Lotus as first owner.

[Jellyfishfields]

Went to see an Europa a few days ago, according to the V5 Lotus themselves are the first owners.

Just wondered if this is anything to be concerned about, could it have been for demo's, track car, press car e.t.c.
Maybe being over cautious, but is there any way of checking this out?

[dom180]

Jellyfishfields said:

Went to see an Europa a few days ago, according to the V5 Lotus themselves are the first owners.

Just wondered if this is anything to be concerned about, could it have been for demo's, track car, press car e.t.c.
Maybe being over cautious, but is there any way of checking this out?

You could get them to do an engine diagnostic print out and check for over-revs on downchanges - get them to do it while you watch though.... You could always get each dealer to do this and compare results engine revs/time for each car....

[dgr]

You could also call the factory, I believe they retain details of their management cars The Europa was a bit of a slow starter let's say and quite a few got registered and used by Lotus management. I think they are great cars, had a long test drive in one when they came out, only bought another Elise as I like the open top so much.

[doggydave]

Chances are it was a managers car. His name may appear on the log book with the Lotus Factory as the address. The managers get a new car every 3 to 4 months so there are always plenty coming through the dealers. If you go back several pages on this forum, I asked the same question about ex-Lotus owned cars. Boggy gave a phone number to ring on that topic to verify whether the car was a track car or not.

[Jellyfishfields]

Thanks for the tips.

I'll try calling some numbers when I get back.

[ludo]

Jellyfishfields said:

Went to see an Europa a few days ago, according to the V5 Lotus themselves are the first owners.

Just wondered if this is anything to be concerned about, could it have been for demo's, track car, press car e.t.c.
Maybe being over cautious, but is there any way of checking this out?

I very much doubt it would be a track car (they are all S2 Elises whenever I have been there), and from what I have seen, the Lotus Sport guys wouldn't sell one on without being very up front about the likely state of the gearbox/clutch etc. I would think it is much more likely to be a managers car, at the moment I quite frequently see a range of Evorae on my way to work, so I think that must be what the managers are driving at the moment (unless they are selling much better in Norfolk that I would have expected).