The Lotus Elan
Discussion
This is a good website..
www.lotuselancentral.com
Only old wives tales I've heard are
(i) get a full geometry check before buying to make sure the chassis is straight, as it's not repairable, and
(ii) make sure the hood is in good condition as they're not cheap to replace.
Cheers,
AdrianR
Edited by adrianr on Wednesday 30th May 09:23
Hi Duncan
I've owned an M100 Elan SE for the last 3.5 years and put over 35,000 miles on the clock (all weathers incl. snow). I have never regretted buying the car. Best advice I can give is get it properly serviced and you get no problems. Roadhandling excellent, Performance good (make sure it has the turbo) and has a practicality which you wouldn't expect for a lotus ie its very reliable and has strange things such as a roof that doesn't take 4 hours to put up! and doesn't leak (do check the quality of the roof they are very expensive £800+ to replace). AND a boot you can put more than a mars bar in! I love my car, in fact I was recently given an Exige (190bhp sports exhaust etc.) to play with for a day and I still preferred my car. (less noisy, more comfortable, and not a great difference in performance on curvy roads) I know the Exige owners will argue this point but at £35,000 I felt it was overpriced for the difference.
Go for it, you won't regret it.
There are engine modifications that you can do to the Elan, although I have never seen the point having been quite satisfied. Most modifications involve rechipping to adjust the limit of the turbo.
One site that will definately interest you is http://www.lotuselancentral.com/ Which has all the informmation you will need. Also the club Lotus magazine has various companies in Britain advertising 200BHP improvements.
As for repairs/servicing they cost about the same as the Elise or other lotus cars. (not necessarily cheap but what you would expect with a car that drives like this one). I get mine serviced at Peter Smith Sports Cars In Hatton Derby at £60 per hour labour, so servicing is never "cheap" but it is good. My average service is probably £500 (works out at £1000 per year) but I've heard people pay a lot less than that through an "independant".
Hope this is of use.
Edited by smeagol on Wednesday 6th June 22:48
Thanks again Smeagol 
.
In respects to tuning I was only considering Exhaust air induction etc and wouldn't play about with the chipping/boost.
In my experience Turbo cars respond very well to breathing mod's .
£500 per service is fairly steep but like you say it is a Lotus so not too bad .
I love red as my first choice colour , is your car the SE or the newer S2 ?, I think that the SE is a bargain at the moment being around 10k .
Is this car realistic as a first car ?, I have heard some people say no but it would have to be in my case.
I like the Elan to look at much better than the Elise and will post again if I decide to go for one soon .
Thanks again.
Duncan
DuncanM
.
In respects to tuning I was only considering Exhaust air induction etc and wouldn't play about with the chipping/boost.
In my experience Turbo cars respond very well to breathing mod's .
£500 per service is fairly steep but like you say it is a Lotus so not too bad .
I love red as my first choice colour , is your car the SE or the newer S2 ?, I think that the SE is a bargain at the moment being around 10k .
Is this car realistic as a first car ?, I have heard some people say no but it would have to be in my case.
I like the Elan to look at much better than the Elise and will post again if I decide to go for one soon .
Thanks again.
Duncan
DuncanM any car is practical as a first car if you go in with your eyes open (which you seem to be doing!) my first car was an esprit..the second a diablo 
£60 per hour is quite high, even for Lotus dealers. I take mine further North (like Leicester) cos the hourly rate (which ususally contributes to most of the cost of interim services) is so much cheaper.....
If its something you really want...get one - cos if you never do you'll regret it. Also..cost wise...a lot of the real running costs for cars are petrol, tax, insurance and depreciation - things that you'll have to worry about with ANY car...so go for it! (I am the voice of temptation )
Night
£60 per hour is quite high, even for Lotus dealers. I take mine further North (like Leicester) cos the hourly rate (which ususally contributes to most of the cost of interim services) is so much cheaper.....
If its something you really want...get one - cos if you never do you'll regret it. Also..cost wise...a lot of the real running costs for cars are petrol, tax, insurance and depreciation - things that you'll have to worry about with ANY car...so go for it! (I am the voice of temptation )
Night Hi Duncan
Mine is an SE, If you go for the SE make sure it has the Turbo (some were normally asperated and I've heard are not so "hot"
. Also its important to check that its been properly serviced Cam Belts should be changed at 50,000 Miles (the manual says 60,000 but everyone at Club Lotus says that could be a risk). If its your first car I would go with a dealer, as you have more of a comeback, unfortunatly you have to pay a premium. You haven't mentioned your Age Duncan, Before handing over the readies check insurance quotes (SHOP AROUND, this year I saved £300 just by phoning around).
Nightmare is right that Peter Smith are expensive and there are lots of other services that cost less than £60/hr. However I used to go to Storm of Leicester and they were cr*p. (To the extent that Lotus wrote back to me appologising for the poor service I got!) Steering Wheel not aligned, 3 Attempts to fit an exhaust (they fitted the wrong one!) 3 Attempts to fit a roof, the list goes on and every time I had a service with them I had to take it back. Thats why I spend the money with Peter Smith, Always prompt, always excellent service. The car feels like new every time (worth the extra in my books).
Hope that has helped you out.
. Also its important to check that its been properly serviced Cam Belts should be changed at 50,000 Miles (the manual says 60,000 but everyone at Club Lotus says that could be a risk). If its your first car I would go with a dealer, as you have more of a comeback, unfortunatly you have to pay a premium. You haven't mentioned your Age Duncan, Before handing over the readies check insurance quotes (SHOP AROUND, this year I saved £300 just by phoning around).
Nightmare is right that Peter Smith are expensive and there are lots of other services that cost less than £60/hr. However I used to go to Storm of Leicester and they were cr*p. (To the extent that Lotus wrote back to me appologising for the poor service I got!) Steering Wheel not aligned, 3 Attempts to fit an exhaust (they fitted the wrong one!) 3 Attempts to fit a roof, the list goes on and every time I had a service with them I had to take it back. Thats why I spend the money with Peter Smith, Always prompt, always excellent service. The car feels like new every time (worth the extra in my books).
Hope that has helped you out.
Smeagol...interested re: Storm (cos its where I took my esprit and where the new elise will be going) (probably)
Ive always had really a really good service from them.....always been very helpful and seemed to have got it all right first time. I think I'll make a slightly more careful check this time round though!
cheers
Night
Someone recently told me that there had been a shake-up at Storm since I used them (over 3 years ago). So you might be ok, but you're right to check the work they do. If you do get a problem write to Lotus as I found them to be very helpful especially if you get involved in a "discussion" with the service manager
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