Elise Sports Racer

[sy247]

I have seen an Elise Sports racer for sale that I am interested in. I currently have a Porsche 944 S2 and I am looking to change to Lotus ownership. I did a track day at Hethel and enjoyed driving the Elise S a lot. I was thinking about getting a 2006 111R and then I saw the Sports Racer at my local dealership.

Is it worth paying a premium for the Sports Racer? It has done 30K and is up for £23,000. It is a 2006/55 model. Would I be better off saving my money and getting a normal 111R?

What other things should I look out for if I am buying an Elise privately? Common issues and such like. Also how much should I budget a year roughly on average for running costs?

Thanks, Simon

Edited by sy247 on Wednesday 13th January 13:13

[21TonyK]

First question is whether or not you intend to track the car at any point or is it only for road use?

23K sounds like quite a lot for a 30K mile '06 SR, plenty cheaper available in the classifieds. As to whether or not the premium is worth it? IMHO no it's not. You can get a car striped up for a couple of hundred and the suspension differences are not really relevant on the road and TBH not that great on track.

If you are looking for a real toy you can fiddle with I'd go for a cheaper car and start tweaking to what you want in terms of looks, noise, suspension etc.

It's perfectly possible to buy a factory spec car and be very happy with it but the sheer array of upgrades and 3rd party modifications can become addictive

[beak]

my first one was a Sports Racer.. loved that car, but your paying a premium for a limited edition. that said, if the car has A/C and LSD then it'll have all the options available on the Elise, so well specced.

its also a great base car for a SC conversion, with the LSS and light alloys...

if I was looking again I'd seriously consider one if money wasnt an option, otherwise I'd get a regular R and spend the extra cash on a Katana

[The Pits]

I have a Sports Racer so naturally I think it's worth the extra.

You could get an '06 111r specced up to something very similar but there were a few things you couldn't get. The biggest one was the paint. The stripes aren't vinyl they're a proper paint job which would be pretty expensive to do via special order on a 111r so should be hard to find 2nd hand. The other one was the bespoke interior with either blue or red stitching and perforated leather but that's pretty insignificant for most people. Otherwise as has been mentioned the SR was a very highly speccd 111r. However not that many 111rs had the entire options catalogue thrown at them so getting an SR is at least one way of knowing that you're getting a high spec car.

I love the look of the forged wheels (though they are a pain to clean!). I heard that every kilo of unsprung weight reduction was worth 10kg elsewhere in the car. Might be rubbish but if even half true then the wheels should make a difference.

I also think the firmer suspension is a significant improvement for occasional track whereas the standard 111r set up is unbeatable for rough british b-roads. And the traction control is much better and more useful than I imagined.

Don't be put off by lack of a/c. Mine doesn't have it and I honestly haven't missed it. I nearly didn't buy the car because it didn't have a/c but in an elise it's not worth the extra 15kg. Honestly with a convertible if it's hot its much nicer to have the roof off than the a/c on.

Happy hunting. I still delighted with mine.

[LivinLaVidaLotus]

£23k does seem a lot for a car with 30k miles - I didn't even pay that 2 years ago for my 05 R (2 years 1 month old) with 4k miles on the clock, from a main dealer. So £23k for a car over 3 years old with 30k seems excessive to me.

[Scuffers]

IMHO no it's not worth the premium (and boy is that a premium)

also worth remembering a car with 30K mile son it the dampers will be far from their best, etc etc.

[The Pits]

Even I agree 23k seems a fair bit for a 30k car.

I bought mine for 25k and that had 170 miles on it!

[Janitor]

Great car

Bad price