Buying a Lotus Elise S1

[mezzotint]

Hello  to all Elise owners. I need your advice.

 

Looking to buy a S1 and after scanning various sites I realise that I will need to part with at least 12 to 14k  to buy a decent one although I have seen one or two around  17k. This seems a lot for car that cost around 19k when new back in 1996/97. 

 

I have seen a few around the 8 to 9k but these have covered around 50- 70k  and dubious full service history.

 

So should i  go for low mileage car  in great condition from a reputable lotus specialist and  pay around 13k ?

 

Over to you guys and thanks.

 

[Bibs]

That sort of money should have you buying 10k miles cars. Service history and no repairs will be key at that price too if you want to retain the value.

too

[NR2k]

Very low mileage cars will often cost you more in the long run. If I was buying again I would go for a well maintained and regularly used car with a full history and evidence of the nice tweaks like stainless exhaust, remote stat, uprated suspension, and a good recent set of tyres. I am assuming here that you want to drive the car and not just collect it to look at. I'm my experience they hate sitting around and are best used regularly. We've had our elise now for 8 years, 13k on the clock when we bought it and 70k now. If you ignore the stone chips is in better mechanical condition now than when we bought it.

Edited October 22, 2014 by NR2k

[softlips]

Buy one that's been well looked after, if it's been serviced by the owner no worries if he has receipts for parts etc.

Try a few, they're all different.

[Eglise]

I went for a low mileage/ modded but well cared for '96, no regrets. Mattys have/ had a '98 that was like new that tempted me but in the end the red / cream leather combo wasn't doing it for me - you need to go and look at a few and be prepared to travel some distance

[ramjet]

Welcome to TLF John

 

Best of luck with your car hunting. I can't offer any advice on prices over there. The UK guys will be your best source of info here.

 

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