Ex Press / Management Cars?
Discussion
I've been looking at Evora's recently and seen a couple nice Sports Racers. Researching further into it, one was the ex-Pistonheads long term car, the other looks like it was used in Autocars review. Would either of these things put you off the cars, or would you say that given Lotus were lending them out... they were probably pretty good ones and well looked after to ensure the best press feedback?
I just bought an ex management car. It was one of the first demos of the MY12 cars and it went out on loan a couple of times as a result to reporters. Because it was a demo car its fully loaded and because it was a Lotus owned car it was serviced every six months and only ever left the factory gates in perfect condition. As a result, its a brilliant car which Lotus have looked after and has been treated like royalty. I would say stay away from the cars used for the track experiences but an ex Lotus press car will be just fine. Privately owned cars may or may not have had quite the same treatment and no expense spared approach.
My 2011 S was an ex-marketing car, it basically had the same life as a press car. In fact I myself spent plenty of time drifting it around the test track doing ride/drives for visitors when it was on the fleet!
The prep is very good, both during service and when de-fleeted, my car ran very well for over 40k after I bought it until I swapped for my N/A one, the only issues I had were the typical rattles and I had one breakdown because of an oil leak that became one of the recalls.
If I had any criticism over a privately owned car it would be that the interior had a little more wear from people jumping in and out of it, but less of an issue with the premium interior on the SR.
With an ex-management car I wouldn't hesitate at all, almost all will have been cared for like a private car and only used on the road with a very select few possibly being used for one or two brief sessions on track when a press/marketing car wasn't available.
ETA Just spotted about the comment about avoiding the driving academy cars, I'd agree with that; they've been driven hard relentlessly with a much longer service life. I'd be surprised if Lotus sold those mind.
The prep is very good, both during service and when de-fleeted, my car ran very well for over 40k after I bought it until I swapped for my N/A one, the only issues I had were the typical rattles and I had one breakdown because of an oil leak that became one of the recalls.
If I had any criticism over a privately owned car it would be that the interior had a little more wear from people jumping in and out of it, but less of an issue with the premium interior on the SR.
With an ex-management car I wouldn't hesitate at all, almost all will have been cared for like a private car and only used on the road with a very select few possibly being used for one or two brief sessions on track when a press/marketing car wasn't available.
ETA Just spotted about the comment about avoiding the driving academy cars, I'd agree with that; they've been driven hard relentlessly with a much longer service life. I'd be surprised if Lotus sold those mind.
Edited by The Wookie on Tuesday 16th September 10:35
Edited by The Wookie on Tuesday 16th September 10:36
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