Newby after an S1 Exige few questions

Hi there all, after some answers to some questions i have on the S1 Exige.

I am 6ft and average build would i find the S1 Exige a squeeze and suffer from head room probs or not?

I am selling my Lancer EVO 6 as i fancy something different after owning it for 4 years what are the running costs of the S1 Exige? Ins group, service intervals and mpg.

Have got a known specialist, his name is Miles (any one use him???) and he is just round the corner from me so am hoping to take the car to him for servicing. If maindealer servicing a must or is like in the world of EVO’s specialist maintenance better.

Are there any known things that go on the S1 Exige and key things to look for when buying.I gather if there is a buying guide here is the time for u to point me to it

I am a 33 year old male with 9+yrs NCD in a good postcode and will garage the car does anyone have a ball park fig wot is a gud deal on the ins premium front as don’t wonna be stitched by my current ins. Ins recomendation wud be appreciated.

well thats enough to be getting on with so cheers for ur time

Toby…

I am just over 6 foot and fit in fine.

With regard to sevicing the costs these are not too bad expecially if you stay away for main dealer rates.

I personally always try to use an independant specialist as I find that the cars are looked after alot better. For an example of servicing costs look up Sinclaires on the net as they have the costs listed

I found that the insurance on the Exige was similar to a standard Elise and thus was also not too expensive.

Buy one you will not regret it!!!

Cheers for that m8, wot r the sevice intervals thi? mileage and time? can’t be any worse that the EVO - 6 months or 4500 miles.

believe its recomended service for every 6,000 miles.

although ive heard a lot of people go on about how they have had engine rebuilds after 20,000 miles, it sounds very expensive,

dont think the engine is that reliable, i wonder why so many people opt for a jap transplant?

With regards to engine costs I am at present having some problems with mine however this car has been driven hard for the last 16,000 miles and the cost will be somewhere in the region of �1500 which will include a full c service, head gasket change, skimming of the head, and new valve seals. These costs would have been less if the value problem had shown up slightly earlier.

My car is coming up on 40k miles and all it’s had done are the tappets and some new exhaust valves.

Cheers this is the sort of info i’m after.

Is there a difinitive buyers guide on here?

Also am concerend about the corrosion which seems to be a prob on Elises and Exiges is this limited to a particular run of cars or all are suseptable to the prob???

Also is the 6k servce interval also a 6month time interval or 1 year?

Cheers and looks like and congrats on a top forum.

Cheers this is the sort of info i’m after.

Is there a difinitive buyers guide on here?

Also am concerend about the corrosion which seems to be a prob on Elises and Exiges is this limited to a particular run of cars or all are suseptable to the prob???

There’s an Elise FAQ & buyer’s guide here, a lot of it will be common to the Exige. http://www.elise-faq.info/

I think the ‘Corrosion’ you’re referring to is what occurs under the footwell rubber mats. Any Elise/Exige with bonded rubber footwell mats could have this problem as I think it’s caused by a chemical reaction between Sulpher in the rubber, water and aluminium. Good news is that it only affects the footwell, which is non structural and Lotus (via their dealer network) have a FOC recall program to deal with it. Removing the floor mats and cleaning with water sorts the problem out immediately. I believe if the floor’s perforated, Lotus will bond in a new ally floor, most of them are just marked, so Lotus clean the floor and fit new mats (not rubber !)

Anodised ally is funny stuff, so although it’s pretty impervious to water, it reacts with strange things like Stainless Steel. So if you see a car that’s been ‘upgraded’ with SS fastners, make sure their insulated from the Ally with something. Most of the solutions to these problems come from yacht chandlers (e.g. Duralac).

Hope that’s useful

Niall

Elise and Plus 2 owner, sorry !

I am a 33 year old male with 9+yrs NCD in a good postcode and will garage the car does anyone have a ball park fig wot is a gud deal on the ins premium front as don’t wonna be stitched by my current ins. Ins recomendation wud be appreciated.

If you going to track it call Autotorque (I’d guess around the �800 mark). If you’re not going to track it, firstly, WHY?! ARE YOU MAD?!, secondly try Tesco or Elephant…and Autotorque.

Ian

your height won’t be a problem - there are a few 6foot + folks round here

also this whole site is kinda like a buyers guide and if you search around you will find most answers - but mostly… just buy one… you know you want to