Few pictures of my Elise

[RatLad]

For no reason whatsoever and following on from my car history post - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I thought I would share some pictures of my latest car with the PH massive.

I was nearly put off getting one of these from stories on here of troublesome K-Series Head Gaskets and 'Thermal Shock' cooling problems, however I can happily report that after 4 months of daily driving - that this has been the cheapest car I have ever owned. I usually budget at least another £1K on top of every car I buy to combat the inevitable issues that come with a new car - even my previous MX5 cost me £1.5K in 6 months, so the Elise is happily the most reliable car I have ever owned, whilst returning around 40MPG - consider me one very happy man!

More importantly however is how the car makes me feel. I think I would have to spend triple how much the 111S cost to have a car that thrills me on the same level. The seemingly unlimited grip and maniacal acceleration are addictive and the pared-back construction only adds to the experience of a single-minded performance car.

This one is the 111S, the supposed 'pick' of the S1 Elises due to it's VVC K-Series engine, Close ratio Gearbox and wider track. This one also has a few bits done to the induction with a larger throttle body and a straight through exhaust, meaning quite a noticeable difference in 0-60 times compared to the standard Elises.

I really didn't think that a sub-10K car could feel so special. People stare as I drive past (much to my OH's disapproval) and I can't help just looking at it on my drive wondering how I got so lucky.

Hope you enjoy the pic's

Edited by RatLad on Saturday 31st July 17:34

[TVR Sagaris]

As it's the first post and this is PH...

There's a car in those pictures?

[JFReturns]

Congratulations, the car looks gorgeous, and I bet it is another league from your MX5 (which one did you have?)

[sw4rm]

Jeez OP, are your birds parents happy with her choice of man? Going by your profile pic there's a bit of an age gap....

Lovely elise. Once my points have dropped off and my work commute is a lot shorter i'm very keen to have one.

[RatLad]

JFReturns said:

Congratulations, the car looks gorgeous, and I bet it is another league from your MX5 (which one did you have?)

Thanks JF - TBH, it's not a million miles away. In pace and acceleration, yes but I would actually say that there is little in how much fun they are to drive.
I had a Mk1 RS Limited below, and I certainly miss the ability to flick the back out at every possible opportunity. If I ever need to 'downgrade' it will be back behind the wheel of another one. In fact, I'm still considering have one again just as a track car, as I'm too scared to track the Elise!

[Altrezia]

Both cars look cracking. My wife's always said that the MK1 MX5 is 50% of the Elise for 1/10th of the money.

[RS4gareth]

One of the best colours for the elise MK1! Seeing the pictures make me miss my Azzure Blue MK1! I also had an MX5 and supercharged it which made the performance on a par with an Elise!

[RatLad]

Altrezia said:

Both cars look cracking. My wife's always said that the MK1 MX5 is 50% of the Elise for 1/10th of the money.

Totally agree, sums them up perfectly

[JFReturns]

RatLad said:

JFReturns said:

Congratulations, the car looks gorgeous, and I bet it is another league from your MX5 (which one did you have?)

That is gorgeous too! But I can understand why you got the Elise - it is a natural progression from the MX5 IMO. However, I'm going down the VX220 route

[RatLad]

JFReturns said:

RatLad said:

JFReturns said:

Congratulations, the car looks gorgeous, and I bet it is another league from your MX5 (which one did you have?)

That is gorgeous too! But I can understand why you got the Elise - it is a natural progression from the MX5 IMO. However, I'm going down the VX220 route

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the VX, I've never driven one and there seems to be an ongoing discussion of whether the Elise S1, S2 or VX is the better car. I'd love a turbo VX, but I don't think I could trust my right foot enough, they seem absolutely mental.

[Brickborg]

Since I'm in the US, and unenlightened in the ways of Rover engines beyond the V8,

How is the K series for reliability? Maybe I'm unfairly biased against Rover motors, but all the folks I've asked about them, especially in the Elise, seem to think that they're trash when compared to the Toyota unit that these cars came with as well.

Then again, I understand the Toyota engined cars are still worth a substantial amount more in Europe and the UK, yes?

Just curious what your perspective is on the matter.

[John D.]

Brickborg said:

Since I'm in the US, and unenlightened in the ways of Rover engines beyond the V8,

How is the K series for reliability? Maybe I'm unfairly biased against Rover motors, but all the folks I've asked about them, especially in the Elise, seem to think that they're trash when compared to the Toyota unit that these cars came with as well.

Then again, I understand the Toyota engined cars are still worth a substantial amount more in Europe and the UK, yes?

Just curious what your perspective is on the matter.

Google K-series head gasket failure. Bare in mind that as with many things on the internet you are more likely to find negatives rather than positives, but it is a fact the engine does have some known weaknesses.

On the plus side it has much more character than the Toyota lump IMHO, and is usefully lighter.

Toyota engined cars are also substantially newer than the Rover powered versions We'll have to wait and see which hold their value/appreciate as the years go by. The difference between the cars is much more than just the engine.

