Lotus Elise S1

...we are approaching the local Lotus dealer, I'm all excited as I see the car in the showroom. I'ts even better than I remembered. After looking around it and semi listening to the sales man I find myself signing a cheque for the deposit. I must be mad this car costs half as much as my mortgage, I have never driven it and I have no idea how I am going to pay for it. However as there is an 18 month waiting list I have pently of time to figure this out ...
...in an elise with a Lotus test driver, WOW. Another great day.

Approx 3 months prior to delivery I have to go in and finalise my car, I can't decide what to have so I take all the options (in for a penny in for £26 200), leather seats, radio pack, driving lights and the hard top (this is a must if you intend to drive it every day like me). After my day at Lotus and seeing all the colours available I have two colours in mind, red or ... more

This is the story of my love afffair with this car.

Once upon a time........
There was a girl who loved sports cars, she owned an MX5 (no sniggers or jokes about hairdressers please) but always lusted after something special. An Aston maybe... ah back to the land of dreams.

Anyway it is now early 1996 and I am sat in the back of a car travelling to a work course. I am just gazing out of the window watching the cars go by, when this small yellow car passes us. We all notice it, not like any car we have seen before it is low, fast , mini supercar looking and shoots round the roundabout in front and disapears. I shout what was that I want one!

Some time later and I'm watching Top Gear , they are reviewing the new Lotus. It comes on the screen and I shout (again!) thats the car I saw . Can we go see it pleeeeese.
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THE PURCHASE

It's now the weekend and we are approaching the local Lotus dealer, I'm all excited as I see the car in the showroom. I'ts even better than I remembered. After looking around it and semi listening to the sales man I find myself signing a cheque for the deposit. I must be mad this car costs half as much as my mortgage, I have never driven it and I have no idea how I am going to pay for it. However as there is an 18 month waiting list I have pently of time to figure this out :-). I later foound out that at the time my partner thought I had lost it totally and was barking mad.

I leave the dealers with a huge smile (which I have never actually lost), and a date to test drive the car.

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THE LONG LONG WAIT

The test drive is amazing this car is just unbelivable. The performance is great and it is so responsive. It tells you every thing as you drive and it goes round corners like it is on rails. You get into the car like slipping on a shoe, the chasis is boat shaped so the sides come up to your hips when sat in it. You have a low driving position and the seats are moulded to hold you in place. This is not uncomfortable despite the lack of padding (plastic shell with just the leather covering) it feels safe and snug. Well not for me although others have said it makes your bum go numb, I have plenty of padding there so no probs :-)

The 18 months pass slowly and in this time I get an invite to Lotus's 50th birthday celebration. My car is being built at this time. The day is great we see the whole story from design, through production to the test circuit. A Great day, I now cannot wait for my car.

We also go to the Top Gear show at Silverstone and I get a passenger ride in an elise with a Lotus test driver, WOW. Another great day.

Approx 3 months prior to delivery I have to go in and finalise my car, I can't decide what to have so I take all the options (in for a penny in for £26 200), leather seats, radio pack, driving lights and the hard top (this is a must if you intend to drive it every day like me). After my day at Lotus and seeing all the colours available I have two colours in mind, red or yellow.
I choose the pearesent yellow with green hood, Lotus racing colours. We agree a trade in for my trusty MX5 and it's a deal.

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SOME INFO ON THE CAR

Years of production 1996 - 2000
Introduced at 1995 Frankfurt Motorshow
Numbers built 14500+
Weight 755 kilo / 1664.5 lbs
Engine Rover K Straight 4
Engine Location Mid , transversely mounted
Displacement 1.796 liter / 109.6 cu in
Valvetrain 4 valves / cylinder, DOHC
Fuel feed Fuel injection
Aspiration Naturally Aspirated
Gearbox 5 speed Manual
Drive Rear wheel drive

Performance figures
Power 118 bhp / 88 KW @ 5500 rpm
Torque 165 Nm / 122 ft lbs @ 3000 rpm
BHP/Liter 66 bhp / liter
Power to weight ratio 0.16 bhp / kg
Top Speed 203 km/h / 126 mph
0-60 mph 5.6 s

The Elise was an immediate hit and saved Lotus from obscurity, it was innovative, lightweight and performance oriented.

