The history of my 2006 Lotus Elise SCCPC11146HL30039

[carlover]

In the interest of protecting any future owner of my car, I feel it is my responsibility to make anyone interested in SCCPC11146HL30039 be aware of its history.

The car was originally purchased in Houston in Jan of 2006, I believe.

I am the second owner, and bought the car with a little over 4k miles in October of 2006.

During the two years while it was in my possesion I made at least 20 unscheduled visits to the local Lotus dealer for the same persistant issues.

1. The a/c fan relay that we've all heard about, was never able to be permenantly fixed. They reflashed the ECU at least twice, failing that replaced it at least once. Finally followed the TSB and installed the appropriate diode. Still didn't fix it.

2. The car consistently throws the 1302 misfire code when driven hard (track hard - not street hard unless you drive 125+ on the street).

3. The car is on its second transmission, only a few thousand miles old, and it has already started grinding going into 4th gear, even when driven gently. This second transmission was never tracked or driven hard, yet it seems to be failing.

4. The car is on its third thermostat, third radiator, second throttle body, ignition coils and second cams with the third cylinder rocker arms.


On November 28th, while stopped at a light, a Chrysler Aspen SUV backed over the front of my car. I had it towed to the local Lotus shop so that they could remove the front clam to expose the frame at the suspension points. In short, they refused, and told me that the car was repairable (without even looking at the above mentioned parts) and that they would just send supplements to the insurance company if more work needed to be done (as if they didn't know that even a little frame damage totals the Elise....)

I bailed on this car because even if it is cosmetically restored, the persistant mechanical problems makes it a lemon, in my opinion. The Lotus dealer still has the car and will receive any monies I receive in order to repair the car. The problem is, the guy who hit me is only insured for $25k, so I would not trust that the car will be adequetely restored; buyer beware.

I have attached a few pics of the recent accident, I admit that the damage doesn't look bad, but considering the weight on of the SUV mostly on the front passenger side strut, I think it would be prudent to have inspected the frame. If you decide to buy this car, have an independent expert remove the front clam to verify the suspension and frame.

Please PM me if you need more info.

[Bavarian Motorist]

Sounds like a total lemon....

[LARRY]

Time to start over...

[lotusport]

Originally Posted by carlover

In the interest of protecting any future owner of my car, I feel it is my responsibility to make anyone interested in SCCPC11146HL30039 be aware of its history.

Please PM me if you need more info.

Joe, so sorry that you have been so luckless with the car. I hope this won't drive you away entirely. The earlier problems you quote are not typical (that is, it's not typical that they are incurable). I have had two repairable clam events (one front, one rear) and have not yet had to replace one or seek out chassis damage, so I consider myself lucky. If you're not soured totally on the car, I hope you'll find one that gives you the pleasure that mine gives me. They can be a total joy. Best of luck with this.

[rcw82]

These threads make me wonder how anyone gets backed up into. I have never seen a car backup into another car, and I've seen a car backup on the road a handful of times. I wonder where this type of accident occurs? Road? Parking Lots? Drive Thru's?

Does this happen more often than I think? Or does it happen more often to Lotus cars?

[lotusport]

Originally Posted by rcw82

These threads make me wonder how anyone gets backed up into. I have never seen a car backup into another car, and I've seen a car backup on the road a handful of times. I wonder where this type of accident occurs? Road? Parking Lots? Drive Thru's?

Does this happen more often than I think? Or does it happen more often to Lotus cars?

In my case, a parking lot. And it happened once to my Elise and once to her older sister, an early Elan. So maybe it does happen more to Lotus cars than others. We're both lower than their sight line and lower than their bumpers...

And we all know that non-Lotus drivers are sometimes freakin' idiots...

[twaszak1]

kudos to you for looking out for the future owner!!

you are a good person. good luck, if Fox Valley Motorcars can be of any assistance, finding a new car, or for advice, or whatever...please feel free to contact me here or by my e-mail twaszak@foxvalleymotorcars.com

again good luck to you and kudos!!

