348 or Lotus Elise?

My little brother has come into a few bucks and thinks he may be looking to blow just short of $50k on a go-fast car...to that extent he's wrestling between a 348 or a Lotus Elise.

Forget the track, forget performance (speed, handling, 0-60, etc)...he's just looking for something fun & interesting.

I think the Elise would be far more reliable, less maintenance and generally something he could use as a daily-driver and park just about anywhere. It's so small, few cars would open their doors and ding it...so it's a very practical car to own. Value-wise, it'll go down every year and then linger in the teens.

The 348 is the Marque....it is, after all, a Ferrari. Granted it's not a 430 or the latest candy to roll out of Italy...but it does have those side-strakes similar to the infamous Testarossa and it has classic lines as well. The 348 will not devaluate into the teens like the Lotus, but it will consume maintenance cost and probably isn't the most practical daily-driver to use every day.

My final suggestion to him was...if he needs a car for daily use and will put mileage on it, then the Elise is probably more practical. Btw, my brother is just 5' 4"...so he can get in & out effortlessly. If he plans to park all around the city and use the car regularly, then the Lotus is more suitable.

If he can find another car to use for daily use and just wants a spiffy car for the weekends, dates and for occassional fun...then the Ferrari is the choice.

PLEASE keep the discussion to these 2 cars. He doesn't want a boxster, bmw or old vette...it's F-Car of Lotus.

Discuss......?

 

Fun car? Lotus it is. Honestly, it is a big go kart. Tons of fun to drive.

 

It's a pretty little "big" go-kart!

 

I will not mention any other cars. But........why doesnt he get the 348 for a weekend car, and a cheap car for his day to day work hack. That way, he can drive it anywhere and not have to worry about it and the 348 can be his fun toy on the weekends or every afternoon from work. Plus the 348 has been rock solid price wise for a while now and will continue to do so. The Lotus, as you have mentioned will suffer hefty depreciation. Just my thoughts, because I have a work car (cheapy) and my 348 still gets driven alot. Cheers.

 

I hadn't thought of that.....

Your idea is EXACTLY what I told him.....

 

Haha!! Im sorry. I should have said " I agree with you blah blah blah.
Great minds think alike.

 

He should get a Carr...e....r...............

Damn!

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All kidding aside, the Lotus will lose it's luster one helluva lot quicker than the F-car will. In a few months, it would just be a tiny, little, loud and obnoxious go cart he can't sell for anywhere near what he paid for it!

ymmv.

 

Oh yeah, and if that isn't enough, he won't want to even look at that Lotus when his kidneys fail from all the abuse!

 

Good luck parking the Lotus "anywhere." I would be nervous when a slight tap from a careless driver getting out of his parallel parking space means you have to replace a clamshell.

I don't think the 348 is a particularly good car compared to what you can get for the same price.

The Lotus will be very uncomfortable if used as a daily driver.

I think the answer, if you limit yourself only to the Elise or the 348, depends completely on how he wants to use it. If he's the kind of guy that wants to get the car in order to drive on empty backroads (better yet, a track, but oh well), uh, "spiritedly," get the Elise. Otherwise, get the 348.

It doesn't sound like he's looking at the right cars, though.

 

Both are great cars but it is hard to think of two that are more different. If he wants a car that is a daily driver the choice is obvious. The statement "has come into some money" makes me think that the Ferrari is not for him. It is going to take some money to buy and even more to maintain.

 

If we have to discuss these two only, and he has a single lump sum to spend, a Lotus with a warranty will be less traumatic than a 348 due for a $5K service.

He should take an Elise to the grocery store, however, and see how that works out. Hopefully he's not too keen on economy-sized packages.

 

Elise = warranty

348 = potential $$$ breakdowns

 

You said he came into some money, but didn't mention if he has a continuing income stream he'll need to live with a 348.

I have owned both cars and neither is on my list of all time favorites. The Elise will destroy a 348 in any performance category and (if this is important to him) gets a lot of attention. Neither car is practical. If he does get an Elise, I would recommend against the sport package unless he wants to track a lot. The sport package abuses the driver a lot and the tires may last 3K miles. It still handles great without the sport package but is easier to live with on an everyday basis.

Dave

 

All very valid, concise and accurate points....thanks guys.

FWIW, my brother is 5' 4" very fit, thin and regularly regarded as the "little guy"....the ergonomics of the car will suit him just fine. He's also single and rarely buys more then 2 bags at the grocery store, the Elise's limited capacity wouldn't really bother him.

As for the money, about $20k fell into his lap from an inheritence...hardly enough to get too excited about, but enough to prompt him to finally replace his aging 300Z. He has the income to float the maintenance, BUT he's so frugal and tight (desipte his savings & income) that he'll hate cost to maintain an older car.

From an investment stand point (not something we should look at, but we do anyways)....the Lotus will depreciate into the teens...whereas the 348 (classic little brother to the Testarossa) will hold and perhaps, eventually, climb in value.

