S1 Elise Values

[highway]

Interesting article in this weeks Autocar claiming residuals are rock solid. I currently Own two S1 Elise And with the best will in the world I can only justify keeping one. 22,000 miles, great provenance and MMC brakes. Yet not one call in over a month. I think it’s priced about right as well. Anecdotally I’ve heard things are slow with used car sales across the board. Has anyone managed to sell an s1 in the past few months? Was selling a chore? I’m by no means a desperate seller but it would be nice to have the space back now.

[emu002]

I have been trying to sell mine for the last 6 weeks and not a single person has come to view yet

Have dropped the price several times but still no biting from anyone

I think its going to be a case of hang onto it until next year and hope the brexit bullst is sorted out by then?

Is the classic car market bubble finally bursting?

[anonymous-user]

I don't think it's anything to do with classic cars and everything to do with Brexit/Boris/hunt etc etc

Been trying to sell a house for the last 3 months, beautiful location, excellent condition, priced right (smack between the actual sale prices of one either side). Not a sausage, people aren't even looking at it on rightmove anymore.

[highway]

You reinforce my own thinking. It’s happened. Glad my 993 went last year. I think the ongoing electric talk doesn’t help either.

[james_gt3rs]

If you could still get S1s for 8k I'd have one. The low miles ones you can't drive unfortunately as the value will tank, so everyone seems to be hanging on to theirs

[highway]

Opinions vary on what constitutes low mileage. My car has done 22k lower than most 21 year old cars. The other really low miles cars are all £20k plus asking, albeit they are sub 10k.

Thus my asking priced considerably lower than the collector miles cars, but more than those which have covered 60k plus.

Either the S1 market has stalled or the steam is coming right out of the classic car market.

[SFTWend]

The market has peaked. Makes/models that were the first to rise, like many Porsches, have been dropping for a while now. Everything else will follow (even fast Fords that continue to buck the trend).

I've been searching for a weekend car for a few weeks but am likely to wait until next year now as I really don't want to buy at the peak. I see that most S1's for sale a couple of months ago still are. As these are second/third cars for most people I guess owners would rather keep them than drop the price too much. No point selling cheap if you love the car and don't need to sell it.

Any car will sell in any market conditions if priced correctly.

There is a chap named Will who appears to sell a lot of Elise and Exige's. Have a look at the price of the blue MMC example, 160 upgrade, 26k miles and only 2 owners. The Consumer Rights benefits offered by a dealer has to be worth a couple of k over a private sale.

Edited by SFTWend on Friday 5th July 22:01

[highway]

Replace the word ‘correctly’ with the words ‘very cheap’ And I agree.

Edited by highway on Saturday 6th July 11:00

[SFTWend]

highway said:

Replace the word ‘correctly’ with the words ‘very cheap’ And I agree.

Edited by highway on Saturday 6th July 11:00

Same thing depending on what you mean by cheap. Is reducing from 18 to 14 really cheap when that same car with less miles was once worth significantly less than 14?

[highway]

Bankrupt argument. Would you apply that rationale to houses?

964 Manual coupes changed hands at sub £25k once. Doesn’t make them worth that now. The market is fluid, I think there is a slow down currently. Too early to know what’s going to happen but I agree stuff priced CHEAP always sells, if it’s half good.

[Yidwann]

SFTWend said:

The market has peaked. Makes/models that were the first to rise, like many Porsches, have been dropping for a while now. Everything else will follow (even fast Fords that continue to buck the trend).

There is a chap named Will who appears to sell a lot of Elise and Exige's. Have a look at the price of the blue MMC example, 160 upgrade, 26k miles and only 2 owners. The Consumer Rights benefits offered by a dealer has to be worth a couple of k over a private sale.

Edited by SFTWend on Friday 5th July 22:01

I have just been looking at that one, and I like the look of it.... I'm just hesitant as I know the boat has sailed when it was probably more like 10-12k....

[highway]

Although I changed the wheels and seats on my car, they were changed for period S1 111S parts. The rear wheels are wider and I always thought the 111S wheels were prettier. Likewise 111S seats have more padding and are more comfortable.

