All I can afford is a 111s...

General General Lotus Talk
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Hello all you wonderful Lotus People! Well, I am breaking down, found a LHD Elise 111s, with 1000km on the odom. It just comes down to the fact I can’t afford a Exige. Oh how I love that front grille on the Exige… So what do you all think of the 111s? I’m looking at a 111s here in Naples, (I want a hard top) for $30,500. (Unless one of you wish to sell me your Exige for $35000 give or take!) It comes in Dark Blue metalic (needs polishing, looks like it was washed with wet sandpaper) the blue alcantara leather, and radio kit. All I need to do is test drive it to see if I really want to do this. It will be my daily driver. And surprise to me, I’m 73" tall and fit nicely into the car, the seats are very comfortable! So I have a few questions. What mods do I want? Give me suggestions! I wish it had four point seats, is there a mod for that? Where do I get cool little lotus bits like the black satin window levers? Different airbox? grin Exhaust??? Oh I feel the bug comming on… Also, here is a technical question concerning the radio kit. I am going to install an Empeg player (a linux based MP3 car stereo, www.empeg.com) and I was wondering what ISO plug is standard in the Elise? Is it european or UK? If anyone wants to talk car stereo, I plan on the MP3 Player, with a Orion XTR amp, and Diamond component speakers. I just can’t find a place to put a 8" sub! Arggghhh… Now my only wish is to meet my significant other at the airport when she flies in to visit me, and ask her “So sweetie, guess which car is mine!” Oh to see the look on her face if I can do that…Thanks guys! I promise pictures if I do this, and updates and such.James

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Hi JamesApart from the “music player”, you’re a man after my own heart [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image]Even if the particular car you’ve found at this stage is not the one you buy, you’re going to do it, so enjoy [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image] [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image] [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]Best of luck.

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Hello again! Two more questions I have thought of…Will the new Elise MkII hardtop (with the removable wings) fit on a 111s?Is the steering wheel in the 111s removable as the Exige is? If not, can it be modified to be removable?Thanks again for all your info guys!James

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quote:Originally posted by Insoc:Hello all you wonderful Lotus People! Also, here is a technical question concerning the radio kit. I am going to install an Empeg player (a linux based MP3 car stereo, www.empeg.com) and I was wondering what ISO plug is standard in the Elise? Is it european or UK? If anyone wants to talk car stereo, I plan on the MP3 Player, with a Orion XTR amp, and Diamond component speakers. I just can’t find a place to put a 8" sub! Arggghhh…James, I am also in the same boat, would love an Exige, but hard to justify the expense to my SO. I do have a empeg though ( 64gig hard disk model ), and did the install myself for my 1992 M100 Elan and comapany car. The empeg install should be easy in an Elise, except that you will have to mount the amp somewhere. Others have considered that it might fit under the passenger seat, but I don’t know anyone that has actually done it.

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Hey Rod, How is your Empeg Player? I have wanted one since the mark 1 model, and am looking forward to getting one soon. What ISO plug standard does Lotus use, if they use one at all? Would you happen to know? Or can I expect to be doing some splicing? I get my 111s on the 9th of March, test drove it, and LOVED it, only has 58km on the odom… James

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quote:Originally posted by Insoc:How is your Empeg Player? I have wanted one since the mark 1 model, and am looking forward to getting one soon. What ISO plug standard does Lotus use, if they use one at all? Would you happen to know? Or can I expect to be doing some splicing?The Empeg was a “gadget” purchase, but its only since actually using it I have come to realise how great it is. My interest was getting my CD collection in one place. Right now I have 10,000+ tracks on the Empeg. It took a while to convert my CD’s to MP3 but it was worth it. I now listen to loads of music from CD’s that I had not played for years. Hence I look at it as if I have saved money, as those 400 CD’s ( 400 x �10 = �4000 ) now get listened to. Now add that I use it every day in the car, most evenings in the house, I can mess around with the Linux build on it ( running a web server - so other PC’s on home network can play music from it over ethernet connection ), nice visuals on the display, ongoing development of the player software by the empeg guys, great sound quality, and ease of use.The connection for my company Vauxhall car was easy, I just picked up an ISO convertor from an auto store, this pluged into car wiring and standard empeg ISO into other end. My Lotus is an older 1992 Elan, so I could not find an ISO convertor specifically for it, hence did some soldering and heat shrink. No idea what the Elise/Exige radio wiring is, but you will need to install an amp, so thats the majority of the wiring.