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VIN 163 and VIN 501, observations
As some of you know, we now have two elises. Chrome Orange early VIN and a Saffron Yellow later Vin.
I havent posted since getting the new car because we had some computer issues and I was unable to sit down and make an "at length" post.
To briefly explain what we have....
*Our Chrome Orange car has EVERY option you can get on these cars.
*Our Saffron Yellow car has NO option other than the starshield.
I mentioned in another post that there were some "Differences" in the two cars/VINS. I meant more so the feel of the cars than absolute differences. I initially thought the sun visors were different but that was just because our CO car has a hardtop and the SY car doesn't. On the hardtop cars you cannot adjust the sun visors, ie, they dont fold up or down because they are pressed against the windsheild by the hardtop.
The Saffron Yellow car and our Orange car both have the SAME radio in them.
In fact, the sound system in the yellow car sounds ALOT better than the stereo in the Chrome Orange car.
This has me perplexed because the CO car has the touring package ( upgraded stereo) and Hardtop, so you'd think it would sound better. Addtionally I dont know WHY I got the same radio in both cars?? I thought the touring model got an upgraded version. I even had to double check to make sure because I was a little suprised to see the SAME model radio in both cars.
I also dont know why the SY car sounds so much better . Im thinking maybe its the settings...but as of yet I havent been able to check the settings in depth to tell the differences.
Paint and Finish.
The paint on the CO seems to be a little nicer. By nicer I dont just mean the way it looks but rather the way it was sprayed.
On the SY car I can see areas of light yellow ( primer coat?) on our SY ( in crevices and undersides of panels) but the CO car seems to be uniform all over and no different looking crevices etc.
The SY car already has a large rock chip in the paint which has taken it down to a lighter shade of yellow. I can only assume this is some sort of primer coat. Our CO car has not chipped yet and has 3,000 miles on it. Our SY car is a week old and already has several "rock" marks on it. This could just be circumstance I suppose, rather than paint quality. I will say that Ive never had a car get so many rock chips so fast. Ever.
WINSHEILD WIPERS.
This is a hot topic with me so bear with me. I HATE the Lotus windsheild wipers. I know that some people have had decent luck with them. I have NOT.
The CO cars wipers smeared constantly. On our trip down to Atlanta ( to get the yellow car) we had alot of rain. The wiper began leaving black rubber on the windshield. As the wiper ran over the rubber marks it caused it to skip and dance and wipe even less rain than before. The harder we had to run the wipers the worse the black rubber residue got. We had to stop 4 times before reaching Atlanta in order to SCRAPE the rubber off with a razer blade.
Upon reaching our dealer my husband showed the service team and they had a tech come out to look. My husband said that it appeared the rubber was coming from the wiper blade. The tech said, "no". He said that we must have put some sort of "Grease" on our windsheild and that was the cause. He took a razor blade to the winshield, scraped off the residue and then wiped it down again. We felt he was wrong but werent up for arguing.
When we left the dealership it was still raining hard. I was driving our brand new SY car. About an hour into our trip I also had BLACK RUBBER RESIDUE on my windshield and the wiper starting smearing and stuttering over the rubber marks. I could not see. I had to pull off of a road without shoulders in order to try and wipe it off. It wouldnt come off with just wiping so I had to take my drivers license and try and scrape it. Finally we got enough of it off I could continue on, and damn if it didnt appear again...this time even worse. My WHOLE trip, FOUR SOLID HOURS, from Atlanta to Deals Gap was the most stressful Ive ever encountered. I could not see a thing. The CO cars winsheild also developed MORE of this "rubber residue" material.
Even better...I just took the car back down to Atlanta for our first service last week. On the way home we had more rain, 5 hours of it in fact. The windshield smeared so bad I had to slow to 30mph at times. Addtionally ( and this is the best part) the windshield wiper TOOK THE PAINT OFF the car! Yes, thats right, the wiper comes down so far that it took a large chunk of paint off the car near the edge of the windshield. I'll take pictures for those who are interested tomorrow.
So...please be careful with your wipers.
Starsheild.....
The CO car has the "old style" starsheild that doesnt go as far up the front of the car. The SY car has the newer style shield which goes much farther up.
When Randy and others got their cars several mentioned "brown spots" showing up on their starshield. Our Orange car HAS NOT done this, so I was a little confused as to what they meant by brown spots. Well guess what? Our SY car starshield has brown spots, all over in fact. I cannot get them off. Ive tried just about every trick in my bag. They're ugly and unsightly. I dont know why the orange car has NO brown spots and the SY car has them all over. Its frustrating to say the least.
Handling
The base model handles well enough to make almost everyone happy. The ride quality is excellent and not to stiff. I would still feel comfortable taking it out to an autocross or track day with no hesitation. This car even in a 'base' will amaze you.
The extra "carpeting" you get on the touring model isnt much at all...its almost laughable.
Overall if I had to do it over again and only got ONE car I think I'd get the base model and upgrade the suspension since we're going to be autocrossing. Otherwise I'd get the base model and enjoy it! Its a super car.
I know I've left information out so PLEASE feel free to ask me specific questions.
I can post pictures if anyone needs anything specifically let me know. I'll post a few of our trip in this thread.
As some of you know, we now have two elises. Chrome Orange early VIN and a Saffron Yellow later Vin.
