Hi guys and gals, am in the market for a proper driver’s car and ideally have always hankered after a series 2 Elise which is unfortunately a bit above my budget.
So, convince me why i should choose a series 2 MX5 over a series 1 Elise.
All comments welcome on what I should be looking for, cheers.
I have both. S1 Elise as my daily drive and the MX5 for weekends/track stuff (yes, really that way round).
My MX5 is turbo’d, stripped out, lightened and has FIA approved bucket seats. The Elise is faster, more comfy, easier to get in and out of, more economical, doesn’t leak (if you put the roof on right) and the feedback and handling are way better than the MX5 despite the MX5 having new coil-over suspension and the Elise being 12 years old.
Buy an Elise if you can. If you can’t then get an MX5 secure in the knowledge that with a few tweaks they can be good enough not to be dissapointing in comparrison. The joy of the MX5 is that you get so much fun for so little money.
If you have a standard MX5 it’ll be easier to get in and out of and apparently they have some kind of folding cloth roof which a large number of people I don’t understand seem to really enjoy. Also the boot is slightly bigger and it’s cheaper to run (parts, not petrol).
Cheers Cap, that seems to mirror my thoughts. I think a few week’s time when winter is around the corner and prices drop decisions will be much clearer. How do you find your elise day to day then / which model?
In comparison to the Elise, the MX5 is a different kettle of fish and they really can’t be directly compared. It’s like trying to compare a cheetah with a tame house cat - they’re worlds apart in terms of differences.
It all depends what you’re after. If you want a real, proper raw driving experience, the Elise will definitely give you that. There’s no driver aids (ABS, servo’s on the brakes, power steering, traction control, etc).It’s just you and the car enjoying the ride. However, if you’re not a very good driver the Mazda can give you the same thrills at much lower speeds (meaning you’re less likely to lose your license) and is more forgiving of driver errors (meaning you’re less likely to have an accident). If you’re into going round corners quickly, I think you’d struggle to find another mass market car that does it as well as the Mazda for the money. Even at low speeds, the MX5 gives grins per mile; it’s a joy to drive, with just the right amount of input necessary from the driver to keep it interesting, but if you just want to pootle around, it’s good for that too. The Elise WANTS to be driven hard, it calls you to engage with it in a way that the Mazda doesn’t demand.
The roof on the Elise (particularly the S1) is a pain in the bum, especially if you get caught in unexpected rain and want to put it on quickly. You’ll struggle to do it in less than 3 minutes on your own, even with lots of practice, whereas the Mazda is a case of pulling two catches and it’s up or down without any effort at all.
Getting in and out of the Elise when the roof is on takes a certain technique, which can be a struggle if you’re over 5’ 10", or on the portly side. I have known people who have put their backs or knees out!
The boot space in the Lotus is barely bigger than a squishy weekend bag, and if you’ve got the roof in the boot as well, you’ll be looking to travel VERY lightly if you go away anywhere. The boot on the Mazda isn’t that much bigger, but you don’t have to store the roof in it. It can take a medium sized suitcase (suitable for a week away), or a weeks shopping for a small family, and of course, you can buy a luggage rack. You can get luggage racks for the Lotus as well, but would you really want to?
Things go wrong on Lotus’s: Because of the need to make the car lightweight, the parts on it can break relatively easily (compared to other cars) and they’re expensive. Unless you know what you’re looking for when you buy, you could end up having to replace the steering rack, suspension, bushes, radiator and all sorts of other stuff before you get chance to even drive it (we had to replace all those parts during our two year ownership), plus service charges (which aren’t that expensive but they need to be done more frequently), tyres (which are expensive), brake pads, and some other cables and stuff. If the car is going to be a daily driver, you have to be prepared to do some work on it yourself or it’s going to cost you a pretty penny keep taking it to a garage.
There is no comfort in the Elise. No carpets, no electric windows, the windscreen wipers are rubbish, it’s noisy, it’s impossible to drive wearing a skirt and heels - that may not apply to you 
but if you have a girlfriend or wife who fancies a go, she may not like it. There’s no space to put anything apart from a little net that hangs behind the seats, the seats can’t be adjusted and the original seats are blumming hard (but they have fantastic lumber support, which the MX5 doesn’t IMO).
However, all the things that make the Elise sound like a nightmare to own all become irrelevant when you drive it. I had an S1 for just short of 2 years and absolutely LOVED it, but it just became much too expensive to own as I was using it as a daily driver, so it had to go and was replaced by a Suzuki Swift Sport, which I just couldn’t bond with. The Sport didn’t last long because I really really wanted an MX5 and that’s what I’ve got now. A MK2.5 1.8 Sport. Do I love it like I loved the Elise? Yes, I do, but in a different way. It’s an easier car to won because it’s so versatile, it’s nice to drive at sensible speeds to and from work, but if I fancy a bit of a hoon, I can do that too. I’ve yet to find a downside of owning the Mazda (apart from the very occassional need for more power).
Whats that old jokey acronym?
Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious
Mine is a Sport 160, with carpets and S2 seats. It’s perfect for my B-road commute, was fine to live with over winter although the 160 engine is a bit annoying at low revs, so city commuting would drive me mad. The other engine options are not only much cheaper but also drive like normal engines at low revs (because they are normal engines).
I don’t do the whole “roofless driving” thing, but the roof is a lot of work to remove and replace - the S2 is a huge advance in this respect.
Mine had been left standing in a field for several years before I got it, and needed a new battery. I’ve also had to replace a nut in the throttle linkage, and the exhaust was rusted through at the last MOT. Not bad for a 12 year old car. I have spent money on carpets, a shower cape I don’t use, various shiny things and upgrades, but the exhaust, a nut and a battery are the list of things that have gone wrong. Oh, and the earth lead to the chassis from the engine needed cleaning and refitting. My MX5 has had more faults in fewer miles, although it does have a hard life.
Tyre costs were cheap - Toyo T1Rs were just over 200 quid for a set and are much, much better than the Pirellis it came with. I expect mileage on them to be good because the car weighs nothing.
I disagree with the “have to drive it hard” comments because the feedback is such that I can enjoy driving it even when stuck in traffic as long as the road has some bends - the steering is amazing. I’m more likely to get bored driving the MX5.
Recently I crashed a trials bike off road, and with a damaged shoulder, hip and knee added to the bad back I had already it’s been a bit painful climbing in and out of it, but then it’s been a bit painful getting in and out of my girlfriend’s Civic.
Also I suspect if I had a stereo it would need to be a very, very loud one, but I use an MP3 player instead and it’s fine.
To add a bit of balance - I love my MX5, I love it’s looks, it’s little turbo noises, it’s masses of steering lock for catching the occasional slides, it’s steering feel (non-PAS and it’s good, just not as good as the Elise), the unbreakable feel of the engine and the way it drives. And it has stood up to incredible abuse remarkably well (it’s been used in drifting competitions since 2004).
One more thing - you can put the roof behind the seats so you don’t have to lose the boot if you go roofless.
Only at the weekend dearie[;)]
Hello and welcome Quadcamboy[:)]
Good luck with your search and keep us updated.
Thanks,
Ben.
Hello and welcome. I LOVE the Lotus Elise. Been a big fan for many a year now.
I think the only way is to drive both, let your head have think and then let your heart decide.
Good luck
Ooooh the Esprit, now that is a Lotus and if i had a bit more cash and a garage to store it i’d have one side by side with my Mark 1[:)]
Ben.
He’ll buy the Elise then. [:P]