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I'm thinking about a Exige V6 - talk me out of it (or into it!)


sleazius

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I'll be honest. I'm bored with the used Porsche market. Bored with what is for sale and bored with the stupid prices asked.

So lets dispense with the;

L (lots)

O (of)

T (trouble)

U (usually)

S (serious)

Who here has owned one? Have you thought about it? $160k and another ~$8k (tvs 1900) gets you 410hp at the wheels in an 1100kg package. Compelling.

This looks interesting:

https://www.carsales.com.au/bncis/details/Lotus-Exige-2016/OAG-AD-14556749/?Cr=0

Talk me out of it - or into it!

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996 GT3 money, what's boring about that? 

Nothing - one of my favourite cars ever made. My bro-in-law has one. I'm just not paying north of $150k for a decent one. I'd rather get something newer that I can fang around in and not worry about so much. A blown Aurion engine is cheaper than a blown GT3 engine ($86k for a new one last I checked).

Probably should have included some background. I've got my name down for a 991.2 GT3, the word on the street currently is people are going to get bumped from their spots - Porsche Australia still doesn't have a firm allocation of cars supposedly. I've got no relationship with the dealer so I'll be out on my arse first I'm guessing. I would love a 997.2 GT3 but I'm not paying $270k for one. Can't stomach paying near brand new list price for a 7yr old car which in all likelihood will not be collectible long term.

I'm not selling my 997 either, so the decision is coming from that perspective. I don't have to give up p-car ownership to take something like this on.

Either way I love hearing people's opinions one way or the other.

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I'd rather get something newer that I can fang around in and not worry about so much. A blown Aurion engine is cheaper than a blown GT3 engine ($86k for a new one last I checked).

What kind of fanging are you planning to do to blow up a GT3? Buy one now @150k, drive it for a few years and sell for same (if not more) money. Or, buy a Lotus @150k, drive for a day, get bored with it and struggle to sell it @100k?

I get your situation, I too dabbled with the idea of a Lotus but when being honest with myself the Porsche won, especially when looking at the overall quality of the product. 

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I'm with Hugh... if you're forking out that kind of money, I want something thats had every single component well developed & engineered, especially the motor. 

It's no secret I am GT3 tragic, so I am telling you to stick to your guns.

But I know this is a struggle most GT3 owners and even prospective buyers go through;

  • We sit down and think to ourselves - " shit this thing is kinda expensive, I don't want to have anything go wrong!" 
  • We then speculate about what we could sell for, and proceed to browse carpoint- "shit, nothing for the same money even comes close" 

In terms of upfront costs, and ongoing costs, I can't think of anything that comes close to a GT3, I really can't. Lamborghini Gallardo has gotten down in price in recent times, but the upkeep is far more expensive than Porsche. 

Spiller had an Exige Cup from memory, he can give you a good comparison on the two in terms of chassis dynamics and road car manners. 

 

Why not consider a 997.1 GT3, if you play your cards right you can buy sub $200k. 

 

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Cool car non the less. 

But 150k for a chassis and a motor from a car my grandfather drives to get bread and milk. 

I'm with Hugh on this too. GT3. or a 997 turbo for 150k. or a 996 turbo for 100k and 20k of go faster its you'll have a 550hp+ rocket.

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That would be a whole lot of crazy and I like crazy. Wallet says GT3 but you only live once and I am sure there is much more adrenaline packed into that lotus than in a 13 yr old p car.    To be fair though, I bought a V10 M6 so definitely on the crazy side and therefore perhaps lacking some of the cred of the more sagacious types around here. 

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I am sure there is much more adrenaline packed into that lotus than in a 13 yr old p car.

Age has done nothing more than make what was interesting cars boring. Don't be fooled by thinking a newer car or more powerful car is necessarily more exciting to drive, generally I'd say the opposite is true. 

We are trying to make a point here - who's team are you on! ;):lol:

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Age has done nothing more than make what was interesting cars boring. Don't be fooled by thinking a newer car or more powerful car is necessarily more exciting to drive, generally I'd say the opposite is true. 

We are trying to make a point here - who's team are you on! ;):lol:

lol. Yes I felt dirty saying it but you know you are going to get predictable excellence from the P car and this man is obviously looking for some unpredictable excitement. Will I get spat in to the bush? will the engine make it to the shops? Is there another lunatic that will want to buy the car after me (or am I the only one)?

lotus ownership looks just like living life just that little closer to the edge. My 13 yr old wants one as his first car. I can't come up with a good reason to deny him - except it can't have a k series motor (been burnt by that bastard already thank you land rover). 

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Having owned a couple of Lotus products back in the U.K. I'll give you my short and long versions 

Short: Don't. When they go wrong (and they will), Lotus dealers in the U.K. struggle to fix them effectively. How the hell a local dealer here would fix them, on the other side of world I daren't comprehend.

