Horses for courses
I'm thinking about getting a toy car like a seven or something more extreme or maybe something more daily. The thing is I don't have a garage so I wouldn't be able to store a seven inside. There are garages for rent, but that costs about 100 pounds/month and it won't be very close to my home. If I do buy a seven then I would like to use it a lot since I paid a lot of money for it, but when I look at adverts etc I see a lot of sevens not being used. So can you actually use a seven like every week or daily if the weather is good? I've driven in a Westfield before, but the wind was pretty wild and my hair was standing up straight. Are there some kitcars which do not have this disadvatage? Maybe a Fisher Fury? Ofcource you have the Elise, but it is more expensive and less extreme and not so fast. Does anyone here have used both an Elise and a kitcar? What are your experiances with these cars?
If you want a car you can drive everyday and don't have a garage then you want an Elise.
I used mine everyday and now I have the seven I love it when I am driving it but wish I could use it everyday.
No problem blasting an Elise round the track all day and then driving home.
Rich
GTM Libra looks good I think
If you are paying for your own insurance then you don't want an Elise. They are nice cars though. The GTM libra is said to be as good or even better than the Mk1 elise and you'll be able to insure it for sane money. Paying £100 per month for a garage for a seven is cheaper than insuring a lotus.
BTW I live in Holland. Here you can insure an Elise for good money so insurance is no problem even for me (24).
As a former elise owner (s2) I can honestly say if you can only have one car, buy the lotus. I miss it terribly. Insurance was dear, as was
servicing (had to keep the value up), but fuel was cheap. 40mpg when driving sensibly.
I'm building a sevenalike, but have a garage, and a mondeo. YAWN.
i would probably go for the elise, on the road its almost certainly better since you cant justify extreme driving daily. However, on track, my
'budget' bec used to tear past elises like they were breaking down.
Horses for courses
For everyday use although an Elise is a lot better than a Seven depending on Lotus reliability is not something you want to do get an MGTF not as light as the Elise but the handling is brilliant and not as nervous as an Elise.
I've owned two Elise in the past both S1. They did have a few niggles from the factory but they are well documented and usually fixed on second
hand cars. Examples being the red clutch cable seizing, plastic throttle body sticking, a few fibration noises, leaking roofs.... you get the idea.
The head gasket issues is again quite easily fixed with a remote thermostat (assuming it hasn't failed already).
The geometry on an Elise is very important and should be done on a decent rig by someone who knows what they are doing! People always skimp on
servicing and thats why they get a bad rep!
Elise insurance for me was fine, reasonable for such a car.
If you want speed then go for a Honda Supercharged Elise, a lot of money but just awe inspiringly quick, not many cars on the road that will keep up
with it including a BEC.
Rich.
I ran a Vauxhall VX220 (same as an elise but faster 
) for a year as a company car.
Great for A road blast but bloody awful as as an every day car. I regualry got wet, frosty and the heater never worked.
Unless you have £50k to spend on an RS4 or M3 buy a boring sensible car and get a garage for a 7
The thing about a seven is that it's a noisy, harsh, rough-riding car that has no worthwhile wet-weather gear to speak of, that will be hated by
SWMBO, that doesn't like queues in hot weather, and generally is the most impractical car it's possible to imagine.
On the other hand it's the most amazing fun on a twisty road, a real adrenaline rush, and it will constantly remind you of the shortcomings of
your day-to-day tin-top.
My car is a toy - and I'm not ashamed to say it. It's useless when it's raining, or when I need to go the supermarket, or when I need
to transport people around. It is very useful when I'm bored, or want to remind myself of what driving is meant to be.
It will never be a practical daily drive - but great fun if you can get away with it!
BTW: regarding the "hair standing up" experience - I have great memories of my first ride in a seven, courtesy of Jon Ison. Three or four
of us were given a VERY fast ride on the roads around Newark, and the most memorable things about that time were the fixed grins of fear/exhilaration
on everyones' faces, and their matching swept-back hair-styles!
[Edited on 4/8/07 by David Jenkins]
quote:
Originally posted by paulmw
I ran a Vauxhall VX220 (same as an elise but faster
Great for A road blast but bloody awful as as an every day car. I regualry got wet, frosty and the heater never worked.
The Elise is a perfectly practical "daily driver" as long as you don't need boot space etc. My brother has had his Elise as an only
car for a couple of years and he does a 40 mile commute to work. He's done all servicing and repairs himself apart from suspension geometry.
They are quite easy to work on, apart from the chassis construction everything else is quite conventional.
To see the cost difference between 'chequebook' ownership and getting your hands dirty have a look at this thread
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17756770