Real world running costs

[NDT]

afternoon all,
thinking of getting a S1 Elise as a day to day car, to do about 15000 miles a year.

I've already looked at insurance, but can anyone give me a good idea of realistic running costs - i.e. servicing and average fuel consumption (most of my driving is fast A-roads....)

N

[Bonce]

Yep, search the pistonheads fleet (www.pistonheads.com/members/fleet.asp) for elises with diary entries.

My car history, servicing, insurance, running costs etc is completely up to date, click on my name to view my profile and then click on the link to my car. It's a 111S though so fuel economy isn't quite as good as a standard S1.

[bogie]

Well servicing at a dealer is:

'A' svc £179 9K miles
'B' svc £279 18K miles
'C' svc £579 27K miles

specialist such as Sinclaires (www.lotusrepairs.com) will be a little cheaper.

Youll probably need 1 set of tyres a year (depending on track days etc) so thats approx £500

Probably some pads too @ £60-200 depending what you want

Fuel consumption - well I avg around 30mpg, I regularly get 40mpg on the motorway. Average around 200-250 miles on tank (38Lish)Worst Ive seen is 120miles to a tank on a trackday.

cheers

bogie

[NDT]

thanks both,
Bonce, I've already had a quick peak at your car - I did a quick search but didn't find much...

N

[loserkid]

I think Bogie is about spot on there.

I run my Elise as a daily driver and its fairly robust. I'd probably put £500 extra over the year for replacing bits that break or get broken along the way -

Headlights - unless you get headlamp covers (DOH! see other thread)

Stone chips to bonnet - completely unavoidable

Driving Lights - Apparently VERY prone to breakage (although I've only heard this as I don't have them)

Number Plate - You WILL rip off a number plate or 2 due to the clearance and Britains inability to build gradual ramps as opposed to kerbs

But all that said these bits cost bugger all to replace!

DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! You won't regret it!!!

[Gargamel]

Nevwer broke a driving light in three track days and 15k miles - but if yours has them fit the covers for 25 squid much cheaper

i averaged about 35-38 mpg I think the servicing costs are about right, the k is a cheap engine to run/fix

so its quite economical, insurance though may be an issue

[fergusd]

Gargamel said: Nevwer broke a driving light in three track days and 15k miles - but if yours has them fit the covers for 25 squid much cheaper

Lucky man, I've broken 3 driving lamps and 3 headlamps in 37K miles, all breakages on the road, none on track.

I recently replaced my driving lamp protectors following them being sandblasted to opaque, but the driving lamps underneath are as new. Covers are a must IMHO.

Fd