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.
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.