Well after selling my Kwak green exige, I’ve finally seen the error of my ways (evo9) and decided I need to return to the Lotus fold.
I’ve been to have a look at the car below today, but not really sure what they are worth. Firstly it’s an Elise dressed up as an exige, the owner before this one was a member over on molc and I k ow spent a fortune on it and looked after it really well. The current owner has had it for just over a year and put 1500 miles in it…
Needs new tyres, oil temp gage not working properly and last oil change in November…
What db do these kick out, I like my track days and anything over 98 is not much good really…
Yeah hard to value but that does look fantastic, kinda like the sister car to Muu’s machine.
Noise is part induction noise and part exhaust noise and the configuration of both determines how noisy it is. It is possible to get SC+CC Honda cars like this to pass the noise regs at most circuits. I even use mine at Bedford but you do have to lift by the meters mainly induction I think.
I think you have to have a particular mindset and attitude to running an engine-conversion car. Saying that its an MSC car so its well-developed and a pretty safe bet.
My recommendation is go for it, I think that’s a whole lot of car for the money.
So yea usual things to check on a Honda car, but that’ll largely be fine. It’s an early conversion though, so check that the gear linkage is nice n tight with a positive engagement.
Worth knowing that often converted cars don’t hook up the odb or mil lights, so you’ll have trouble checking if it’s got error codes. Kmanager cab help here though.
Was it in a shunt? Body converted cars often have been.
Otherwise epic machine in my biased opinion, plenty of power left on the table too (mine makes 330 on the same dyno).
If i remember correctly, stormin norman off NORLOG did the paint and body conversion on that, I saw it in his body shop half finished a few years ago.
I remember commenting on how epic the colour was
I must admit it’s a super colour. Better in the flesh than the photos…
I’m still umming and rrrr img about it… I know what he paid for it, that’s what’s putting me off, I don’t mind a slight hike but surely not a £5k hike in 16 months…
My wife says I wish I thought as much about her as I do getting another exige…
I don’t know this car at all, but I have looked at motorsport bodied Elise and Exige bodied Elise in the past and whilst they have represented a great £ saving against an actual Exige and in some cases a near replicable or better set up than an actual one (especially when getting into Honda NA power, I have never been able to part with the money. I’m just uncomfortable about the ultimate long term value and retained value of a clone.
All that said I owned a '73 911 RS Clone for a long while with a 3.6 964 motor and it was brilliant, I paid, £18k, didnt worry about it, drove it as i pleased and later sold for £24k (thinking I had done well), however the last time I saw it, it was up at £65k all in a span of 8 years - so it shows what I know - bugger all ?!!
That’s a nice package of a car, love the color, 2010 body and motorsport seats. I’ve had two Honda S2 conversions and love them, not had any serious problems with them, no more than the K series or toyota cars I’ve owned.
For comparison I sold my rally spec 2001 Elige s2 Honda NA for about £24k. Although it was NA it was full JDM engine and Box, Ohlins, T45 roll cage, AP 4 pots and Tillets FIA B6 seats.
And yes I slightly regret it although cruising in the sun with the roof off my SC Elise was very pleasant today
Since the specs of converted cars are unique it’s always difficult to compare prices, totally different to buying off the shelf cars although it’s still down to demand and supply. The MSC conversion and great paint job are positives. One thing I would upgrade though are the brakes, especially with an SC on tap, the 4 pot conversion is an easy install.
Good luck with the discussion, hope you’re driving it soon
P.s. Great taste in colors, riviera blue is on my short list for a future exige and I previously had a kwak green S2 exige
Hang in there Scatty. If it’s too pricey for you to justify, just walk away. I’m sure that it’d be sold already if it was a bargain, but reckon it’s a bit optimistic tbh.
It’s an Elise isn’t it?
I think cars like this are tough to put a price on. I totally agree with ‘cbaileyuk’ it is a 2002 Elise with 60k on it in new clothes with a non standard engine. But I also can also see that this car has had a load of cash spent on it and a load of time and effort put into it.
So if it’s a Honda powered genuine exige that you want, then first you have to find one for sale and it would probably be a lot more money. If you were to do the conversion yourself, it would cost a shed load of cash as we all know these things do. Tim is the best man to ask on conversion costs, as he has been there and done it to his Elise.
I don’t subscribe to this Elise / Exige snobbery. Underneath they are fundamentally the same car, so a converted Elise, wouldn’t bother me as long as it has been done well. At the end of the day Lotus didn’t do the best job of bolting these things together, so if someone has taken a load of time and effort to really do a nice job, then you’re probably going to end up with a nicer final product.
As long as you are happy in your head with what you are paying, then its a good deal in my opinion.
Ok I’ll weigh in. I’m not interested in ever selling mine, as all I’d do is just build another after a short hiatus. So let’s look at it relatively, and I’ll look at my car as that’s the one I know:
• 46k 2003 Elise 135R - worth low teens any day of the week
• Add a Honda engine - market says higher teens
• SC car nudging 20
• Bigger power SC + CC + cams etc etc low 20s
So from there it’s ‘what’s the bodywork worth’? Well I have a receipt that would have bought me another Honda’d Elise
However it’s worth what someone will pay for it. 964 RS anyone?
The cheapest Exige on PH is £20k, so we know that is probably in need of some TLC to make it nice. Putting a Honda engine in one is going to cost you the best part of £10k, once you have finished messing around with all the little bits you can’t think of.
So if the car in question is in really good, nice clean condition, then I reckon it probably is worth what the bloke is asking.
