Elise prices. What's going on?

Elise prices. What's going on?

Author
Discussion

fstorm

25 posts

145 months

Thursday 20th October 2022
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I've just bought a 2005 Elise 111R fitted with a Rotrex supercharger and supporting mods, 40k miles.
It's a hoot to drive and replaced a fettled 996 turbo. I'd been tracking the Elise market for about 6 months and found that regular, unmodified ones tend to depreciate less. Originality has a wider market.

otolith

57,010 posts

207 months

Thursday 20th October 2022
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fstorm said:
I've just bought a 2005 Elise 111R fitted with a Rotrex supercharger and supporting mods, 40k miles.
It's a hoot to drive and replaced a fettled 996 turbo. I'd been tracking the Elise market for about 6 months and found that regular, unmodified ones tend to depreciate less. Originality has a wider market.
That's one of the reasons that when I supercharged mine I went for the Lotus OEM kit (which was available as a factory approved dealer retrofit) rather than a third party one.

Zarco

18,112 posts

212 months

Thursday 20th October 2022
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Same for most cars really.

Prestonese

796 posts

108 months

Monday 3rd June
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Reviving this as I'm looking at getting an Elise though I'm not too familiar with the market. I've seen a few interesting S1 111S in the classifieds and they are all in the £20-22k bracket but a few cars seem to have hung around a bit. Is this normal or is pricing putting off any potential buyers?

Sorry if it turns into a values thread - that's not the intention.

Belle427

9,217 posts

236 months

Monday 3rd June
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People just try their luck at inflated prices, if someone comes along then happy days.
The more sought after models will command a premium as with any marque.
The S1 111S was seen as the cream of the crop by most wasn't it?

Mr E

21,839 posts

262 months

Monday 3rd June
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Belle427 said:
The S1 111S was seen as the cream of the crop by most wasn't it?
135 Sport probably peak S1?

John D.

18,112 posts

212 months

Monday 3rd June
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Mr E said:
Belle427 said:
The S1 111S was seen as the cream of the crop by most wasn't it?
135 Sport probably peak S1?
Sport 160 in my book biggrin

I don't care its a pain around town. It looks the bks and that idle is cool as fk.

They're all great. Completely understand why some will prefer one over the other.

Mr E

21,839 posts

262 months

Monday 3rd June
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John D. said:
They're all great. Completely understand why some will prefer one over the other.
Amen. Here endith the lesson

PoorCarCollector

27 posts

23 months

Wednesday 5th June
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I'm also currently looking for an S1-111S, I just need to complete the sale of one of my cars to free up the £££££.

For me, I'm looking for something low mileage/ownership and ideally not too modified, apart from the usual Elise problem areas.
From experience, these are the cars that tend to hold their value the most come resale time.

There's one car that's just come up for sale at a dealer which ticks those boxes, hope it's still around when mine is sold!

I think with the S1-111S now hitting 25 years old, values should increase if anything, due to being able to import them into the USA, where they were never available when new.

I use to own an S1-111S from new and it was the best version for me. I test drove the 160 and the Sport135 at the time and the 111S felt a better all rounder
As mentioned above though, any Elise is better than no Elise! I didn't like the long ratio gearbox in the S2 111S though, felt a bit dull then to drive.
I was considering an 'upgrade' in 2002 when they were released, but stuck with the S1 111S, wish I'd never sold that!



RonnieHotdogs

1,021 posts

104 months

Wednesday 12th June
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Prestonese said:
Reviving this as I'm looking at getting an Elise though I'm not too familiar with the market. I've seen a few interesting S1 111S in the classifieds and they are all in the £20-22k bracket but a few cars seem to have hung around a bit. Is this normal or is pricing putting off any potential buyers?

Sorry if it turns into a values thread - that's not the intention.
I'm finding the same - I'm looking into buying a weekend car at the backend of summer / autumn, but I'm shocked at how much an Elise is at the moment.

I'd ideally like a 2005+ 111R, but you're looking at £24k-ish for a good example.

I'm sure when I looked a year or two ago these were in the mid teens.

barryTrousers

2 posts

3 months

Friday 14th June
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RonnieHotdogs said:
I'm finding the same - I'm looking into buying a weekend car at the backend of summer / autumn, but I'm shocked at how much an Elise is at the moment.

I'd ideally like a 2005+ 111R, but you're looking at £24k-ish for a good example.

I'm sure when I looked a year or two ago these were in the mid teens.
Depending on what you mean by 'good example', I'd have thought you'd be able to find something from a private seller closer to £20k. I picked up an '04 111R for less than that in November (68k miles, hard top included), some of the more speculatively priced cars I saw then are still listed for sale.

