knows yet).

What's your choice and why ?

No doubt lotus will launch another Elise derivative a couple of months after the Elise S is launched !

Thanks for any advice or opinions.
Scott

[rfoster]

Think the official launch is at the motorshow next month (with the Europa.) But give your friendly dealer a call. I'm sure they'll let you know what's what.

[Sublime]

scotte said:

Getting nearer the time to buy. Moved house, got a garage .... should I hold out for a new Elise S (with the Toyota MR2 engine @ 24k i believe) or go for a second hand 111R ? (I would prefer a Toyota block to drive the beast).

A couple of things to ponder. How much is the new car 'feel' worth and is having the quickest 'out of the box' variant that important to you?

[sp60]

I'd always go for the better spec second hand car.
More power, less depreciation, most problems should have been ironed out.
Just make sure you factor in the cost of a decent extended warranty and you should be fine.
There are loads of decent well looked after mk2 elise for sale 1/2 years old and the savings over new are substantial.

[scotte]

Sublime said:

A couple of things to ponder. How much is the new car 'feel' worth and is having the quickest 'out of the box' variant that important to you?

Good point. Really need to test drive both and find out what feels better i guess, what suits me. 111R's additional pace is attractive without a doubt(1 second between them over 0-60 ?) ... top speed doesnt matter as I wont track it.

Thanks for reply
Scott

[jb111s]

You'd be mad not to go for the r! Why lose money instantly as soon as you drive it out of the forecourt ? Plus everyone will know you've got the cheaper basic elise. Get a decent low mileage R that's still covered by warranty. Plus you could probably get one with a hardtop 2nd hand for the same price as well, so it looks even better in winter/motorway driving & maybe even with a sports exhaust fitted as well.

If you get the less powerful option you can only regret it. Think of those occaisonal blasts you'd do where you'd think "wonder how much faster the r would of gone" when trying to blow away a chav mobile.

Plus the S has cheaper looking wheels IMO, it just doesn't look as nice as the R

[jke11y]

If you have 25k to spend I would be looking at S2 Exige for that money (which I bought so I am biased). Even if for the looks alone over a 111r!

Edited by jke11y on Friday 30th June 17:56