Speccing a 250 Cup

[lovus]

Sounds like the perfect weekend

[h-manuk]

I think I will go for the lighter shade of metallic grey and revert to black rims. I think this will contrast well with all the black aero parts.

So I'm settled on this specification

• Elise 250 Cup (base car with std alcantara with red stitching)
• Alcantara Steering Wheel
• Floor Mats
• black alloys
• metallic grey paint (std)
• Sound Insulation
• Red calipers

Thanks everyone for your input

[Neal H]

Looks good

If you're planning on a few track days, the only extra I'd add are harnesses.

[Neal H]

@PaulLF1 asked for some interior shots, so here you go...

This is the area behind the seats which shows the blanks where the rear speakers used to be. It's just a mould, so they must have used to cut it out when rear speakers were fitted.

 

Also, while cleaning the car today I noticed that I've already collected quite a few stone chips on the area in front of the rear wheel arches, it's quite well peppered already and the car has only done about 800 miles I had thought that it had protection film added from the factory in this area - I'm sure Elises used to, and my Evora certainly did, and I'm pretty sure my Exige did as well. Had I known that they don't fit it any more I'd have got it done myself. You live and learn, but next winter I'm going to have to get the sills resprayed and ppf added. An expensive mistake to make! So a word of warning to others buying a new Elise - check whether it has protection film in this area, and if not get it added before delivery, because it will get peppered with chips in a few hundred miles.

This is a picture of the area. You can't see the chips on it, but they're quite noticeable in the flesh.

[PaulLF1]

Thanks Neal for the pics.

Yes you are right about the ppf. Lotus fitted it to the exiges I had, the sprint and the LF1.

I got my LF1 ppf'd professionally and the bit that Lotus had fitted got removed first.

It was a thick covering of film that Lotus used and it certainly protected that vulnerable area.

Seems such a shame through cost cutting that they don't fit it now.

If it was me, I would raise the issue with your dealer and maybe Lotus themselves.

With Lotus cars now getting more and more expensive, you don't really want them to be saving costs in areas that are detrimental to the car!

Thanks for the photo of the speaker locations.

Lotus did fit some cutouts over the rear speaker holes on the new exiges I have seen.

Maybe now with no rear speakers being fitted to the elise/exige, the moulds are like that now.

Would be interesting to see if the wiring for the rear speakers is hidden behind the rear panel. I know someone on here found the wires tucked away on his exige.

Thanks.

Edited April 14, 2018 by PaulLF1

[Trevsked]

Had the same with my 250 Cup, assumed it had PPF in front of the rear arches like my Exige. Sadly not.

 

Trevor.

[The Pits]

I'd have made the same mistake and assumed it was on there. Essential to have PPF there. My Elise and Exige V6 had it for sure.

My Elise didn't have aircon and I only missed in once in 5 years (on a hot motorway in Italy). The roof was off at every available opportunity so no point in having the aircon on, you can't cool the atmosphere (if only we could!).

Nice spec Cup. Not sure I'd bother with sound deadening either, maybe it will make it quieter with the roof up so at least you have the option of more refined motorway cruising if you need it. I definitely wouldn't bother with a stereo and would skip aircon also.

[PaulLF1]

I notice on the latest Elise and Evora models, Lotus have added something where the PPF used to be.

See pics:

Can anyone elaborare on what this material is?

And Pits, did your GT430 come like this and is it something you can easily take off before applying the PPF?

[The Pits]

The 430s come with PPF underneath the 'shark's fin' which acts as extra protection. The whole of that panel is PPF'd from the factory as is the bottom of the doors, part of the rear wheel arches and inside the rear wheel arch vents.

In contrast I saw a Cup 250 today, utterly lovely thing by the way, we were all quite taken by it, but it had no PPF at all in front of the rear wheel arch. I think the rationale is that the barge boards provide some stone chip protection. I'm sure they do but as Neal's pics prove it still needs PPF there. 

[scotty435]

http://www.lotuscars.com/elise-cup-250S

Says it comes with clear sill protection in the latest sales brochure. Not what the customer wants if it's not fitted as expectations.

[Neal H]

Thanks for the link @scotty435 I'll see what the dealer has to say. out of interest , did your previous gen 250 have ppf fitted there?

[scotty435]

16 minutes ago, Neal H said:

Thanks for the link @scotty435 I'll see what the dealer has to say. out of interest , did your previous gen 250 have ppf fitted there?

No Neil it did not, but I did know that at the time of purchase because the dealership mentioned to me it was not a standard fitment anymore and there was no mention like there is now of it being standard fitted item on the sales brochure. But when the lastest gen came out there where lots of previous customers not happy that the new cup had it as standard again and when the latest gen Cup was released i was interested what they looked like and the the ones I did see had the 3m sill protection like my previous Elise and Exige.

[alexthewheelman]

@Neal H Who fitted your harnesses and harness bar? Also where did you get them from?

[Neal H]

@alexthewheelman I ordered them from Seriouslylotus and had them delivered to Silverstone who fitted them for me.

