Help

[Duncan Frapples]

Hi to all,

I am considering buying a lotus elise for the first time. Up until now my cars have all been pretty sedate bmws audis and a toyota celica. I am looking to purchase an elise in the 2003/04 bracket and need some advice, namely-

What is the best type for me? I dont cover a lot of miles but it would be driven regularly if not daily. I will have access to another vehicle of a more practical nature.

Is it easy to bring over from England? I live in Northern Ireland (Belfast to be exact)

Is there anywhere in Northern Ireland that services these cars or can any garage carry out a service?

What price is an average service?

What should a low mileage 03/04 elise cost if it was a good deal?

Hope someone can be of help. There may be more questions to follow!!!

Thanks

[DRH]

Hi

I recently bought my 2004 111S in Scotland. I saw it advertised on the ScottishElises website. It was a private sale. I was lucky that the seller was genuine enthusiast and a really decent guy. He was prepared to hold the car until I came over. I just asked all the usual questions by phone and got him to email me some high resolution pictures before heading over. I spent quite a while looking for a really clean low mileage 111S in Northern Ireland but strugggled. I spoke to a few private sellers in England before deciding to view my car and found them all to be helpfull. The fact that they were Lotus enthusiasts themselves helped!

Taking into account the cost of the budget flight and ferry back it was probably cost me an extra £250 - £300. Well worth it to get the right car. I used the Pistonheads website, among others, to locate suitable cars within a reasonable travelling distances of airports.

Registering it here was no problem and there is a recent thread on this forum covering the procedure.

Good luck.

[Duncan Frapples]

Hi DRH,

Many thanks for the info. Seen a few elises on pistonheads and will just have to take the plunge!

[Duncan Frapples]

Hi David,

Thanks for the info. Its definitely raised my confidence in buying an elise. Unfortunately Im not in England too often so test driving could be a problem but Im leaning more towards buying from a dealer for security and peace of mind. Now just to find the right one......

[AonFocalEile]

I bought from a dealer, you get a transferable 12 month warranty which is nice. If your worried about the cost of ownership this gives you 12 months to decide if a Lotus is for you.

I bought in England as I could not get a car here. Have you tried Linder’s the Lotus dealer in Dublin. They should be able to source something for you.

The other nice side effect of Lotus ownership is the low depreciation after the first two years. My first car depreciated £0.00 in 15,000 miles and the latest one is up £3K on what I expected to lose by now. So maintenance is offset quite a bit by the higher retained value of the car.