Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Lotus elise

Cheers.

Just let it itch John. My driving force (haha) in buying any car is that I first must love how it looks from the outside.

Then when I sit in it, I must get an instant wow factor.

Only then do I want to drive it.

I can dismiss most cars on looks. The Cayman I sat in at Silverstone some years ago had no wow at all inside, it was too VAG. Not that this is a problem, I love VAG interiors, but sports cars should have more wow than this.

I don't care how fast a car is or how it handles if it doesn't pass my first two tests.

When I first saw a photo of my Roadster it was Wow
When I first sat in it it was Wow
When I first drove it, it was Wow, and still is.

Today there are only two sports cars I would even consider aside from Morgan...… The Mx5 based FIAT, and the Toyota Supra.

Dave ,what about a Cobra recreation with a 289 engine or LS3 engine , or a 911 , or Elise , or Caterham , or a baby Aston v8 420bhp .......

I agree re the need for wow. Whilst realising that it is not in the same price class I would have to admit that a pre-loved AMG GT might make the list....
The long bonnet, quality interior and the hooligan V8 bark make it very naughty. Also some of the reasonable AM V8s are now hovering in the price bracket around the new Supra and would not lose as much in the longer term.

It was the utterly gangster experience of the Coupe that did it for us. Sidepipes, colour, high belt line and view out as well as the crazy style. I never fail to love it when it is working and I am in the damn thing.

Lots of interesting comments, thanks chaps. It has become even more interesting and I will be investigating early new year.
Nick

Well, Cobra dashboards are usually rubbish. 911's? Maybe an air cooled but interiors have no Wow for me. Elise? As I already said. You don't get closer than going with the payment. Caterham just too basic. Baby Aston too lardy.

As I said, absolute performance for me is irrelevant.

Interesting analysis Dave , thanks for that . We all look for different things in cars , a bit like girls really ?

I remember reading about Silvia Convertibles on the internet and seeing a picture and thinking WOW that looks pretty good, I finally got one and it was delivered to my house by the Importer, I live in a steep area so was standing on the balcony and saw it turn into the suburb about a km away and thought wow that is nice, my first drive was wow this is pretty fun. Now 17 years later I still really enjoy it and when I go to the garage I think it still has the look I like, the only times I don't enjoy it is some of the roads around here are very bumpy plus our government loves putting in speed bumps everywhere. The roof when on has a metal strong bar only mm from my head and I often hit it.

I went to the Morgan Muster to look at Morgans and enjoyed the weekend, but driving the Silvia back along the winding roads with the roof off was absolutely fantastic, lots of toe and heeling etc. and I was thinking yes I loved the Morgan Muster and they are great cars but can it really get any better than this - probably but I was certainly enjoying the drive.

My first convertible was a Honda S600 and I remember seeing it in the driveway of the sellers house and thinking WOW. Also the Mazda MX5 NA I had I thought was pretty WOW when I first saw it. I am probably odd but any car with a roof does not get WOW from me.

Regarding not caring how fast a car is I think a fast car can be less fun than a slow car. My Honda S600 was great because it was tiny on the road, I could rev it up to about 9,000rpm in each gear and above 5,000rpm sounded great, having to toe and heel to change gears because the Synchromesh was gone, basically every drive felt like I was on a race track without really worrying about exceeding the speed limit. But the car had two big issues, not enough torque to actually get up some hills and the fact it spent nearly 90% of the time I owned it in pieces while I waited for parts to fix it. It really took lack of power to a level I doubt I would want again even though it was the most fun I have ever had below the speed limit.

I have hired a Morgan from the Factory 15 years ago and loved that you have to learn to drive it. I think a car that is easy to drive takes a lot of the fun away.

Ignoring the idea of a daily driver my fun car with a WOW factor has to be a convertible with manual gearbox and I like them to look good with both roof on and off. My Silvia, Morgans, MGBs, The first Mazda MX5 and the Triumph TR4 to TR6 are probably the only cars I have seen that look good with the roof off and on, not many others I can think of. I do like the looks of Cobras, Jaguar SS100's and E-types with the roof off but I think all three look terrible with the roof on. I aIso agree with Dave that most Cobra's I have seen have pretty terrible looking dashboards.

I probably should try the MX5 based Fiat at some stage, I have seen a few lately and they are growing on me.

Anyone that’s been the MMC Factory notices the ex racer rat Elise in the car park?

Belongs to my nipper who has two Elises. (One is for sale)

Both S1’s the rawest of them. He commutes from Birmingham to Malvern everyday and he’s 6.4”. Nutter

How much does he want for it?
Nick