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What was an Elise like new?

3K views 24 replies 19 participants last post by  gray 
#1 ·
Driving this weekend, listening to the enormous amount of rattles in my Elise, I'm wondered what these cars were like brand new? Were they silent? Was the experience completely different? My Elise is an 05, but only had 8700 miles on it when I bought it a few months ago. Yet it has so many loose things moving around in the cabin (that I cannot find no matter how hard I try, and have failed to have fixed despite 2 times to the dealership) that I am literally embarrassed to give rides in the car.

So for those who bought an Elise from the showroom, with no miles on it back in the day, what was it like?
 
#4 ·
I'm 99% sure that whatever 25 or 50 things are rolling around are actually under the car, not in the cabin. I say that because the length of sliding that I hear is far longer than anything could slide inside the cabin.

When I hit the brakes on my car, it sounds like I took 100 pennies and just threw them as hard as I could. Very very embarrassing when I have a passenger.
 
#7 ·
I bought a new 2009 Elise. There were very few rattles.

Currently, 10 years later there are still very few rattles.

Both windows rattle a bit in the mid-position but are pretty quiet when fully up. One rattles a bit when fully down.

My heat shield is a bit rusty and vibrates from time to time but I think I can either replace it or secure it.

Overall, when I demo the car there are no embarrassing rattles/vibrations.

My softtop has no squeaks. The hardtop makes a variety of squeaks when entering the parking garage at work. But it is pretty quiet on flat highways.

Read up on this site about noises. You should be able to get rid of most of them.
 
#13 ·
I should have a sig file that says something like this:

I am not a wrencher. I have never been a wrencher. I have no tools, space or ability to work on my car whatsoever. I'm lucky I can wash it without causing damage.

Seriously- Not everyone has the skills that 99.9% of the members of this forum have. I must be the only one who falls outside of this category.
 
#12 ·
I bought my 2009 Elise Purist Edition Brand new. It only had 1 super loud dash rattle since new. When I sold it 10 years later with 7200 miles, it still only had the one LOUD rattle.
This car was BABIED and always kept out of the Sun.
 
#14 ·
TERIB as you're finding out the only way to own a Lotus is to be willing to work on it or have a handful of cash and live near enough to a reputable dealer or indie shop. I haven't turned wrenches since the 70's and I jumped right back in doing all my servicing so far fluid changes, brakes, rotors, headers and CAI along with ECU swap were all fairly easy and I'm a big guy in my sixties that doesn't move so well.
 
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#16 ·
I've had my Elise since 3500 miles. It always had squeaks and rattles, there are alot of plastics that rub against each other. The windows tend to rattle too. It takes some effort, but most of the noises can be eliminated with strategic placement of foam and felt and tightening things here and there.
 
#18 ·
I bought my 2006 Elise used in 2006 with 600 miles on it, essentially new and never serviced. It had quite a few rattles back then. The nut plate that held the back panel to the rear clam rattled until it fell off, the windows rattled and so did the hardtop. Now, my car has no appreciable rattles after fixing everything and staying on top of maintenance. It’s still a noisy car but that’s the nature of the beast. I would say that long term owners that have looked after their car and applied the fixes as we have discovered them over the years probably have a smoother running and less rattle prone car than new. That also means keeping up with regular suspension and under panel torquing. Touch wood, it’s been remarkably reliable and never let me down.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Notable lines from various (mostly Porsche) people in my grp over drinks with a few brits incl a noted endurance racer:
-They all do that. Live with it.
-If rattles bother you, a ____(NUMEROUS Brit car names offered up) isnt for you.
-If you'd prefer not to get your hands dirty, children and Lotus are not for you.
-If you wanted quiet reliability, get yourself a ____(Lexus/INfiinity/Acura/etc). If you want a non-interesting sportscar, get yourself a Porsche. . If you want an interesting sportcar (saloon car?) and can accept rattles and questionable reliability, get yourself a Maserati. IF you want a REAL sportscar and can accept all the rattles and occas bugs, get yourself a Lotus.
-Good, fast and Cheap.......which 2 outta 3 are you aiming for?
-Jag's: if you're gonna buy, buy 2...one will always be in the shop....
-Noisy? THAT's Aesthetics (from the marketing department). No extra charge for that.
-Porsche: Competent, not endearing!..... ____(NUMEROUS Brit car names offered up)---they werent supposed to start EVERY time.
-____(NUMEROUS Brit car names offered up)....one of the relations own a breakdown lorry?

All said in good spirits.
m1
 
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#20 ·
Let's define rattles vs. noise.

I bought my Elise with 26K miles and have had it about a year and a half. The windows rattle a little when I close the door, and it rattled once when a few of the rear belly pan bolts were loose. I tightened them and it was fine - no rattles.

However, my car is noisy. I have driven race cars for years and even a brand new 911 GT3 race car makes an awful racket just cruising through a parking lot. You'd think it was broken. Without all the coatings and sound deadening you hear every pebble thrown up in the wheel well, every lean of the suspension, and every shudder of the body panels. The Lotus has little to none of the coatings, liners, shielding, and sound deadening of even a modern economy car, and you sit in the exposed tub. That same aluminum you see in the driver's seat is exposed to the road right below you.
 
#21 ·
I'd say that rattles and squeaky noises are normal. Sounds of coins being thrown around are not normal.

My 2007 has 35k miles on it. The last 3k include 9 trackdays and I can tell it's become slightly more squeaky than it used to be. Eventually I started adding mods like pads that squeal and engine mount inserts, so at this point I've accepted the noises as inevitable.

One day, one of the footwell screws got loose. It sounded like what you're describing. I could hear it rolling and bouncing all over the place. I looked and looked and kept missing it. Eventually I took the car to my mechanic for some other work. Dunno if it had just moved, but they found it on the corner, next to the clutch I think it was at the time. Still can't believe I missed it.

Screwed it back, no more coin noises.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
Terib, bring your car to farmington hills and we’ll figure it out. I can track down and eliminate almost any clunk, rattle or clang.... I’ve had a lot of practice from owning Chrysler products! Ken (8) 444-4096
 
#24 ·
Great question.

So often I wondered what a new Europa was like back 40 years before we had 3841R in our garage.
 
#25 ·
Two thoughts I had reading the OP's post.

#1: My exhaust is loud enough that I don't really hear all the creaks and rattles anymore; though maybe that's a combination of me going deaf from said exhaust and approaching 40 faster than I'm comfortable with.

tl;dr: WHAT????

#2: If it didn't squeak, rattle, and make other noises that would cause immediate concern for your safety in other cars, I'd be pretty worried that something was really wrong with the car
 
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