[Z3convert]

I was at Maplecrest in New Jersey doing my everyday drive by (since the 15th). To my surprise they had her parked in the rear. She is beautiful. Red - like the photo from the press release. The dealer still does not know much but I got a chance to talk to the Lotus mechanic. I was pleasantly surprised bu his extensive knowledge of the car. (Who would of thought, someone finally knows something). I was really having a hard time letting go of my '97 Z3. I have done lots of work to it since I bought it new and it's like a family member.
However, seeing the Elise today! It all changed in a instant. Sitting in her, looking at her fianlly at the dealer. It finally seems obtainable.

Guys, I am in love!

 

[wallabyguy]

Back in late april through mid may, all the dealers sent their mechanics to Georgia (LCU) for training. They went so far as to disassemble an entire Elise and put it back together again in order to become familiar with the cars. I had the unfortunate experience of walking into the "garage" area during a lunch break one afternoon while on tour. I came upon a Elise carcass with all of it's parts neatly placed around the car. I nearly had a heart attack. It was horrible. An autopsy of an Elise! No man should ever have to witness such horror. As if it's not bad enough I've been waiting nearly 3 years for my car, I had to see them take one apart for the hell of it!

 

[mact3333]

I was at Maplecrest in New Jersey doing my everyday drive by (since the 15th). To my surprise they had her parked in the rear. She is beautiful. Red - like the photo from the press release. The dealer still does not know much but I got a chance to talk to the Lotus mechanic. I was pleasantly surprised bu his extensive knowledge of the car. (Who would of thought, someone finally knows something). I was really having a hard time letting go of my '97 Z3. I have done lots of work to it since I bought it new and it's like a family member.
However, seeing the Elise today! It all changed in a instant. Sitting in her, looking at her fianlly at the dealer. It finally seems obtainable.

Guys, I am in love!

does your Z3 know you are a cheatin two faced bastad???...

 

[jeff8875]

Where is that dealership at exactly... I may just have to stop by to see MY red in person

 

[Z3convert]

"cheaten"

Not yet. I never take the Z3 to the Lotus dealership.
It's bad for it's self confidence.
LOL

 

[CLS2Elise]

dealership location

Jeff and others interested....Maplecrest is off Rt. 24 in Summit. Hopefully I'll run into some fellow enthusiasts as this is the dealer I have my deposit with!

 

[ringmeister]

Did the car at Maplecrest have the clear bra? I want to check that out in person.

 

[jeff8875]

Yeah I know right where that Dealership is.... as it happens I was driving past there about 20 months ago and they had an elise sitting outfront. Thats when I put my deposit down, but I put it down in florida so it will be a fun drive up here from florida when I get mine (#15 yeah!) I just called and they said they are "prepping" it right now and it will be in the showroom (if its in the showroom how are they going to let people DRIVE it??) on thursday.

-Jeff
Ardent red/black/touring/gullwing(hopefully!?!?)

 

[CLS2Elise]

Just spoke to Maplecrest, it's a customer car...no driving for us

 

[jeff8875]

lol yeah just found out the same myself after talking to someone that knew what they were talking about. DAMN I hope I can atleast look at the car before they deliver. I was told they are not able to release the car just yet

 

[Tech_KO]

I was at Maplecrest in New Jersey doing my everyday drive by (since the 15th). To my surprise they had her parked in the rear. She is beautiful. Red - like the photo from the press release. The dealer still does not know much but I got a chance to talk to the Lotus mechanic. I was pleasantly surprised bu his extensive knowledge of the car. (Who would of thought, someone finally knows something). I was really having a hard time letting go of my '97 Z3. I have done lots of work to it since I bought it new and it's like a family member.
However, seeing the Elise today! It all changed in a instant. Sitting in her, looking at her fianlly at the dealer. It finally seems obtainable.

Guys, I am in love!

Yes, that's my car. I wanted to wait till I picked it up to make the big writeup.

 

[Tech_KO]

Did the car at Maplecrest have the clear bra? I want to check that out in person.

No, didn't want it.

 

[Randy Chase]

Awesome! Do you know when you are actually picking it up?

 

[Tech_KO]

Awesome! Do you know when you are actually picking it up?

Kinda funny actually. There is only one real SME (subject matter expert) on the Elise there. He is on vacation until tomorrow. I am thinking about the sport exhaust and HID's so I decided to wait. I'll likely get the paperwork sorted on Wednesday and depending on the actual availability of the dealere installed things, maybe drive it home tomorrow too.

 

[zvezdah1]

Go ahead, drive it home, put on the aftermarket bits at the 1500 mile service.
Chris

 

[Randy Chase]

Great. This is just cool that other people* on the forum are getting cars. Keep us all in the loop.

* other than just Chris**

** who is a hooplehead for getting one before me.***

*** inside joke reference re: roadfly

 

[Z3convert]

One more detail

The Tech guy I spoke to when I was there yesterday told me about all the information that is stored in the computer (on board). His words were something like this, " Lotus requires me to print out all data regarding rpms everytime we work on the car". The way he said it gave me the feeling they were going to keep a close eye on clutch drops, engine abuse, etc.

I don't think he had the dealer installed exhaust yet. Definetly did not know anything about HID's.

Chris
(One of about 50, I think, on this board)

 

[zvezdah1]

Yo Randy:clap: :clap:
Chris - still just a GA redneck at heart!

 

[ringmeister]

Knowing this was a customer car I wanted to see what the clear bra looked like for myself before it got delivered so I stopped in and looked at the car.
No clear bra (as already stated). It's the same color combo I ordered except mine will have LSS instead of the touring pack.
It's soooooo small but the proportions are just right.

Tech, your car looks fantastic! I was really on the fence about ordering red but after seeing it in person I'm glad I did. Good luck with it.

 

[zvezdah1]

Ardent red is by far the best color for the elise!

THis unbiased personal opinion brought to you by:
"
CHris :clap: