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Lotus in the Peak
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Mulling over a Lotus Excel as a daily...


KurtB

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After our little trek to Keddleston, and admiring Excels there, I'm looking more and more at the Excel SE and thinking I'd like a second Lotus in the garage. The only way to have endorsement from the boss is to know it's not "too heavy to drive", or an unreliable money pit. 

Have any MLOC drivers done similar? Can you offer any pearls of wisdom? Apart from the General car stuff is there anything in particular I should be looking out for? 

Cheers,

Kurt

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My mum used one for work (district nurse) for 4 years in the 90's. Didn't break, although it was quite new back then.

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A previous chairman of Club Lotus (who sadly passed away young) used one as his daily driver and loved it. I had one for several years and it never let me down once and I only sold it as I got the opportunity to get Mandy's Elise. Very reliable probably cos apart from the engine its virtually all Toyota Celica/Supra. The only downside I found is that if you were to use it as a daily driver you'd get a very sore head with constantly banging it on the very low lip of the boot lid. Mine apparently was bought by the President of the French LOC. 

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One of my friends in the Excel community uses his as his main car and it has just passed 200,000 miles! I have had mine since March 1994 and although not a daily it is used regularly (last weekend at CarFest North on Dream Rides) and it has only ever had one recovery when the SU fuel pump  failed (it was about 13.5 years old).

Galvanized chassis and composite body plus lots of Toyota bits make for a very reliable car.

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I had one off Tango 190 on MLOC for 1200 quid. It went to Le Mans and back. Filled a garage full of oil smoke on a Rolling road day. It also showed the way on one or two MLOC pottle group runs. Quite possibly the best 1200 quid i ever spent.  LOL

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On 30. Juli 2017 at 07:35, KurtB said:

. The only way to have endorsement from the boss is to know it's not "too heavy to drive", 

It is not to heavy to drive. If she gets used to using a choke all will be fine. Parking could be quite heavy without PAS and the lack of Ackerman steering. Rear parking sensors could also help, because you see not that much. Other than that, the more you drive it, the more it is reliable. Enjoy!

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On 01/08/2017 at 11:44, DeanB said:

There is a guy that works in Lincoln who uses a red Excel daily.  I've never met him but he parks it in the car park opposite the police station. 

Yes, I see it quite often Dean, he comes into Lincoln on the Horncastle road. I think I may need to leave a note on his screen to ask about his ownership experiences. 

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