And again, neither car will he race, track or even push through the backroads...he drives very unaggressive.

I think he should get the Lotus, it'll be far more practical...and if he really wants, he can borrow his brothers 360 spider on occassion.

 

Well I'm about 5'6, single, and use an elise as an daily driver.

Parking anywhere is a definate no-no. Now I'm not so anal that I'll only park in the very back in two spaces, however I would definately not parrelle park it.

Grocery shopping, etc isn't really a problem. I find the problem largest problem is when Im out with a female friend shopping, we may have trouble fitting everything into the trunk. However, I have figured out how to transport a full size ironing board, keg and hockey gear with the car.

Now being said that he is frugal, he may not want to spend the money maintaining the elise either. Even if you don't get the sports pack, the AD07s wear out in roughly 12k miles. My first set of brake pads went around 15k, granted I did track, autox, and do many spirited canyon runs so he may get more out of them.

I says rent one from enterprise, see how he likes it. After the rental period he'll know for sure if the elise is for him or not.

 

You can rent an Elise?

The 348 is going to cost more to maintain and should only be bought by someone who really wants one. Which means, if you have to ask, get the Elise.

Birdman

 

Could not have said it better.

 

From an investment standpoint, he would do better to take the $20K to Las Vegas.

 

Elise = cheepo

348 = CHICKS!!!!!

 

The Elise you could get away with using as a daily driver. 348 has all that maintainence related stuff. If the maintainence doesn't sound like a real problem then the 348 would be a great choice as well.

Test driving both wouldn't be a bad idea either. If were in that boat I'd probably go for the Elise. I'd end up driving the 348 too much for it to be affordable

 

Tell him to get the Elise.

When Luca di Montezemolo himself bought a 348 he couldn't believe the dissapointment...thought it was a sad excuse of a Ferrari. Tell him to spend his money on a great drivers car that will come with a warranty and can drive everyday.

 

Are you a nice brother?

 

If you drive only small distances and not very often then take the elise or better take the speedster turbo. The normal elise has "no" performance(ok depends on the point of view more then a 348 but not enough for that kind of car) and gets boring very fast for a 100% fun car without any other use. Or take the lotus with the speedster turbo engine don't know the model name of it. europa or something? The elise and speedster are so small that you won't drive it long. The noise in the car is incredible loud it sounds like driving with open windows doesn't matter if the windows are closed or open. Its so small inside that you don't enjoy driving with a passanger because your shoulders or at least elbows have contact. Because of its low weigth and very small tires on the rearwheels you need to be carefull on bad roads, ecspecialy when you tune the turbo engine, you make 360°'s very fast(see picture). Its a 100% fun car so if you like to drive the car more often or longer distances then take the 348. The 348 is ofcorse also far away from a comfortable car but compared to the elise or speeder it is like driving a bmw.
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Samy
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Frankly, I don't think $50K is realistic for either one, as a daily driver. The 348 you can get for $50K will need additional work to get to "daily driver" levels, I'd think. And the options will add up fast on a Lotus.

I think of the Lotus as a fun car that's *only* about performance for the buck -- it's the ideal track car. Cheap (relatively), common parts -- except for the bodywork, which counters the "park anywhere" notion. I'd expect the Lotus to have a harsher ride and be less tolerant of road surface imperfections.

Parts might be cheaper on the Lotus, but it can be hard to find anyone who will know how to work on it. (I traded my Celica AllTrac to an EVO, because nobody knew how to fix an AllTrac anymore ... including the toyota dealer.) Just because it has a Toyota motor doesn't mean that the toyota dealers will be able to maintain it for you. If you have a Lotus dealer near you ... and he'll be around a while ... you will have fewer issues. Maybe. You're not likely to have a lot of choices between Lotus dealers.

I know you said stick to "those two", but if it's between an "Elise or an F-car" for a fun daily driver where max performance isn't the issue --- how about a mint 328? About as bulletproof as you can get in an F-car, well within your budget (with maintenance reserve), and people do tend to respect a "Magnum Car" (well, as far as they know) in a parking lot -- (except for the rusty pickups which respect nothing). And you can drive it more than 10 miles without losing your fillings. You don't need to pull the engine to change belts on the 328.

And 328s have pretty much bottomed out, and are coming back up. They may exceed the value of 348s before long.

Of course, if your brother is more "Miami Vice" era than "Magnum", he may really want the cheese graters.

Any of them are fun little machines. Any of them will hurt you severely if you don't pay attention to your driving, too.

But if these cars are the category you're looking for, there are only relative differences: ride(F), road surface tolerance(F), maintenance(L), etc.

 

Ferrari's are great, but out of the 2 I'd get the Elise. My buddy has one and its just such a great, fun car to drive. It's like your personal go-kart. You can never ever ever get bored of driving it!