Elise running costs?
Discussion
I've got a 111R. It averages 30 miles to the gallon, mostly on local use. Servicing is a couple of hundred quid a time at a specialist - every year, I don't do enough miles to need it more often. Engine has a timing chain. I think the insurance for 12,000 miles a year and four track days would have been £600 - I knocked it down further by limiting the mileage. (I'm 38, village postcode, parked on drive). A full set of Lotus marked Yokohama AD07 tyres is about £580 delivered. The car had new rear Bridgestones fitted when I bought it. When I replaced all the tyres with AD07s about 10,000 miles later, the rears were well worn while the fronts still had a bit of life left treadwise but had gone hard with age. Depreciation is much better than any comparatively valuable car I've ever run.
Other less powerful models are better on fuel.
Other less powerful models are better on fuel.
I have had a S1, a S2 and now a Europa. The S2 was the cheapest to run as it was not that old when I had it, the S1 cost me more as I was spending a lot on replacing older parts as you would expect on a 12 year old car. The Europa cost me more to run than the S2, but that's just because of petrol! All the power does not come for free.
Costs wise I think your looking to budget about 2k per year to run one, that should cover a set of tires, a service at a good independent and some cash for the odd bit that might need fixing. Note that the costly parts on any lotus is the suspension.
Costs wise I think your looking to budget about 2k per year to run one, that should cover a set of tires, a service at a good independent and some cash for the odd bit that might need fixing. Note that the costly parts on any lotus is the suspension.
Edited by mr wiki on Friday 26th August 19:01
Elise s2 k series, get just over 30mpg.
Cost of running depends what you want to do with it.
If youve got a sorted one and youre using it as a daily driver you're looking at £750 pa (minus tyres, insurance, tax and mot obviously).
If you track it, easily add another £750-2000 to it. The upgrade game is a dangerous, expensive, but exciting one)
Cost of running depends what you want to do with it.
If youve got a sorted one and youre using it as a daily driver you're looking at £750 pa (minus tyres, insurance, tax and mot obviously).
If you track it, easily add another £750-2000 to it. The upgrade game is a dangerous, expensive, but exciting one)
I've got a Subaru Impreza STI and a S1 Elise. The Elise costs half the amount to run than the Impreza on road tax, insurance and fuel. Elise also doesn't depreciate much if at all (some say values are rising for the S1). 40mpg is no bother even driving it in a spirited fashion 
In effect, the Elise pays for itself just in the saving on fuel over the year compared to running the Impreza alone, not sure if I would want to run it as my only car though.
In effect, the Elise pays for itself just in the saving on fuel over the year compared to running the Impreza alone, not sure if I would want to run it as my only car though.
I had an Exige S for 3 years and 12k miles.
Annual servicing at Paul Matty never higher than £350, so around a grand in total.
Once rear 48s wore out at 3k miles I fitted 4 T1-Rs for £350. 9k miles later they had miles left in them.
Insurance was less than £400pa.
Fuel economy of around 27mpg, which never seemed to alter much, however hard I drove it?
Depreciation £10k over 3 years.
Changed it for a GT3 just under a year ago and whilst I knew the costs would go up, some of it is eye-watering!
RFL at £460 PA.
Just had a 4 year service/MOT(no remedial work req'd)/brake fluid change at a cost of £1,304. Next year MOT/warranty extend for 1 year will come in at around £1,300 again.
Rear tyres about half worn at 3k miles, so next year another set required. £700 if N2 (Porsche rated) available, but if only N3/4 available, may have to change all 4 to stay in warranty (unbelievable but true!!), so £1,200. NB: Porsche deem your tyres unacceptable for extended warranty at 3mm, not 1.6mm !!
Insurance not bad at £675, BUT, it has to have a tracker at £200 PA.
Average 20mpg (about 250 miles per £85) having to run 97 RON, but low teens if caning it and only 150/60 miles per tank.
If I wanted to get out now (which my head does, but heart not 100%), I would lose about £15k, but over a longer period expect £7k PA.
The point of the above.....quite simply that an Elise/Exige is to my mind, the best value high performance motoring that is available in the UK.
The performance of my 220 car was perfect for our roads, being fast as hell, but completely thrashable - in the GT3, which up to 60/70 is very comparable, you do run out of road to use the higher end of 3rd gear and above.
If Evora S's were lighter, say 1,100kilos and sensibly priced for what they are, I think I would prefer to be back in a Lotus?
Annual servicing at Paul Matty never higher than £350, so around a grand in total.
Once rear 48s wore out at 3k miles I fitted 4 T1-Rs for £350. 9k miles later they had miles left in them.
Insurance was less than £400pa.
Fuel economy of around 27mpg, which never seemed to alter much, however hard I drove it?
