Hello Lotus people...a tuscan for an exige?

[mercurius]

Hello Lotus people...I own a 2001 Tuscan which as you may have guessed is a thrill to drive but I am getting increasingly annoyed with the little things that constantly seem to go wrong with her...if I had more time, money and a second car this would not be a problem, but I don't...it would help if I was not an ex owner of an M3 also! (No problems!)

I have always been fascinated by Lotus cars, not so much the somewhat underpowered standard Elise but the more substantial Exige, especially the new one with the Toyota 1.8 engine and the promise of reliability and peace of mind...

Even though it will be difficult to switch from 0 to 100 miles in about 9 seconds to 0 to 100 miles in 13, if the handling, brakes, built quality, and reliability are as good as they are rumoured to be then it would be worth a shot...

Any insight/opinion would be welcome, especially from anyone who has owned both a TVR and Lotus at one point or another...

Many thanks!

[bogie]

We've got both - 2001 Tuscan and a 02 S2 Elise (supercharged K series 220bhp ish)with same suspension/wheels/tyre set-up as Exige

You will miss the straight line power, but the Exige will make up for it the way it covers ground on a B road. The Elise/Exige also instills a huge amount more confidence (in the dry at least!) so its easier to drive quick.

This means the performance is more accessible - you can have a blat down your fave B roads, never get into silly speeds, but still feel like youve had a great drive. I find with the Tuscan, its much harder work to drive fast (but it is still quick) and you reach the limits of the chassis much earlier, if the road is anything other than a smooth A road etc.

Reliability wise mmmmm...had our fair share of trouble with both..but the new Toyota cars are a huge improvement over the K series. In the last 1 year, the Tuscan has had:

new rear shocks (collapsed at 14K miles)
engine rebuild (at 13.5K miles - 3 months at Blackpool)
gearbox rebuild (at 16K miles - 2 weeks off the road)
new oil pressure sensor
window seals
speedo sensor
LCD is on the blink
window actuator
roof mech rubbers gone, but TVR no longer do spares !
and a few other bits n bobs I can remember right now

all this on a mint 2001 car with 10K on the clock when purchased (now 18K, even with all the time off the road!)

The Elise on the other hand - well, just servicing and upgrades really

We still love the Tuscan, and my other half is probably gonna chop it in and get a newer T350 later this year (its her primary vehicle, although we share 3 cars)

One thing Id say - if you really like soft top motoring, Id get a 111R instead, and just get the motorsport suspension/wheels/tyres etc - that way you will have the best of both worlds - handling of the Exige etc, and a convertible car. Theres also more of them out there to choose from.

On the other hand its rumoured that the supercharger upgrade from the 240R Exige, will be availble as a factory upgrade for existing Exige owners - you may want to go down that route, as then the power/performance will be near to the Tuscan

cheers
bogie

[deepsnoozer]

Well i can see that some users have pretty good cars arround.

The best i had was a Calibra Turbo and an Elan, i'm going to buy my first Esprit GT3 in a few weeks tough...

First of all you have to think about what you want, do you want a roadster as a second car? what kind of uses are you going to give it to him?

Have you considered an Esprit? i had the Elan and i got sick with it because it was just too damm small

regards
Dan