7 vs Elise

[Kitcat]

Like new, low-milage Elises are going for $32K. Any thoughts on how they compare with similarly priced 7 clones (Caterham or otherwise) as a track car? My family has lots of daily drivers('05 Prius,'03 T-Bird, '07 Accord) so my interest is in a car that is streetable enough to drive to the track in minimal comfort, then excel at the track. I don't want to have to buy a tow vehicle/trailer as I don't have room to store them and would rather put that extra money in to a car.

[slngsht]

What do you intend to do with the car at the track? Is it just for casual track days where you want to run the car for fun? or do you plan to compete in a SCCA class?



Elise is a very capable car. I like "fiddlin" with cars, so the Seven is hard to beat. You can disassemble the car with simple tools, everything is easy to maintain, get to, etc... The Seven is significantly lighter, so it has a totally different feel to it.



The advantages of the Elise are that you'll find many other very stock Elises to run with, and the car is more usable as a daily driver - can easily be driven in rain. You have to consider what you will do if you've prepaid for your track time, and it's going to rain (this just happened to me a couple of weeks ago, so I had to take another car). Some here drive their Sevens in rain, but it's not like a normal car where you just throw on the wipers and go on your merry way.



The best advice I can give you is to hook up with a Caterham owner in your area and get a ride and then decide. You'll either fall in love with the car and have to have it, or decide it's too out of the mainstream.

[Al Navarro]

Mark B. is from OH, right? Find him and go for a ride in his SV.



I'm obviously biased, but here's my take on Elises:



A) Don't fool yourself that they are any more reliable or don't have build issues. A friend with one tells me about all sorts of "recall" repairs he's had done. Nice.



B) I personally (and apologies to all who have an Elise, especially those I've met in person) find them to be too soft and not "hairshirt" enough. They're too "easy" a choice, IMHO. Like the Boxster was 10 years ago...I'd much rather have a mint 1969 911 than a Boxster. A recent post on Jalopnik.com (and not by me, I might add) said "A Lotus 7 or one of its diaspora is simply one of the manliest purchases you can make."



http://www.jalopnik.com/http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/clips/whither-koenigsegg-caterham-unofficially-breaks-top-gear-lap-record-208378.php



Not that I need someone else's approval on my car (well, except for my wife's!)...



C) A Seven is a step off the planned obsolescence cycle that all car manufacters sell, a phenomenon to which I am particularly prone. You know how it goes, you buy an Elise, then they come out with the Exige, and so on. Sure, there are the new CSR (don't like/don't need the widebody platform) and Westfield 2000s, but Sevens (and Westfield XIs) are pretty much timeless. They come from the factory obsolete, so it's not like a new model can sway me that much.



Just my 200 cents.

[Al Navarro]

FWIW, a guy from my area who seemed very much in your situation ended up buying an Elise because his wife gave it the nod in terms of safety.

[Kitcat]

Track days only-no organized competition. I hadn't thought about the rain issue. Many of the track days I ran in my Miata & my Evo were in rain. Also many of the trips there and back were in the rain. You can't just put the top up and run your 7?

[slngsht]

Track days only-no organized competition. I hadn't thought about the rain issue. Many of the track days I ran in my Miata & my Evo were in rain. Also many of the trips there and back were in the rain. You can't just put the top up and run your 7?



Yes, you can. You just gotta be flexible to get in and out with the top on. I don't even have a top for my car, so I'm not worried http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/biggrin5.gif.

[jfgw]

Kitcat,



I am in Columbus, Ohio and would be happy to take you for a ride in my Caterham. It's the non-SV model with a few performance enhancing goodies, but should give you an idea. There is also a Lotus dealer literally 10 minutes from my house where you could go to test-drive an Elise too. PM me if you are interested before the weather gets too cold, or bring a crash helmet with you as I have only added my weather equipment once since I have had the car...

[Al Navarro]

Kitcat-I drove my Superlight in torrential rain once for about 9 hours. And I don't even have a full roof or doors. It was an near religious experience experience from which I am still recovering.-Al



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