NorCal prospective Elise buyer

[Implosion]

Hi All--first time post, but I have been digging through the forums.

I am considering buying an '05 or '06 Elise and had a couple Bay Area questions before getting too excited about it (have yet to test drive).

First, I've been through the forums but don't see much on the local Lotus dealers (BMCD and Boardwalk). Good stuff on BMCD, mixed on Boardwalk. Most of it was old. Any recent comments on either? Work near Boardwalk and was thinking of popping in. Any other non-manufacturer dealers that specialize in Lotus with whom I should get in touch?

Second, I commute from the city to Redwood City (garage parking--i live in the Sunset) on 280-380-101. As a DD, am I setting myself up for grey hairs and big chiropractor bills? I can flex my commute to miss the traffic.

Lastly, seems I used to see an Elise or two on my commute on a daily basis. Now they have all but evaporated. The GGLC forum is pretty quiet. How is the community in general?

Cheers,
C

[lotus4fun]

Originally Posted by Implosion

Hi All--first time post, but I have been digging through the forums.

I am considering buying an '05 or '06 Elise and had a couple Bay Area questions before getting too excited about it (have yet to test drive).

You need to test drive this car, as it's like no other car you have driven. OK maybe a large go kart.

First, I've been through the forums but don't see much on the local Lotus dealers (BMCD and Boardwalk). Good stuff on BMCD, mixed on Boardwalk. Most of it was old. Any recent comments on either? Work near Boardwalk and was thinking of popping in. Any other non-manufacturer dealers that specialize in Lotus with whom I should get in touch?

Sorrenne can help you as she sells cars like this http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/member.php?u=5053

Second, I commute from the city to Redwood City (garage parking--i live in the Sunset) on 280-380-101. As a DD, am I setting myself up for grey hairs and big chiropractor bills? I can flex my commute to miss the traffic.

No unless you are really tall as I commute from the east bay to Redwood

Lastly, seems I used to see an Elise or two on my commute on a daily basis. Now they have all but evaporated. The GGLC forum is pretty quiet. How is the community in general?

For service look up http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/member.php?u=4580

Eric

Cheers,
C

For service look up http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/member.php?u=4580

[Implosion]

Appreciate the reply. Just sent Sorrenne a PM.

Agreed on the test drive. Too much lack of consensus on whether an Elise does/does not make a good DD. Need to get in one and see if it works for me. I'm a bit of a performance junkie (although in other modes of transportation), and hoping I like it.

Cheers,
C

[Mr. Know]

Just FYI, Sorinne no longer works for BMCD (the Lotus Dealer in San Francisco). She works for Cars Dawydiak instead.

[Implosion]

Ty. I inferred as much from the forums. Also looks like Cars Dawydiak is a good firm from the posts I've read.

~C

[def]

Seems that Boardwalk has improved over the years, I've never heard anything bad about thier service, other than you get thrown in the service bay with thier other car brands (chevy, etc) instead of some dealers where you get put in with ferraris and lambos.

I had some warranty work done (replaced shifter) and they did fine, even took thier shuttle to my work in foster city.


I don't drive my elise to work much since i have carpool lane stickers on my hybrid, but I take 280-92 so you wouldn't see me on 101 :P

My back does hurt after long drives, but is fine for anything less than an hour or two. Everyone is different, though

[khamai]

IMHO, I think the Lotus community in NorCal, especially the Bay Area has been (since the 70s) and continues to be one of the most active and strongest in North America. A big piece of the activity is because of the GGLC and it's members.

Okay... flame suit on!

Cheers,
Kiyoshi
GGLC Webguy

[LarryB]

On the local dealers, one hasn't been mention- Silicon Valley Autogroup. They are in Los Gatos, the one I picked up my car from and have used for warranty work. Been very happy with them.

As far as the local scene goes, in the first several years (of the Elise), there were lots more informal get togethers. Now it's more organized type stuff.

