Excel advice?

[percy]

Scuse the ignorance, but what should I be looking for if I wanted to buy an Excel? Any good dealers in the midlands.
I'm attracted by the apparent practicality of the Excel - ie you can get kids in the back, and it has a boot (unlike my Caterham - but that is for FUN). Does anyone here run one as an everyday car?
Cheers
Chris

[Rotaree]

I used to run an Excel SE as a daily driver a few years ago. I'm afraid I can't remember what to look for but I do remember it was a great car. I had it for two years and it was completely reliable - the only thing that ever let me down was a headlight relay! However a friend of mine had one that he bought without a pre-purchase check and it cost him a fortune, so I guess the best advice is to get it checked out by a Lotus expert before you buy.

[clanger]

See this months Classic 7 Sportscar Excel buyers guide.. good review

[G_Reaper]

My brother ran one for 7 years. At about 80k it needed new springs and dampers and anti roll bar bushes all front end suspension bushes and steering UJ's as they carry the wieght of the engine and box he put new discs and a calipers on the front too. He covered approx 50,000 miles before it reached 80k with just the usual consumables such as tyres exhaust brake pads regular oil change (engine was superb). When they are getting tired at the front you car see the nose sits very very low and you have no suspension travel every curb is a potential front spoiler bomb. I ran one for 6mths I only had problems with an ill fitting stainless exhaust.
Hope this helps.

Regards Mike

[Rotaree]

Just remembered - this month's 'Classic and Sportscar' magazine have done a review on Excels this month. They rate them pretty highly.

Edited for por spolling!

>> Edited by Rotaree on Tuesday 18th March 13:53

[Simonelite501]

Excel's, Elite's and Eclat's have to be the most under rated of all Lotus cars. The practicality of having 4 seats, although it helps if the rear passengers are amputees , combined with none to shabby performance and pin point handling make for a very exciting car indeed. My personal area of knowledge is the Elite, but although the Excel is quite different, the two cars share a lot of the more common problems associated with the marque.
Chassis: Well your lucky in the fact that the Excel comes with a galvanised chassis as standard, but do look VERY carefully as even the galvanised ones rust, also they trend to bend when crashed, so reject any with accident damage (Remeber, theres another just around the corner, not two a penny, but certainly not rare). The 2.2 slant 4 has two Dellorto 45's as standard, these are good carbs but go out of tune as a pastime. The engines give around 180bhp as standard, and all the power comes in at around 4500rpm, red line is around 6500rpm. Don't worry too much about rattles whern its cold, but rattles when hot are a warning sign, and to rebuild these engines is EXPENSIVE! £2000 at least. The Toyota parts bin was raided extensively for the Excel, so sourcing parts from them rather than Lotus would reduce running costs, as would a call to Mike Taylor, a second hand Lotus 4 seat specialist. Look on the Yahoo groups - Lotus 4 seaters list for much more info, good luck, check my profile for my Elite tales, reading it may put you off though!
P.S, the best place (but maybe not the cheapest!) to look for Excel's in the midlands would probably be Paul Matty Sportscars, Bromsgrove I believe.

>> Edited by Simonelite501 on Tuesday 18th March 17:42

[percy]

Thanks for the replies - it was the write up in C&SC that made me investigate further. As I said, I drive a Caterham, but would also like a nice, practical car that handles well. There seem to be a few for sale at the moment £2K - £5K seems about average. I will have to go and look at a few.
Thanks again