Am in two minds in what car to go for next, A've just put a deposit down on a E36 320i convertible Bmw, But i got given a go of my dads mates old shape lotus elise at the weekend and i loved it!! I think i want one now!!?? This is a really big decesion coz ave bin savin up for the past year to be able to play with these sort of cars at the age of 19.

cud you help me out people!!??

Repair Costs have to be a factor too ?

Can you afford to keep them on the road?

My pennies worth..

i personally would go for the beemer...

as i dont like elises... they are awful cars yuck..

but its upto you isnt it

if you can afford the elise and you really want one why not get one?

I know that the repair costs on the bmw aint that chhep but its a thing am not really bothered about coz am a engineer at trade so am quite hanny with a spanner!


What would you go for if it was your money!!??

if it was my money the BM

deffo

beemers are well sexy

and to be honest elises are awful

and men look silly driving them... like men look silly driving the new mini's

insurance??

no-ones mentioned it yet

on both cars it'll be high, but obviously it'll be cheaper on the beemer

Plus Elises' are for women and gays in my opinion

....but they do handle very very well, and have a great power to weight ratio.

Down side is the impracticality of them, the roof is a nightmare, there is no space in them, the sterio was an option (As was carpet I think).

Been in an Elise and it was fantastic, handling was amazing, so dont get one because i want one

Elise is a bit inpractical if your using it every day

VX220. An elise but with better looks IMO

If you can afford a new BM why not go for a "nearly new" merc. A lot more classy and quicker if you get a big engined one

E55 AMG??

If its a 1on1 between the BM and the lotus i say BM

At 19 how much have you saved?

Without a doubt I would buy an Elise. I followed one of these through the twisty foresty roads in Derbyshire and they handle amazingly, don't think they're girly cars at all, if I was looking for that type of car that's what I'd get.



But if you're only 19-20, expect insurance well into 4 figures.

good point, can you afford it, insurance, to run and to buy it, and i bet parts aint cheep too

If you liked the elise take a vx220 for a spin. They handle loads better

Well a've go about £7000 all 2gether but if i wait another few months i cud get maybe another 2k, aswell as a've got me carbine blue corsa gsi thats gettin repaired at the mo, also me silver astra sport! so they both will have to be sold.

so the elise isn't far off! ya car pick them up on ebay for £8000+ If am goin get a elise what colour is best, i think the yellow one is nice!

a';ve looked in to insurance and was goin go for a trade policy coz am buyin cars all the time to do up!! i wouldnt be really that bothered about have little space in the elise, i was thinkin about the elise coz its a good track day car!

Don't really like the vx220(the way it looks) and merc's are for old men!!

Get a black one - I'm sure VX220's are in fact Elise's, identical apart from the body. They both put in same times around a track, with the VX averaging .2 seconds quicker. You can even bolt Elise seats straight into a Vauxhall.
Reckon they'll hold their price better as well.

anybody else got there views!!??

yellow elise with black rims

Nuff sed. BMWs are far too common,everyman withb at least a grand gets a 3 series.The only 3 series' worth havin are the 330Ci with sporty bodykit and the M3/M3 convertable

The AMG mercs are proper good.One guy on DDC has one.Its ****in mega and will soon be pushin 600 BHP

Nice but thats silly, i would probly never be able to afford that so brings back to the subject plz!

Go for the BMW like ive said to you all along hun

But the lotus elise is sooooo sexy tho!!

Anyone that calls an elise girly has never been in one and to some extent they could be gay for overlooking a good car just because they're got a bad persona of it.

Talking from experience of being in one thats been de-catted and has a induction kit, its fantastic, its definetly one of the best handling cars i've been in, damn fast too for a n/a car, definetly a car you can have fun in But, its not to practical, getting in and out of them is anoying, even for us blokes that dont wear skirts, the roof takes more than a minuite to put back together, no carpet doesnt make it feel to cosy either. But, its effectivly a race car for the road, great car, but i'd only have one if i had something else i could run around in

hth

Well am thinkin about running the elise and still havin me gsi for takin me mum to the shops lol!!

thanxs for the help mate (MisterAdam)

Sounds like a plan

Your not going to be able to drive a soft top race car all the time as it will get anoying, sounds like it'd be great to have a sports car to drive all the time but the bumpy ride, noise, lack of music and carpets will make you hate the car if your in out in the pissing down rain etc.

Definetly keep the corsa, it'll make you appriciate the elise more when u drive that

Look into if they have leaky roofs or not, the guy who owned the one i went in said it leaks from time to time, and your gonna have to take me out in it when/if you get it lol

Booked atest drive of the 160 model the fella wants £13000 for it its in bright yellow too!!! can't wait bring saturday on!!!

Mate of mine has an Elise at the moment as a loan car whilst his Fiat Coupe is being repaired under warrenty, and says he loves it though he says he could only put up with the impracticallity of it if it was a second car - he couldnt live with it day in day out...

What elise has he got?? cud ya tell me wat sort of things go on them!!??

Dunno, its just the bog std one, summut to do with the warrenty company provinding another performance car if his needed warrenty work.

His car is a Fiat Coupe, the Elise is the courtesy car, and he says its very impractical

does anyone know what sort of problems you have with the early shape lotus elise

"K" Series engine, so headgasket problems are common

I like the old MR2s. The shape that got the 355 conversions done. Not sure what mk it is but u know the one. They look cool modded,and have nice engine/drive setups

nothin wrong with a yellow car mate , nothing at all

I've only just read this thread, can't beleive I missed it!
The BMW is more user friendly and practical and still turns a few heads IMO. You should pick up any convertable cheap as it's the end of the summer. Don't let sellers try to fool you as soon they will become desperate. That goes the same for the Elise.
Iam a Lotus fan through and through, if it's an Elise you want then insurance try Footman James or Classicline and get a limited mileage policy. Iam only paying £600 for my 2000 V8 with 350BHP. Iam a bit older than you (34!) but it's cheaper than normal insurance that was quoting me £1500.
If you join a club then these will give you more discount off your insurance.
As for servicing, pennies compared to the BMW. I use a Lotus only Specialist in wallasey who charge's next to nothing. They only do Lotus, PNM Engineering 0151 630 6101. Don't get confused with the one on the dock road called Keywest.
Even if you took it to the main dealer, they charge less per hour than Esprits (for some strange reason) and this is less than your Ford main dealer.

Head gaskets can go but will be cheaper to fix than the BMW.
The Elise will also get you on trackdays which are the best thing you can do in a car (Legally!). Even the bog standard one will keep up with almost anything given a good driver.
Down side is there's a lot of Elises that have been tracked. Also if you bump it then it's GRP so more expensive to fix. Sprayforce have done more than a dozen body repairs and new clamhells.
Might be better buying a bog standard one and putting an upgrading the engine. you see them in clasifieds, 135-160 BHP engines.

cheers boss, that was very helpful!! think a yellow elise is for me!! may wait till crimbo coz a've just started anew job in warrington and am doin 70miles aday so i may wait till i move back to portsunlight to get one(just after crimbo)

I've had them all in at work and i can say that the elise is a very good track tool but they are very expencive to fix . I've got one in for a front end & it's going to be over £2000! , and that was a very slow crash . The vx is the same shell with a better engine ..