8.5K Elise - trouble?

[MGYoung]

Hi there,

I have a budget of 8.5k (MAX) for a weekend sports car. An Elise is one of the obvious options. As this price level will I be buying a heap of trouble?

The other option is a Caterham se7en although I have owned a seven before ( and a westfield) and fancy something a bit more user friendly.

The only thing putting my off the elise is the reliability and the possible high running costs. Annual mileage will be around 5000.

Car will be kept outside all year round (don't have a garage) but will be aprked in a residents car par which is secure (security lighting, not visible from the road, etc)

I'm in no rush to buy and will be doing plenty more research before buying.


Any advice?

Thanks.

Martin.

[rfoster]

Morning.

Always buy on condition - not mileage. Although there's always talk of headgasket failure it's still just a Rover engine and perfectly capable of piling on the miles. Plenty of chaps on here who have cars over 100,000.

My car lives outside, I drive it every day and only do 5,000 miles per year. Reliability isn't a big problem on the Elise, there's so little to the car there's not actually that much to go wrong. Even tyres aren't that expensive.

Go & have a drive in a few - check the service history. At this price a main dealer history isn't essential, in fact some of us will recommend a Lotus specialist for servicing over the main dealers. If you can, buy an enthusiasts car, they're always properly maintained.

And of course, enjoy the drives!
Best of luck, Richard

[Lotustuart]

For another £500-£600 you can have mine!
www.pistonheads.com/sales/73568.htm

[gooby]

Lotustuart said:

For another £500-£600 you can have mine! www.pistonheads.com/sales/73568.htm

And have NO trouble...

[MGYoung]

Thanks Lotustuart.

Unfortunately I'm currently out of the country and won't be back for another 12 days.

All the best.

Martin.