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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Looking For S1 Elise


Sundaydriver

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Hi ,

 

Finally the time has come to get into a Lotus, it's been a long wait, kids grown up, garage now ready for a cherished vehicle while the company car sits on the drive :-)

 

Looking for an S1 Elise. Around £10k ish to spend. Will be a toy, not a daily, and I'd like to try out the track

to see if it's something I might want to get into, otter than that it'll be a strong reliable car I'm aiming for, not

One in need of too much work. I'd like to find one that will hold it's value well due to it's condition and mileage.

 

Any tips , or pointers welcome. Ive read up on the usual buying guides, but need to do more research, you might tell me a mid miler car could cost a lot to sort out ??

 

I'm not too far from Paul Matty, they seem to be a nice crowd , any thoughts on buying from a dealer,

as I'm a newbie... I am a qualified mechanic, but I'm aware buying privately could be risky.

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Hi ,

 

Finally the time has come to get into a Lotus, it's been a long wait, kids grown up, garage now ready for a cherished vehicle while the company car sits on the drive :-)

 

Looking for an S1 Elise. Around £10k ish to spend. Will be a toy, not a daily, and I'd like to try out the track

to see if it's something I might want to get into, otter than that it'll be a strong reliable car I'm aiming for, not

One in need of too much work. I'd like to find one that will hold it's value well due to it's condition and mileage.

 

Any tips , or pointers welcome. Ive read up on the usual buying guides, but need to do more research, you might tell me a mid miler car could cost a lot to sort out ??

 

I'm not too far from Paul Matty, they seem to be a nice crowd , any thoughts on buying from a dealer,

as I'm a newbie... I am a qualified mechanic, but I'm aware buying privately could be risky.

Hello and welcome!

 

I'd say you'd be pretty safe with a mid miler as most of the issues should have been sorted.

Aim to get one that's had a suspension refresh as this is a £2k job to do right (new bushings/coilovers etc etc.)

Being a rover K series the head gasket will go at some point but as your a mechanic you'll only have the parts bill to worry about!

But in all fairness £10k is a fairly decent budget for an s1 as prices seem to range from £7k for a high mileage 120bhp up to £16k for a mint sub 30kmiles S160

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There's a 47k miler at Matty , for £12k ish , and this one way over in Suffolk ... http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lotus/elise-s1/lotus-elise-elise------------------1999/2333276

 

Would a suspension refresh have been done by 47k ? I guess it'd depend on how hard it's life had been ?

£10.9k at Matty , sorry !

I like the look of this one in Herefordshire , a short hop , any thoughts gratefully received :-) http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lotus/elise-s1/lotus-elise-elise-1998/2334569?isexperiment=true

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Paul Matty has a good reputation I think although some say his cars are a little pricey you may think it's worth that little extra for peace of mind and come back.

Will Blackham also has a good rep so give him a call too.

I don't think a refresh is essential to your purchase, if the car drives nicely without too many squeaks and clonks and the wishbones aren't rusting horribly (they all rust) I wouldn't worry. You can do it yourself when it needs one.

S2 Bilstein dampers are a big improvement over the clunky konis so worth looking out for.

If the head gasket hasn't gone yet it will, I promise you so factor that in - £800 to have done right.

Make sure the chassis hasn't been damaged - if it has it's scrap.

Medium and even high mile cars can and usually are reliable and good because they are so light - they are gentle on everything.

I would want one that has been garaged too as they don't like standing in the rain and frost.

 

Btw I think, for what it's worth, an s1 for 10 - 11 grand is perfect for what you want. They are fantastic things - you won't be disappointed and may even go up in price if it's a clean and tidy one in a good colour.

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That's a lot of car for the money.

Thanks, another Northern car, I'd usually avoid them if they were made mostly of steel !

 

I've no idea if all those mods are worthy, but I'd guess the car may have been hammered a tad ?

The mods can be done for many reason such as enjoy of modding a car or for track use age.

If a cars been "hammered" doesn't mean to say it's not been look after.

And isn't the whole point in owning an Elise to hammer it?

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With these cars, the way they have been used does not matter if the maintenance is done accordingly.

In many occasions, people had more problems with low mileage (simple yearly oil change) than people who have well used cars where almost everything was replace when needed.

I have seen garage queen I would not touch although they were cosmetically nice. I have also seem track car which were in very sound mechanical state but the body work was chipped.

 

in 2006, a member on here told me that at the time a std 120 S1 was worth £10K. When you found cars worth £8K, these cars needed at least £2K of maintenance investment...

 

I believe it's still valid.

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Thanks all, much appreciate the good info :-)

 

There's a beautiful low mileage S1 at Paul Mattys , only 10k miles , it'd be stupid for me to buy that , it's clearly one

for an investor. It's £16k anyway ! Whereas the one that's been modded is the other end of the scale in my mind.

 

I'd like to pick up a car with 25k miles onwards, but steer clear after maybe 60 to 70k miles. If I can buy one that's as original

as possible with or without suspension refresh ( and cost that in if not done ) , then I reason I'd be using a car which drives as

It was intended to from the factory, almost :-)

 

So many people add this and that to their hobby cars to 'improve' , ( I've spent eighteen months in the MX5 world) but if there are universally accepted mods and alterations then I'd welcome them. S2 suspension seems to tick boxes there , and a sporty exhaust wouldn't bother me. I'm too new to know what's good !

Engine tuning mods are subjective, what happens to the power band, what's the compound effect of all planned mods... , in time I can research this and, I might even look to put a different engine in anyway once I've had some experience.

 

So, as I say , I think I'd like to start off with a fairly standard base point car to know what needs improving for my needs.

 

Anyone think I'm a plonker ;-)

PS - Have hammer , ready to nail it !!!

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