T.J.

[BobaFettm]

Very big kudos!! Thats really looking out for the lotus community! Sucks to hear you had such trouble though... hope you can look past that and get another lotus and join us all again!

[Seb]

I can vouch for all of this. I have been living with Joe (carlover) for the past two years pretty much from the beginning of his ownership of the car. In no way is any of the above information exaggerated or misrepresented.

I feel bad for the next owner, and I hope they buy it with full knowledge of its history.

The car had a considerable amount of weight on the front, where the suspension on the passenger side was fully compressed (see picture) with the wheel tucked into the clam. I have never seen the Lotus strut towers, but I bet there is damage under there. The rear wheels of the SUV were almost off the ground. There is no way anyone can say there is nothing wrong with it without properly inspecting it. I guess if you turn a blind eye and pretend not to see it, it doesn't exist.

[rudaire]

Am I the only one who sees humor in the fact that the SUV that backed over this lotus has 'back up sensors' in the rear bumper? I've never owned a car with those, I assume they were switched off when this happened?

WTF?

d

[Seb]

That is a great point lol. I have no idea. The driver explained that he could not see the car with the height of the rear window.

[xeeeejme]

Is that wheel painted, or is it the dirtiest wheel ever?

But good job on putting the word out for any future owner. Best of luck to you in the future.

[newman]

Only insured for 25K? how is that even legall?

In ny it's 50/100 minimum.

[Seb]

Painted/Powdercoated. (Done by previous owner)

[carlover]

Thank you for the kind words and support. I like that this forum gives us the opportunity to share this kind of information- thanks Randy

One other thing I should add, is that this does seem to happen more in the Elise. This is actually the second time I've been backed into. The first time was only a couple of months into owning the car. A very similar scenario, except this time it was in a parking lot with the spaces at an angle. A Toyota Highlander on the driver's side side began backing up into me instead of the through-way. I, of course was honking furiously as I watched her back upu right into my rear clam. When she got out of her car, she said "I heard you honking!" and I thought, then why the %^&* didn't you stop!. I'm just glad that I was in the car for that, I wonder if most drivers would leave a note or just flee. In regards to this incident, the repair was made by patching the reworking the rear clam. I noticed just a few days before the latest accident that the repair had just failed in the form of a hairline crack reappearing where the repair was made.

Thanks again folks. I'll be back again, probably in a year or two. And FVMC, I was very happy with your service when I bought a car from you in 2005. I have recommended you to several people and I will keep you in mind when I make my next toy purchase .

[carlover]

Originally Posted by xeeeejme

Is that wheel painted, or is it the dirtiest wheel ever?

But good job on putting the word out for any future owner. Best of luck to you in the future.

Yes it's powder coated, but it's also dirty as hell. I had driven about 1000 miles in the previous 4 days and had not yet cleaned it

[carlover]

Originally Posted by newman

Only insured for 25K? how is that even legall?

In ny it's 50/100 minimum.

That's the TX minimum.

[Ian]

That really sucks. Sorry to hear.

[newman]

Originally Posted by newman

Only insured for 25K? how is that even legall?

In ny it's 50/100 minimum.

DJHammond was kind enough to point out an error in my post via email:

Originally Posted by DJHammond

saw your post

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f3/h...0/#post1180265

which is proof you are a fucxking idiot.

I have probably said far dumber things... That's the best you could come up with?

Anyway, I did some research and found:

Originally Posted by NYS DMV

A motor vehicle registered in NYS must have liability insurance. Insurance coverage must be a minimum of $25,000/50,000 for injury, $50,000/100,000 for death, and $10,000 for property damage caused by any one accident. New York State is a no-fault state.

So, it's legal, but irresponsible.

[carlover]

Update:

I saw the car on the lot of Lotus San Antonio, although there was no for sale sign on it yet, a salesman there indicated it could be going to auction because of all the trouble I'd had with it. That essentially means it could end up in pretty much any market. Buyer beware!