I havent posted since getting the new car because we had some computer issues and I was unable to sit down and make an "at length" post.
To briefly explain what we have....
*Our Chrome Orange car has EVERY option you can get on these cars.
*Our Saffron Yellow car has NO option other than the starshield.
I mentioned in another post that there were some "Differences" in the two cars/VINS. I meant more so the feel of the cars than absolute differences. I initially thought the sun visors were different but that was just because our CO car has a hardtop and the SY car doesn't. On the hardtop cars you cannot adjust the sun visors, ie, they dont fold up or down because they are pressed against the windsheild by the hardtop.
The Saffron Yellow car and our Orange car both have the SAME radio in them.
In fact, the sound system in the yellow car sounds ALOT better than the stereo in the Chrome Orange car.
This has me perplexed because the CO car has the touring package ( upgraded stereo) and Hardtop, so you'd think it would sound better. Addtionally I dont know WHY I got the same radio in both cars?? I thought the touring model got an upgraded version. I even had to double check to make sure because I was a little suprised to see the SAME model radio in both cars.
I also dont know why the SY car sounds so much better . Im thinking maybe its the settings...but as of yet I havent been able to check the settings in depth to tell the differences.
Paint and Finish.
The paint on the CO seems to be a little nicer. By nicer I dont just mean the way it looks but rather the way it was sprayed.
On the SY car I can see areas of light yellow ( primer coat?) on our SY ( in crevices and undersides of panels) but the CO car seems to be uniform all over and no different looking crevices etc.
The SY car already has a large rock chip in the paint which has taken it down to a lighter shade of yellow. I can only assume this is some sort of primer coat. Our CO car has not chipped yet and has 3,000 miles on it. Our SY car is a week old and already has several "rock" marks on it. This could just be circumstance I suppose, rather than paint quality. I will say that Ive never had a car get so many rock chips so fast. Ever.
WINSHEILD WIPERS.
This is a hot topic with me so bear with me. I HATE the Lotus windsheild wipers. I know that some people have had decent luck with them. I have NOT.
The CO cars wipers smeared constantly. On our trip down to Atlanta ( to get the yellow car) we had alot of rain. The wiper began leaving black rubber on the windshield. As the wiper ran over the rubber marks it caused it to skip and dance and wipe even less rain than before. The harder we had to run the wipers the worse the black rubber residue got. We had to stop 4 times before reaching Atlanta in order to SCRAPE the rubber off with a razer blade.
Upon reaching our dealer my husband showed the service team and they had a tech come out to look. My husband said that it appeared the rubber was coming from the wiper blade. The tech said, "no". He said that we must have put some sort of "Grease" on our windsheild and that was the cause. He took a razor blade to the winshield, scraped off the residue and then wiped it down again. We felt he was wrong but werent up for arguing.
When we left the dealership it was still raining hard. I was driving our brand new SY car. About an hour into our trip I also had BLACK RUBBER RESIDUE on my windshield and the wiper starting smearing and stuttering over the rubber marks. I could not see. I had to pull off of a road without shoulders in order to try and wipe it off. It wouldnt come off with just wiping so I had to take my drivers license and try and scrape it. Finally we got enough of it off I could continue on, and damn if it didnt appear again...this time even worse. My WHOLE trip, FOUR SOLID HOURS, from Atlanta to Deals Gap was the most stressful Ive ever encountered. I could not see a thing. The CO cars winsheild also developed MORE of this "rubber residue" material.
Even better...I just took the car back down to Atlanta for our first service last week. On the way home we had more rain, 5 hours of it in fact. The windshield smeared so bad I had to slow to 30mph at times. Addtionally ( and this is the best part) the windshield wiper TOOK THE PAINT OFF the car! Yes, thats right, the wiper comes down so far that it took a large chunk of paint off the car near the edge of the windshield. I'll take pictures for those who are interested tomorrow.
So...please be careful with your wipers.
Starsheild.....
The CO car has the "old style" starsheild that doesnt go as far up the front of the car. The SY car has the newer style shield which goes much farther up.
When Randy and others got their cars several mentioned "brown spots" showing up on their starshield. Our Orange car HAS NOT done this, so I was a little confused as to what they meant by brown spots. Well guess what? Our SY car starshield has brown spots, all over in fact. I cannot get them off. Ive tried just about every trick in my bag. They're ugly and unsightly. I dont know why the orange car has NO brown spots and the SY car has them all over. Its frustrating to say the least.
Handling
The base model handles well enough to make almost everyone happy. The ride quality is excellent and not to stiff. I would still feel comfortable taking it out to an autocross or track day with no hesitation. This car even in a 'base' will amaze you.
The extra "carpeting" you get on the touring model isnt much at all...its almost laughable.
Overall if I had to do it over again and only got ONE car I think I'd get the base model and upgrade the suspension since we're going to be autocrossing. Otherwise I'd get the base model and enjoy it! Its a super car.
I know I've left information out so PLEASE feel free to ask me specific questions.
I can post pictures if anyone needs anything specifically let me know. I'll post a few of our trip in this thread.
The glass isnt scratched. I guess we'll have to adjust the arm, its just a real bummer when you have to drive it for the first time in rain and it ruins your paint before you realise it's tearing up the car. 
