Lotus in EVO this month

[piooly]

Just got my Jan 2009 copy of Evo through the door and its full of Lotus write ups!! big article on the new Evora, (interior is looking very nice!), and another big article on the Elite S2, Elan Sprint, Elise S1, 340R and 2-eleven! Cant be bad... just need some time to read them now.

[Gad-Westy]

Goody gum drops. Hopefully mine will be waiting for me when I get home.

[simonrockman]

The interior is very nice. I think that's the VP1 I sat in.

Simon

[TonyHetherington]

Interior does look superb

[chris_w]

The rear seats with that dodgy red band running through them look a bit iffy but overall the Evora is looking very nice, especially like the wheels.

First time I've sat down and read Evo right through for a while now!

[piooly]

good to see they have fitted a decent stereo. You can make out in the pictures either a 8inch or 10inch Alpine Type S series Subwoofer fitted next to the rear seats!! I'll get my coat lol.......

[bogie]

yeah...Evora looks great...I cant wait until they bring out the hot version ...or to pick up a 3 yr old one for £25K then tune the crap out of it

[simonrockman]

piooly said:

good to see they have fitted a decent stereo. You can make out in the pictures either a 8inch or 10inch Alpine Type S series Subwoofer fitted next to the rear seats!! I'll get my coat lol.......

Although they are marking it up like crazy and you have to have the top Alpine system if you are one of the first 200 cars and/or you want the reversing camera.

It's interesting that there will be a ratio option on the gearbox, I've not heard of that before.

Simon

[wetny]

apparently you can pick a good Elise up for 6.5k. That means a poor one would be about 5k. Where are all of these cheap cars? I could not find one when I was looking.

[bogie]

like most car magazines...they report the one car they saw on Autotrade one week that was that low...not the real value they are selling at ...nice of them to drive the market down eh ...tossers

[piooly]

simonrockman said:

piooly said:

good to see they have fitted a decent stereo. You can make out in the pictures either a 8inch or 10inch Alpine Type S series Subwoofer fitted next to the rear seats!! I'll get my coat lol.......

Although they are marking it up like crazy and you have to have the top Alpine system if you are one of the first 200 cars and/or you want the reversing camera.

It's interesting that there will be a ratio option on the gearbox, I've not heard of that before.

Simon

Yes, close ratio box combined with noisy exhaust and Ohlins will be the sport option.....

[Davey111]

wetny said:

apparently you can pick a good Elise up for 6.5k. That means a poor one would be about 5k. Where are all of these cheap cars? I could not find one when I was looking.

I got my S1 abnout a month and a half ago for 7.5k. What is defined as 'good'? Mine was 43,000 miles with no damage other than the usual stone chips. Came with hard and soft top in a good condition, K&N induction fitted and stainless steel exhaust. It might not be mint but I would consider it to be good. Haven't had a chance to read the latest Evo though so I don't know whether they are talking about 2 year old S2's in which case I apologise for a pointless post.

[Sam_68]

Davey111 said:

wetny said:

apparently you can pick a good Elise up for 6.5k. That means a poor one would be about 5k. Where are all of these cheap cars? I could not find one when I was looking.

I got my S1 abnout a month and a half ago for 7.5k. What is defined as 'good'?

Also, you'd be surprised how big a difference there can be between 'asking price' and 'selling price', if you're tough enough to realise that it's a buyer's market at the moment.

If you wave a big bundle of tenners under enough vendors' noses, it doesn't take very long to find someone who believes in the old saying 'a bird in the hand...'

[Boggy]

Sorry I think that anyone let alone Lotus attempting to release a car in the next year will suffer very badly, who's going to buy a brand new Car let alone a luxury Car when everyone is losing their jobs? I'll go out on a limb here, I think the Evora will fail along with the company if this downward trend doesn't improve and improve fast.

The market for new Aston, Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo and Lotus is well and truly over

Boggy

[Gad-Westy]

Boggy said:

Sorry I think that anyone let alone Lotus attempting to release a car in the next year will suffer very badly, who's going to buy a brand new Car let alone a luxury Car when everyone is losing their jobs? I'll go out on a limb here, I think the Evora will fail along with the company if this downward trend doesn't improve and improve fast.

The market for new Aston, Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo and Lotus is well and truly over

Boggy

Forgive me if this is bks but did I read somewhere that Lotus has just turned a profit for the first time in years? I share your concerns about the Evora as well but do hope we're proved wrong.

[amare32]

Gad-Westy said:

Boggy said:

Sorry I think that anyone let alone Lotus attempting to release a car in the next year will suffer very badly, who's going to buy a brand new Car let alone a luxury Car when everyone is losing their jobs? I'll go out on a limb here, I think the Evora will fail along with the company if this downward trend doesn't improve and improve fast.

The market for new Aston, Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo and Lotus is well and truly over

Boggy

Forgive me if this is bks but did I read somewhere that Lotus has just turned a profit for the first time in years? I share your concerns about the Evora as well but do hope we're proved wrong.

Lotus may have turned a profit this year but it may take a good couple of years for things to stablelise and I don't think purchasing a new car will will be at the forefront of everyone's minds.

You only need to look at the likes of BMW shifting a lot less E92 M3 to get an idea and as values have tanked (Evo's longtermer losing £18k in 9 months), that type of depreciation in today's economic climate is truly frightening.

Although you can't compare the M3 and Evora as their different type of cars but I don't believe the Evora will be depreciation proof by any means.

Edited by amare32 on Wednesday 10th December 13:33

[Si_man306]

I think this end of the market may fair less badly though, the people with lots of cash are not being hit quite as badly as lets say the top end of the hot hatch market.

Additionally (having just bought an exige myself) lotus represent lower running costs and better mpg than rivals like porsche which can be a bit of a silver lining for those needing to convince themselves! It is a buyers market however and lotus need to be very wary of over-pricing.

[simonrockman]

Every car owner is looking for a way to say "mines's more robust". Nothing is.

Simon

[bogie]

Im sure loads of people, especially the "must have this years latest in-car" lot will be buyin the new Evora...hundreds of speculators will have ordered for sure.

Depreciation wise - the best, most in demand cars are still worth 50% after 3 years ...thats all that you can hope for, any more is a bonus.

Im quite happy to let someone pay £55K, ponce around in a car for 3 years doing like 10-15k miles, run it in nicely then let me buy it for £25K

3 year old, half price supercars, is definately the way to make the most of your cash ...if you can wait of course and are not of the "want it, must have it now" type

[nsm3]

I quite fancy an Evora myself, as not much else interests me enough to get out of my Exige at the moment (I always seem to change cars at this time of year).

However, having ditched my 911 a year ago, as the drop of £10k pa for 2 years and only 12k miles ownership was grating a bit, I am glad I got out when I did as they have fallen a further £12-15k in the last year.

My rambling point here is, I am definately going to be looking for 2 year old cars with "garage queen" mileage on in future. With the 3 year values probably dropping from 50-60% to around 40% there should be some bargains coming up?