Considering an Elise...
Discussion
Hi people, I'm after a bit of advice really.
My insurance is up for renewal on my ZR 105 on my birthday in December and I've been toying with changing cars. I've seen a few Elises near the £10k mark and have been informed some are group 17 insurance.
Basically, I'd like to know whether the purchase cost is too expensive for me (I want cheap as possible), whether it's insurable sub £2k and also what the running costs are like.
It might be a silly idea, on the other hand it might not.
My insurance is up for renewal on my ZR 105 on my birthday in December and I've been toying with changing cars. I've seen a few Elises near the £10k mark and have been informed some are group 17 insurance.
Basically, I'd like to know whether the purchase cost is too expensive for me (I want cheap as possible), whether it's insurable sub £2k and also what the running costs are like.
It might be a silly idea, on the other hand it might not.
Depends on how old you are really and postcode etc but generally I dont know many people that pay more than £1500 to insure them.
Running costs - well they are pretty cheap to run compared to most other sports cars...but not compared to your average hatchback.
Servicing is every 9K miles and 3 types A B and C in the order AABAACAABAAC so every 27K miles you get a more expensive one
typical prices from good dealers and specialists are:
A £180
B £270
C £550
...some dealers may have horrendous labour rates and charge 50% more than this though.
Fuel economy is excellent - official figures are something like 45mpg and 33mpg with a 38mpg avg. Realistic figures that I achieve are 40mpg on the motorway and never less than 25-30mpg except on track
This dosent tell the whole story though - the consumables. If you actually want to use the car as intended then things are gonna wear out so you need to budget for these:
tyres: £600 a set, rears prob 8-12K miles, fronts 12-18K miles
brake pads: up to £200 a set every 20K miles or so
then you ve got track rod ends, ball joints, geo checks, clutches etc
you may be lucky, get a car and do 12K miles in it with just a service and a set of tyres..you may buy a car and 3 months later need to spend £2K on it to refresh suspension components and do a cambelt change (C service)
for £10K you are not gonna be picking up a low mile mint example from a dealer so be realistic about running costs - £1K bills from B services (every 27K) are not out of the ordinary to keep a car in good nick.
....and thats before you start wanting to fit a few mods like a sports exhaust (£350) induction kit (£200) etc
So really you want to be budgeting £100 a month minimum into your savings account to do 12K miles a year in one IMHO (or have a large credit limit on your plastic!) + £100-130 a month insurance + buying the car
these figures are from my own experiences so Im sure other owners will be along with their typical figures
Best advice is if you cant afford to buy a good one and keep it in good nick is to wait until you can...also no good saying you'll only do 6K a year in it to justify affording it - you wont be able to keep out of the thing
(done 27K in the last year in mine!)
HTH
bogie
ps - try looking through the classifeds both on Pistonheads and at www.seloc.org for enthusiast owned cars that *should* be well looked after
>> Edited by bogie on Wednesday 1st October 18:46
Running costs - well they are pretty cheap to run compared to most other sports cars...but not compared to your average hatchback.
Servicing is every 9K miles and 3 types A B and C in the order AABAACAABAAC so every 27K miles you get a more expensive one
typical prices from good dealers and specialists are:
A £180
B £270
C £550
...some dealers may have horrendous labour rates and charge 50% more than this though.
Fuel economy is excellent - official figures are something like 45mpg and 33mpg with a 38mpg avg. Realistic figures that I achieve are 40mpg on the motorway and never less than 25-30mpg except on track
This dosent tell the whole story though - the consumables. If you actually want to use the car as intended then things are gonna wear out so you need to budget for these:
tyres: £600 a set, rears prob 8-12K miles, fronts 12-18K miles
brake pads: up to £200 a set every 20K miles or so
then you ve got track rod ends, ball joints, geo checks, clutches etc
you may be lucky, get a car and do 12K miles in it with just a service and a set of tyres..you may buy a car and 3 months later need to spend £2K on it to refresh suspension components and do a cambelt change (C service)
for £10K you are not gonna be picking up a low mile mint example from a dealer so be realistic about running costs - £1K bills from B services (every 27K) are not out of the ordinary to keep a car in good nick.
