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Anyone know of any MAG deliveries? I haven't heard anything about any.
MAG Deliveries?
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MAG test drive
Just came back from a test drive at MAG, a saffron yellow car without LSS or touring.
The test drive was a dispiriting event, actually, though not through any fault of the car. Here's what happened-
The salesman pulled the car out of the showroom and told me to hop in on the passenger side. He drove out for toward highway 33 and cornered hard through the on ramp. As he accelerated to merge, he comments that it's still in it's break-in period. He accelerates moderately hard anyway. As I'm looking around the cabin, we slow down. As quickly as we got on the highway, we're off of it, the next exit up. He pulls around to the on-ramp going back to the dealership and stops there(!) for me to take over.
I do, and yeah, it was nice. The driving position was fantastic, it fits like a glove. The acceleration, while strong, wasn't outrageous, but since I wasn't able to go above 4000rpm due to traffic I guess that's to be expected. Merging into the lunch-hour congestion was a bit of an ordeal with the limited rear visibility.
Right now, I'd like to tell you about how amazing the handling was, how precise the steering, how powerful the brakes were. But, taking the expected route back to the dealership in very heavy traffic, I had no chance to get any feel for how the car does in what it's supposed to do well. My test drive was over in less than 5 minutes.
I mentioned this to the salesman, and his response was, "well, that's our test drive. We don't want people sliding our cars off of the road." I had no intentions of goint 9/10ths, but I didn't get the opportunity to even go beyond 3/10ths!
While pleading my case, he cut me off and said, "we have 66 people who have ordered these cars 'sight unseen'. If you're not 67, someone else will be." With that, he walked away. He clearly couldn't care less whether or not I put a deposit down.
So my conundrum is this: I love the car but have serious reservations about the dealer. Lotus is grouped w/MAGs 'High-Line' cars (ie Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley, Rolls-Royce). A $40,000 car is not what they're used to selling, and I feel fairly certain that this (along with the waiting list) is why I was treated so poorly. Even if the service experience proves to be acceptable, I have hard time thinking about spending my money with these guys on principle alone.
Anyone else had similar experiences or thoughts?
Just came back from a test drive at MAG, a saffron yellow car without LSS or touring.
The test drive was a dispiriting event, actually, though not through any fault of the car. Here's what happened-
The salesman pulled the car out of the showroom and told me to hop in on the passenger side. He drove out for toward highway 33 and cornered hard through the on ramp. As he accelerated to merge, he comments that it's still in it's break-in period. He accelerates moderately hard anyway. As I'm looking around the cabin, we slow down. As quickly as we got on the highway, we're off of it, the next exit up. He pulls around to the on-ramp going back to the dealership and stops there(!) for me to take over.
I do, and yeah, it was nice. The driving position was fantastic, it fits like a glove. The acceleration, while strong, wasn't outrageous, but since I wasn't able to go above 4000rpm due to traffic I guess that's to be expected. Merging into the lunch-hour congestion was a bit of an ordeal with the limited rear visibility.
Right now, I'd like to tell you about how amazing the handling was, how precise the steering, how powerful the brakes were. But, taking the expected route back to the dealership in very heavy traffic, I had no chance to get any feel for how the car does in what it's supposed to do well. My test drive was over in less than 5 minutes.
I mentioned this to the salesman, and his response was, "well, that's our test drive. We don't want people sliding our cars off of the road." I had no intentions of goint 9/10ths, but I didn't get the opportunity to even go beyond 3/10ths!
While pleading my case, he cut me off and said, "we have 66 people who have ordered these cars 'sight unseen'. If you're not 67, someone else will be." With that, he walked away. He clearly couldn't care less whether or not I put a deposit down.
So my conundrum is this: I love the car but have serious reservations about the dealer. Lotus is grouped w/MAGs 'High-Line' cars (ie Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley, Rolls-Royce). A $40,000 car is not what they're used to selling, and I feel fairly certain that this (along with the waiting list) is why I was treated so poorly. Even if the service experience proves to be acceptable, I have hard time thinking about spending my money with these guys on principle alone.
