Depreciation

[markxw]

How upsetting. Bought my 111S a year ago for £22k. Put it up for £19k and no calls, now only £18k and still no calls so far. Looks like i'll end up selling it back to one of a couple of dealers offering little over £17k.

For that little, i can't understand why everyone in the country isn't driving one! I mean, who'd want a year old Audi A3 or Golf or a 4yo TT when you could get a nicely run in Elise?!

On a happier/sadder note (depending how you look at it), Lotus's tardiness in coming up with something for us Elise drivers to trade up to means I'm switching allegence (sp?) to Stuttgart. Switchable sports exhaust & bose stereo - very civilised!!

Perhaps I'll stick down a cheeky Esprit deposit with whichever dealer pays me a pittance for the Elise this week... Hopefully a 6yo 911 wont be quite such a lead brick in the value stakes between now and 2007.

[cinqster]

Hope you've driven one already? I recently drove a mates last of the line 993 tiptronic and I was bitterly dissapointed...wouldn't dream of swopping my S1 for one even at half the value.



>> Edited by cinqster on Monday 11th July 02:32

[S Works]

Why are you selling it? It's summer, you've got probably the best all-round variant of the Elise ever made, it's a far better handling car than a Porker, more exclusive, costs far less to run and maintain, you've taken the big hit on depreciation now (unlikely to lose a lot more over the next 18months)...

If you want a better stereo spend £500 on some new bits. If you want more grunt chuck a few quid at the engine.

IMvHO you're mad if you're chopping it in for a Porker which doesn't have Turbo on the back and is at least a 996.

>> Edited by S Works on Monday 11th July 07:53

[markxw]

Ah but the summer's nearly over, and the pork IS a 996, and im hoping to keep hold of this one till long after the elise has shaken itself to bits!

I'll be back in an elise some day, when i have the space for a second car.

The pork's a better all rounder, and i spend too much time blatting up motorways and not enough on the backroads of norfolk (or any other county)...

You're right on exclusivity though, 996s are a dime a dozen in london, but a bit of anonymity is fine by me, hopefully itll mean fans of keying cars wont even notice it when they walk by.

[theweeninjaguy]

think the problem if you want to call it taht with the elise and the reason why not everyone is driving it is simply that it looks like a bloody expensive car! no one who's not in the know will be able to tell you what it costs, people know the approximate cost of a 911 or TT but when you ask the same people about the elise they mostly think it costs a lot more!

it certainly looks a hell of a lot more like a racing car the the 911 or TT do!

ninja

[DanH]

If the margin over what a dealer can offer you is that slim I'd just go for the dealer as its so much less hassle, and you don't have to worry about fraud & jokers test driving etc.

Selling my Elise was a real pain. There are a lot about and buyers are normally getting their first sports car so a) are dangerous on test drives b) dreamers, but it doesn't stop them asking to see it & test drive.

[markxw]

That's what i did in the end, took a hit and sold it to B&C. The GOOD NEWS though is that I'm now pretty near the top of the waiting list for the new Europa coming out next spring. Nice.