Some questions about the Elise S2
Discussion
Hi,
Please excuse my (bad) english, I'm norwegian...
I live in Trondheim, Norway and I'm currently thinking of buying an Lotus Elise S2 during the winter/spring. Compared to England the Elise is very rare here in Norway and so much cooler than the MX-5's and the MR-2's you can spot almost every day.
As I do not have any real experience with the car I have some questions. Obviously there is a lot more user experience available here than on the norwegian forums. Any answer will be appreciated.
Is the Elise S2 usable as an everyday car most of the year ? If I buy an Elise I plan (or at least hope...) to use it as my everyday car at least from march to october/november. Has anybody experiences with the Elise on snow/ice ? I see MX-5's and MR-2's driving around even nowadays, should the Elise be any worse ?
I have heard/read that the build quality of the S2 is much better than the S1, is it ? I'm a web developer and not a car mechanic so I prefer to drive... How about the reliability of the S2 ? Any common problems that I should be aware of ?
Is the roof mechanism fairly simple ? From what I've heard it was certainly not on the S1, it is much better on the S2 ? I suppose it's not as easy as on the japanese roadsters, but can the soft-top be put on quite (how?) fast if unexpected rain shows up ?
Because of the low weight, is it a very noticeable difference in accelaration and handling with a passenger comparated to driving alone ?
I guess the Sports Tourer is more usable for dayly driving than the Race Tech, and maybe the standard edition as well ? Any recommendations on which edition to choose ?
Quite a few questions here, this is the last one for now...
Do anyone recommend any good books or DVDs about the Elise S2 ? I have purchased "Elise - rebirth of the true Lotus" by Alastair Clements and "Lotus Elise - the complete story" by John Tipler as well as the DVD "Best of British - Lotus" at Amazon. Although most of the content is about the S1 and not so much about the S2. Any suggestions appreciated...
(The web adress below is to my own Lotus Elise page. It's not very updated and only in norwegian yet, but I plan to upgrade it soon. By the way; "sportsbilen" is norwegian for "THE sportscar", quite suitable for as Elise page I think...)
Regards,
Trond Håvard Bjørgum
Trondheim, Norway
www.sportsbilen.com
>>> Edited by trondhb on Monday 31st January 22:08
Please excuse my (bad) english, I'm norwegian...
I live in Trondheim, Norway and I'm currently thinking of buying an Lotus Elise S2 during the winter/spring. Compared to England the Elise is very rare here in Norway and so much cooler than the MX-5's and the MR-2's you can spot almost every day.
As I do not have any real experience with the car I have some questions. Obviously there is a lot more user experience available here than on the norwegian forums. Any answer will be appreciated.
Is the Elise S2 usable as an everyday car most of the year ? If I buy an Elise I plan (or at least hope...) to use it as my everyday car at least from march to october/november. Has anybody experiences with the Elise on snow/ice ? I see MX-5's and MR-2's driving around even nowadays, should the Elise be any worse ?
I have heard/read that the build quality of the S2 is much better than the S1, is it ? I'm a web developer and not a car mechanic so I prefer to drive... How about the reliability of the S2 ? Any common problems that I should be aware of ?
Is the roof mechanism fairly simple ? From what I've heard it was certainly not on the S1, it is much better on the S2 ? I suppose it's not as easy as on the japanese roadsters, but can the soft-top be put on quite (how?) fast if unexpected rain shows up ?
Because of the low weight, is it a very noticeable difference in accelaration and handling with a passenger comparated to driving alone ?
I guess the Sports Tourer is more usable for dayly driving than the Race Tech, and maybe the standard edition as well ? Any recommendations on which edition to choose ?
Quite a few questions here, this is the last one for now...
Do anyone recommend any good books or DVDs about the Elise S2 ? I have purchased "Elise - rebirth of the true Lotus" by Alastair Clements and "Lotus Elise - the complete story" by John Tipler as well as the DVD "Best of British - Lotus" at Amazon. Although most of the content is about the S1 and not so much about the S2. Any suggestions appreciated...
(The web adress below is to my own Lotus Elise page. It's not very updated and only in norwegian yet, but I plan to upgrade it soon. By the way; "sportsbilen" is norwegian for "THE sportscar", quite suitable for as Elise page I think...)
Regards,
Trond Håvard Bjørgum
Trondheim, Norway
www.sportsbilen.com
>>> Edited by trondhb on Monday 31st January 22:08
"Is the Elise S2 usable as an everyday car most of the year ? YES
If I buy an Elise I plan (or at least hope...) to use it as my everyday car at least from march to october/november. Has anybody experiences with the Elise on snow/ice ? I see MX-5's and MR-2's driving around even nowadays, should the Elise be any worse ?
YOU CAN GET WINTER TYRES THAT FIT OK
I have heard/read that the build quality of the S2 is much better than the S1, is it ? I'm a web developer and not a car mechanic so I prefer to drive... How about the reliability of the S2 ? Any common problems that I should be aware of ?
YES - BETTER, MAINLY NIGGLES THAT CAN BE FIXED AT HOME/LOCAL GARAGE - NOTHING MAJOR
Is the roof mechanism fairly simple ? From what I've heard it was certainly not on the S1, it is much better on the S2 ? I suppose it's not as easy as on the japanese roadsters, but can the soft-top be put on quite (how?) fast if unexpected rain shows up ?
YES - UNDER 1 MINUTE TO PUT ON AND CAN TAKE OFF FROM WITHIN CAR
Because of the low weight, is it a very noticeable difference in accelaration and handling with a passenger comparated to driving alone ?
NOT REALLY, ALTHOUGH FOR LARGE (>100KG) PASSENGERS YOU CAN TELL
I guess the Sports Tourer is more usable for dayly driving than the Race Tech, and maybe the standard edition as well ? Any recommendations on which edition to choose ? "
SPORTS TOURER MOST POPULAR, FOR EVERYDAY USE THEN S2111S WITH AIRCON IS BEST USED CAR OPTION OR THE NEW S2111R
If I buy an Elise I plan (or at least hope...) to use it as my everyday car at least from march to october/november. Has anybody experiences with the Elise on snow/ice ? I see MX-5's and MR-2's driving around even nowadays, should the Elise be any worse ?
YOU CAN GET WINTER TYRES THAT FIT OK
I have heard/read that the build quality of the S2 is much better than the S1, is it ? I'm a web developer and not a car mechanic so I prefer to drive... How about the reliability of the S2 ? Any common problems that I should be aware of ?
YES - BETTER, MAINLY NIGGLES THAT CAN BE FIXED AT HOME/LOCAL GARAGE - NOTHING MAJOR
Is the roof mechanism fairly simple ? From what I've heard it was certainly not on the S1, it is much better on the S2 ? I suppose it's not as easy as on the japanese roadsters, but can the soft-top be put on quite (how?) fast if unexpected rain shows up ?
YES - UNDER 1 MINUTE TO PUT ON AND CAN TAKE OFF FROM WITHIN CAR
Because of the low weight, is it a very noticeable difference in accelaration and handling with a passenger comparated to driving alone ?
NOT REALLY, ALTHOUGH FOR LARGE (>100KG) PASSENGERS YOU CAN TELL
I guess the Sports Tourer is more usable for dayly driving than the Race Tech, and maybe the standard edition as well ? Any recommendations on which edition to choose ? "
SPORTS TOURER MOST POPULAR, FOR EVERYDAY USE THEN S2111S WITH AIRCON IS BEST USED CAR OPTION OR THE NEW S2111R
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