Elise / Exige Questions?

damn, that's just like my old car!

great color combo IMO

that price, even given the low miles, is almost $10k high. good luck!

 

Not sure if the price is 10K high but....

$23K-25 for one with normal use. The car does not have any spectacular options.
Deserves a premium for mileage and condition. But the mileage premium only makes sense if you dont drive it.

Owning an Elise for 3 years now, drive it! Its way more fun if you drive it

 

Yeah, I was thinking it was a bit high too, especially for a 2005. Thanks for the input. Obviously one would expect a bit of a premium for low miles, but not 40% of the value of a typical car!

 

Thanks for posting that. I thought the Toyota engine would be bulletproof. I was jonesing for the orange 2006 Exige on ebay last week.

 

I have a friend with a supercharged Exige, only use has been on track for 18K miles and no engine or tranny issues whatsoever. He does change the oil after everytrack day.

I am guessing that at tracked lotus with yearly oil changes is going to have cam issues, others not

 

I don't like financing either, and honestly don't plan on it, but PenFed's 1.49% is hard to argue against. I keep finding myself thinking about it.

 

Guys I've been on LT for years and I race in the LotusCupUSA series. Some of these track cars get seriously abused but I haven't met anyone personally with the cam lobe wear issues. I have read some of the threads, but I think it is over magnified.
It's like when everyone questions Aston Martin's reliability - I've had two with no issues.
I would have absolutely no qualms getting an 05 or 06 Elise. These cars are VERY worth the money. And the driving experience is unparalleled.
Jump on one!

 

I only know of one car with cam lobe issues and it resulted in a full engine replacement (paid for by Lotus)

 

I would bet any engine damage is from serious over reving. I have had several Toyotas. Never any engine issues. Really never any issues with anything on a Toyota.

 

IIRC it was a (small) batch of improperly machined parts. if it was over revving I don't think Lotus would be handing out free engines.

 

Here's what I know, which isn't much. The cam lobes were improperly hardened. It shouldn't effect every engine, and has been reported in 2008's as well (or one 2008 that I came across). Especially if the engine is not supercharged, it is apparently an easy deal (10-15 minutes) to pull the valve cover and do a visual inspection. Seems like you could just have that as a condition of a pre-purchased inspection. I track my Exige, and there are a lot of Loti in this area on the track, and I had not heard of the problem until this thread. The only thing that would seem to be disturbing is that I have yet to read how to know you are getting a cam without issues, as it is suggested that bad cams are still in the supply lines.

S

 

this could be right but my experience when I had a 2006 Elise sport and in the central Forida Lotus club was the cam is lubricated by drip lubrication. Some of the cars had the holes not drilled correctly at the factory. Some cars are okay like mine others are not. I know two owners who had the cam gauling problem and this was the cause. Most people had no problem.

It can be visually checked easily as the gentleman says. I never heard of the cams themselves being bad but any thing is possible.

He made a good suggestion on a prepurchase inspection.

Lee

 

I am told it is improper surface hardening. That sounds right. I have had a new engine have a lobe go flat. If it is a heat treat issue, it should happen promptly and an engine with any mileage to speak of should either have the problem already or never have it

 

That's what I heard as well. My post wasn't specific enough, and I know there is a difference (overall hardness versus surface hardness). Sorry.

 

Yikes. $25K with all those problems??? Not. Gonna. Happen.

 

I owned a 2006 Elise sport. A wonderful car. Those items plus someone mentioned poorly heat treted and therfeore soft cam shaft. I never saw or heard of that.

I would check and be sure of the electrics. The Air conditioner does not work well with out a modest modification Without this you only get cool air for under 300 minutes then the condenser fresses up.

Get a sport model if you can find one. Make sure you get the top. Since most are tracked I would have the car checked for wear and tear. When you drive it at 6500 rpm the car explodes in power if ot does not there is an elec problem. Check for cracks on the mags. If they hit a bump fast they can crack and must be replaced. This is very rare. early ferraris had the same problem and they were really expensive to replace

Good luck. if you get a good car you will love it. I would also call a dealership to be sure they can still get parts. Lotus is having some corporate problems and the US government only requires 15 years of parts after the last car is built.

Lee