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/schroth-lotus-ii-fe-4pt-asm-push-button

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/v6-harness-bar

[Arun_D]

On 17/02/2018 at 19:11, Neal H said:

 

Neal, it looks like you've adjusted them since this photo was taken, at least on the passenger side, but just in case,  you want those steel harness webbing sliding buckles nice and close to the bar, certainly not protruding through the slots over to your side of the seat.

[alexthewheelman]

On 27/04/2018 at 16:27, Neal H said:

@alexthewheelman I ordered them from Seriouslylotus and had them delivered to Silverstone who fitted them for me.

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/schroth-lotus-ii-fe-4pt-asm-push-button

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/v6-harness-bar

Thanks Neal

[JG220]

I think i'm settling on this specification:

• Full Carpet
• Floor Mats
• Alcantara steering wheel
• Alcantara Facia Vents (would prefer in leather but don't want to spec leather pack)
• Alcantara Sill covers (would prefer in leather but don't want to spec leather pack)
• Air conditioning
• Sound Insulation
• Cruise control

I'd also try to get the soft replaced with the hardtop (else i'd have to add HT to that list)

I've also left of Stereo which might be a mistake. 

I'm not quite sure what the standard stitching colour is or whether it can be chosen. I don't think stitching colour is part of interior colour pack afaik. 

That leaves the delicate question of colour 

I really do like toxic, and i think i prefer it with a colour coded HT and Rollhoop cover. I'm not a big fan of matte black. The other option would be to do the black bits in phantom black (which the factory has confirmed is possible) 

Trouble is, if you do the HT and Rollhoop in body colour, what about the bonnet and boot? And if you do those too, what about the rear light surround? And that leaves just the splitter, sills and spoiler, which could be specified in carbon to get rid of the last vestiges of matte. 

Or just leave it standard. 

 

[Neal H]

19 hours ago, JG220 said:

• Full Carpet
• Floor Mats
• Alcantara steering wheel
• Alcantara Facia Vents (would prefer in leather but don't want to spec leather pack)
• Alcantara Sill covers (would prefer in leather but don't want to spec leather pack)
• Air conditioning
• Sound Insulation
• Cruise control

Full carpets - I actually like the exposed aluminium look, especially in the Cup version.

Floor mats - Definitely.

Alcantara steering wheel - I wish I had specified this!

I'm fairly sure you can specify leather for the facia vents and sill covers without the full leather pack. mine has them with the alcantara seats. I'm not sure but I think you can specify either red or yellow stitching at no cost.

Aircon - Important for resale I'm told and very useful for demisting I've found, so worth the money.

Sound insulation - Definitely - It's a noisy place to be even with it fitted.

cruise - useful to have.

Stereo - You won't miss it and the standard fit item is very poor. Having said that, I think a fancy system in a 250 Cup would be a complete waste of money.

Colour is of course entirely personal, but I agree about the matte black areas. I think it just looks like unpainted plastic so really needs to be either painted or carbon.

I wouldn't want the front splitter in carbon as although ground clearance isn't bad, it's almost inenvitable that at some stage it will get caught on a ramp or hump.

Finally, don't forget to make sure the dealer gets ppf fitted to the sills and rear arches as they don't fit it at the factory any longer on the 250 Cup, and as a result the paint will get buggered up within a few hundred miles.

[CocoPops]

Just checked my 220 (March built) and it has ppf applied to sill area in front of rear wheel. Follows line of vent downwards, doesn’t continue towards front of car.

[Neal H]

It's only the 250 Cup that they leave it off. I assume they think the barge boards provide enough protection. They don't.

[scotty435]

Replaced my soft top with a hard top at no cost option, I have full carpets which I do like, just makes the interior feel a bit more upmarket and brings sound insulation, agree on stereo you can fit a better one for less money if you want, the wires will still be there, not a big fan on the Matte black even though my car as it, can understand going for colour coded front excess cover and engine cover and rear wing, but roof and rollhoop looks better in Matte black. I had green stitching at no cost to me, Toxic is a good colour and looks great in sunlight and good for resale. Just my opinion for what it counts.

[JG220]

Neal, did you spec the leather on the dash vents?

I added alcantara as I was told doing nothing results in bare plastic like my Elise. 

I would much prefer leather than alcantara 

Edited June 6, 2018 by JG220

[Neal H]

I don't think I did. The only non-standard interior trim item I specified was having the gear gate surround painted yellow (I didn't want the full interior colour pack).

It just came with the leather sill panels and dash vents. I assumed leather was standard and you had to spec alcantara if you wanted that. It's worth getting it double-checked. I found Lotus quite accomodating when it came to making 'non-standard' changes, so if you want leather dash vents, just ask them.

[SFO]

 I thought standard 250 Cup was a leather Alcantara interior, with leather everywhere except on the seat centres which are Alcantara 

[scotty435]

Leather sills and vent surrounds where part of some quality improvements made to the 250 when it was first launched and carried on though out the Elise range, all Elise's and Exige's come with leather vent surrounds unless you spec Alcantara. There was a press release where JMG was talking about the same improvements a few years ago, will find and post it.