its got to go

[wild beaver]

hi all ..
wonder anyone could help
bought a elise s tourer in 2007 (new)

i have loved every min of driving it..what can i say the looks you get ..the pure driving pleasure!
the way people get in and out of it ..its just so different to most cars its fantastic!

the bad side to all this is my other half is pregnant and its got to go
what price would i expect to get for a 07 plate car?
also not the best place to ask but what other car would i replace the lotus with (for the family) has to b sporty and alittle classy .. please noone say a scooby
any help would b great thank you

[bogie]

maybe sell it and get 2 cars ...an S1 Elise for £8k, and a Focus diesel with the change for the girlfriend

you cant have to go without your toys just because children are on the way

[RichyBoy]

Not much, its the wrong time to sell anything. A friend of mine in the same position tried to trade his in for a new focus and got the shock of his life.

[loopylea]

Hi There,

Congrats on becoming a "Dad to be".
Not good having to sell up.
Depends on your budget but a Focus ST is a damn fine handling car (with the addition of Eibach progressive springs!) Classy, hmm well...

[R5GTTGaz]

You can get a Focus for £1500. Keep the Lotus.

[Birdthom]

Don't let impending fatherhood panic you. When I found out we had a kid on the way I "did the right thing" and sold my Elan Sprint. A year later I was irritating my wife so much that she made me go out and buy an elise. I use that every day now and have a baby seat which fits it for the weekends. My son loves the elise.

Just buy yourself a cheap £1500 economy eurobox for family duties and stick the Elise on a low mileage policy. It will actually save you money compared to trying to sell your elise at the moment, and you can get some pretty good everyday cars for £1500 right now.

Don't change your car until you absolutely have to - you'll probably find you can keep it if you wait and see.

[RichyBoy]

When you have a kid though don't you want something that is safe, clean and useable for the job therefore unused? People get up to all kinds of crazy things in cars, countless times I've driven past steamed up windows lol.

[F.C.]

Getting rid now may be a Mistake, I was at a dealers yesterday and they were discounting BRAND new Exige s super sport tourers for 32K!!!
The Elises were similaly discounted I cant remember the bottom line as I was still reeling from the shock (I bought a new Exige S in September for 38K)

Try for a cheap saloon or find a Lotus dealer who sells "normal cars" to PX with.
F.C.

[Birdthom]

Don't go hanging around those dark alleys late at night if you're seeing that kind of thing RichyBoy. Round our way it's all florists on their way to church in their volvos or meganes. I wouldn't worry too much about a bit of pollen.

[Grinnders]

As others have said.... don't panic sell. I've had my S1 for 9 years and have a 4 year old daughter. The wife has gone through a series of golfs... Mk3, Mk4 currently a Mk5. As others have said... you can get a decent enough eurobox.. mk4 golf or not so new focus for what you'd lose selling your car.... Is anything look for a car with a good NCAP rating and ISOFIX.

[Stitch]

RichyBoy said:

When you have a kid though don't you want something that is safe, clean and useable for the job therefore unused? People get up to all kinds of crazy things in cars, countless times I've driven past steamed up windows lol.

?????????????

The kid will spend the first year or so of its life sat in its own p.ss and st and puking all over the place and you worry about the possibility of someone once having had a sh-g in a car

LOL!!!!

[marky999]

I traded my 06 111R for a new TT back in April and haven't regretted it for a minute, esp in this weather. I'm not trying to be controversial, just honest. For performance and class...it's great. Different to the Lotus of course. Anyway, relevant point for you is, you can squeeze kids in the back. Not that I have any of the things myself, thankfully. Also a big boot for baby-related stuff.

An option, if you do decide to change.

[l33lgm]

Agree with these guys, you'll regret getting out of the lotus for 2 reasons, no other car feels quite like it, secondly you'll be kicked in the nuts by how much you'll get for it.
However, if sale and buy a new car is your prefered choice I can recommend the Honda Civic Type R GT. Great engine, lots of toys and loads of space for the family.

[TIPPER]

Not the time to be selling any car let alone a year old 'toy' car. The flip side to that is that there's lots of bargain boxes out there.
If finances allow then why not keep the Elise and buy a golf/focus etc for family duties? Alternatively you could sell you car and get an S1 for fun and a eurobox for the family.
One thing I can tell you is that when the family starts you'll appreciate having some 'me' time and what better way than in a car like the Elise.

[denisb]

I have an Exige as a second car (my normal transport is a motorbike). I have a Quinny Zapp pushchair in the boot, a booster seat for the three year old and will get down to mothercare etc soon to get a seat for the one year old. The car also takes up next to no space on the drive and won't depreciate like a cheap hatchback.

Everybody is happy. The three year old wants to go in the car all the time, I've done lots of 'practical' trips in it with her. The one year old doesn't care what she is in. The wife really likes having a 'nice' car on the drive (all her chums, and their partners, are SOOO jealous). And I get something with a roof, windscreen, heater and stereo for when the weather is too bad for the bike or I just fancy a change.

Don't discount something like an Elise on the grounds of practicality, even if you have to 'downgrade' to a cheaper model.

[wild beaver]

thanks for so many replies...
some nice little cars have been recomended..and i know none of them will compare to the fun i get out off the elise..the drive the looks just the shear fun in the summer, but i might have to bite the bullet and sell it
its a sad day but i know i will get another in a few years and it will be and exige...
so watch this space..
the dream is still alive !!

[Birdthom]

Really, don't sell it at the minute.

[cyberface]

You'll *need* the Lotus for escapism when the baby's having a bad day. Perfectly functional, spacious and adequately safe saloon or estate cars can be had for next to nothing - the old 'Bargain Barges' thread on General Gassing last year showed that you could have a nice clean 540i estate with big V8 and mid 90s BMW build quality (all mass production cars were built best in the mid 90s - then manufacturers realised that if they made such high quality cars then nobody would replace them regularly, so designed in obsolescence and 'complete failure' parts so there's an incentive to change your car every three years ) for less than £4k.

My girlfriend and I have been trying for 2 years, she knows what I'm like with cars and told me to find the most fun to drive 4 door saloon that's decent value for money, so I can keep my toy... ended up buying a 'new' MG ZT with the 4.6 Mustang V8 engine and RWD, no traction control... and then supercharged it to 400 bhp and lb ft... assuming we do finally do the job (three miscarriages so far ) then our kids will learn to love the sound of a lightly-silenced V8

Don't underestimate the need for your own personal space - I haven't got a kid yet due to misfortune but many friends and family close to me have, and the ones that chucked all their hobbies / personal 'escape routes' to lavish attention on the baby 110% are the most anxious parents... the ones that just fitted the kid into their existing lives (obviously within reason) are the most happy, and the babies oddly are the calmest and least clingy / fractious...

[R-Racer]

You probably wont have the need to sell. Ive carried my four year old since she was two,she absolutely loves it! You only need one pratical motor in the family,i.e the misses.

[Tim Netherton]

I bought my S2 3 weeks before my second child was born.

We have a Passat Tdi to use as the family dust cart - try and manage first before getting rid of the 'Liz with a cheap hatch or similar.

I only changed the Elise after 4 1/2 years as I 'had scratched the itch' so to speak.

My 2p worth

Edited by Tim Netherton on Tuesday 13th January 21:00