Lotus -- Daily Driver Blog by Patrick Shim

[PatrickShim]

Here's my "Lotus Daily Driver Blog" documenting my experience of driving my Lotus Elise as my daily driver. I have three other cars, but I don't think there aren't many cars that can match the "fun factor" that Lotus delivers.

One of the first times I saw Lotus Elise was on June 4, 2005 at the Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, CA. After having a dinner date, I was in the valet area and a gray Lotus Elise came to the hotel. The driver looked very familiar, and as he was helping the passenger out of the car, I realized that they are Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. I actually didn't care who they were, as I was busy checking out the Lotus! The car looked amazing. (Jennifer Lopez had hard time getting out of the car - the car had the hardtop on - and it was quite funny to watch her getting out).

Also on Dec. 3, 2005, I attended VIP Auto Fashion Show and saw a beautiful blue Lotus Elise. The car was stunning. There were several beautiful fashion models there, but I could not keep my eyes off of the Lotus.




[Test Drives]

Prior to buying my Lotus, I had opportunities to test-drive Lotus Elise in a couple of occasions. On July 2, 2005, I saw a beautiful orange Lotus Elise at the Crystal Cove show and thought, "hmm... I want one of these..."



After the Crystal Cove and a visit to a friend's personal car collection in Newport Beach, I stopped by at the Newport European. They gave me a key and said, "be back in one piece"! It was a red/tan Lotus Elise with touring pack. I drove around Newport Beach for about 30 minutes and I totally fell in love with it. I told myself I need to get one.

On March 25, 2006, Symbolic Motors had an open-house event at its service/restoration facility in San Diego, CA. Gary Hagens from Lotus USA invited me to test drive a Lotus and as I remembered from my first test drive, it was an amazing experience.






[Purchase] October 15, 2007 - a new car with 161 miles on the odometer

After over 2 years of thinking about getting a Lotus, I finally decided to pick one up. I went to Symbolic Motors in La Jolla, CA and picked up a '06 Lotus Elise. It is laser-blue/black with hard top, sport pack, touring pack, star shield. The sticker price was $51,415 and I paid $50,646.87 + tax & registration (total: $55,000 plus free Stage-II exhaust). Considering it was a '06 model and had 161 miles (the car was brand-new, but had some demo miles), I thought I was over-paying a bit, but I really did not care, as I could not find any laser-blue Lotus Elise with both sport and touring pack anywhere.









Dan Gooda, Olivia Falcone, and Carmen Despie-Williams did great job getting me in/out quickly and the process was completely painless.

Here are the pictures of my car from Symbolic Motors' website.










[First Canyon Road Drive]

October 20, 2007, just a few days after picking up the car, I had over 500 miles on the car. I thought I should take it up to Mt. Baldy (near Claremont, CA) to try the canyon roads. It was still a very new car, so I baby-ed the car the whole time.






[1,000-mile Service] October 22, 2007 - 1,100 documented miles

Just a week after the purchase, I went back to Symbolic Motors for the 1,000-mile service. In addition to the 1,000-mile Service, I got the Stage-II exhaust installed. Lee Denman, my service advisor, was very patient and great to work with.






[Service #2] November 14, 2007 - 3,375 documented miles

I went back to the Symbolic Motors service for a few minor adjustments, including alignment correction. On the way to the service, I got my first "Check Engine Light". The service told me that it is because my gas-cap wasn't tightened properly and erased the code for me.




[Sector 111 Wine Run]

November 17, 2007, just little over a month after the purchase, I participated in the Sector 111 Wine Run. On the way to the run, I got my second "Check Engine Light". I checked the gas cap, and it was on properly. The guys at Sector 111 checked and erased the code. They told me that it might be an intake problem.

Although the "Check Engine Light" problem concerned me a bit, it was wonderful to meet other Lotus owners and enjoy the canyon roads through Temecula and Fallbrook.










[Service #3] December 28, 2007 - 7,285 documented miles

I got the "Check Engine Light" again so I stopped by at Lotus Beverly Hills. Allen and Stephen took a look at the car and found P420 code stored in the ECU. They reflashed the ECU for me.




[Service #4] January 8, 2008 - 8,231 documented miles

I stopped by at Symbolic Motors for an oil change. Since the oil change interval is every 7,500 miles, 8,600-mile mark was my next scheduled oil change (I got my 1,000-mile service at 1,100 miles). I wanted to take care of my "Check Engine Light", but they did not find any codes stored. In addition to the oil change, I got my rear blinker replaced and head-light recall issue serviced.




[Hal's Malibu Run] January 13, 2008

It was so wonderful to meet many other Lotus owners!!! The drive through the canyon roads of Malibu was really great!

[PatrickShim]

Today (01/19/08), about three months after the purchase, I have 9,436 miles on the odometer. Since the car, when I bought it new, had 161 miles on the odometer, I logged 9,275 miles since 10/15/07. I will probably pass 9,500-mile mark this weekend!!!

[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?

[PatrickShim]

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?

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)




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)



Around 7,000 miles, I had my right blinker go bad (see below). I got the blinker replaced.




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.

[surf_lotus]

Do you use the Hard top everyday or use the soft top/no top combo? What kind of mileage are you getting?

[PatrickShim]

Originally Posted by surf_lotus

Do you use the Hard top everyday or use the soft top/no top combo? What kind of mileage are you getting?

I always use the hardtop... in fact, I never took it off...

I haven't calculated the gas mileage, but I'm sure it's not too bad. I drive hard, so I don't think I'm getting 28-30mpg...

[pchop]

nice right up patrick. the whistling is a fit/hardtop/window issue. it's absolutely annoying from the video.

car looks great in person.

