[Lotus Dood]

My drive is i little on the steep side!. The car will have to get into the garage. but will it get down or will it scrape to death? street parking is not an option! scum bags key'd my other cars on the road.

also, what is the clearance in inches, on the elise/exige from the front lip to the ground?

am i screwed?

Thanks!

 

[Man of Steel]

No.






Your dreams of parking at the house? Hmmm.

 

[LotusGuy48]

It looks like you're located in the UK from the houses and TV antenna (aerial) on the roof. Sorry to have to say this but your driveway really does look too steep.

 

[LostPawn]

It might be too steep on the one side but if you move the other cars out you might go up in their spot. I think the clearance is 4 or 5 inches on level ground.

 

[Zen Dude]

It's tough looking at those pictures, but the steepness is irrelevant, the car has plenty of power and good brakes so there won't be a problem going up and down.

I don't think getting into and out of the garage will be a problem, you just might have to park those other cars in such a way as to allow you to get the right ingress / egress angle. But that wouldn't concern me. The driveway portion getting onto the road looks like it might be a little tricky. From the pictures it doesn't look like you'll be able to go straight in and out, but will have to find the right angle. The good part is that the driveway seems fairly wide, and since the car is pretty small, you could drive at a pretty good cross direction.

Take a picture with that smaller car parked on the front drive, partly in and out of the driveway entrance. That picture would probably paint a better picture of the actual breakover between the main road and the driveway.

As a Civil Engineer I would just redesign my driveway entrance.

- z

 

[Blue Devil]

Looks like no problem entering the driveway, not so sure about the sharp angle at the bottom just before the garage? Have a local Lotus owner test it out for you with a good spotter.

Or it's time to move

:UK:

 

[Lotus Dood]

Looks like no problem entering the driveway, not so sure about the sharp angle at the bottom just before the garage? Have a local Lotus owner test it out for you with a good spotter.

Or it's time to move

:UK:

haha, yeah this driveway is a bugger all right!..my main reason for being so concered is that, I have had scraping issues in the past on this drive with previous cars. this car pictured below (VW POLO)

This car used to scrape badly, and not just the bumpers but the actual undereath of the car.

though this wasn't as alarming since its worth alot less!!

Its very hard to tell, but from looking at pictures, it seems as though the lotus is slightly higher off the ground?

this is the only thing i can compare it too.

 

[ZAMMY1]

The real problem,often, is not the steepness of the drive, but the road-to-driveway transition.
You couldn't imagine the driveway I use daily. Also, a half mile long, dirt.
Sam

 

[bri3d]

Its very hard to tell, but from looking at pictures, it seems as though the lotus is slightly higher off the ground?

this is the only thing i can compare it too.

The Elise/Exige ride height is 130mm from the frame rails to the ground, so it's probably higher than most "stanced"/lowered cars in terms of absolute ground clearance. It looks to be a bit higher than your VW was.

The problem you'll have probably won't be high-centering on the hill transition but rather scraping the front clamshell badly on the dip into the garage. The reason these cars have clearance issues isn't so much that they're low as that the front clamshell hangs a long way off the front without rounding off at the bottom like most car bumpers do.

The good news is that it's easy to patch over a dip quickly using boards or ramps - I have to use a couple 2x6s to get into my friend's garage and while it's a pain it's not too big a deal.

 

[Uncle Sam]

How about a superbike? :evil:

That looks tough for an Elige, but if you have enough leeway that the clam won't be pushed too firmly against the bolts, you could put hard skid plates (like Lexan or such) under the nose for minimal scraping.

 

[livethedream]

The real problem,often, is not the steepness of the drive, but the road-to-driveway transition.
You couldn't imagine the driveway I use daily. Also, a half mile long, dirt.
Sam

I have been up Sam's driveway, not in my Lotus however. If he can get up that every day your driveway is no problem.

 

[komiko]

you may also be able to gain 1/2" +/- of ground clearance by going to different tires with a slightly taller sidewall - i 'm running star specs.

 

[JWA]

That looks fine to me. Just go carefully to learn the best line the first couple times. Maybe with a spotter just in case.

 

[BRGreen]

Move to Spain and telecommute. That driveway is horrid.

 

[MTLDean]

To the OP, do you have a drain right in front of the garage door? Looks like a flood waiting to happen.

 

[Aedo]

As several have suggested I think you'll be fine (use a spotter the first time) :up:

If you want to get a local Lotus owner to review pop over to SELOC | Lotus Enthusiasts Club which is the UK equivalent of LT

To the OP, do you have a drain right in front of the garage door? Looks like a flood waiting to happen.

Its in England... where it rains a lot... I think if that was an issue it would have been sorted by now

 

[holmz]

You could raise the raise the ride height a bit rather than slamming down like the VW.

 

[BCspeed34]

By the looks of things you'll need to lift the car about this much.

 

[Lotus Dood]

To the OP, do you have a drain right in front of the garage door? Looks like a flood waiting to happen.

haha, yes there is a drain there!.

the drain runs into a little stream that runs through our garden.

 

[EricH]

Looks like you will have no clearance issues to me... my old driveway had a MUCH steeper incline change than that. Matter a fact, because the Exige was so short, my E36 M3 would scrape if there were 2 people in the car, but the Exige never had an issue.