Elise test drive
Discussion
Hi everyone hope all is well.
Well i drove an elise for the first time today,& was very impressed with the peformance considering it was a standard 1.8 s1(1999).The only thing i didnt like was the brakes, are they supposed to be non existant because these where really that bad compared to what im use to. Is this normal in all elises?. The car itself was very tidy apart from a few scratches and stone chips, which i thought was odd as its only done 26k (6k in the last 3 years). It was also due a service, which im imagining would be quet expensive?, does anyone have any ideas on prices because i really have no idea as yet...
cheers everyone.
Well i drove an elise for the first time today,& was very impressed with the peformance considering it was a standard 1.8 s1(1999).The only thing i didnt like was the brakes, are they supposed to be non existant because these where really that bad compared to what im use to. Is this normal in all elises?. The car itself was very tidy apart from a few scratches and stone chips, which i thought was odd as its only done 26k (6k in the last 3 years). It was also due a service, which im imagining would be quet expensive?, does anyone have any ideas on prices because i really have no idea as yet...
cheers everyone.
Hiya Cupra,
The brakes are WAY more effective than you would expect. I also had the same thing when I first drove and Elise. I thought they were useless and there was nothing there. As you will probably already know, there is NO servo assitance whatsover and although this makes it feel like there is no initial braking bite, it does mean that you can modulate them extremely well at all speeds. They just need more pedal pressure than most brakes because of this. But when you get used to it and then get BACK into a car that does have servo assistance, you will be amazed at how much you will be over braking and having no feel through the pedal whatsoever.
Trust me, the brakes on the Elise are exceptional but they DO take a lot of getting used to if you have only ever driven cars with servo assisted brakes.
As for the paint chips, unfortunately, due to the lowness of the car, they are ALL prone to chipping very badly sometimes, depending on driving style and where and when you drive of course. If you use on a regular basis, then paint chips are inevitable. I had the front clamshell on mine resprayed just before I collected from the dealer and within three weeks it was pretty much back to the state that it was before I got it. So, its one of those things that you have to live with on the Elise I am afraid......
As for servicing, I am also looking at this myself as mine has about the same milage as the one you have looked at and it will be coming up to its service and I want to be able to do it as well, but as cheaply as possible. Hopefully someone will be along soon to give us both the answer to that one....
But whatever you do, do not be put off by the brakes on the Elise. If its a deal breaker on a purchase, then it will be a shame cos you have to hang in there with them. It will only take a couple of days to see how brilliant they really are.......
The brakes are WAY more effective than you would expect. I also had the same thing when I first drove and Elise. I thought they were useless and there was nothing there. As you will probably already know, there is NO servo assitance whatsover and although this makes it feel like there is no initial braking bite, it does mean that you can modulate them extremely well at all speeds. They just need more pedal pressure than most brakes because of this. But when you get used to it and then get BACK into a car that does have servo assistance, you will be amazed at how much you will be over braking and having no feel through the pedal whatsoever.
Trust me, the brakes on the Elise are exceptional but they DO take a lot of getting used to if you have only ever driven cars with servo assisted brakes.
As for the paint chips, unfortunately, due to the lowness of the car, they are ALL prone to chipping very badly sometimes, depending on driving style and where and when you drive of course. If you use on a regular basis, then paint chips are inevitable. I had the front clamshell on mine resprayed just before I collected from the dealer and within three weeks it was pretty much back to the state that it was before I got it. So, its one of those things that you have to live with on the Elise I am afraid......
As for servicing, I am also looking at this myself as mine has about the same milage as the one you have looked at and it will be coming up to its service and I want to be able to do it as well, but as cheaply as possible. Hopefully someone will be along soon to give us both the answer to that one....
But whatever you do, do not be put off by the brakes on the Elise. If its a deal breaker on a purchase, then it will be a shame cos you have to hang in there with them. It will only take a couple of days to see how brilliant they really are.......
Just to second what TheYeti said, the lack of servo on the brakes needs a bit of mental adjustment, but they work fine - just that higher pedal pressure than you are probably used to will be required.
Beware cars that have had 'track day' pads fitted, though - some compounds are absolutely terrible until they get up to temperature.
Also, the early cars with MMC discs can catch you out in the wet. They give very little braking effort when cold and wet, so if you have been through water on a flooded road or have been cruising on a wet motorway (hence not touching the brakes for several miles), you need to touch the brakes a couple of times to clear the water and warm them up before they will work again.
The unservo'd brakes have one big advantage, though, in that they make heel-and-toe downchanges a lot easier as the brakes won't be so sensitive to minor variations in pedal pressure as you roll your foot to blip the throttle.
edited to add: For servicing costs, you are best finding your local dealer/specialist and making enquiries with them direst, but the examples gives on Power Train Projects' website will give you some idea what to expect.
>> Edited by Sam_68 on Monday 29th May 22:18
Beware cars that have had 'track day' pads fitted, though - some compounds are absolutely terrible until they get up to temperature.
Also, the early cars with MMC discs can catch you out in the wet. They give very little braking effort when cold and wet, so if you have been through water on a flooded road or have been cruising on a wet motorway (hence not touching the brakes for several miles), you need to touch the brakes a couple of times to clear the water and warm them up before they will work again.
The unservo'd brakes have one big advantage, though, in that they make heel-and-toe downchanges a lot easier as the brakes won't be so sensitive to minor variations in pedal pressure as you roll your foot to blip the throttle.
edited to add: For servicing costs, you are best finding your local dealer/specialist and making enquiries with them direst, but the examples gives on Power Train Projects' website will give you some idea what to expect.
>> Edited by Sam_68 on Monday 29th May 22:18
Glad you liked the car and agree with Sam and Yeti re brakes and stonechips.
Don't worry about MMC brakes on the car you looked at, by '99 Lotus had gone back to steel discs.
I wouldn't mind betting 'your' car is due a major (C) service. Services on the Elise run AABAACAABAACAA....etc, each service annually or 9k miles whichever is sooner. A service is oil and filters. B service, oil filter, plugs, etc. C service is oil filters and fluids. C service USED to include a cambelt change however Lotus have revised cambelt change intervals to 48k miles or 4 years, whichever is earlier.
I'd also advise getting the car checked over by a specialist. Some of the other regulars will probably be back tomorrow (at work
) and be able to recommend someone in your area.
One more thing. Don't get too hung up over miles on the car. The Elise is a relatively simple car with an unstressed engine in 120 bhp tune. As long as the mileage isn't galactic I wouldn't be too worried.Cars like to be used. Buy on condition and see how much service work has been done over the years.
Don't worry about MMC brakes on the car you looked at, by '99 Lotus had gone back to steel discs.
I wouldn't mind betting 'your' car is due a major (C) service. Services on the Elise run AABAACAABAACAA....etc, each service annually or 9k miles whichever is sooner. A service is oil and filters. B service, oil filter, plugs, etc. C service is oil filters and fluids. C service USED to include a cambelt change however Lotus have revised cambelt change intervals to 48k miles or 4 years, whichever is earlier.
I'd also advise getting the car checked over by a specialist. Some of the other regulars will probably be back tomorrow (at work
) and be able to recommend someone in your area. One more thing. Don't get too hung up over miles on the car. The Elise is a relatively simple car with an unstressed engine in 120 bhp tune. As long as the mileage isn't galactic I wouldn't be too worried.Cars like to be used. Buy on condition and see how much service work has been done over the years.
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