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Lotus Elise S1
Nitrogeno25 - 4/4/16 at 02:48 PM

My current car is Lotus 7 S3 replica with Duratec engine and is running excelent. I build the car 8 year ago and I love every single drive.

Getting older now (40 ) and was looking at something more usable. Also de Mrs. feel unsecure in the 7 so this limit the number of drives.

The Lotus Elise came to my mind. In my country we can import 20 year old (or more) classics, so a 1997 Elise S1 would is what I'm looking for.

What really worry me is the chassis and the imposibility to repair it in caso of an accident.

Any opinions are welcome!

Cheer!

Vmax1974 - 4/4/16 at 04:20 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Nitrogeno25
My current car is Lotus 7 S3 replica with Duratec engine and is running excelent. I build the car 8 year ago and I love every single drive.

Getting older now (40 ) and was looking at something more usable. Also de Mrs. feel unsecure in the 7 so this limit the number of drives.

The Lotus Elise came to my mind. In my country we can import 20 year old (or more) classics, so a 1997 Elise S1 would is what I'm looking for.

What really worry me is the chassis and the imposibility to repair it in caso of an accident.

Any opinions are welcome!

Cheer!


ditch the mrs and get the car you want lol I would be in a world of hurt if my wife read this

seriously though the elise is a fun usable car would be worth considering

nick205 - 4/4/16 at 04:29 PM

It's a worry with any car really, they're not easy to mend if they've had a proper bash.

Sam_68 - 4/4/16 at 04:45 PM

What's the situation with insurance in Uruguay?

In the UK, a basic level of car insurance for road use is mandatory, and it doesn't cost that much more per year yo have 'fully comprehensive' insurance that pays for the full value of the car if it is damaged beyond repair in an accident... so the repairability of the chassis isn't too much of a concern to us.

Nitrogeno25 - 4/4/16 at 05:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Sam_68
What's the situation with insurance in Uruguay?

In the UK, a basic level of car insurance for road use is mandatory, and it doesn't cost that much more per year yo have 'fully comprehensive' insurance that pays for the full value of the car if it is damaged beyond repair in an accident... so the repairability of the chassis isn't too much of a concern to us.


Mandatory insurance costs about 70GBP, but a "full" insurance, for a car like the Elise would cost 1000GBP easily (in case they agree to insurance the car)

Thanks!!

trextr7monkey - 4/4/16 at 06:59 PM

Did the Triumph TR7 or Tr8 get as far as Uruguay and how easy is it to import from the USA as lots of V8 and injection cars there -rust free in many cases and some bargains to be had if you enjoy working with your spanners!
Good luck any way

Sam_68 - 4/4/16 at 07:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Nitrogeno25
Mandatory insurance costs about 70GBP, but a "full" insurance, for a car like the Elise would cost 1000GBP easily (in case they agree to insurance the car)


Your mandatory insurance is a lot cheaper than ours, but your 'full' insurance much more expensive (more than double, I'd say)!

You're right to be worried about seriously damaging the chassis, in that case - along with the body repairs and the cost of shipping parts from the UK, it would be very expensive indeed to fix a serious crash.

Unless you can afford to 'throw away' the car if the worst happens, I'd personally suggest that you only buy one if you can afford to fully insure it, in that case.

But the good news is that the values of S1 Elises are rising, so it would make an acceptable investment even if the insurance is quite costly.

And they are fabulous cars - I've owned two.

Nitrogeno25 - 4/4/16 at 08:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Sam_68
quote:
Originally posted by Nitrogeno25
Mandatory insurance costs about 70GBP, but a "full" insurance, for a car like the Elise would cost 1000GBP easily (in case they agree to insurance the car)


Your mandatory insurance is a lot cheaper than ours, but your 'full' insurance much more expensive (more than double, I'd say)!

You're right to be worried about seriously damaging the chassis, in that case - along with the body repairs and the cost of shipping parts from the UK, it would be very expensive indeed to fix a serious crash.

Unless you can afford to 'throw away' the car if the worst happens, I'd personally suggest that you only buy one if you can afford to fully insure it, in that case.

But the good news is that the values of S1 Elises are rising, so it would make an acceptable investment even if the insurance is quite costly.

And they are fabulous cars - I've owned two.


Sure, definetly I need a full insurance.

By the way, I read that the Elise develops rust not only in the footrest area but in the suspension pickup point. Is the MOT test a guaratee of good condition suspension?

Thanks again!

Sam_68 - 4/4/16 at 10:15 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Nitrogeno25
By the way, I read that the Elise develops rust not only in the footrest area but in the suspension pickup point. Is the MOT test a guaratee of good condition suspension?

If you mean corrosion of the aluminium on the suspension pickups, then yes, it can happen. My understanding is that it's fairly rare, but I've been out of the Elise community for a while now and the cars are getting older - it's possible that it's getting more common with age.

There are steel top-hat spacers bonded into the aluminium to reinforce the suspension pickups. They're supposed to be isolated from the aluminium by the adhesive, but my guess is that on some cars the isloation is not perfect and electrolytic corrosion occurs as a result (but I've never had chance to examine an example first-hand, so that is just a guess):



The rear subframe and wishbones are steel, so they can corrode in the usual way, too.

An MOT should pick up these issues, but they're not always carried out as thoroughly as they ought to be.

If you're serious about buying one of these cars, the best place to go for advice is the SELOC Forum