Quote:
Originally Posted by surf_lotus
Wow great write up, so can you give us a current update on your experiences of using an Elise as a DD. Also what other cars do you also have to drive instead?
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These are the cars in my garage right now.
* '06 Lotus Elise (Blue/Black)
* '02 Chevy Tahoe LT (Gray/Tan)
* '00 Chevy Camaro Z28 w/ SLP-mods (Silver/Black)
* '94 Cadillac DeVille - soon to be turned into a hotrod (Green/Tan)
... + '08 Audi TT Coupe 2.2T (Black/Black) on the shopping list...
The Lotus has been my daily-driver (hard to get into other cars unless I have to... I've been using my SUV only for the trips to Costco). I find the car to be comfortable (well, it's got A/C, CD player, trunk, etc.) and highly economical (very nice gas mileage). I wear suits to work, but as long as I take my coat off, it's very comfortable (I'm 5'7" so maybe that's why...)
My favorite things about the Lotus are,
1) Amazing styling - very purposeful design
2) My stage-II exhaust (see below)
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Only major issues I'm having are,
1) engine cutoff/misfire time to time
2) check-engine light issue (resolved for now, but may be related to #1)
3) whistling noise at high speed (100mph+) from the passenger-side window (see below)
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Around 7,000 miles, I had my right blinker go bad (see below). I got the blinker replaced.
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As a daily driver, the only issue that I need to consider, compare to the typical DD are,
1) I don't want to valet the car, so sometimes I need to call the destination ahead to get a parking space reserved.
2) The set of tires (
Yokohama ADVAN A048) that came with my sport-pack wears out fast. Great tires (amazing grip), but I will need to replace my rear tires within next 1,500 miles.
I have driven the car in a couple of rainstroms (yes, we have those in So. Cal.) and I never had any water leak problems.
If I were to buy another car as a daily driver, I think only car that can match this much fun are Lotus Exige S and Porsche 911 GT3 or GT3RS. I know the GT3/GT3RS owners might laugh at this comment, but I really think Lotus is that much fun.