The Elise had a completely new and innovative bonded aluminum chasis and was the first in the business. The Rover K-series engine was however mounted in a steel subframe for extra rigidity.
To keep the weight down, all body panels were constructed of composite materials.

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MY BEST DAY

Now the day is upon us we arrive to pick up my car. The salesman is there to greet me at the door and ushers me to my car. On the front seat is a huge bunch of flowers (a very nice touch). Anyway after his review of the cars functions buttons and stuff we are given the keys.

We are off, I'm nervous and excited, it looks so good all sparkly and new, the inside smells of leather. It's a georgous day and the roof is off. The wind intrusion is pretty mild and comparable to my MX5, but this does get stronger over 70 mph. We drove for ages I didn't want to go home.

Other Lotus drivers flashed me and waved, I was part of an elite club and now I knew why.

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OWNING THE CAR (It's more than a car)

Security;
The car comes with a cobra alarm and immobiliser as factory standard. The alarm has 2 settings with a ultrasonic part for the inside, this can be switched off in windy weather or rain. Trust me you need to switch it off in such instances or you will fall out with your neighbours. However the ultrasonic is useful when leaving the car unattended in the summer as it scares off people who may just decide to try and help themselves to anything inside the car. I say MAY scare them off because believe it or not I had a aluminium tax disc holder, and some bugger pinched it! go figure that. Any way this is partly why I only gave the Elise a satisfactory for security, but mainly it was cose I didn't feel it was right to give it an excellent as for the most time it has no roof!
I would give it a good with the hard top on but no more as the locks look like I could pick them :-) and the glass falls out of the windows (read on for more on this)

The car is comfortable, the cabin is huge and although engine and wind noise levels are high you can turn up the radio. The car is minimalist with brushed aluminium and black plastic interior, there are no carpets. I like this look but it is not for everyone. There are no sun visors which can be irritating as is the reflection of the car in front's tail lamps in the rear windscreen when driving at night.

The boot is small as you would expect but we managed to pack enough clothes and our dive gear (no not the tanks as well) for a week away in Cornwall. You just need soft bags and some imagination.

I found a Lotus newsgroup on the internet and started talking with other owners. We appeared to all be very like minded and soon I am enjoying a new circle of friends. They eventually tempt me to a meet at an old disused airfield where you can really use the the car. (not being able to find the limits on a public road of course) I'm hooked and soon find myself attending track days and enjoying my car in ways I never thought possible. It should be noted that track days will make your local tyre dealer a very happy man!

This car handles fantastically it power slides round corners endlessly and gives you all the info in time (mostly) to correct your inputs. The car tells you everything that is going on through the steering wheel so a small camber or dip in the road\track will make the steering wheel twich, this is normal and nothing to be worried about. The car has loads of front end grip and the worst thing you can do is become nervous and back off just keep some drive on the rear wheels throughout and it will follow through as if on rails. The Elise's big vice is lift off oversteer you have to be quick to catch it. You have to be careful with the throttle in the lower gears, particularly when exiting corners or junctions in the wet. If you don't listen to waht she is telling you, you will view proceedings through the side windows for a while :-)

They are particulary good value a good second hand car can be had for around £11000 to £12000 now and I have just renewed my insurance for a smigin under £300 (protected, £200 excess, leagal cover etc). Parts are expensivel if you go to Lotus dealers, but you can source parts from the OEMs. The windscreen wiper and mechanism comes from a Citroen AX, as do the light swithes. Column stalks and locks are from Vauxhall, and all engine and service parts are standard Rover (full listings can be found on the internet) It is smooth, eager and even with my relativly heavy right foot returns 36 mpg which is astonishing for a car capable of 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. It even returns around 20 mpg on the track. The Elise costs less to own and run than our Honda Accord Coupe (RIP) now a shiny red Honda S2000. The Elise is still cheaper.

One story that you may find amusing....Remember a TV series called at home with the braithwaits, well in a millionaire buys her daughter a yellow elise. Well I was in the city parked up and a group of kids came rushing over first they just looked (as do many) and then they got braver and came over. they started the conversation with "are you a millionare" I wish.

Fast forward its now 7 years later and this car still puts a smile on my face every day :- ) see.

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MY MAINTENANCE EXPERIENCE

Now this car has not been without niggles but I forgive it these for the enjoyment it has given me. LOTUS = lots of trouble usually serious hase'nt really applied, except for once.....read on

I drive the car almost every day and am now approaching 50 000 miles I have owned the car for 7 years to the day. I get it serviced at the dealers and have had no problems during servicing.

My car as I intimated has not been trouble free motoring at all, but such is the fun of owning and driving this car that you forgive it anything. It hasn't seemed anywhere near as bad as the list below looks.

It has had three recalls for suspention arms, a replacement steering rack and new floor matting to avoid corrosion in the footwell.

It has had a number of what I call niggles and one fairly serious failure. These became commonaly known as TADTS, They All Do That Sir! said with a smile by your local dealer as you phone\talk to them for advice.

The soft top has lots of bad press about letting in water. I have found that if care is taken and you fit the roof in the correct position (found by trial and error) then it is water tight. I also have the hard top which carrys the same comment. A benifit of the hard top is that it does reduce the road noise. Both soft and hard top can be fitted quickly once you have found the right technique.
You can also get a shower cape for leaving the car unatended in showery weather.

The Rover K-Series engine that starts first time, every time blew it's head gasket recently (49k). That said this is a known fault with the k series engine, although of course 'not a design fault' :-0.

Stone chips, these can get expensive! the car is low and very suseptable. You can get driving light protective caps and an armalight plastic coating for the headlamps. These are well worth investing in.

The supplied battery is poor and following one episode of leaving the lights on (no buzzer to tell you) was knackered. I have replaced it with a high spec one with no further problems. You can also of course fit a buzzer as a modification.

The accelerator pivot bolt worked loose in the mechanism under the dash. It eventually droped out, leaving me with no throttle control. As I was half way across a dual carrageway at the time I was not amused.
The design is appalingly poor with the nut is a low quality nylock with the nut on the top of the mechanism so when it comes loose before you know it the whole thing comes apart.
You should un-tighten the bolt and turn it up the otherway before re-tightening the with a 7mm spanner and some time spent on your back in the footwell. This is very amusing for on lookers :-) (then if it comes loose at least it will still be present and give you a sloppy feeling warning)

My Elise has poor MW radio reception and I have never found a cure, FM is fine. Also the speaker wiring had to be redone after it also came loose.

The window winding mechanism is from a mini and will become stiff to operate this is follwed closely by the glass falling out of it. This has happened 3 times to me I am now a dab hand at glueing it back in.

The radiator hose in the front can work loose and expel coolant all over the front wheels. Nice! Especially as mine let go on the hairpin at Anglsey race track! Luckily the resulting spin only ruinied the rest of my track day and not the car.

Corroded headlamp brackets and reflectors (common fault, but easy/cheap to fix if you DIY and buy the parts from the manufacturer, not Lotus)

The boot release cable has 2 problems it rusts and breaks leaving you unable to open the boot, and the handle pulls off the cable. I tried to glue it back on but this only worked temporarily I ended up carrying malgrips in the car to open the boot till I got round to replacing the cable.

My front wheel bearings have needed replacement recently.
My rear track rod ends needed replacement at around 37 000 miles
My rear shock absorbers needed replacement at about 43 000 miles.
probably induced buy the stiff ride this car gives or could it be the track days hummmmmmmmmmmm..............

Now I've documented the above it looks much worse than it has seemed! DO NOT BE PUT OFF. They are small annoyances and you get used to them. Only the head gasket has meant the car was off the road for any period of time it is normally very reliable.

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SUMMARY

Still puts a smile on my face after 7 years of ownership

The Elise is practical if you don't require all the creature comforts. A modern classic, untouchable as a track/road car combination and cheap to run

"Driving fun, pure and simple"

Thanks for reading I enjoyed that...........Kathryn 

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