2004 Lotus Elise 111R for sale – SA

Righto – it’s on the market. Here’s the spiele:

For those who don’t know, the 111R is the Elise package with an Exige engine – the best of both worlds. Watch the Top Gear review of the Exige and see Clarkson go mental over it:

…it’s basically the same car but with better visibility. The engine in this case is the one with the second “power” cam, at 6,200rpm the engine becomes brutal and the noise is pure spine-tingling rage – 850kg of pure awesome being rocketed by a blistering 190hp. Driving a “normal” engine afterwards and not having that epic kick on tap with a poke of the right foot is slightly depressing.

I’ve spent a couple days with an Exige S, and whilst on the open road it’s sublime, through traffic and when parking it can only be described as pure terror – rear visibility is zilcho. In the Elise though, confidence is yours – I’ve been using it as a daily driver throughout CBD traffic plus taking it in and out of shopping mall and high-rise carparks for over a year without a problem.

People who bang on about practicality and usability are pussies frankly. Every journey starts with getting in the car and ends with getting out – with a lot of grins in between. Personally I think copping out for a “normal” car is impractical when I think of the thousands of miles of dull driving you have to put up with. Even just trundling around on the daily commute is spine-tingling, and I often found myself making an excuse to get some groceries – typically from a shop 20km away via the foothills…

I originally only meant to own this car for about six months before moving O/S, instead I delayed that and moved to the countryside so have had it for over a year now. The first six months were amazing – together the car and I did about 25,000km of epic roadtrips throughout SA, NSW, Vic, and Tassie. Many 700-900km days of driving, and at the end of it you’re still feeling comfy and invigorated.

You can see a big fat montage of pics of the adventures we’ve been on here:

Since then however it’s been relegated to a grocery getter and weekend winery tourer, does the job admirably but sadly it’s overkill for my usage nowadays, and with a move O/S coming next year I don’t see using it much more.

It comes with a hardtop which is just enough of a PITA to install/remove (about 15 minutes) to ensure that you’ll probably leave it off for summer and whack it back on for winter. Personally I think it looks way more hardcore with the lid on, but just make sure you’re limber enough and not too fat otherwise ingress/egress are going to be a challenge.

The brakes have been upgraded with braided lines, and that silly dead-zone of the pedal that is often found on Elise/Exige brakes has been sorted – the feel of the anchors with real bite is sensational.

It’s also got a tiny Momo sports steering wheel which you’ll laugh at when you first grab hold of it, but by gosh the steering feel is ace – there’s simply no better feedback available through a steering wheel this side of a go kart, it handles like a cat on carpet. The original Lotus wheel is there too if you feel like a bit of badge snobbery staring you in the face.

The “Stage 2” exhaust is the cause of many auralgasms, I’ve never heard a Lotus sound this good before, it has real supercar howl that your mates who paid 10x the amount for their car will hate. When the VTEC-YO kicks in it’s an absolute monster noise – like a banshee gargling thumbtacks with rocket fuel.

Hear it in action here:

The cold air intake is one of the best upgrades you can do to these cars. A standard Elise/Exige you have to give it a bootful of revs to get away from the lights in any respectable fashion, however with the CAI it completely opens up the breathing and gives you plenty of torque in the low rev ranges so you don’t have to strangle it like a crotch rocket every time you need to take off or do an overtake manouvre. Oh and the bark it has coming from the intake is pure giggletown.

It’s also got the upgraded HID headlights for that xenony laser beam UFO look.

The engine mounts have tricky nolathene somethingorother too, in a standard car the engine moves around a lot, in this though it is completely planted and makes the gearshifts sublime.

Yep, it’s been on a track – it’s done 40-50 laps of Phillip Island, enough to make me realise I’m no trackday hero and prefer touring. If the car having seen a track is a problem for you then I think you should HTFU and have a good long look at yourself, in fact you don’t deserve a Lotus, I’d rather give it to my hipster auntie. If you’re looking to impress the ladies go buy a Lexus, the only thing this seems to attract is schoolboys and old geezers who had a Lotus back in the 70’s.

The paint is still great, and with a good wash n wax the thing shines brilliantly and people think it’s brand new. However the car has seen a lot of roads and upon closer inspection this is reflected by plenty of glorious badges of honour – also called “stone chips” by some unimaginative folk. Obviously the front has plenty of them, there’s also a few further up the clam, and a bunch also down the sides by the door sill. I’m fine with them, but if you’re the finicky anal type then you might be bothered a bit. Go and buy a poster if you just want to look at it.

Also the interior isn’t going to win any concours awards, but it’s so spartan that it doesn’t matter because there’s nothing to mess up. A few scuffs on the side-board and stuff basically.

It’s sporting Yokohama Advan AO48’s which are an R-spec tyre so they’re as sticky as grandma’s boiled lollies in a pocket. I’m guessing they have 3,000-5,000km left on them, I don’t know, I’m no expert in rubber that doesn’t fit in a wallet – in the 30,000km I’ve done, this is the 3rd set of tyres I’ve put on it.

It’s performed flawlessly for me for 30,000km, it now has about 62,000km on it, it just gets better and better.

The vehicle and I are both well known/notorious in the online exotic car communities, I’m just looking for a hassle-free sale that makes both of us happy – I intend to return to Lotus ownership once again in the next year or so.

If you have a number in mind that suits both of us, lemme know.