Elise 160 - Everyday car ?

[pdavison]

I have been looking for a new toy and have found an Elise 160 (one of the last made on a Y plate).

What do you guys think about using one of these for an everyday car. I do a round trip of 50 miles a day, a lot of which is on the motorway, is the car going to be ok to do this?

I've always liked the Elise, but having driven the standard car I was little disappointed with the performance (sorry !), am I right in presuming the 160 will be a significantly quicker car?

Any opinions or thoughts would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Paul

[bogie]

My friend has a Sport 160 and uses it daily - think hes done around 28K miles in 2 years in it no probs, as do loads of other people.

It is certainly a bit quicker - but due the the nature of the power delivery you dont really notice it until over 4.5k revs. On a std car the idle is a little lumpy - most owners fit a set of verniers and get the cams re-timed ...I believe Lotus are offering an improved map for the S160 EFI ECU ...but it costs around £700 ...for that price you could fit an Emerald programmable jobbie and tinker away to your hearts content.

some good sources for info
www.enticknapd.fsnet.co.uk/ (Dans Sport 160 site)

www.elises.co.uk (Rob Collingridges comprehensive Elise resource)

www.british-cars.co.uk (very active Elise BBS)

www.seloc.org (free Lotus owners club & BBS)

HTH

bogie

[DanH]

If you want more useable power maybe try and track down a turbo technics supercharged one.