What Is It With These Dealers ?

[malbon]

Rawr. Dead right. But it wouldn't look as good or handle as well.

[Scott_Mac]

[Rawr]

Elise handling is awful. I'm going FR next

[Ladders]

CTR for me next!

[Rawr]

M Coupe

[Ladders]

I would actually have one of those though, prefer the roadster though!

[Rawr]

I was being serious!

 

Next is either VX[T|R] or an M Coupe.

 

I think.

[Ladders]

House next for me! Handlings not that good, but good road (ground) holding!

[malbon]

The M coupe doesn't do anything that the elise can't do (except for TVR like straight line power) at twice the cost. I considered a roadster at one point. Down to 15k now - loads of car for the money.

[Rawr]

The M Coupe would appear to be much better balanced for driving sideways. Keeping the Elise at an angle is a son of a bitch.

 

Depends which route I choose to go down next. If it's Elise evolution it's going to be a VX[R|T] but if I decide to go on a tyre-shredding, drift mission then it's going to be an M Coupe.

 

I think.

 

I don't know

[Scott_Mac]

LOL, also a house for me

[Mark A]

I did the M Coupe thing before my 1st Elise, bloody expensive!

 

Insurance is group 20+ (for me £1800 at the time)

Servicing is expensive (£500 Inspection 1, £800 Inspection 2)

Rear tyres were £250 each.

 

However the power is great, 130mph at Castle Combe over Avon rise and sideways through Quarry was fun (I only did the 1 trackday).

 

Weak points are the brakes, for normal use they are spectacular, but when they get hot they overheat (20mins session was the limit). The Vanos unit on the engine is another weak point and usually very expensive to replace, I'd never buy one from anyone other than a dealer and make sure it has some sort or warranty.

 

Handling isn't great but the balance is, however you need to be quite brutal to make the back end break away.

 

The best thing to do is to have the speed limiter removed, I saw an indicated 170mph on mine . Also there are probably not much more than 1000 in the UK as they didn't sell as well as BMW hoped and the initial estimates of 400 imported per year didn't work out.

It's also quite a practical car for a 2-seater as you can get loads in the boot, and the full Harmon-Kardon stereo system is excellent.

[halfpenny]

Pretty happy with my Exige for the mo, but am saving for another 911...

 

One reason for selling the 911 and buying the Elise (car before the Exige) was that same as Mark A says....servicing, petrol, tyres & insurance cost me a fortune once I'd bought it back to the UK.

 

Both the Elise and the Exige are cheaper to run / insure / fuel than the 911. And to be honest, more fun too

 

But I do have a hankering over another one - a nice 993 C4S - last of the air cooled !

[Scott_Mac]

Nice. Porsche.

 

Sorry, does not compute.

[halfpenny]

Just love Porsche's - not your fairy Boxter mind, although the new coupe netx year may be one to look at, but an air-cooled 911.

 

I had a 964 C2, but leaked oil like a sieve. Porsche in their infinite wisdom decided that they would build the new 3.6 litre engine with metal to metal seals (no gaskets). As the engine expands and contracts with heat, over time owners found that the car would deposit oil on the driveway. So from about 1991 Porsche fitted gaskets on the engine - which of course was an exensive mod to pre-gasket cars as it often mean't skimming the cylinder heads.

 

The 993 C4s or turbo with the varioram engine (of course) would be my perfect car....ahhhhhh.