Opinions looking for a new sports car...Audi, BMW or Porsche

[lj04]

S1 elise will give you the baddest grin at road speeds. S2 111s is probably as quick as he Toyota 111r. People worry about the head gasket. I only had 1 go in 10 years, cost £600. Very cheap to run and prices only going upwards.

[John Laverick]

I’ve got a bit of experience here having owned the following:

Series 1 Lotus Elise 111s
Series 2 Lotus Elise 111r
BMW Z4 2.5 Si

And just bought (last week) – Porsche Boxster (987 2.7)

It all boils down to what you want to do with the car and from your description I’d recommend the Porsche.

Elise = Dynamically the best to drive but as the engines are 4 pot they’re a bit meh. Good track car, ok road car (very good when you’re on a blast but rubbish everywhere else). I enjoyed the 111s VVC K series in the 111s, I hated the Toyota lump in the 111r for a road car. Noisy, uncomfortable, poor build.

Z4 = not a sports car, engine is OK (I’m not sure why people rave about them), poor handling & steering. Cheap though (for a reason)

Boxster = Somewhere between the too (closer to Elise than Z4 in my opinion). I bought the 2.7 to avoid borescore borkage. It sounds great, handles great and goes ok. Ideal road car in my opinion which could do the odd track day.

[j1mmy]

Well let me give you a little more info on my car situation. I have a 2017 Seat Leon FR TDI as a daily which is great for that its new, reliable, enough grunt for a daily and very cheap to run. I also have the R32 Skyline GTR which I'll be honest you cant really enjoy unless you want to loose you licence as its far too fast to enjoy on the road. They do say you should never meet you hero's!! I would be an idiot to sell that though its its totally mint, nicely modded, forged engine and a Vspec, so its only going up so that will just sit in the garage with the occasional run just to keep it ticking over.

A mate suggested I could look at it another way and get rid of the daily and combine the 2 and get something like a Convertible M3......but then into silly running costs on a daily then.

I like the sound of an Elise but the reliability does bother me. When you say you had a head go is this on a K series or Toyota VVTI?

[lj04]

Head gasket was on the 111s k series elise. Most will have a better gasket by now. In 14 years of different elise ownership They have been the most reliable, and cheaper than the 2 years of Cayman ownership. Porsche was nice to drive but boring at road speed. I now have anS2.5 SC and still think the S1 was more fun. All my cars were daily drivers. Have lost less in depreciation with the elise than the Porsche. As I say try one you end up totally smitten or unable to understand why people would drive a plastic pig.

[james_gt3rs]

j1mmy said:

I like the sound of an Elise but the reliability does bother me.

At this age of car, it's pot luck. You can easily have a couple of years trouble free... or not. In terms of time fixing stuff I think the Lotus will be worse, but costs it could be the Porsche.

[hooblah]

Any more on this?

[DoubleD]

What about a vx220

[j1mmy]

Well im guessing in terms of fixing the Lotus will be a lot more simple than a Boxster?

I looked at them on YouTube they sound awesome. Its the K series i'd wanna go for over a Toyota then? Its a case of just looking for good history or even a cylinder head receipt then?

I've also just been looking at Westfields a Nice 2.0 Zetec yellow one of here for 11995. They seem to be much better value than a Catheram?

Edited by j1mmy on Tuesday 21st August 14:48

Edited by j1mmy on Tuesday 21st August 14:50

[mikey P 500]

Having owned most options (other than z4 doesnt appeal) I would go with porsche either boxster as discussed or even a early 996. Close to elise levels of driver involvement but more reliable and refined so easier to live with. Parts prices for porsche are not that bad if work on your self and most service items can be bought via euro car parts or similar for a weekend car you will not need that much regular parts anyway. The elise I owned always needed something fixing or restoring, normally easy enough but took up time, and stuff like window mechs jamming window open in snow etc did put me off the car for non track or Sunday drive type of use.

[lj04]

I don't know where you are in the country, but go onto seloc always helpful advice with the usual forum banter. There's a couple of well regarded independent dealers Will B in Buckinghamshire and John Seal in West Yorkshire. Your probably better of getting a car that's been used even on track, than a garage queen.