Any particular reason for 2005+ (DBW throttle / Probax / Cosmetics)?

Belle427

9,217 posts

236 months

Friday 14th June
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I've got my 111R up in the classifieds and yes I've priced it a little high but it's open to sensible offers.
Was hoping just to get what I paid for it back really as it's not the car for me.

fridaypassion

8,795 posts

231 months

Friday 14th June
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RonnieHotdogs said:
I'm finding the same - I'm looking into buying a weekend car at the backend of summer / autumn, but I'm shocked at how much an Elise is at the moment.

I'd ideally like a 2005+ 111R, but you're looking at £24k-ish for a good example.

I'm sure when I looked a year or two ago these were in the mid teens.
Covid pricing was right up at 26/6/7 and 30k for a late model R.

Like everything else they have come right off and for 24k you should expect an absolutely pristine sub 30k 111R an R with low miles 27ish

The higher mileage ones I've just sold a mint 70k one for £16500 and a very nice modified one we've taken months to get 19 for it.

The 15-30k market is absolutely dead at the moment I feel that the disposable income guys are shopping in the 40 to 60k bracket now which has made dealing with the older cars very hard work. I've had to reluctantly come away from K series cars altogether for this reason and things like a 111R they need to be the right money/low miles or a special edition to stand a chance of selling. I've seen other dealers make the move away from the older cars and we are slowly heading in the same direction.

I think pre Covid and pre Brexit the market was propped up by the European buyers. Certainly for the old K series cars that's where the real demand was. Now post Brexit and with a very low demand from UK buyers you're seeing the prices come down across the board.

RonnieHotdogs

1,021 posts

104 months

Friday 14th June
quotequote all
barryTrousers said:
Depending on what you mean by 'good example', I'd have thought you'd be able to find something from a private seller closer to £20k. I picked up an '04 111R for less than that in November (68k miles, hard top included), some of the more speculatively priced cars I saw then are still listed for sale.

Any particular reason for 2005+ (DBW throttle / Probax / Cosmetics)?
Pretty much the seats and I heard there were some reliability issues with the early Toyota engined cars. May or may not be true!

I'd be really happy around the £20k mark, which seems semi achievable, but I'll see what prices are like when I'm ready in Sept / Oct time.

barryTrousers

2 posts

3 months

Friday 14th June
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RonnieHotdogs said:
Pretty much the seats and I heard there were some reliability issues with the early Toyota engined cars. May or may not be true!

I'd be really happy around the £20k mark, which seems semi achievable, but I'll see what prices are like when I'm ready in Sept / Oct time.
Got both my seats re-foamed for around £400. Not heard of reliability issues, both use same engine and ancillaries. I think engine problems were ironed out on Toyota cars (celica?) before it was used in the elise.

Good luck with the search, hope you find what you're looking for.

Jack91F

56 posts

114 months

Saturday
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Ive been keeping an eye on these since late last year and viewed two:
2004 111r 50k miles £21k at Jon seal.
2008 s 80k miles £19.5k private.

My observations as follows:
Couldn’t really afford that 111r without stretching myself at the time but if I wanted one now most private sellers have theirs listed for more than that one.

The Elise s I didn’t buy because of the mileage (thinking of resale more than reliability), but it hung around, I noticed it got listed at £15750 and sold instantly.

In summary it’s hard to tell if you’re getting a good deal or not.


Belle427

9,217 posts

236 months

Saturday
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Prices falling back to pre covid probably, not good for those of us who bought at the height and now want to sell but thats car life i suppose.
A good 111S was closer to £!5k then and a 111R maybe £17500 from memory.
Its certainly a buyers market at the moment so you should get something nice for around £15k ish.

GTRene

17,041 posts

227 months

Saturday
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maybe also because the 25 year rule in the USA? they now can import Lotus Elise for road use, so that could also drive prices up a bit.

GTRene

17,041 posts

227 months

hah, now I mentioned there is a new ad in Germany with a RHD Elise mk1 for under 14.5k euro with just 36k miles... asking price...
its been stored since 2018 but hey, its cheap and ready for return to the UK >>



https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/lotus-elise...

fridaypassion

8,795 posts

231 months

Wow that's quite a turnaround. What's driving the prices down in EU land? Here we have

Increased cost of living
Higher borrowing rates for car finance
Mortgages going up
Insurance costs doubled
Brexit has also reduced demand due to VAT on exported cars