Bye bye Lotus ....... for now!

[marky_p72]

Well after 7 years of owning my Elise 111r (almost to the day) I have now sold it. It all happened rather quickly and to be honest I'm not sure if I've made a mistake!!! I'd been toying with either continuing upgrading (suspension etc) but I couldn't help thinking I may aswell put those funds towards the next step up for me, which I feel will need to be a £30k+ purchase! Now I'm thinking do I want to be throwing a £30k car round a track!!?? 

Oh well, it's done now and I'm sure I will find a replacement.

Something like this would be my ultimate car, but does this seem a reasonable price??  It's going to need some proper man maths!  https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11105577?cId=10603168&cId=11014950&cId=9769499&cId=9769516&cId=11026218&cId=11041684&cId=11087133&cId=10998914&cId=10244310&cId=10778368&cId=11105577&cId=11105559&cId=10826841&cId=10990068&cId=11127869&cId=10881912

Are the Carbon parts a premium option pushing the price up (and probably wasted on me!!)

I also wonder if I will miss having the soft top of the 111r as I did prefer driving it with the roof off.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers

Mark

[lotus111]

Hi Mark I know the car in question, the previous owner as upgraded to a V6 Exige. There was a problem with the car, it had to go back to the factory for repair after it caught fire on a track day, a leaking fuel rail was the cause and lotus have since recalled all Elise’s of this period for a fix on this problem. The fire did cause a lot of damage. The car went back to right place to be repaired the factory so sure it came away like new again. The owner did have the extra carbon bits fitted by the factory when it was in for repair and where a very expensive addition. As regards to the roof the 250 Cup comes with a soft top standard and the hardtop as a option. The hard top does come off if you you want open air motoring.

[marky_p72]

Hi and thanks for the info. I will probably give that one a miss then!

No rush especially at the minute! 

Not sure if you remember but we met on the Peaks run 18th Oct. 

Cheers again

Mark

[lotus111]

Yes Mark yes I do remember and like you say no rush at the moment what with being in lockdown. Hope to see you back in a Lotus later this year and see you on a run again when hopefully we get the better of this terrible pandemic 👍

[Elisemadray]

Hi Mark, a cup 250 is made for the track, maybe not this one from what Scot say's the aero is made to work with the hardtop on track for best performance  , but as Scot says it can be taken off, a 220 sport is not quite as capable on track but not that far behind, the supercharger give's both the cup and 220 a very  linear power delivery so great fun. so what ever you end up getting it will be great to see you on a run when things allow

cheers

Ray

[Martin 111S]

I know of the owner - Jamie and history of the car. Yes it caught fire and the damage was costly. Fully repaired by Lotus themselves including a replacement engine IIRC. and rear clam etc. They also gave it a fresh 3 year warranty from the time of the repair, so long as it was serviced by  Lotus dealer rather than independent.

The fire was one of those rare chance things, Lotus recalled all of them and replaced the fuel rail bolts as a precaution - had mine done last April, I'm certain Oakmere would know the cars history and certainly wouldnt have took it if there was any chance of it being problematic. 

From what I've seen Jamie tends to swop cars regularly, and was after a V6 for a change - so doubtful he moved it on due to the fire.

Regards the C/F  yes he added it at a later date, and it doesn't appear to be adding to the selling price, just makes it more desirable to some folks - tbh its a decent price for the car and still worth considering. 

If still thinking of it, drop onto SELOC and message Jamie about it, I'm sure he'll give you an insight into it - changed his user name there now to Jamie_Exige350 formerly Jamie_250CUP. 

 

[marky_p72]

Thank you all for taking the time to write about this car. I may contact Jamie on Seloc and maybe Oakmere for a chat.

I'm in no rush as the dust is still settling from the sale of my 111r, but I'm feeling a little better about it now! Time to do a bit of tidying and sorting in the garage while I have the space!! 

Cheers again,

Mark

[Adtmits]

A big aero cup 250 would be my choice of Elise. Whist the grey is a little dull (imho)in the Oakmere example, the carbon makes up for it. 

I wouldn't be too worried about the fire. The here was a chap on the on the Cup page who'd bought a 'mint' 250 cup 18months old with 2k on clock, yet it was in the barrier a cadwell park 6months earlier with hefty damage.  Sometimes it is better to just know the facts.

Good luck with the hunt!

[marky_p72]

Thanks for your comments. I do love the cup cars, but just gotta get my head around spending that kind of money on a car I will prob only do max 3-4000 miles per year in! 

[PJT]

If you spend the money on a daily driver, it will soon become ordinary.  Spend  the money on a weekend toy, and drive an old banger everyday, it will always feel special.  Plus, cos of the low use, depreciation is not a killer.

 

I’ll opt for the nice unused car with a mediocre daily everytime.

[Stik]

14 hours ago, PJT said:

If you spend the money on a daily driver, it will soon become ordinary.  Spend  the money on a weekend toy, and drive an old banger everyday, it will always feel special.  Plus, cos of the low use, depreciation is not a killer.

 

I’ll opt for the nice unused car with a mediocre daily everytime.

+1 to this!  my daily is a 2005 diesel toyota avensis, it's brilliant because i just don't have to worry about it.  It's worth about £500 i reckon, so worst case scenario is i just throw it away  It's also really comfy and slow and boring, and is everything a Lotus isn't.   After a few days driving my lotus around i get back in the toyota and it's so comfy it may as well be a bentley.  And then a few days later i get back in the exige and my mind is blown all over again  

Also, a great thing with Lotuses is that they hold their value.  My first S2 exige i sold for slightly more than i paid for it, so if you ignore insurance my net cost was about 0 since it kind of paid for its own servicing and parts.   The first S3 i only lost about £5k on, over two years, and that was mostly because i had to accept a lowball offer in the end because it was an urgent sale.  So i wouldn't worry about "spending" a huge amount of money on it, you're really just storing some cash in it for later.  (It's not like you'd be getting much interest on it in a savings account, anyhow...)

[marky_p72]

Anybody have any thoughts on these 2:

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11227421?cId=10733455&cId=11227421&cId=10906333&cId=10244310&cId=9769499&cId=9769516&cId=11217253&cId=11210282&cId=10990068&cId=11205847&cId=11205468&cId=11204180&cId=11067445&cId=11063105&cId=10881912&cId=10700573&cId=11127869&cId=10974549&cId=11059387&cId=11182566

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102048693439

 

They are really out of my budget, but I can't stop looking at them!! The private seller one is in Rutland, so quite local to me.

May need a bank loan to get me there, but interest rates are low!

To me the B&C 2018 model seems to make sense for the same price. The only difference I can see is the hard top?

Appreciate any thoughts...

[duncx]

Out of those two, the B&C one seems to be a no-brainer to me. Younger, less miles, cheaper, dealer backup etc.

Get it bought man, the 250 Cup is a fabulous car and that's a very nice colour

EDIT: Trust me, you don't need a hard top

[lotus111]

With Duncx on this one the B&C looks by far the better car. Looks great with the blue stitching and interior blue pack. The second car for some strange reason as unpainted brake callipers something that came as standard at the launch of the 250cup in 2016 and the after market flags on the second car on the rear wing are not for me. Like Duncx says get it bought, just like he should have done last week with the 410 🤣It’s looks a good price and if you keep for a good few years you are not going to lose a bucket load of cash, probably the least depreciating lotus you can buy at this moment . Great cars you would definitely not regret the purchase 👍

[lotus111]

The XPEL PPF is a great addition well worth having probably cost the first owner £1500 if not more.