Where to buy, what to pay, and other nooby questions

[Rambino]

Howdy all -

Getting ready to pull the trigger on a new-to-me Elise. As I am too giddy to think straight, I figured I would run my questions by calmer minds. Here we go:

1. My "local" dealer is Fox Valley Motorcars. I gather this is a good dealer. Are there other dealers I should consider for remote purchase to expand my inventory options? Dealers that are good with remote sales?

2. Assuming I stay with FMVC, how much can I expect them to come down from their online listed price - for new or used vehicles?

3. I read that if I buy used, I should get an ECU dump. When I get the dump data, what am I looking for? What do I do with this dump thing?

4. Any other considerations for buying new versus used?

5. The best cup holder I have seen so far is from Sector111. Any others I should consider?

6. If I intend to drive the car in occasional weather, how big of difference will the Sport Pack tires make, safety-wise?

More to come, I am sure. Thanks for all insights!

[kusheen]

Fox Valley is as good a Lotus dealer as you'll find.

No telling how much they will come off the price. That's up to their motivation to sell when you're there. If you negotiate you'll get something.

The data dump tells you how the car was driven. How long it has been run at what speeds and RPM's. It will also tell you if the car has done any standing starts or overrevs.

Lotus would likely deny warranty work on an engine that has overrevs or standing starts.

Even though there is a rev limiter which theoretically keeps people from overrevving, it is not unusual for mechanical overrevs (down shifting into the wrong gear, forcing the engine to exceed rev limits), and Lotus will frown on that from honoring the warranty perspective.

Get Fox Valley to do the dump, and pay them to give the car a good once over. FVMC can interpret the data dump for you. It is WORTH paying an expert a couple of hundred bucks to check all of the cars main systems and condition.

If you're buying from out of state, get the buyer to get the dump done, copied and sent to you, then take to Fox Valley to review.

I would not buy from a seller who cannot supply the data dump.

That said, note that 2006's were delivered with ECU's that did not permit the data dump, a glitch as they went to drive by wire. 06 cars should've had their ECU either reflashed early in their lives by a dealer to accept and record the data, or in some cases the ECU completely replaced.

Buying used, as with all cars: you want to see complete service history. You want to confirm all TSB's have been performed on the car. Get a carfax report. Opinions vary as to the merits of buying a car that has been tracked or heavily autocrossed (some say stay away, others don't mind). I'm of the school of thought that says stay away from a car that's been flogged on a track.

I would not drive the car with the Yoko A048 tires (comes with the sport pack) on a wet road, not even on a mildy damp road. Period. Get street tires for that, such as the Advans that come on the base suspension car or others.

Even so, the car is very, very light and needs to be driven very differently on slippery road. If you don't need to, don't. Get a beater for bad weather days.

[Rambino]

Thanks for the information. I've now done some looking, and there appears to be somegood selections for replacement tires that will be more serviceable for day-to-day use - although will feel a little guilty about buying a nice car and immediately installing a performance downgrade.

I am currently looking for cars that have traction control. To my surprise, this option is fairly unusual, and I am considering ditching the requirement to expand my selection.

Given that I will drive the car in occasional weather, would it be suicidal of me to go without the TC? I do have experience driving RWD cars in rough weather without TC, but not cars like this one... And I must admit that I am now used to the comfort/safety of TC for freeway driving under slick conditions.

[wallabyguy]

TC can be retrofitted to cars without it. That said, a good right foot can be an excellent TC system.

Let me know if I can be any help in your search.

[Rambino]

Thanks again. As I continue to review Elises for sale, it is becoming apparent that requireing TC will significantly reduce my options. I guess I will have to just pay attention when I drive instead.

My next round of questions relates to service/repair. I live in the Milwaukee area, and going to FVMC is more than just inconvenient.

So - can I have warranty repairs done at a local non-dealer shop? How do I go about doing that? Or will I have to ship the car to FVMC every time the check engine light comes on?

And what about scheduled service? While changing the oil isn't exactly rocket science, I gather the scheduled services are a tad more involved than that.

Am I committed to going to FVMC a couple of times each year, or is there a local solution?

All help appreciated. Thanks.