My Lotus Journey

[Eric]

The forums are a bit quiet at the moment, so thought I'd fire up a new thread with a whirlwind tour of my Lotus journey .

Mine started back in 2006 with this ex-Lotus 2006 Exige S (a 2ZZ screamer with a very addictive chain saw supercharger sound-track) in Storm Titatium, bought from Nick Wale Sports Cars in Bromsgrove...

 

Next up was 2007 and a brand new Elise R (with N/A 2ZZ screamer) in Canyon Red with cream leather interior, bought from Lipscomb down in Maidstone.  The car was already in their showroom just begging to be bought!!

 

Then... in 2008, along came a factory ordered Elise SC (another 2ZZ screamer but now with neat little integrated supercharger.  Never once had any heat-soak probs though), in Canyon Red with cream leather interior (yep, again!), bought from Hadley Green down in Barnet.  Loved that car, and only decided to sell in 2011 when temptation got the better of me with a once-only opportunity (up next)...

 

And this is why, in 2011.  A brand new 2011 Exige S 240 PP (with 2ZZ screamer, monster supercharger, and AP Racing big brake kit) in Ardent Red with black leather interior (didn't really have a choice).  This car was already in the showroom at Stratstone in Leicester and after a couple of hours of tough(ish) face-to-face negotiating, the deal was done.  Gosh, another Lotus that I loved to bits... and guess what, only decided to sell because of yet another once-only opportunity (up next!)...

 

And this was in 2015.  A brand new N/A Evora SR in Nightfall Blue with superb Recaros covered in premium Venom Red leather (and black piping).  The car was in the showroom at Westover Sports Cars down in Poole (now part of the Hendy Group, of course).  And it's still mine after 25,000 blissful miles, and still love it to bits.  The only change I had to make was to have those dowdy black wheels professionally re-finished in silver.  It's on its second set of Pirelli P-Zero Corsa rears, but I suspect next time it'll be Michelins...

 

I did kind-of skip part of the story, but only to maintain the flow of successors.  Anyway, in 2014 I had the idea of buying (don't laugh) a 1.6 Elise to use as a daily driver.  So... off I went to Lotus Silverstone in January and dropped in a factory order!!  Aimee couldn't quite believe how easy and straight forward that was - I knew exactly what I wanted, what extras to include (pretty much everything), colour, etc.  And that was it, the car arrived at Lotus Silverstone after a humongous delay due to a massive specification cock-up (Lotus first built a left-hand drive car!!!), and then a shortage of parts.  I think it's fair to say that buying that car was a huge mistake - the 1.6 was (IMHO) one of the worst cars Lotus ever produced and I couldn't wait to get rid of it.  And I did - later in 2014 I did a trawl round all of the Lotus dealers at the time, asking whether they had any factory orders in the pipeline, and Westover came through again, with an Elise S (supercharged 2ZR) order already submitted that just needed tweaks to the final spec.   So... off I went down to Poole and test drove an in-stock Elise S.  Wow, what a revelation - I was blown away by the new-found mid-range grunt of that 2ZR, and also a very strong top-end too.  Once again though (and mainly because of Lotus' unmissable 0% 50/50 offer at the time), I ticked almost every option available - Ardent Red, Touring Pack with black leather, Sport Pack, AirCon, and Hardtop.  It also took longer to arrive than anticipated (thanks once again to a parts shortage at the factory), but it was worth every minute of the wait...

   

Sadly, I had to sell my beloved Elise S in 2021 due to serious illness.  But... we're not done yet, because after a long recovery, I started to get the Elise itch again around mid 2022 - ha!!  And so started the search for a low mileage car with a good history, and, after a fairly dodgy start (I won't go into detail about that yellow piece of sh*t - bought from JCT600 and returned for a full refund), I found this one - a 2015 Elise S with 8,500 miles on it and a full Lotus main dealer service history, down at Caffyns Lotus in deepest Kent.  It had all the right bits - premium paintwork in Aspen White, Touring Pack, Sport Pack, AirCon, and very good PPF.  So, nipped down to Caffyns in October 2022, had a test drive (all good) and did the deal.  Car arrived on a low-loader soon after...