In hindsight I’d have done better leaving the car totally standard and oem. The blue car you mention doesn’t have the official Lotus 160 kit. I don’t doubt if the conversion is proper, it will drive splendidly but again I wonder if the market demands oem standard for original low miles cars.

[SFTWend]

I dont think a few period correct upgrades would affect the value up or down very much, especially if easily reversible. Similarly S2 shocks appear to be an accepted bonus.

I doubt values will fall to their previous low point but the fact not much is selling indicates to me asking prices need to come down.

I'm currently looking at TVRs and they appear to have followed a similar trend. The car I'm going to look at has had 3 viewings in 12 months!

[Yidwann]

I think you're right.... I think if the blue car above was 12-13k... I'd be up there tomorrow.

[highway]

S1’s were made in comparatively tiny numbers over a 4 year window. Similar vintage sports cars-986, S2000 etc are available for far less but there were many more produced.

Whilst you may be considering a Boxster, Z4, 350Z etc I doubt an S1 Elise variant makes that list. If you want one, that’s likely the only thing you want.

Hopefully I’ll find a buyer before I’m too much older.

[emu002]

Me too, fingers crossed

[daveb99]

highway said:

Although I changed the wheels and seats on my car, they were changed for period S1 111S parts. The rear wheels are wider and I always thought the 111S wheels were prettier. Likewise 111S seats have more padding and are more comfortable.

In hindsight I’d have done better leaving the car totally standard and oem. The blue car you mention doesn’t have the official Lotus 160 kit. I don’t doubt if the conversion is proper, it will drive splendidly but again I wonder if the market demands oem standard for original low miles cars.

I don’t think your 111S seats and wheels are really affecting your sale prospects, it’s just the market uncertainty. There never was an official Lotus 160 kit btw. It was never offered as an upgrade, just the Sport 160 model in its various flavours from full fat SVA, to WVTA with or without the S160 seats and LSS shocks.

We have a very low mileage (12k) SVA S160 in Scandal Green, which although we have no plans to sell (not exactly easy to replace, they made 7!), I always like to keep an eye on the market as it does seem to be on a downward trend unless it’s something very special, like ridiculously low collector's mileage (practically unusable) or really rare stuff. On the flip side, there are always cars to avoid too, there's a Scandal Green 160 on PH classifieds currently but it has had suspension/chassis damage and was originally black, not green. That will sit there forever - I rang up last year about it and they wouldn’t even give me the reg, once I explained I’d had 5 Lotuses and liked to do my research....

I think if you want a sale, you have to come down in price until someone bites, which is probably lower than you’d like in the current market conditions. That said, I am surprised you haven’t had any interest at all, as I don’t think yours is especially over priced.

What’s your other S1, out of interest?

Edited by daveb99 on Thursday 11th July 18:56

Edited by daveb99 on Thursday 11th July 20:17

[highway]

Like last year I was in contact with an elderly chap who had a 111 S1 from now. The car had covered 17 K. He agreed to sell it, changed his mind and went on to agree and renege Another four times.

Arguably I should’ve walked away but the car became like a unicorn and I really wanted it. I finally secured it a few months ago. I far prefer the brakes on the MMC car but I like the extra fizz at the top end on the 111 S.

I’ve considered removing MMC Replacing with the 111 S steel grooved and drilled discs and pads but I feel it will really hurt the early cars desirability I’ve reduced the price of my MMC car again it’s the cheapest in the classifieds given the mileage and the fact it’s an early car by someway so hopefully someone might be interested

[daveb99]

The 111S sounds nice, I reckon you did right by being persistent (and patient).

I’d leave the MMC's on it, but think about sourcing some original S1 seats and alloys perhaps. You'll get more for your 111S seats and wheels if you sell them separately and restore the original spec of the car I think - because the mileage is low enough for it to be of interest to those wanting the original early lightweight S1 to tuck away in the garage IMO.

[Howard1650]

IMHO the issue with S1 prices is that every one that wants one has got one.
Every new buy to the Elise market, that actually wants to run an Elise will look at S2 or S3 for similar money.