Anyone else had similar experiences or thoughts?
OH............MY............GOD
Had a test drive at MAG today – saffron base car with no options but the hard top which was off. This really was not a TEST drive per se since I'd take the car sight unseen anyway. The photos really do not do it justice – it is beautiful. And it looks so much more muscular and exotic than I had imagined. The size surprised me – it looked much larger than I had expected - maybe because it's so wide.
Mike Finneran of MAG spent more than 2 hours with my wife and me (albeit in the morning with no other customers lurking around). What a nice guy - very knowledgeable about the Elise and very enthused about it, which was a little surprising considering all the true exotics all over the place. As of today they have received no other cars, have not delivered any and don’t really expect to get mine in 2004 (#33). They have about 67 “non-refundable down payments” (not deposits) only from “local” people within the basic service area of the dealership. I live about 130 miles away.
We had a great test drive on interstate and back roads all within the 4500+/- RPM numbers due to only 200 miles on this car. It only pulled 4500 RPM at 100 mph in 5th gear (6th gear won’t be of much use for normal driving I think) and the wheel was so stable at this speed I literally could have removed my hands. Not the head snapping acceleration I hoped for but didn’t expect, but we never got into the cam. But amazing feel - I can't believe how civilized the car feels - no hard sharp bangs or pops over bumps and it rides smooth and stable as a sedan on the interstate at 75. No body squeaks and easy to talk at high speed with the windows down. This is easily a daily drive - but not for me - it's a weekend toy only. Unfortunately there were no decent turns to play with but you could just tell the grip, steering and suspension was way beyond what I was using or probably ever capable of using. It was a tight fit for me in the seat but very comfortable once situated. I had trouble with the pedals - definitely need a pair of driving shoes - my pair of 11 Clarks were a little too wide. I really do not like the center console movement under the shifter– really looks cheap and is disconcerting to me. Maybe Lotus is looking at an upgrade soon – possible rumor. I had a little trouble with third gear and thought he shifter was a little notchy. The sound! Best sounding four banger I have ever heard. I’m not sure that I’ll need the exhaust upgrade but probably will if street legal and available when my order is placed. The clear bra is fine, I’ll absolutely get it – some edges were visible but the car was pretty dusty and not washed from the day before I guess – or someone drove it home last night.
The response of other drivers is amazing - lots of horns honking, cars stopping at intersections to look, heads out of windows, truckers on their radios calling ahead to others. A guy picking up his new Lambo was gawking (see pic).
MAG is an amazing dealership, professional, friendly and first class in every regard. What a selection of cars. They said they have the two hottest cars in the world on display right now in their showroom sitting right next to each other - the Elise and a fancy schmancy Bentley model. In the showroom the Elise is tucked in next to the window between the new big Rolls and the Bentley. There are nose and head prints all over the glass by the Elise - it's hysterical! This was the most fun I've had in many years with my pants on - I'm betting that actually owning the Elise will be even better. We took a lot of pics but I'll just post 3 for now. My thanks to Mike Finneran and MAG for a wonderful morning!
Had a test drive at MAG today – saffron base car with no options but the hard top which was off. This really was not a TEST drive per se since I'd take the car sight unseen anyway. The photos really do not do it justice – it is beautiful. And it looks so much more muscular and exotic than I had imagined. The size surprised me – it looked much larger than I had expected - maybe because it's so wide.
Mike Finneran of MAG spent more than 2 hours with my wife and me (albeit in the morning with no other customers lurking around). What a nice guy - very knowledgeable about the Elise and very enthused about it, which was a little surprising considering all the true exotics all over the place. As of today they have received no other cars, have not delivered any and don’t really expect to get mine in 2004 (#33). They have about 67 “non-refundable down payments” (not deposits) only from “local” people within the basic service area of the dealership. I live about 130 miles away.
