Scottish Elises

Hey gang,

Been away from lotus for a few years since I sold my europa at the end of 2017 but looking to come back. Looking for an S1 Elise but looks like slim pickings on the usual sites.

Quick question, what is available looks quite steep on price, with some s2's now cheaper than many s1's. Appreciate i've been away for a bit and it's the 25th anniversary etc. but are they actually selling at these prices or are people just chancing it a bit?

Anyway, in no real rush but just wanted to get a better read on the market from the knowledgable people on here. Hope everyone is well

-Mark.

I was thinking about this too.
S1s will probably go in to the classic market sooner than the S2s which probably will keep depreciating for a while (other than the supercharged ones which seem to have been pretty flat price wise for years).
I think a lot of prices are very speculative - 27k for a type 49 - really??
I quite like the look of the very early green one Will Blackam has at 15k (mostly because of the colour).
I need to decide what I'm doing with the 911 first.

S2's appear to be appreciating at the moment. I just sold my 2006 Elise S for a couple of grand more than I paid for it 7 years ago and Elise R prices are going crazy, you can get newer supercharged cars for not much more.

Hi Mark , good to see you back, hope you are well.

I think the earliest S1 being built/ registered in 96 aand not being 25 years old, means they are eligible for import to the US. I expect this to mean they continue to rise over the next couple of years.

Hey Scott, doing well thanks - managed to get that exige back yet?!

Thanks for the input all, it will be interesting to see what happens towards the end of the year as people potentially tighten their belts.

The VX has always been a good value proposition as well so I could always take a look at that market as well if the s1's keep going up, though I do love the s1!

Cheers

Yeah pretty much good to go, waiting for a test drive once Parks get organised then just a case of figuring out what I am happy with then finding the right car. Reckon I could be down to 500 miles a year spread across 2 cars with my current monthly mileage though

Interested to hear how you get on with the S1

If you arent in a rush there will be bargains popping up every once in a while like Clarkies he picked up a few months back.

As much as I fancy the idea of one, I'd want to completely overhaul it, and when I bought the last S1 variant I owned, an Exige, I drove it once and realised I'd bought it with rose tinted glasses and sold it fairly shortly after.

I'll always look at them longingly, and adore every shot I'm lucky enough to get, but not sure I want to own another.

Funny you should post this Andy, I've been doing some thinking and essentially come to the same conclusion.

I loved the s1 more than any of the other Loti I've owned but I think that was down to the point in my life when I owned it. If these values are correct I dont think the value is there for me now.

I've been looking at 220 cups (Will B has a beautiful red one for sale) and it makes much more sense for me and has the benefit of being much newer. The issue is you start creeping into V6 money but I'd hope running costs would be a lot less on a cup.

Will do some more research as I need to decide if I buy an elise as a 3rd car and keep my daily (for the very rare occasions I need to ferry the kids about) or sell the daily, up the budget and go for a cup.... I could always grab a puddle jumper for kid duties if needed.

Who knows what the future looks like as well in a few months due to covid, trying to judge the market is quite difficult atm.

Thanks for the input all.

if i had the money a 220-250 cup would be the car i would be having in the garage. especially in red

Sadly WillB does not do trade ins Scotty! There is a keenly priced yellow one as well but I just don't like yellow (unless it's an utter steal!)