First day of Elise owner ship - near nightmare!

[theRossatron]

Hello people, I picked up my lovely calypso red S2 Elise today from a nice chap in Newcastle and was looking forward to / a little nervous about the drive back up to Edinburgh.

Drove almost all the way back up to Edinburgh (100ish miles from Newcastle) and got caught in only a little bit of heavy rain, was absolutely loving it.

After showing a few friends my new toy I got caught in a complete blizzard about 8pm and there was an inch of fresh snow for those wide tires to fight through, tail was all over the place at about 10mph though I struggled on. Eventually came to a very steep hill in a rather dodgy area and the Elise was having none of it, after losing all traction I just started sliding sideways into a fortunately clear junction and came to a halt and I was well and truly defeated.

Good news is though, after a few cars had driven up and down the road I managed to get back on to it and pootle home at about 15mph taking advantage of the tire marks through the worst of it and I simply can not believe I got the car home safely in my garage! Talk about being thrown in at the deep end, still loving the car though!

[malbon]

yeah...its good for nothing in the snow ! I had to get out and pull mine out of the ice last year on a country road. its so light its like bambi on ice.

careful in the wet as there is very little breakaway with these cars.

[theRossatron]

yeah, I was taking it really easy in the wet and trying to dull my confidence to prevent getting into any sticky situations! It's gonna be tough looking at it sitting in the garage on my 2nd day of having it and not being able to drive the thing till this damn snow buggers off!

[bogie]

well done for getting it home in one piece !....the way I judge it is that if theres enough snow/ice so that I cant get the Elise off the drive it stays there !

[Sim North East]

Sounds a nightmare. Echo the comments and add my congrats for getting it home! I would add that when it is wet keep your distance from the car in front because it is easy to lock the wheels and skid along. Other than the fact that the car is near useless in the winter it is great other than that

[S Works]

Remember chaps, spring's only round the corner

[xxplod]

Calypso red? I thought the S2 base colour was Ardent?

Anyway, well done. It ain't easy at the best of times so being caught out like then when you're new to the car must have been worrying! Everything that contributes to it's superb handling normally conspires against it in the snow.

[theRossatron]

thanks guys, in most cars I would have been kicking and cursing at it! I think calypso red was the launch flat red colour and they changed it to ardent red for later model years.

[penelopepitstop]

Crikey

Glad everything was ok.

1st winter in my s1 111s as an everyday car and I must confess I'm a little apprehensive!

[Mr Momo]

Good stories for your children and grandchildren....

First winter in my 111R and I am waiting in anticipation. So far, global warming is on my side.

[theRossatron]

yeah it was all quite "the day after tomorrow". weather is very anti-elise just now.

[MJK 24]

Calypso Red was the launch colour (see my profile) and then they changed to Ardent a couple of years into production...

Good choice of car - hope you like it!!

[adrnbtt]

have just bought a Focus today as 2nd car ...the british winter 1 Elise 0

[theRossatron]

my other "sensible" car is a heavily modified 15 year old mini, probably time to change it for something else especially since it doesn;t actually go just now!