[PatrickShim]

Originally Posted by pchop

nice right up patrick. the whistling is a fit/hardtop/window issue. it's absolutely annoying from the video.

car looks great in person.

Thanks!

I can't wait for your Lotus to come to L.A.!

[Blue Devil]

Awesome write up Patrick.
? the video in the tunnel, I don't hear a change in the pitch of your exhaust did you stay under 6500. Because mine really sounds completely different past 6500 when the VVT switches over. Wish I could drive mine through that long tight tunnel.

[PatrickShim]

Originally Posted by Blue Devil

Awesome write up Patrick.
? the video in the tunnel, I don't hear a change in the pitch of your exhaust did you stay under 6500. Because mine really sounds completely different past 6500 when the VVT switches over. Wish I could drive mine through that long tight tunnel.

Thanks!

Yeah, the car was still fairly new, so I kept it under 6,500rpm.

[nockpoint]

Patrick - Gratz on the new Elise.

Re: Passenger Side noise with hard top I too have this issue on my 06. When I first purchased the car the hard top would allow a torrent of water in. Passenger side at the top rear corner has a large gap which window height adjustment will not compensate for. Working on a fix today with some additional weatherstripping. If successful I'll definitely share pics if you like.

[Shaggy]

Nice write up! Sounds like you've had some oddball problems early on with the CEL and the turn signal bulb going out, usually don't see those until several thousand miles later.

I've done a similar blog with my Elise at LotusEliseBlog.com although I haven't taken the time to update it in several months.

[PatrickShim]

Originally Posted by nockpoint

Patrick - Gratz on the new Elise.

Re: Passenger Side noise with hard top I too have this issue on my 06. When I first purchased the car the hard top would allow a torrent of water in. Passenger side at the top rear corner has a large gap which window height adjustment will not compensate for. Working on a fix today with some additional weatherstripping. If successful I'll definitely share pics if you like.

Oh cool! I'd love to see some pics of how you've resolved the windnoise issue with weather stripping. Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Nice write up! Sounds like you've had some oddball problems early on with the CEL and the turn signal bulb going out, usually don't see those until several thousand miles later.

I've done a similar blog with my Elise at LotusEliseBlog.com although I haven't taken the time to update it in several months.

That is a very nice blog! I just spent some time reading all the posts. Hot hi-res wallpapers!

[nockpoint]

Originally Posted by PatrickShim

Oh cool! I'd love to see some pics of how you've resolved the windnoise issue with weather stripping. Thanks!!!

Patrick -- The fix worked and it didn't. It possibly stopped the leaking but the wind noise continued. The car also just went in for it's 7500 and came back today. They did some tweaking but eventually just removed the weather stripping, put in some filler to make it stick out farther from hard top and then replaced everything. I just got the car back today and, wind noise terminated!

[StallionX]

I remember years ago when I first purchased my 05 elise.. I would STARE at it and walk down to the garage to look at it..

made love to it a few times also..

In any case I know what you mean man.. I don't see the problem w/ this car as a DD.

if driving is a fun experience for you then LOTUS is the car for that.. if every time you want to go somewhere you want it to be exciting the elise/exige is the way to go..

If driving is a chore, a means to an end.. you wont enjoy these cars..

I for one am a car lover (see aforementioned sex w/ car statement) I LOOOOVE cars.. If I could marry my cars I would.. if I could reproduce w/ them I would.. If I had a child and had to sell the kid to the burmese slave market to fix the lotus if it breaks.. I WOULD.

[PatrickShim]

Originally Posted by nockpoint

Patrick -- The fix worked and it didn't. It possibly stopped the leaking but the wind noise continued. The car also just went in for it's 7500 and came back today. They did some tweaking but eventually just removed the weather stripping, put in some filler to make it stick out farther from hard top and then replaced everything. I just got the car back today and, wind noise terminated!

Awesome! I am glad the problem got fixed! I hope mine does, too!

Originally Posted by StallionX

....made love to it a few times also...If I could marry my cars I would.. if I could reproduce w/ them I would.. If I had a child and had to sell the kid to the burmese slave market to fix the lotus if it breaks.. I WOULD....

WOAH! I hope you wore protection...

[jordantii]

What was the "soft top campaign" on the service ticket?

[PatrickShim]

Originally Posted by jordantii

What was the "soft top campaign" on the service ticket?

One end of the new softtop was undone from the mount. They got it fixed right away.

I think many of the owners with hardtops had this problem, since the dealership had the hardtop on the car, and never checked the softtop.

They also had to order the roof bars (they are still not in!) because my softtop didn't come with the roof bars in the bag...

[jordantii]

Thanks Patrick.

[PatrickShim]

Due to the So. Cal.'s rainstrom (yes, we have those here, too), I drove my other cars to work for about a week (first time driving my others to work since I got the Lotus). I drove the Lotus in a couple of rainstroms in the past, but since my rear tires began to bald, I thought it would be safer to drive my other cars with newer tires and traction-controls.

I began to have a "Lotus Withdrawal"... I started to get annoyed by everything... A pizza I ordered wasn't round enough... my dog giving me the "cute doggy look" wasn't cute enough... and Jenna Jameson wasn't spreading her legs apart wide enough in the "videos"... Yeah, the "Lotus Withdrawl" made me annoyed at everything.

Today, after days of rainstrom, the sun is out! I took my Lotus out and I am feeling great! Also up on the near by mountains, there are lots of lots of snow!

I drove around for a couple of hours (there were lots of road damages from the rainstroms... got a couple of small rock chips...), and stopped by at a nearby Coffee Bean for a cup of mocha and some reading.

I don't know how the Lotus owners in constantly raining/snowing areas deal with the Lotus Withdrawl...