95 lotus elan m100

Author
Discussion

Forbes82

Original Poster:

812 posts

180 months

Sunday 5th July 2009
quotequote all
My first 'real car' after saving money and building no claims in a 1.1 saxo since i passed (i'm 22 now) and i feel so lucky to be driving it, looked around alot of elans and this was the only one i could truely call 'mint'. The leather seats look like new without a hint of cracking. Took it out for a blast round some A and B's saturday and couldn't shift the smile off my face for the rest of the day. I'd love to chip it to 200bhp straight off but for the sake of insurance (i'm guessing its not very sensible to be driving a chipped car without claiming it) it will stay as it is for a year or so.

Anyway, these are the pictures from the AD, partly because i'm not a great photographer, and partly because the miles i've put on it since picking it up means it isn't as clean as this now!





Loving every minute and can't wait for the next drive.

AndyBe

6,642 posts

208 months

Sunday 5th July 2009
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Good choice. Nice car. Well done.

(If I'm being stupidly picky, I don't like the colour of the exterior or interior). But I'm not. Since it's not mine.
Fantastic car to get at your age.

whatleytom

1,309 posts

184 months

Sunday 5th July 2009
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your not located in swindon are you? I saw one of these, very similar to yours on wednesday last week.

Forbes82

Original Poster:

812 posts

180 months

Sunday 5th July 2009
quotequote all
Cheers guys, did have a look at a yellow one, and i liked that colour maybe more than this one, didn't stand up to close inspection at all though, and yeah i never thought id be driving this at this age.

I'm from cheltenham which isn't too far from swindon, but i haven't been near swindon in it yet, sounds like someone else has a similar one there. It's certainly the right weather to get out and about in them so far this summer!

NateWM

1,684 posts

180 months

Sunday 5th July 2009
quotequote all
Nice car, and good call on on the "chipping it and not declaring it" scenario.

Insurance companys have a small box of wonders that they plug into your ECU after a crash, which tells them if the car's ECU has been modified (Even if you revert it to standard, they can still tell) and it will give them date's of any changes that have been made. If any of these dates correspond with the date that you had a policy with them, then your policy would be made invalid and you would be left with a big headache.

Benmac

1,475 posts

217 months

Monday 6th July 2009
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That does look, very tidy. On that reg it must be one of the absolute last. Mine is one of the very first being on G plate.

I presume you've already found www.lotuselancentral.com? If not, enjoy!

RJDM3

1,441 posts

206 months

Monday 6th July 2009
quotequote all
NateWM said:
Nice car, and good call on on the "chipping it and not declaring it" scenario.

Insurance companys have a small box of wonders that they plug into your ECU after a crash, which tells them if the car's ECU has been modified (Even if you revert it to standard, they can still tell) and it will give them date's of any changes that have been made. If any of these dates correspond with the date that you had a policy with them, then your policy would be made invalid and you would be left with a big headache.
Since when...i dont think so

Mr Dave

3,233 posts

196 months

Monday 6th July 2009
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Always liked these, and I quite like the colour.

But Im curious to know how solid it feels to drive? They have always looked pretty flimsy to me for some reason, however being a Lotus Im sure it handles well (used to be regarded as one of the fastest point to point cars available.)

agent006

12,045 posts

265 months

Monday 6th July 2009
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RJDM3 said:
NateWM said:
Nice car, and good call on on the "chipping it and not declaring it" scenario.

Insurance companys have a small box of wonders that they plug into your ECU after a crash, which tells them if the car's ECU has been modified (Even if you revert it to standard, they can still tell) and it will give them date's of any changes that have been made. If any of these dates correspond with the date that you had a policy with them, then your policy would be made invalid and you would be left with a big headache.
Since when...i dont think so
I call BS too. Some cars have a flash counter in the ECU so they know how many times it has been overwritten but without history this is useless as dealers do this routinely at service. It's only usable is you know what the number was previously.
Mostly they can tell because owners do moronic things like leaving the remap receipt in the glovebox.

mitchipoo06

266 posts

206 months

Monday 6th July 2009
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Well done, at 22 thats one hell of a car!

If i were looking for one id pick the exact same colour combo, BRG lotus..... Yes please!

Forbes82

Original Poster:

812 posts

180 months

Monday 6th July 2009
quotequote all
Benmac said:
That does look, very tidy. On that reg it must be one of the absolute last. Mine is one of the very first being on G plate.

I presume you've already found www.lotuselancentral.com? If not, enjoy!
I used it as a resource before buying, haven't signed up to it yet though, i'm very interested in the 'elanscan' though, sounds like a great bit of kit. I'm keeping an eye out for other elans on the road, unfortunately the only one i've seen since owning i wasn't in the elan.

Forbes82

Original Poster:

812 posts

180 months

Monday 6th July 2009
quotequote all
Mr Dave said:
Always liked these, and I quite like the colour.

But Im curious to know how solid it feels to drive? They have always looked pretty flimsy to me for some reason, however being a Lotus Im sure it handles well (used to be regarded as one of the fastest point to point cars available.)
The handling feels anything but flimsy, it really inspires great confidence, very easy to drive quickly and consistently, i can see why its been described as that. There has been some that say its almost too competant, as you wont get the RWD sideways tail out action, and i can understand that critisicm, but this early on in my driving career i am probably better off with something that i'm not going to wrap around a lamp-post! For FWD it really is suprisingly good in the twistys.

Forbes82

Original Poster:

812 posts

180 months

Monday 6th July 2009
quotequote all
mitchipoo06 said:
Well done, at 22 thats one hell of a car!

If i were looking for one id pick the exact same colour combo, BRG lotus..... Yes please!
Cheers, my dads a lifelong lotus enthusiast and i've always looked forward to the moment i could own one, didn't think i would be able to swing it this early but now i've got it i can't see me getting rid of it for quite a while. Its really got me into finding out good driving roads and enjoying them, i certainly never had that with my saxo!

nottyash

4,671 posts

196 months

Monday 6th July 2009
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Always prefered them over the original rover engined Elise.
They have a Isuzu Turbo 1600cc which has got to be better than anything Rover made.