Elise as a commuter

[justcantpark]

is it impractical to consider driving an elise 45 miles to and from work every day? thrill aside, will it overwhelm me both in the morning when I am gearing up for the day, and in the evening when I am exhausted? is the road noise going to be bothersome? will it leak like water through the little cracks between the hardtop and the windows like the Porsche 914 I drove in college did? (maybe not right off the bat, but in a few years to come?) will the heavy milage prematurely age the car? Will the somewhat decent gas milage be combated by a heafty general cost of opperation?

Man... I am so dying to get this car, but it is going to have to be my daily driver (which includes groceries)

what do you think? should I get the Ford escape that was my practical alternative? I hope not.

Okay, please be real with me... and, go!

[def]

If you can afford this car, you could always afford a daily beater...

Originally Posted by justcantpark

is it impractical to consider driving an elise 45 miles to and from work every day?

No other than depreciation, my 05 elise is "high mileage" at 31k miles. Oh my body gets sore when I'm in it more than an hour or two.

thrill aside, will it overwhelm me both in the morning when I am gearing up for the day, and in the evening when I am exhausted?

Sometimes after a long day of work I'm glad I took my hybrid and I can pay less attention to the car when driving [/quote]

is the road noise going to be bothersome?

It's more than a non sports car, especially since the engine is right behind you. you also get a lot of road noise in due to grippy tires, and the thin aluminum chassis. if you have the stock exhaust, it shouldn't be TOOOO bad.

will it leak like water through the little cracks between the hardtop and the windows like the Porsche 914 I drove in college did? (maybe not right off the bat, but in a few years to come?)

possibly, but usually leaks can be fixed, some easier than others.

will the heavy milage prematurely age the car?

probably not. some people have had coolant or oil lines go loose on them and wierd things like that, but it seems most dont stem directly from mileage. toyota engine seems pretty reliable other than the cam lobe issue. i had mine checked 5k miles ago and all seemed ok..

Will the somewhat decent gas milage be combated by a heafty general cost of opperation?

probably - if you drive a sports car you'll probably be be doing maintenance a lot more often than a camry.

Man... I am so dying to get this car, but it is going to have to be my daily driver (which includes groceries)

Quite a few people on here use it as daily driver. the general consensus is if its your only car, its hard to pull off. If you get groceries, get a boot bootie or something, otherwise everything slides around freely in the trunk and can end up damaging the fiberglass rear clam ($$$$). Also when I shop with a passenger, I can't get medium sized things that I'd normally put in the passenger seat or footwell (IE 30 case of beer )

[Aedo]

Loads of info here - The official, ONE AND ONLY, Can This Lotus Be Used As A Daily Driver thread

[MikeinAlexandria]

I have to say that the Elise is one of the most comfortable cars for a day of driving. Some thing about how the seat fits... It just works. Airlines should have Elise seats. I drove over three hundred miles on Saturday and got home feeling better than when I left! I think having legroom, etc helps. The road noise is not bad, you probably wouldn't notice it on short trips. Get soft and hard tops, because the car really is great to drive with the roof off. Maintenance has been easy because of the Toyota drivetrain. Go for it!

[Roger]

I drove mine 50 miles to work and back for 3 years, before I retired. Not a problem!

[jasper]

recently started daily driving our exige and I think it makes a great daily driver, not just something that can be done

fun to drive, good gas mileage, and I find it very comfortable and not that noisy in normal driving

you can fit a surprising amount of groceries in the car as well, and if you use the passenger seat, as much as you will probably ever buy

the only caveat is parking - I have covered garage parking at both places I work. i wouldn't want to have to leave it on the street or parallel park it -- tons of info on the perils of that maneuver

and lastly, driving a ford escape isn't really living

[Lifespan]

Originally Posted by def

If you can afford this car, you could always afford a daily beater...

Not if you blew all your cash on the car... but I also don't go out and grab a beater because I bought this car so I could still have fun during those boring commutes.


-Is it impractical to consider driving an elise 45 miles to and from work every day?
It's not practical compared to most cars, but I wouldn't say impractical. It will get the job done just fine.

-Will it overwhelm me both in the morning when I am gearing up for the day, and in the evening when I am exhausted?
The car is actually very easy to drive. I have no idea where the rumor got out that you need to work to drive it. Sure, it doesn't drive itself like some AWD automatic, but I bought mine when I was spending all my time in an AWD auto and found the transition to be very easy.

Is the road noise going to be bothersome?
It's not quiet, but not overwhelming at all. The only thing I had to do was buy a good bluetooth set with noise cancelling so I could still use my phone when I drive.

-Will it leak like water through the little cracks between the hardtop and the windows like the Porsche 914 I drove in college did?
Mine does not, but there are walkthroughs here on the forum on how to adjust the windows to stop that. It's really not a big deal.

-Will the heavy milage prematurely age the car?
Not any more than most cars. It's a sports car, so it's not made to be a calm, boring, ultra-reliable transport, but it's still a good car.

-Will the somewhat decent gas milage be combated by a heafty general cost of opperation?
The gas mileage is great for a sports car, but nothing special to cars in general. You are not going to save a ton of money on gas (and it will be worse than a standard commuter vehicle). Cost of ownership is higher than most other cars.

-Man... I am so dying to get this car, but it is going to have to be my daily driver (which includes groceries)
It depends on your lifestyle, but this might not be the car for you. Mine is my daily driver and commute vehicle, but my wife drives an overly functional car that ends up getting most of the use. For errands and shopping, an Elise is not the car to get. The only time I could see the Elise being acceptable as the only car in a household is if you live in a heavy metro area where your car really does not need an function other than basic personal transport. Single, pet-free, city apartment living (with a locked parking garage). Otherwise you will need another car around.


Also, add me to the list of people whose back gets tired in the car. I can drive it about 2 hours in a day without a problem, but on days with a lot of driving, I'll start to get a little sore at about the 3 hour mark. I also have the hard 05 seats and am 6'3", so likely slouching a bit. I have not tried anything though, so I bet a small lumbar pillow would probably fix the problem. That or some new seats...

[kestrel74]

Ahhhh the DAILY.....DAILY Driver thread.

[glacialmoraine]

I daily drove a 1971 VW van for like 3 years in the late 90s. No heat, no ac, no defrost, no warranty, 45 HP, 3000 LBS. no rear view, rust holes, constantly breaking on me and up all night fixing this and that. 0-60, possibly.

Anything that gets you to and from work is a daily driver. The lotus can do that. Bonus with the lotus is you will have fun doing it.

Oh, the drivetrain being toyota (more or less) makes all those bits cheap(ish) to replace if they croak, availability reliablity, and price of spares are good on the Exige, anything not lotus specific anyway. I'd never daily drive an esprit unless I was loaded.

So, AC, heat, warranty, power windows, goes like a rocket. Why not drive it everyday.

gm

[fast+forward]

Originally Posted by kestrel74

Ahhhh the DAILY.....DAILY Driver thread.

as long as people keep answering redundant questions redundant threads will recur