....and thats before you start wanting to fit a few mods like a sports exhaust (£350) induction kit (£200) etc
So really you want to be budgeting £100 a month minimum into your savings account to do 12K miles a year in one IMHO (or have a large credit limit on your plastic!) + £100-130 a month insurance + buying the car
these figures are from my own experiences so Im sure other owners will be along with their typical figures
Best advice is if you cant afford to buy a good one and keep it in good nick is to wait until you can...also no good saying you'll only do 6K a year in it to justify affording it - you wont be able to keep out of the thing
(done 27K in the last year in mine!) HTH
bogie
ps - try looking through the classifeds both on Pistonheads and at www.seloc.org for enthusiast owned cars that *should* be well looked after
>> Edited by bogie on Wednesday 1st October 18:46
Thanks, that's a first class reply
Mileage should be relatively low, I don't have to do a vast amount of miles before it comes to fun time anyway.
My current car is paid in full so it'd be ~£3k to upgrade.
I get approx 26mpg doing short journeys in the ZR. At the min I have approx £10k in savings with £7k to come in student loans over the next 3 years. A plus point is that I guess depreciation will be a lot less severe on an Elise than on a ZR.
Is there anyone in the East Anglia region who could give me a passenger ride in one before I seriously look into it?
I have looked at the PH ads, some nice examples there.
>> Edited by Muncher83 on Wednesday 1st October 19:11
Mileage should be relatively low, I don't have to do a vast amount of miles before it comes to fun time anyway.
My current car is paid in full so it'd be ~£3k to upgrade.
I get approx 26mpg doing short journeys in the ZR. At the min I have approx £10k in savings with £7k to come in student loans over the next 3 years. A plus point is that I guess depreciation will be a lot less severe on an Elise than on a ZR.
Is there anyone in the East Anglia region who could give me a passenger ride in one before I seriously look into it?
I have looked at the PH ads, some nice examples there.
>> Edited by Muncher83 on Wednesday 1st October 19:11
Totally agree with Bogie on this one. Don't buy one thinking you will *may* be able to afford to do it. Expect to spend some money on it, after all it is a sports car!!
The servicing costs are from Wilsons who are IMHO quite a bit cheaper than elsewhere (add £100 or so to each one). It also depends on usage, and again, don't kid yourself on this one. If you are thinking of doing a couple of trackdays a year, budget for 4 or 5. With that will go a new set of tyres at least a year, brake pads and disks etc.....
I am really not trying to put you off this at all, I went through a very similar process. All I am saying is that if you do do it go into it with your eyes open. It ain't going to be cheap. Not prehaps as expensive as other sports cars (TVR, 'rarri, Porsche etc)but you are not running a hot hatch any more, and it can take it's toll. The most frustrating thing that could happen it that you will have bought one, have a couple of months grinning and then half a year weeping 'cos it needs a new clutch, gearbox, set of tyres. Either that or you could find yourself going down in debt over it.
But, after all the doom and gloom, if you do rationalise it, you will never regret it.
Rob
PS New shape Elan anyone?
The servicing costs are from Wilsons who are IMHO quite a bit cheaper than elsewhere (add £100 or so to each one). It also depends on usage, and again, don't kid yourself on this one. If you are thinking of doing a couple of trackdays a year, budget for 4 or 5. With that will go a new set of tyres at least a year, brake pads and disks etc.....
I am really not trying to put you off this at all, I went through a very similar process. All I am saying is that if you do do it go into it with your eyes open. It ain't going to be cheap. Not prehaps as expensive as other sports cars (TVR, 'rarri, Porsche etc)but you are not running a hot hatch any more, and it can take it's toll. The most frustrating thing that could happen it that you will have bought one, have a couple of months grinning and then half a year weeping 'cos it needs a new clutch, gearbox, set of tyres. Either that or you could find yourself going down in debt over it.
But, after all the doom and gloom, if you do rationalise it, you will never regret it.
Rob
PS New shape Elan anyone?
Costs really depend how you use it. If its just a road car its not too bad if you have a decent example thats been maintained. As soon as you start to track it etc costs increase radically. I've been through tyres, ball joints, bent alloys, extra oil changes etc. It all adds up, but I have a no expense spared outlook on the car so you could probably cut a few corners. Not something I'd do though.
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