We had a great test drive on interstate and back roads all within the 4500+/- RPM numbers due to only 200 miles on this car. It only pulled 4500 RPM at 100 mph in 5th gear (6th gear won’t be of much use for normal driving I think) and the wheel was so stable at this speed I literally could have removed my hands. Not the head snapping acceleration I hoped for but didn’t expect, but we never got into the cam. But amazing feel - I can't believe how civilized the car feels - no hard sharp bangs or pops over bumps and it rides smooth and stable as a sedan on the interstate at 75. No body squeaks and easy to talk at high speed with the windows down. This is easily a daily drive - but not for me - it's a weekend toy only. Unfortunately there were no decent turns to play with but you could just tell the grip, steering and suspension was way beyond what I was using or probably ever capable of using. It was a tight fit for me in the seat but very comfortable once situated. I had trouble with the pedals - definitely need a pair of driving shoes - my pair of 11 Clarks were a little too wide. I really do not like the center console movement under the shifter– really looks cheap and is disconcerting to me. Maybe Lotus is looking at an upgrade soon – possible rumor. I had a little trouble with third gear and thought he shifter was a little notchy. The sound! Best sounding four banger I have ever heard. I’m not sure that I’ll need the exhaust upgrade but probably will if street legal and available when my order is placed. The clear bra is fine, I’ll absolutely get it – some edges were visible but the car was pretty dusty and not washed from the day before I guess – or someone drove it home last night.
The response of other drivers is amazing - lots of horns honking, cars stopping at intersections to look, heads out of windows, truckers on their radios calling ahead to others. A guy picking up his new Lambo was gawking (see pic).
MAG is an amazing dealership, professional, friendly and first class in every regard. What a selection of cars. They said they have the two hottest cars in the world on display right now in their showroom sitting right next to each other - the Elise and a fancy schmancy Bentley model. In the showroom the Elise is tucked in next to the window between the new big Rolls and the Bentley. There are nose and head prints all over the glass by the Elise - it's hysterical! This was the most fun I've had in many years with my pants on - I'm betting that actually owning the Elise will be even better. We took a lot of pics but I'll just post 3 for now. My thanks to Mike Finneran and MAG for a wonderful morning!
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Doesn't look that bad?!?!shay2nak said:
I just choked on my burrito.
It looks f'ng incredible. Ok, I may be biased by my color selection.
Wait until we see comparable photos of CO in sunlight. I wouldn't change my choice, but I'm betting that you will be happy with how yours looks.
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Thanks Cerven. I am feeling better about the yellow.
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Thanks for the pictures. The Cayenne, Maserati, and Lambo in the back ground make good reference point for the Elise.
We took 75 hi res pics, each about 2.08 MB, 2592 X 1944 pixels - when I resize to 1,000 X 750 at medium quality you lose a bit - the originals are spectacular. I have no way to host and post these - maybe I can burn them on a CD and mail to Randy???? Let me know.
My wife was given a 15 minute test ride by Mike and she sat behind the wheel. The passenger seat is NOT 2/3 the size of the driver's seat - it it EXACTLY the same. BOTH my wife and I have had a HUGE back surgery this year (ALIF S5-L1 fusion for you medical types) but we had no trouble sitting in the car. With the top open you basically step into the floorboard on the aluminum with both feet then sort of slide down - no problem. The top may create a problem, but we both agree that if we had to grease up with Crisco (might be fun?!) and slide in on our bellies it would be OK with us. She says "it was fun but don't wear a skirt unless you want to be a ho."
My wife was given a 15 minute test ride by Mike and she sat behind the wheel. The passenger seat is NOT 2/3 the size of the driver's seat - it it EXACTLY the same. BOTH my wife and I have had a HUGE back surgery this year (ALIF S5-L1 fusion for you medical types) but we had no trouble sitting in the car. With the top open you basically step into the floorboard on the aluminum with both feet then sort of slide down - no problem. The top may create a problem, but we both agree that if we had to grease up with Crisco (might be fun?!) and slide in on our bellies it would be OK with us. She says "it was fun but don't wear a skirt unless you want to be a ho."
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