Help Me Fall In Love With My Elise Again...

[kayj_prod]

Hi Graham,

You should definitely come to Chatsworth and park up with HABC and me so we can have a nice little trio of cherry red (or whatever colour ours are called) S1s!

 

I don't drive mine through the winter, in fact, I won't even get mine back on the road until May this year. As much as I'm looking forward to getting back out in it, sometimes, those first few drives are a bit lack lustre. I find I need time to remember how to enjoy it plus the chance to really just get out and drive to enjoy myself. But... by the end of the summer I'm feeling like I need a bit more oomph. (Planning a Euro trip this summer and I'm a little conscious of K series longevity on long runs at Euro speeds.)

 

It's great you're not getting any pressure from the Mrs.. Maybe she knows how much you enjoy it better than you do...?

[DeanB]

Hear hear!

[kayj_prod]

Oh, and I get ill on PAX laps too! Cadwell peaks and troughs are not my friends!

[GreyKnight]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I’ll try and get along to Chatsworth, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for the past couple of years, but something always gets in the way.

 

Well I’ve been pondering what it is about the Elise that I’m not happy with the most and ultimately I think I’ve decided that the power probably isn’t the issue, it’s actually the cosmetic condition. Almost ever since I bought it it’s had some serious cracking and crazing to the paint on the nose and the front clam is actually a different shade of red compared to the rest of the car (obvious in sunlight). I think the car had a front-end bump before I came in to ownership of it which was not repaired that well. You can feel that there is hard filler under where the crazing is. There are also micro-blisters appearing in various places. Secondly, the interior is looking a bit shabby. The cloth rubbing strips on the seats have worn through (they were like it when I bought it) and the cream leather just looks scuffed and old and the original S1 seats are uncomfortable.

 

As a result I’m starting to think that my money would be better spent on restoring the look of the car to its original splendour. Full respray and an interior re-trim with some extra padding! Expensive I know, but I really feel that I don’t enjoy the car like I should because I’m a bit ashamed of its appearance and I don’t like the things that are wrong with it.

 

Make sense? I took it to a local body shop yesterday anyway for a quote to respray it (GRP specialist too). Looking at £1700+ but they may also need to do some repairs to the fibreglass so we’ll see.

 

Graham

[Simon Mac]

I'm with you here.

 

I've been fixing silly things on mine. (Window closures, gear linkage, sliding carpets, indicator pods that pop out on their own). Every time I make a change like this I'm putting a bit more of myself into the car, and it always feels better as a result!

 

Saying that my paintwork is generally good. I can see how difficult the choice is: £1700 paint is a lot of money to put into it, could you sell it to someone looking for a track car, and buy a tidier example?

 

Si

[Alex B]

That seems very high for a respray.

Get yourself a few quotes off different body shops.

As for seats, I'd personally buy a set of 2nd probax/or s2 k series seats or even a set courbeu pro's. S1 seats are awful and replacing rather than re trim might be cheaper.

[GreyKnight]

Thanks. Well the body shop has now come back with a quote of £1880 + VAT!!! So that's £2250. This is out of the question really, far too expensive. I'll certainly shop around though. I would be more likely to consider it if it was in the region of £1500 inc VAT.

 

As for the seats and trim, I don't want to change the cream colour and all the after market seats I see are gaudy colours like red, blue etc or just plain black. Unless anyone can show me otherwise???

[Alex B]

Graham, not sure where abouts you are located but the body shop Gav @ unit4 uses is excellent and I would have said should be cheaper than what you've quoted

[GreyKnight]

Alex, I'm in Alcester (Warwickshire). Where is Unit4?

[Alex B]

Unit4 is in Burton on Trent.

[Alex B]

Thanks. Well the body shop has now come back with a quote of £1880 + VAT!!! So that's £2250. This is out of the question really, far too expensive. I'll certainly shop around though. I would be more likely to consider it if it was in the region of £1500 inc VAT.

 

As for the seats and trim, I don't want to change the cream colour and all the after market seats I see are gaudy colours like red, blue etc or just plain black. Unless anyone can show me otherwise???

http://www.pbracingshop.com/en/seats/18875-sedile-sportivo-omp.html

[Elaine]

Hi Graham!
We only managed just over 7,000 miles in our S2 Exige.... in 6 whole years! We both worked long hours, and neither of us had jobs where we could use the Exige, so in 2010 we came up with the tough decision to sell it on. This was a very hard decision to make after 10 continuous years of Lotus ownership (we had the Turbo Esprit before the Exige), but we decided it deserved a life on the roads, not sat in our garage...

We didn't regret the decision, but 3yrs later we did find ourselves looking for, and buying another Esprit!

 

Lotus love is a hard habit to break, hope to see you at a meet soon.
Elaine&Reg.

[GCCK]

Hi Graham

Was it really 2005? There's not a year that goes by that I miss having an Elise in my life - hence I still lurk on here. I sold my second one way back in 2008. Still talk about "Elise roads" - the sort where no other car could be so much fun.

 

I got to "that point" in 2008 after 6 years of Lotus ownership - things were getting a bit samey, a second child reduced the opportunities to take the car out to much less than in the past. I'd already taken the upgrade route, having gone from 118bhp in your car to 177bhp, Ohlins and a few other twiddly bits. Track days provided a great distraction for me, though I know that's not your thing, but otherwise it doesn't matter what power or suspension you have, an Elise is an Elise. It's an event just by snuggling into the driving seat, low, low down, putting your hand out and that tiny little wheel is perfectly placed in front of you. Roof off, naturally! If that sensation no longer stirs you, perhaps it's time to move on?

 

If the ritual of getting into the car still excites you, then do the upgrades and fall in love with it all over again. It's 15 years old this year so not surprising the interior is getting a bit tired. The back end had a rebuild not long before you acquired it and the front got a repair & respray after a pheasant incident in 2003 iirc - a shame the paintwork hasn't proved to be as robust as the original. The guy doing the repair said it had been repaired previously (before my tenure), so perhaps the answer is to take it back to grp & respray but to save money, do front clam only? Rear clam & engine cover were all new & painted by a top notch body shop in B'ham, so possibly better than new. That cream interior is lovely - unusual & distinctive - all colour coded including the door cards, and set off the ruby red perfectly. A refresh of the seats & sills, possibly with probax padding, would make it lovely again.

 

I've just bought a brand new car - yesterday - but a daily machine. Thought about another Elise with my spare cash but channelled it elsewhere. But guess what? It's ruby red (very nearly!): https://www.facebook.com/GraemeCCK/posts/10201919994227944

[Steve J]

Graeme you're Mazda 6 obsessed!

[Dennis]

I have a great fix for the rattles, a set of DIY earplugs

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CUSTOM-MOULDED-DIY-EARPLUG-KITS-CREATE-YOUR-OWN-PERSONAL-EARPLUGS-TO-FIT-YOU-/231180487913?pt=UK_BOI_ProtectiveGear_RL&hash=item35d36e4ce9

 

And if you can still hear them, fit a decat, you will not hear the rattles then