I personally help put on a indoor go-kart series (last one in Feb.) In March SVAG had a open house, where they did a free check up on our cars and put on a sale. I then lead a backroad drive and had lunch over at Alice's. Autocross season has started- one a month till Oct. Last one was over the weekend. Last year I helped put on a tour of Canepa Designs along with some back road drives and lunch. Think someone may be doing so again for this summer. Am thinking of putting on a drive (did it several times in the last few years). Would be early June, up to Mt Hamilton, over the backside and into Livermore... tbd. For a informal, meet there is the Santana Row "exotic" car gathering every Saturday. The southbay is pretty active.

[Terculees]

+1 for SVAG! My Elise is there right now for service.

[Implosion]

Thank you very much for the inputs. I'll drop SVAG a line to see what they have these days. Good to hear the community is going strong. The Lotus community in general does seem to be the most robust of similar cars in class. Positive indicator of the appeal of the car, I think. Or you are all loony. ;-)

[LarryB]

The Loony's are on the east coast (LotusOwners Lotus Owners of New York). Here on the west coast it's just the plain old GGLC.

[AgentTripleX]

Thanks Eric & Craig for the referrals.

Cappy, I just left you a vm. I'll gladly help you. Not only do I sell Lotus, as well as other brands for Cars Dawydiak, but I am a Lotus owner and did the commute from SF to Menlo Park when I worked for Tesla in my Lotus. It makes the commute a lot more fun. I also worked for BMCD for 2.5 years selling Lotus, so I'm extremely knowledgeable about the brand.

[Mr. Know]

Originally Posted by LarryB

The Loony's are on the east coast (LotusOwners Lotus Owners of New York). Here on the west coast it's just the plain old GGLC.

Nice one Larry.

[Dirac]

Originally Posted by Implosion

Second, I commute from the city to Redwood City (garage parking--i live in the Sunset) on 280-380-101. As a DD, am I setting myself up for grey hairs and big chiropractor bills? I can flex my commute to miss the traffic.

I'm in the same situation — I live in SF, work in Mountain View, and at the moment I commute down and back using 280 every day, with the occasional Skyline sidetrack.

I don't think it's very harsh, but I stay away from 101 in general, since I tend to see much more bad driving there — and the road is just boring. 280 is possibly one of the finer commutes as far as those things go.

Feel free to hit me up if you need any specific advice, or need any advice on the day-to-day experience of an Elise owner in the Bay Area.

[Implosion]

Hear you on 101. Got to be in bottom quartile of interesting roads. Think a higher performance vehicle will justify the marginal extra distance from staying on 280. ;-)

[rnr]

In terms of buying a car you can try the 3 bay area dealers+Car Dawydiak. You can also buy from the Lotus Talk for sale sections (Lotus Cars for Sale - LotusTalk - The Lotus Cars Community) which has some great deals.

Daily driving the Elise is pretty easy as long as you have safe non-parallel parking on both ends. I have over 42k miles on my car (only car) including 19k in the first 12 months.

[def]

I avoid 101 just because it is crowded and people tend to not see our little cars when switching lanes, I've avoided plenty of situations where I would have been hit if I wasn't paying attention. Usually I stay just behind the car and not in the blind spot so if people move over they miss, and that has happened a bunch. Costly fix for 1 little accident

I've seen a white elise after work, around redwood city, 101N sometimes but usually on 280N, going the other way. Now I know whos it is. Must have a lot of miles

[kertong]

I bought my Elise from Sorinne at Dawydiak, and would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone interested in a nice car. If I (or my g/f) decide to get another Lotus (semi likely, actually), she'd be the first person we'd go back to.

I daily drive my Elise from San Jose to Mountain View every weekday, and drive it around on the weekends. I do keep it away from San Francisco though, as the potholes, steep driveways, and crappy traffic/drivers/parking stress me out a little more than it's worth - I want to enjoy the drive, not swear myself tired dodging SUVs and potholes.