Depreciation £10k over 3 years.
Changed it for a GT3 just under a year ago and whilst I knew the costs would go up, some of it is eye-watering!
RFL at £460 PA.
Just had a 4 year service/MOT(no remedial work req'd)/brake fluid change at a cost of £1,304. Next year MOT/warranty extend for 1 year will come in at around £1,300 again.
Rear tyres about half worn at 3k miles, so next year another set required. £700 if N2 (Porsche rated) available, but if only N3/4 available, may have to change all 4 to stay in warranty (unbelievable but true!!), so £1,200. NB: Porsche deem your tyres unacceptable for extended warranty at 3mm, not 1.6mm !!
Insurance not bad at £675, BUT, it has to have a tracker at £200 PA.
Average 20mpg (about 250 miles per £85) having to run 97 RON, but low teens if caning it and only 150/60 miles per tank.
If I wanted to get out now (which my head does, but heart not 100%), I would lose about £15k, but over a longer period expect £7k PA.
The point of the above.....quite simply that an Elise/Exige is to my mind, the best value high performance motoring that is available in the UK.
The performance of my 220 car was perfect for our roads, being fast as hell, but completely thrashable - in the GT3, which up to 60/70 is very comparable, you do run out of road to use the higher end of 3rd gear and above.
If Evora S's were lighter, say 1,100kilos and sensibly priced for what they are, I think I would prefer to be back in a Lotus?
Edited by nsm3 on Sunday 28th August 11:57
19mpg from an Evo, you must be driving like a granny! Only joking, I had an Evo 9 and came to the same conclusion. Elise or Exige costs are great for what you get. I ran a VX220 Turbo and an Exige for a year. Tyres and brakes, only real consumables, servicing cheap as well comparatively to the Evo six months 4500 miles!
Mines an S1, but I've kept a fairly comprehensive entry of pretty much all the costs since I bought the car.
http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showCar.asp?car...
First year was fairly painful thanks to fixing all the niggles I missed out on when I bought the car and a clutch failure - in hindsight I should have looked at more cars before buying the one I did, but issues with the car I was part-ex'ing meant I couldn't be too picky.
Since then its been pretty cheap to run, but I've been keeping mileage to a minimum and have a daily driver which helps - I only pay £265 for insurance now (3,000 miles a year) and SORN it over winter.
http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showCar.asp?car...
First year was fairly painful thanks to fixing all the niggles I missed out on when I bought the car and a clutch failure - in hindsight I should have looked at more cars before buying the one I did, but issues with the car I was part-ex'ing meant I couldn't be too picky.
Since then its been pretty cheap to run, but I've been keeping mileage to a minimum and have a daily driver which helps - I only pay £265 for insurance now (3,000 miles a year) and SORN it over winter.
I have a B&C 160 S1.
I ran an Evo 7 for 5 years, and have had my RS4 for about 4 years. The cost of running a 725 kilo sports car compared to a sports saloon or estate car are pretty dramatic in my experience. Brakes, tyres, clutches and fuel are all magnets for expense, my Evo was serviced every 6K and this alone attracted significant cost. My Elise has been very inexpensive to run for over 40K of pretty enthusiastic driving.
However, I have always felt that the Elise is a slightly 'aquired' taste - Friends who have driven my cars love the power and presence of the 4 seaters, but can be underwhelmed by the relatively low power of a typical Elise.
It may be a good opportunity to take a spin in one to experience the difference?
Good luck with your choice!
I ran an Evo 7 for 5 years, and have had my RS4 for about 4 years. The cost of running a 725 kilo sports car compared to a sports saloon or estate car are pretty dramatic in my experience. Brakes, tyres, clutches and fuel are all magnets for expense, my Evo was serviced every 6K and this alone attracted significant cost. My Elise has been very inexpensive to run for over 40K of pretty enthusiastic driving.
However, I have always felt that the Elise is a slightly 'aquired' taste - Friends who have driven my cars love the power and presence of the 4 seaters, but can be underwhelmed by the relatively low power of a typical Elise.
It may be a good opportunity to take a spin in one to experience the difference?
Good luck with your choice!
Cheap! I have a 2007 111R. It does 30mpg driving reasonably briskly. Service is £200 pa from an indy though I do it myself. Tyres about 9k for the rear (£317 the pair) and the front is still good at 14k. No out of guarantee repairs. Insurance £326. Tax 245. MoT £54. And thats the lot apart from depreciation which is something like 6k from the 24k original cost to 18k now for a 4 year car at 14k miles
Clearly an older car, particularly if you get a K series car, will cost you more on maintenance but less on depreciation and fuel.
Clearly an older car, particularly if you get a K series car, will cost you more on maintenance but less on depreciation and fuel.
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