Elise S2 Running Costs
Discussion
I test drove an S2 111S the other day and it was fantastic!!! I absolutely loved it. The best ride, handling and steering feel that I have ever experienced (and I've driven a lot of cars...).
Anyway, naturally I want one. However, I can't afford high running costs on a car. Can anyone tell me what their Elises cost them to run? The salesman told me that Bell and Colvill charged £50 an hour for labour - that seems quite low, is that right?
Any comments much appreciated! thanks :-)
Anyway, naturally I want one. However, I can't afford high running costs on a car. Can anyone tell me what their Elises cost them to run? The salesman told me that Bell and Colvill charged £50 an hour for labour - that seems quite low, is that right?
Any comments much appreciated! thanks :-)
if you do a search theres loads of info...it really depends on use i.e. whether you track it a lot and youre style of driving.
service intervals are every 9K miles with 3 types - A,B,C
A=£180
B=£250
C=£500
in order AABACAABAC etc = C inc cambelt - every 48K miles or 4 years now
all above at a specialist....add 50-60% for a dealer
then youve got consumables
Tyres - £500 a set ish rears at 10K, fronts at 15-20K (road use only) ...track use then 1/2 or 1/3rd of that
Brakes - depends what you put on...up to £100 a corner on discs and from £100-200 for pads
how many miles will you do a year and what type of use?
service intervals are every 9K miles with 3 types - A,B,C
A=£180
B=£250
C=£500
in order AABACAABAC etc = C inc cambelt - every 48K miles or 4 years now
all above at a specialist....add 50-60% for a dealer
then youve got consumables
Tyres - £500 a set ish rears at 10K, fronts at 15-20K (road use only) ...track use then 1/2 or 1/3rd of that
Brakes - depends what you put on...up to £100 a corner on discs and from £100-200 for pads
how many miles will you do a year and what type of use?
I've had mine for 9 months and so far I've only paid for an A service which in England seem very reasonably priced. It has never let me down - the car has been the most reliable car I've ever owned.*
*Competition - Old mini cooper, J reg Pug 106 and an escort i aquired for 2 pints of beer.
*Competition - Old mini cooper, J reg Pug 106 and an escort i aquired for 2 pints of beer.
They're not too bad to run.
I've had mine since November add I've spent:
B service + Cambelt + Geo £500
A service £105
Set of tyres £340
Misc repairs £300 approx
I use Horizon Motorsport and their pricing is:
A service £105
B service £195
C service £350
Geo £75
Labour £35 per hour.
>> Edited by MJK 24 on Monday 12th September 05:46
I've had mine since November add I've spent:
B service + Cambelt + Geo £500
A service £105
Set of tyres £340
Misc repairs £300 approx
I use Horizon Motorsport and their pricing is:
A service £105
B service £195
C service £350
Geo £75
Labour £35 per hour.
>> Edited by MJK 24 on Monday 12th September 05:46
I'm same as MJK.
Had mine since May. B service/MOT with new front pads £500, new Bridgestone rears £270 and a nice lump out of the front which is being repaired as we speak at £400. All work except tyres done at a good main dealer (I know, I must be mental - but specialists are not too near me).
Not bad and costs me £30 petrol a week to run on a 40 mile a day commute.
That should be it (hopefully) for the year.
Good luck - you won't notice the costs though as it's the best car in the world.
Had mine since May. B service/MOT with new front pads £500, new Bridgestone rears £270 and a nice lump out of the front which is being repaired as we speak at £400. All work except tyres done at a good main dealer (I know, I must be mental - but specialists are not too near me).
Not bad and costs me £30 petrol a week to run on a 40 mile a day commute.
That should be it (hopefully) for the year.
Good luck - you won't notice the costs though as it's the best car in the world.
My running costs are a bit higher. I've had my 135R for 27 months. I do around 10 trackdays per year (wish I could do more!). I've averaged around £2,000 per annum in costs, mostly tyres and brakes pads, but also including some larger costs like harnesses. If you factored out the mods, it's probably closer to £1,000 per annum. Well worth every pence, though!
Hi there - thanks for the responses. I currently do about 10k miles a year, and would do one or two trackdays (that's enough as a I race as well, which gets it out of my system). That might possibly reduce to about 4k miles a year as I'm looking at jobs in London which are a commute by train instead of the car.
Running costs seem quite high, especially those rear tyres! As you all say though, it is such a fantastic car maybe I'll just have to find the money by saving less!
Running costs seem quite high, especially those rear tyres! As you all say though, it is such a fantastic car maybe I'll just have to find the money by saving less!
:-) That's good compared with me! :-) I race my Metro on medium compound 48Rs and despite driving very smoothly I only get 5 or 6 races out of a set! That's under 250 miles... I've just moved to soft ones, so we'll see how long they last!! Thankfully, they're only £50 each for the Metro!
The S2 has a tyre designed specially for it doesn't it? Can you get those at a tyre dealer such as Micheldever tyres, or do you have to get Lotus to do it?
The S2 has a tyre designed specially for it doesn't it? Can you get those at a tyre dealer such as Micheldever tyres, or do you have to get Lotus to do it?
the std tyres are Bridgstone and you can source them elsewhere...but for LTS Yokos yo have to goto a dealer/specialist
thats 4K of road use, with 1 trackday and 1 airfield day...about 200 track miles....I do know guys who do a lot of trackdays, and some of them get around 1-2K miles and 3-4 trackdays out of them
thats 4K of road use, with 1 trackday and 1 airfield day...about 200 track miles....I do know guys who do a lot of trackdays, and some of them get around 1-2K miles and 3-4 trackdays out of them
That's pretty good going :-) My racing Metro is lapping at a similar rate to a quick ELise and weighs the same - but I suppose one factor is that I am driving at the absolute limit of what the car will do (I usually set pole and then lead). I don't recall ever pushing my seven like that on a trackday.
All the above is sound advice and probably about right for the 'average' costs. Now and again though (every few yrs) you'll have the above average year of course where you get caned for tyres, brakes, pads and a big service in the same hit... then the bill adds up.
IMvHO, seeing as you're in the South of England (where there are a plethora of excellent specialists), you'd be crazy ever to waste money on a Main Dealer service.
IMvHO, seeing as you're in the South of England (where there are a plethora of excellent specialists), you'd be crazy ever to waste money on a Main Dealer service.
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