 

Now, you might think that this was the journey's happy ending, but you just never know what opportunities are going to pop up next!!  And when this next beauty came up for sale, well, it was love at first sight (yuk I know, but true), so Hoffmans was paid a visit and the deal was done in early August this year - a pristine 2017 (2017.5 MY) Elise Sport 220 in Laser Blue with alcantara interior and Red interior color pack, AirCon, silver forged alloys with red calipers, 6,500 miles and full service history (plus geo set-up) at Hangar 111.  It is most definitely a keeper and completes my perfect pairing...

 

So that's it folks.  How about YOUR Lotus journey?

 

[martenr1975]

Very interesting read Eric, thanks for taking the time 👍

[gingerbloke]

You seem to like the actual buying of cars a lot! Something I hate doing myself.

I bought my S1 Elise in 1997, still got it. Pretty dull story compared to yours, but it shows that the Lotus bug can bite you

I won't put a close-up picture here, my other pet hate is cleaning cars and I'm embarrassed to say I've only cleaned the car a dozen times since buying it......

[Guido]

Back in 2000 I bought an Azure Blue S1 Elise (2.5 years old with 3.5k on the clock!!).  I kept it for 3 years before 'life' got in the way and it had to go!!!  Looking back, I should have kept it as I enjoyed every minute I spent in it - It was my daily driver!!  I had a couple of very memorable trips to Le Mans in it.  Something I plan to do again.

I don't have any pictures of it but it was standard except for sports exhaust, de-cat and hurricane induction (I think??).  It really did sound great driving through the tunnels in France.

Very recently, the Lotus bug bit again and I bought another Elise.  This time a 2008 S2.  Again, it is my daily driver but I am loving every minute I spend in it despite the shocking weather we are currently experiencing.  I've done nothing to it but the previous owner(s) have fitted a titanium sports exhaust, Cup 220 rear wing and front splitter.  It also has a hardtop. I will probably upgrade the suspension to Nitrons at some point but I'm in no rush just yet.

The car I always wanted when I had my S1 Elise was a S1 Exige.  They were just a little too expensive back in the early 2000's.  Now I have my S2 Elise, I am so tempted to move up to a S2 Exige.  However, as it my daily, I think the Exige maybe a little hardcore for everyday use.

 

Edited November 16 by Guido

[Eric]

11 hours ago, Guido said:

The car I always wanted when I had my S1 Elise was a S1 Exige.  They were just a little too expensive back in the early 2000's.  Now I have my S2 Elise, I am so tempted to move up to a S2 Exige.  However, as it my daily, I think the Exige maybe a little hardcore for everyday use.

 

I think you're right about the S2 Exige as a daily.  The Exige S I bought as my first ever Lotus was, shall we say,  just a bit too extreme for a first time experience of Lotus life.  That's why I went "down" to an Elise R, which was excellent in its own way, but I eventually tired of having to rev the nuts off it to make decent progress!  The Elise SC (which then replaced the R) was absolutely bang on the money though - in fact, very close to perfection.

[Eric]

On 15/11/2023 at 16:28, gingerbloke said:

You seem to like the actual buying of cars a lot! Something I hate doing myself.

Haha - yes, but the buying is just a means to an end.  The driving is, of course, the most important bit.

[Guido]

11 hours ago, Eric said:

That's why I went "down" to an Elise R, which was excellent in its own way, but I eventually tired of having to rev the nuts off it to make decent progress!  The Elise SC (which then replaced the R) was absolutely bang on the money though - in fact, very close to perfection.

Which opens up the debate of upgrading to an Elise SC or sticking a SC on the one I've got!  

[Badger02]

My journey started in 2006 when I was 36. Was all poised to buy a brand new Sports Racer in red with white stripes. Left it for a week as I mulled over the finance deal Lotus were offering at the time, then lost my job before I had the chance to make my decision

Come 2008 I got the offer to move to China.

 2015 I moved back to the UK, finally settling on a decent job in 2017 and a new house which needed a lot of work

Then followed an 18 month placement to Romania but the thought of owning an elise was never too far away

And then it finally arrived, walking the dog in Feb 2021 I said to myself, if not now then when.

A search quickly followed and a month later bought this S2 2008 Elise S which I converted into a JPS colour scheme.

Then one bored October evening in 2021 and a search on pistonheads, and a month later I found an S1 Elise Type 49 sitting on my drive to.

Both great cars and still have them