Car Reviews Lotus Elise. Top Gear Team. Skip 9 photos in the image carousel and continue reading. Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. Buying What should I be paying? Advertisement - Page continues below. While outstandingly strong and able to withstand severe impacts, once damaged they are very difficult to repair. Fitting a replacement is labour intensive and can take up to hours as well as a big chunk of your bank balance. When inspecting a prospective car, it is important to look very carefully from a multitude of angles.
Examine the underneath of the car for any signs of bad repairs, ripples in the aluminium, or silver paint covering up past damage. When underneath, also pay attention to the steel rear subframe as it is a common victim of rust. Look for signs of deep corrosion and cracks in the structure that might spell trouble. Give the bodywork a good look over too, particularly for scraping on the lower sections where most damage is likely.
Repairing the fibre-glass can be an expensive endeavour and should be considered with some gravity if present. The Series 2 cars in particular tend to suffer from bubbling paint on their lower rear clamshells.
Take your time around the car concerned and closely examine the consistency of panel gaps as another sign of potential crash damage. The rear end of the car tends to take the most abuse, so focus your senses on any looseness from what could be worn rear toe-links, ball joints, or shock absorbers.
Meanwhile, keep an ear out for the usual knocks and generally untoward noises of any worn bushes. Steering racks can also be problem areas, their quick ratio and sensitivity to the front axle making them quite vulnerable to abuse. Ensure a consistent and clean response, or budget for what can be a sizeable repair bill. The steel components can in time begin to react with the aluminium and effect bi-metallic corrosion — not what you want for your sharp, Lotus-branded turn-in. Infamously vulnerable to head gasket failure, when looking at a so-equipped car make the usual checks of the oil but also carefully inspect the state of the water-cooling system.
Check all the hoses that you can, be diligent for leaks before and after the test drive, during which keeping a sharp eye on the temperature gauges. Sorry, Lotus anorak humour of the Lotus cars range, and gentleman of a certain age hanker after one now as much as they always did. Well, almost. Developed in-house, the 3. The visibility is tremendous too, and the brakes feel more than up to the task of hauling in the effect of lb ft on a kg missile.
Of the cars here, this is the one I take longest to gel with, largely thanks to strangely mismatched control weights that deliver a leaden throttle response but flyweight brakes and steering. Word is getting around, too. After years in limbo, values of sound Esprits, much like those of the best examples of its TVR Cerbera contemporary, are hardening.
Which Lotus you should choose largely depends on your budget and what you want to do with it. If the history file is stuffed full of invoices it suggests fastidious former owners. HPI check essential Engine cc 16v 4cyl, bhp rpm, lb ft rpm Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Performance 5. Feeling inspired? If you want an Exige to drive, an S2 is the one, says Jamie Matthews.
But prices are still falling, so a pricier S1 makes a better long-term investment. And like supercharged models, last-year Elises demand a heavy premium. And before you convince yourself you absolutely must have a limited-slip differential in your Elise, consider this: When the LSD was first made available as an option, Lotus recommended getting it only if the car was to be used on demanding, tight circuits. The company says the LSD can take away from the balanced nature of the car at speed.
Mechanical limited-slip diffs will always generate a bit of inherent understeer. While the drivetrain is from Toyota and generally bulletproof, the Elise is still a British sports car. Aging electronics can cause problems over time, while interior trim pieces can become brittle and crumble, or cause squeaks and rattles. The trunk release cable can snap, and on early cars, the side windows can fall out of alignment.
There was even a recall to fix gear shifters that broke during normal use. If you plan on bringing your Elise to the track, there are a few more things to look out for.
Brake rotors are said to have a short life, so make sure you check them before you buy. In a small number of cases, owners who have tracked their Elise have reported toe link failures in the rear suspension. Something to keep in mind, at minimum. Perhaps the most infamous weak point of the Elise, however, is the body itself.
The front bodywork consists of a single large fiberglass clamshell; the same is true for the rear. As many owners have found out the hard way , it can be prohibitively expensive to repair or replace one of these pieces. A small fender-bender in an Elise often ends in the car being totaled by the insurance company, simply because sourcing, painting and installing a new clamshell could cost more than the car is worth.
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