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Elise Sales

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CraigFL

CraigFL

Jedi Trainee
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I've been noticing the many sales of new Elises on E-Bay. Some are brand new, zero miles but many have 2K miles or less. Are the speculators selling or are new owners disappointed? The price sure has dropped. A few months ago you had to pay over MSRP, maybe about $53K but now they can be had for even less than MSRP.
 
I would guess that the 0 mile ones are from the speculators, maybe some ultra low mile ones, but that the others may be from people who liked the idea of a spartan, authentic sports car, but when they drive it, it's a bit too authentic and spartan. I don't know if you would call that "disappointed." Maybe there expectations were a bit off.
 
My impression of the Elise is that it woulr be a super fun car to drive - for a day, but any sort of regular commuting or long trips would probably be trying on the body.
 
I saw an orange one at my favorite coffee shop on Thursday... I'm still fatasizing personally... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
oh and to get back on subject... Speculating? What are these people spculating that makes them want to get rid of their cars? Searching Google News didn't turn up anything "bad" that i could see.
 
"Speculating" as in buying them up hoping the price will go up, not speculating that there is a defect.
 
oh, so it's the would be collector/investor speculating on the value... instead of buying the car to drive they're hoping to turn a profit from it in some form or other... eh, I don't think I'll ever truly understand that line of thought when it comes to certain types of things.
 
For example, If you MUST have your Ferrari F430 Spider now, you probably will be paying $90K to $100K over the MSRP of about $230K Creating a nice profit for the speculator. Sometimes speculators never even take posession of the car because they just sell their "place in line". This is what was happening with the Elise and the premium was almost $10K.
 
heh... isn't that akin to scalping concert tickets?
 
No. I was just referring to the concept being the same.

Personally, I've never quite understood why scalping is illegal (some places).
 
FWIW I commute in mine every day and I have driven it from Salt Lake to Lake Tahoe for the West Coast Lotus meet (well OK that was pretty tiring /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Plus I have the harder sports package. 8k miles and soon to start on my 3rd set of tyres /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
8k miles and soon to start on my 3rd set of tyres /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yer kidding right? I'm sure it's not that the tires have that short of a life under "normal" conditions, and it's that you like pushing the car that much.... right?
 
I nearly bought a new Mini in 2002, but could not get past the minimum $1800 I would have had to pay a speculator. He was trying to dump non supercharged versions for under list then.

I'm glad I didn't buy. I am interested in an Elise though, but not from a speculator.
 
Yes. About 9 track days and 6 Autocrosses. So they have held up pretty well. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Sales have fallen off and the dealers have some what of a glut...

Great car! yet somewhat more of a compromise then maybe some of the early buyers thought?
 
[ QUOTE ]
FWIW I commute in mine every day and I have driven it from Salt Lake to Lake Tahoe for the West Coast Lotus meet (well OK that was pretty tiring /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Plus I have the harder sports package. 8k miles and soon to start on my 3rd set of tyres /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

WOOHOOO!!! A TRUE Lotus owner!

My Elan S-3 was my daily commuter and primary transport for eleven years... It will be so again if I have my way.

Mr. Chapman designed kick-ass cars and his tradition continues: "Buns of Steel" don't mean th' same thing to a Lotus driver as it does to the 'general population' neither.

Pay no attention to th' sig... *shhh!*... it's my wife's car ;}
 
[ QUOTE ]
My impression of the Elise is that it woulr be a super fun car to drive - for a day, but any sort of regular commuting or long trips would probably be trying on the body.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actualy, the Elise is quite comfortable, once you get in it. The longest cruise I've taken to date has been five hours and the sparse seat, suprisingly enough, gives ample support for the long haul. Not like the Se7en where two hours is the max and you feel like you've been on a Harley. The big problem with the Elise is you can't go as fast as you want (it cruises at 95mph@3000rpm in 6th with plenty of pedal to go). Also, be prepared to wash your tighty-whities in the sink while you are away, since you can only carry a small duffle bag in the trunk.
The good thing for potential buyers is that first owners are finding that the car is meant for weekend track or touring use, so I've seen some good buys. A word of warning though, once you drive one you want to own one.
 
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