Elise CR

[Lemanandbeyond]

Hi All,

I'm thinking of looking at a Elise CR and wondered if anyone has any experience of them?

I had a standard series 1 in 2000 and loved it, the one car I truly regret selling.

This would be a fun weekend toy to blast in the mountains on a sunny day but before I bother the garage I was looking for opinions. As I'm 20 years older now would more comfort be worthwhile?

Thanks in advance, I would post the add but its in French so probably not much good :-)

[Sublime]

Lemanandbeyond said:

Hi All,

I'm thinking of looking at a Elise CR and wondered if anyone has any experience of them?

I had a standard series 1 in 2000 and loved it, the one car I truly regret selling.

This would be a fun weekend toy to blast in the mountains on a sunny day but before I bother the garage I was looking for opinions. As I'm 20 years older now would more comfort be worthwhile?

Thanks in advance, I would post the add but its in French so probably not much good :-)

I too had an S1 over 20 years ago and I know what you mean about regretting selling it. Recently I was looking to get a Toyota powered S2/S3 and did try a Club Racer. For a weekend toy I found it comfortable enough and I'm pretty old now. You can though sometimes find them with the comfort seat option (not sure if you definitely want a CR or just a newer Elise) and those are slightly better for longer drives. Go and try it out, I'm sure you'll fall in love again and will definitely know if it's comfortable enough for blasts in the mountains after a short time behind the wheel.

[Lemanandbeyond]

Sublime said:

I too had an S1 over 20 years ago and I know what you mean about regretting selling it. Recently I was looking to get a Toyota powered S2/S3 and did try a Club Racer. For a weekend toy I found it comfortable enough and I'm pretty old now. You can though sometimes find them with the comfort seat option (not sure if you definitely want a CR or just a newer Elise) and those are slightly better for longer drives. Go and try it out, I'm sure you'll fall in love again and will definitely know if it's comfortable enough for blasts in the mountains after a short time behind the wheel.

Thanks Sublime,

I'm not looking for a CR particularly but the one I've seen looks great is the right price and has low KM's , its also round the corner from me at a decent garage so that's a plus.

The journeys will be totally pleasure, some longer stints for further passes will happen but not often and I'm happy to accept it wont be the most comfy experience. I will take a look, have a drive then do some man maths and end up with an Exige with a Emira on order (I wish)

This is the car if you're interested - https://www.autoscout24.ch/fr/d/lotus-elise-cabrio...

[MortyC137]

They're fantastic. The S3 CR is a real sweet spot in the range. Overall, you'll find the S3 so much better put together than a S1, and so much easier to live with, but they have lost none of the charm.

The only minor downside is that the 2ZR is a bit less of a revvy screamer than the 2ZZ was, but some people like that. More torque lower down makes it easier to drive, but maybe slightly less involving.

Top tip, the painted seats in the CR can get stone chipped, which is really not easy to fix, so get some PPF on the exposed bits.

[Lemanandbeyond]

MortyC137 said:

They're fantastic. The S3 CR is a real sweet spot in the range. Overall, you'll find the S3 so much better put together than a S1, and so much easier to live with, but they have lost none of the charm.

The only minor downside is that the 2ZR is a bit less of a revvy screamer than the 2ZZ was, but some people like that. More torque lower down makes it easier to drive, but maybe slightly less involving.

Top tip, the painted seats in the CR can get stone chipped, which is really not easy to fix, so get some PPF on the exposed bits.

Thanks Morty, Appreciate your views and the tip on the seats. I'm going to look tomorrow morning !

The S1 I used to have had the lotus sports exhaust and I used to love the way it sounded, a few pops when really pushing on but just a very sweet note, if its anything like that the salesman wont have a hard job lol-

[Sublime]

Lemanandbeyond said:

Thanks Sublime,

I'm not looking for a CR particularly but the one I've seen looks great is the right price and has low KM's , its also round the corner from me at a decent garage so that's a plus.

The journeys will be totally pleasure, some longer stints for further passes will happen but not often and I'm happy to accept it wont be the most comfy experience. I will take a look, have a drive then do some man maths and end up with an Exige with a Emira on order (I wish)

This is the car if you're interested - https://www.autoscout24.ch/fr/d/lotus-elise-cabrio...

No problem and nice colour.

MortyC137 said:

The S3 so much better put together than a S1, and so much easier to live with, but they have lost none of the charm.

Totally agree to me they just got better with each iteration (but I still do want an S1 Sport 160 in scandal green one day).

[MortyC137]

Sublime said:

Totally agree to me they just got better with each iteration (but I still do want an S1 Sport 160 in scandal green one day).

I've had a Scandal S160 SVA, and I can confirm, yes you do want one!

[Sublime]

MortyC137 said:

I've had a Scandal S160 SVA, and I can confirm, yes you do want one!

I'm totally jealous in a good way!