Scottish Elises

Hi all,

Does anyone have any suggestions on servicing a VX220? Currently on 80k.

Also, any idea of rough cost?

I usually use a friends garage before I got the VX and may well do so again, but thought I would check if there are any other reasonably priced specialist garages.

After a search I saw JD Motors at Insch recommended, I assume they would be as happy with a VX as an Elise.

Cheers
Wayne

Wayne

I understand one of the chaps from JD motors now has a garage in Alford who some people have used with Lotus. Hopefully someone will be along with details.

The previous owner of my car used to do a lot of work himself but believe also used AW Autotech for bits and bobs.

Central Garage
Glenkindie
Alford
Aberdeenshire
AB33 8RE

01975 641230

tut

Thanks guys will be in touch with them over the next week or so.

Does self servicing these things affect value? Doesn't bother me personally, but how does the market in general react? One of close friends is a mechanic so could do it at home fairly easily.

On a VX with 80k I wouldn't worry too much about home servicing as long as there is some paperwork to back it up (receipts for parts etc) & the general condition reflects that it is looked after.

It's just a Vectra engine at the end of the day. Provided that the oil filter hasn't been over tightened in the past (ruins the seals) and the plugs haven't been over tightened(cracks the head, shows up days afterwards) ...it is a straight forward service that can be done on the deck. If they want to lift the car, make sure they use the proper jacking points and not the sills or undertray

To be honest at 80k anyone who'd be affected / worried by self servicing wouldn't touch your car anyway.

(sold mine with 92k on the clock)

I self service mine, It hasn't exploded yet and it has just ticked over 88k

Claws wrote:I self service mine, It hasn't exploded yet and it has just ticked over 88k

I wouldn't buy it off him though!

GBOBM wrote:

Claws wrote:I self service mine, It hasn't exploded yet and it has just ticked over 88k

I would still buy it off him though, mainly just because he is a cool guy

Lazydonkey wrote:To be honest at 80k anyone who'd be affected / worried by self servicing wouldn't touch your car anyway.

(sold mine with 92k on the clock)

I disagree, I think those in the know about Lotuses/VXs don't look too much at mileage, but focus more on recent service history, and how well the car has been maintained. I bought a higher mileage car as I knew it's history - I would have walked away if it had been a home serviced car for years. Just my 2p

Have you tried to sell a elise based car with 90k on the clock? I have and I can assure you its not an easy sell.

My point was at that at that mileage many people would walk away.... And I don't think a fsh would stop many. Maybe one or two but fundamentally its the mileage that puts people off, not the servicing Imho.

Imho a car with a fsh and 90k will still be massively overlooked as long as there are cars with half the mileage kicking about.

The cars aren't getting any younger too, so the low mileage ones really have been sitting about not doing much at all. Cars generally like to get used to keep everything working and tip-top.

Example:

My VX, a 2001 car with 88k on it.

On the face of it, 88k seems high mileage, but it gets used. This gives an average annual mileage of 6750ish miles per year which is still very low compared to the average 12k that gets banded about.

A low mileage garage queen with FSH has the potential to become a money pit once you start using it, whereas a higher mileage car will probably be wearing it's miles better and regardless of reputable service history or not, it is a survivor.

Whilst i dont disagree it rare to find a noob with that attitude. In this country high mileage scares people....hell it ever scares me ! Lol