Long: Any Lotus product is the best drivers car you'll probably come across, it's why I had     one. However, regardless of the improvements made in production over the years they are still built in a shed by turnip farmers in Norfolk, to a price and therein lies the problem. Get inside one, it'll stink of fibreglass rather than the nice leather smell you expect of a $150k+ car. It will always smell of fibreglass. The trim will fall off, the glue will be exposed and no amount of warranty visits will effectively fix it. All they'll do is (maybe) push the problem outside of warranty so the dealer can wash their hands of it. One day you'll not be able to open the bonnet because the cable will have dropped off and the clams will need to be taken off to get at it. Ditto when the radiator springs a leak and needs replacing, or the headlight clip breaks because you happened to breath on it the wrong way. At this point you'll look on the bright side that you didn't buy a 340R like your mate, who when he needs to fit a new battery has to take the body off the car. Suspension parts will wear astonishingly quickly, but just outside of the warranty if Lotus are lucky. If you have a great dealer who knows how to play the warranty game and what words to use, you'll have the thing virtually rebuilt before it's 3rd birthday (the voice of bitter experience here!). If not, you'll be selling it at a huge loss. Why are there not many for sale on Carsales? It's not because owners keep them forever, it's because their history precedes them and they struggle to shift them.

I have many friends back in the UK with Lotus products, we're all gluttons for punishment I suppose. When they work, they're awesome, but I'm still astounded how quickly they break and piss poorly they're built. I wouldn't have one here if they were the last car on earth.

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 Come on Mike, no need to beat around the bush! :) 

 I have no experience at all with them, though a friend in the UK had one, and he'd echo Mike's analogy nearly word for word I reckon. He wanted to set fire to it (literally) to claim insurance, as it was in for repairs more than he drove it. Sold it at a big loss, and bought a cheap Cayman S which he loves, and still has today

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:lol:

They're just so pisspotically badly built it's ridiculous. Yet we all still bought them and loved them when they worked.

By the time I sold it just after its 3rd birthday my VX220 had had more spent on it in warranty work than I paid for it at a year old. I paid £19k for it and only did 12,000 miles in it. I do recall going in to talk to the dealer during the 2 year service, only to see it sat in the workshop minus both front and rear clams, as they were being replaced / painted due to cracks in them and piss poor paint finish, all the body seals because more water got in than stayed out, new headlights because the originals were misting up, no front suspension or steering because of a recall to replace the lot (which 12 months later got done again) and I think there was something wrong with the engine mounts as well, because it came back with new ones of those. The drivers seat was away being re-covered as well.

Im not alone with that work, of the 7-8 friends that owned them at the time, we all had the same work done.

Great cars :rolleyes:

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Having owned a couple of Lotus products back in the U.K. I'll give you my short and long versions 

Short: Don't. When they go wrong (and they will), Lotus dealers in the U.K. struggle to fix them effectively. How the hell a local dealer here would fix them, on the other side of world I daren't comprehend.

Long: Any Lotus product is the best drivers car you'll probably come across, it's why I had     one. However, regardless of the improvements made in production over the years they are still built in a shed by turnip farmers in Norfolk, to a price and therein lies the problem. Get inside one, it'll stink of fibreglass rather than the nice leather smell you expect of a $150k+ car. It will always smell of fibreglass. The trim will fall off, the glue will be exposed and no amount of warranty visits will effectively fix it. All they'll do is (maybe) push the problem outside of warranty so the dealer can wash their hands of it. One day you'll not be able to open the bonnet because the cable will have dropped off and the clams will need to be taken off to get at it. Ditto when the radiator springs a leak and needs replacing, or the headlight clip breaks because you happened to breath on it the wrong way. At this point you'll look on the bright side that you didn't buy a 340R like your mate, who when he needs to fit a new battery has to take the body off the car. Suspension parts will wear astonishingly quickly, but just outside of the warranty if Lotus are lucky. If you have a great dealer who knows how to play the warranty game and what words to use, you'll have the thing virtually rebuilt before it's 3rd birthday (the voice of bitter experience here!). If not, you'll be selling it at a huge loss. Why are there not many for sale on Carsales? It's not because owners keep them forever, it's because their history precedes them and they struggle to shift them.

I have many friends back in the UK with Lotus products, we're all gluttons for punishment I suppose. When they work, they're awesome, but I'm still astounded how quickly they break and piss poorly they're built. I wouldn't have one here if they were the last car on earth.

Thaks for this first hand account. I've always wanted one in a 'maybe the quality will improve one day' kind of way. I drove one in 2005 and it was a go kart for the road. Nothing else came close. At $128k at the time it was well out of my budget.

I spent years lurking Lotus forums till I eventually gave it up and stuck with Porsche. There is no doubt the head says Porsche. The wallet (at sale time) says Porsche. But the 10 year old in me wants to get an exige and strap rockets on the back of it!

The SSC race prepped car that Grant Denyer drove into a ditch recently had 550hp. I think you buy one as an eventual track pig - drive on the roads for a while, start modding, and keep long term as a track car.

Damn you common sense! 

@edgy If there wasn't still a chance of a 991.2 allocation I'd probably be in a 997.1 already.

