111R ..fair price!

[braddersm3]

Have been looking at a 111r 06/55 in storm titanium,touring pack,blk lthr,done 12k..full history,advertised at £17990.Does this semm reasonable?Car is immaculate as expected!

[The Bandit]

Seems a little over the top in todays market,but if its a minter...make a cheeky offer

[eowen]

Seems fair to me. Any more info on spec/options?

[braddersm3]

bandit,the car is on www.camberleycarriage.com and is in my limited knowledge excellent condition.the guy there seems keen to deal but what would your idea of a cheeky offer be?have driven the car and spent a lot of time there so don't want to offend!

[eowen]

Put the ball in their court first. Assuming you dont need finance, and dont have a part ex - ask what their best price is.

Then push as hard as you can - play it cool, polite but proffesional. When you have got them as far as they will go - push for extras, 12 months tax, warranty, full tank of fuel, service etc etc..

Knock them on the fact that it doesnt have A/C (not an issue really).

Now be VERY careful about one thing. The heater resistor an anything older than 2006 WILL fail due to a poor design/loaction. If this hasnt been done (check servicing dealer), it WILL need doing and requires the front clam to come off. expensive on labour. If the fan speed doesnt work properley or the heater doesnt get hot the matrix is already toast.

[braddersm3]

thanks for the advice.have test driven the elise and the heater worked brilliantly,much better than expected actually.
Have to sell m3 first,have ongoing interest.
The dealer will sell the elise to me for £17500 to include 6 mths warranty,6 mths road tax and tank of fuel.
Seems reasonable especially compared to similar cars on here @£20k mark.

[The Pits]

I'd go for 12 months tax, 6 months comes up very quickly when you're having fun. Otherwise it sounds like a very good deal. I paid a lot more than that for my 06 Sportsracer back in April but I absolutely love the car and it's worth every penny to me. It's a lot less practical than an M3 but as a pure drivers tool, it's a lot more fun. You'll have a great 2009!

[GaryCollinson]

eowen said:

Now be VERY careful about one thing. The heater resistor an anything older than 2006 WILL fail due to a poor design/loaction. If this hasnt been done (check servicing dealer), it WILL need doing and requires the front clam to come off. expensive on labour. If the fan speed doesnt work properley or the heater doesnt get hot the matrix is already toast.

Can you tell me a little bit more about the heater issue please. My 04 111R doesnt seem to have a third fan speed, although one and two seem ok... Could this be the same issue?

[S Works]

GaryCollinson said:

eowen said:

Now be VERY careful about one thing. The heater resistor an anything older than 2006 WILL fail due to a poor design/loaction. If this hasnt been done (check servicing dealer), it WILL need doing and requires the front clam to come off. expensive on labour. If the fan speed doesnt work properley or the heater doesnt get hot the matrix is already toast.

Can you tell me a little bit more about the heater issue please. My 04 111R doesnt seem to have a third fan speed, although one and two seem ok... Could this be the same issue?

Could be. The problem is with the rheostat, and the open top box in which it is mounted. There's no drain hole in the original design which meant it was prone to filling up with water and rusting up. Eventually they all go and need replacing with the newer version which apparently doesn't suffer the same issue (I believe the design of the rheostat mounting was changed a little, and whoever changes it will drill a small drain hole in the box in which it sits). To get it changed will cost in the region of £500+ depending on labour, as much of the front of the car has to be taken off/apart to fix. I know this, because I was one of the many who had to shell out for this wretched fix because Lotus never issued a recall on it.

[LivinLaVidaLotus]

They put the resistor pack on the top with the new design AFAIK and drilled the holes.