[davepoth]

Brickborg said:

Since I'm in the US, and unenlightened in the ways of Rover engines beyond the V8,

How is the K series for reliability? Maybe I'm unfairly biased against Rover motors, but all the folks I've asked about them, especially in the Elise, seem to think that they're trash when compared to the Toyota unit that these cars came with as well.

Then again, I understand the Toyota engined cars are still worth a substantial amount more in Europe and the UK, yes?

Just curious what your perspective is on the matter.

The K-series is found in the US under the bonnet of early Freelanders if I remember correctly.

It was a very innovative design, made up of four castings rather than two, with long studs tying the whole lot together. Unfortunately as is always the way with British stuff, it wasn't developed properly, and as a result the largest of the engines (the 1.8 which was probably the most produced) ended up being a little fragile on head gaskets because the bolts through the engine didn't clamp down quite as well as would have been ideal.

Failure rates I think didn't get all that much over and above what you would expect from a car manufacturer, but given the level of media attention on MGR it was inevitable it would blow up into a big issue. It wasn't helped by the variety of cars the engine was fitted to (the MGF had a very large capacity cooling system due to the length of the hoses, meaning that often they weren't warmed up properly before being driven hard. In the Freelander it was just a lot of car for a 1.8 petrol to move).

Once Ford got hold of Land Rover for a while, they quickly developed a combination of a better head gasket, a ladder to go underneath the block, and better studs, which seem to have properly fixed the problem. It goes to show how tight money was at MGR at the time.

As an engine though it is really pretty good, especially given that the design is now more than 20 years old. It's very light, and can make some pretty decent power (280bhp from a 2.0 litre version as far as I can tell)

[justin220]

Thats stunning! I've recently rejoined the Lotus fold and am just in the process of posting up mine

[lotusmad2001]

Ooooooh a 111S Mine is just a standard S1 would love to see how much different yours was compared to a mildly tuned S1

[identti]

Nice car (and the RS Ltd!). I recognise 'Prospect Park' (ironic seeing as it hasn't had any prospects of anyone moving in for about 5 years) - you're not a Hurley resident are you?

[RatLad]

davepoth said:

Brickborg said:

Since I'm in the US, and unenlightened in the ways of Rover engines beyond the V8,

How is the K series for reliability? Maybe I'm unfairly biased against Rover motors, but all the folks I've asked about them, especially in the Elise, seem to think that they're trash when compared to the Toyota unit that these cars came with as well.

Then again, I understand the Toyota engined cars are still worth a substantial amount more in Europe and the UK, yes?

Just curious what your perspective is on the matter.

The K-series is found in the US under the bonnet of early Freelanders if I remember correctly.

It was a very innovative design, made up of four castings rather than two, with long studs tying the whole lot together. Unfortunately as is always the way with British stuff, it wasn't developed properly, and as a result the largest of the engines (the 1.8 which was probably the most produced) ended up being a little fragile on head gaskets because the bolts through the engine didn't clamp down quite as well as would have been ideal.

Failure rates I think didn't get all that much over and above what you would expect from a car manufacturer, but given the level of media attention on MGR it was inevitable it would blow up into a big issue. It wasn't helped by the variety of cars the engine was fitted to (the MGF had a very large capacity cooling system due to the length of the hoses, meaning that often they weren't warmed up properly before being driven hard. In the Freelander it was just a lot of car for a 1.8 petrol to move).

Once Ford got hold of Land Rover for a while, they quickly developed a combination of a better head gasket, a ladder to go underneath the block, and better studs, which seem to have properly fixed the problem. It goes to show how tight money was at MGR at the time.

As an engine though it is really pretty good, especially given that the design is now more than 20 years old. It's very light, and can make some pretty decent power (280bhp from a 2.0 litre version as far as I can tell)

I drove a Toyota powered 111R last year before I bought this (sadly was out of budget),however I didn't really feel that much of a difference in terms of accelerative pace. That said, the Toyota engines have a much smaller power band that's higher up the rev range, so you really have to nail it to feel the benefits over a VVC K-Series car IMO.

From personal experience, a K-Series engine has never let me down as I generally wont thrash a car until it's properly warmed up - or I've just been lucky...

[RatLad]

lotusmad2001 said:

Ooooooh a 111S Mine is just a standard S1 would love to see how much different yours was compared to a mildly tuned S1

Hi Lotusmad, I'm often at PH meets - so if your there I'm more than happy to take you for a spin.

[Mr E]

Regarding the K series - if you take care they're usually ok for a fair while. When they finally go, replace with the uprated HG from a freelander and all should be well.

Brickborg said:

Then again, I understand the Toyota engined cars are still worth a substantial amount more in Europe and the UK, yes?

The 1ZZ/2ZZ 'yota lumps are significantly heavier. And I couldn't afford one.

[RatLad]

identti said:

Nice car (and the RS Ltd!). I recognise 'Prospect Park' (ironic seeing as it hasn't had any prospects of anyone moving in for about 5 years) - you're not a Hurley resident are you?

Thank you Identti, however your MX puts mine to shame! I remember reading about your '5 on MX5 Nutz.

Not a Hurley resident, but live close by in Marlow.