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Everyone above makes solid and valid points.

However ... you DO NOT want to have a half serious crash in one.

If you make it to the other side of a Big One, not much would remain unbroken.

I've thumped a GT3 into the top wall at Symonds Plains at 170 km/h.  The car was a mess but the doors still opened and I walked away.  The car was a write off.  Back almost torn off and the front pushed back to nearly the scuttle ...

I was once first on scene after a crash at Philip Island where a Lotus Exige race car collided with another car at the exit of turn one.  The driver was hospitalised (after being airlifted out) for months.  It was a smaller bang than mine in Tassie.

Grunt, cornering, (subjectively) lower running and repair costs is one thing (very important actually).

Safety and your family are another.

Just sayin' ...

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I agree with the ' do nots' on the Lotus thing. I've loved the things since the Esprit days, but I know I'd never part with serious cabbage for one. Build quality and refinement just aren't there for me. I reckon it would become a tiresome car to spend time in very quickly.

If you want something fun to carve mountain twisties, would a 981 Cayman GTS manual do it for you?

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I've got no first hand experience, but I spotted this on the car lounge recently.

 

I bought a 2006 Elise last month. One owner, 40k miles, bought from a dealer in FL sight unseen and had it shipped up to MA. The weather's been pretty crappy so today is only the third time I've actually driven the car.

While driving ~70mph on the highway I hit a small bump, heard a loud thud, and the car went into a full blown drift and slid three lanes over to the right. I still don't know how I saved it from flying off into the ditch. I got out to inspect it and everything seemed fine... I was only minutes from home so I limped it back at 10mph - any more than that and the car would start to shake violently. 

Well - here is the culprit. The rear toe link sheared clean off. Apparently this is a fairly common Elise issue and there are more than enough videos of Elises having this fail while on the track. I've lost a fair amount of confidence in the car to say the least, but will upgrade with a better replacement part and sta
y vigilant about checking it regularly. I knew going into this to expect some questionable reliability, but I certainly did not expect the car to try to kill me within the first hundred miles. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu_oHk4_t0k

 

 

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Mate's web review of his Elise, along with all his other cars. You'll note it was replaced by a boggo Cayman, which he had infinitely more fun with

http://www.juansolo.co.uk/motas/elsie2.html

Granted, John's a tightfisted northerner like myself, but we were all surprised he got shot of the Elise so quickly considering how many years he ruminated over buying one. He also tested the Evora while owning the Cayman (told you we were all gluttons for punishment) and all the traits he hated with the Elise were still there, just the price tag was more than double. Another friend owned 2 Elise's, went from those to a GTR, then looked at the Evora / 911 / Aston for the special weekender. He just couldn't get over the quality issues and nagging doubts with the Evora, despite it being the best handling of the lot. The 911 wasn't special enough for just a weekender so he went for the Aston (bear in mind they were all similar age / price at about £50k). He's now on his second Aston, trading the first one in a few weeks ago. Looked at the Evora and Exige again prior to buying, but still found the same problems. There were loads for sale at the 12-18 month old point, asking for the warranty claim history always explained why :lol:

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I wouldn't have one here if they were the last car on earth.

?? I have a little squiz at Loti now and then but I must remember to never entertain the idea again.  Your qualified advice is quite clear! ????

now, I must check if there's any 997.1 GT3CS at $150k on carsales yet.......

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Everyone above makes solid and valid points.

However ... you DO NOT want to have a half serious crash in one.

If you make it to the other side of a Big One, not much would remain unbroken.

I've thumped a GT3 into the top wall at Symonds Plains at 170 km/h.  The car was a mess but the doors still opened and I walked away.  The car was a write off.  Back almost torn off and the front pushed back to nearly the scuttle ...

I was once first on scene after a crash at Philip Island where a Lotus Exige race car collided with another car at the exit of turn one.  The driver was hospitalised (after being airlifted out) for months.  It was a smaller bang than mine in Tassie.

Grunt, cornering, (subjectively) lower running and repair costs is one thing (very important actually).

Safety and your family are another.

Just sayin' ...

Ok, this is the first thing that has been posted that I did not consider at all. Everything else is a 'she'll be apples' scenario ... 'I can live with whatever inconvenience because weekend car, limited use, blah blah blah'. Lotus actively trying to kill me? So what? Various 911 turbos have been called widowmakers since the 70s for a reason!

Never considered the differing levels of occupant protection between p-car and Lotus. First thing that has given me serious pause.

Thanks for posting @Skidmarks

Loving the discussion and feedback on this - thanks everyone ?

 

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Wow, this is great. Over the years whenever I'm in the market and go car shopping, my eyes always wander over to the lotus section and check out the Elise sc, the exiges, the cup 240, etc.....the boy racer in me gets excited when I read "go kart" and "handles like its on rails, man!".

but after reading this thread, you guys have closed and locked the door on that dabble into the unknown. Not to go there! That's it, not again. See ya lotus. 

Thank you, sounds like you've saved me pain, money and heart ache! 

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