Test Drive

[mollymai]

I have finally booked myself in to test drive a 111r Elise, a standard Exige and possibly the 'S' version. I want to go with an open mind but things I have read on here worry me. Is it really impossible to see out of the back in an Exige I only use my rear view mirror to check for police cars. I remember in my old Elise the rear view mirror was pretty useless for spotting them anyway as it vibrated so much - every car was the 'fuzz'.

There are also a lot of 111r's for sale privately at the moment at a good price normally without air con. I know the subject has been flogged to death on here and I would agree it is probably essential for an Exige but is so critical for an Elise - is it really that bad demisting without it and does it seriously affect the sell on price if you haven't got it? The price difference between those with and without is as much as £1000+ which is almost the original fitting price.

Anything else i should note on my test drive with any of these cars? Any comments are much appreciated.

[rfoster]

Air con in the Exige is quite important, but it wouldn't bother me in an Elise at all - I certainly wouldn't pay a £1,000 premium for the benefit of air con in an Elise. You can just wind the window down / take the roof off!

[mollymai]

The other question I meant to ask was how good are the soft tops on an Elise say 05 / 55 models as I don't have a garage so it would be outside all year? Should I get a hardtop?

[hueandcry71]

mollymai said:

The other question I meant to ask was how good are the soft tops on an Elise say 05 / 55 models as I don't have a garage so it would be outside all year? Should I get a hardtop?

The soft top on mine is fine, no problems at all.

[Chris49]

I have an S1 with a terrible roof but my fathers 05 S2 is as good as gold, even in the worst rain it will only let in a tiny drop every few minutes.

[bing]

mine is an 05 111r and the softtop is fine -I was gonna get a hardtop but didn't bother in the end!!!

[TonyHetherington]

My car is an 04 model year and the soft top is 100% perfect; not a single leak, and it's been through some torrential storms

[Chris49]

TonyHetherington said:

My car is an 04 model year and the soft top is 100% perfect; not a single leak, and it's been through some torrential storms

I hate hearing about these perfect roofs!!!!!!!

[TonyHetherington]

It has been having a hard time getting put on though. Over the years I think the cables have stretched slightly so it doesn't go in as perfectly as it used to.

[onkey]

I didn't bother with aircon on my 05 111R. Was living in Scotland at the time though so didn't think it was worth it. Must have only been a handful of days in the last 2 years when I wished it had aircon - normally on hot but rainy days. De-misting doesn't seem to take too long either and with careful positioning of the vents I can even keep it mist free on the side windows too !

Roof seems to be ok so far, nothing more than a few drips here and there.

Enjoy your test drives and good luck with the decision.

[Bing o]

Only get aircon if you are likely to be stuck in a lot of traffic jams IMHO (or if you are getting an Exige)

Enjoy!!

[Saied]

Bing o said:

Only get aircon if you are likely to be stuck in a lot of traffic jams IMHO (or if you are getting an Exige)

Keep the inside of the windows really clean and make sure you've got air circulating around the cabin when its raining. Will prevent misting up in almost any weather conditions.