Then, 1 week before I was due to go to the UK for exams and also to drive my shortlist and exchange a bank draft for one of them, a Sport 135 came up in Ireland with 28,000miles on the clock. One up for sale was as rare as hens teeth (only 50 original 135s were made to get around Type Approval), and it got a reputation for being the optimum Series 1 (as a package better than the more powerful VVis and Sport 160s) pretty early - 2nd in EVO Car of the Year 1999, and in their top ten drivers cars of 1994-2004. Clean ones were fetching a premium then (and now - the few I've seen ranged from anywhere from £10-14k!). So I went, I saw, and I drove home.
That's nearly 4 years ago. Every performance car I have had before that lasted 18months max. There was a reason for that - growing experience, growing budget, diminishing insurance etc. But still, four years is a long time to be with a car. So why? I've been asking myself this alot - job moves, more responsibilty, less time, 2 kids, lack of funds, getting older, occasional lack of interest, lack of a Celtic Tiger..... who knows, a combination of the lot.
I've thought about changing every now & again, but a quick text to Ultrasound normally sets me straight. In the last year I've been thinking hard about changing though, and in the last week or so, have actually been doing something about it. But but but....
The NCT is booked for next Monday, so I dusted it off, connected up the battery, and rolled it out of the garage where it has mainly been since November. Up on to the ramps, undertray off, oil drained, new filter on, and a bit of pipe replaced with something more catalysing. It is such a basic car, and being able to do these simple tasks on it is quite fulfilling.
I was home handy this evening, so back it came out out of the garage, roof off, childseat in, Nitrons cranked way back from OTD7s dry setup, and a 40min spin with my 3yr old for milk, to the pier looking at boats and generally faffing about as the blue sky turned navy.
And this is what pi$$es me off about the Elise. It just Does Not Stop Giving. I make excuses for why I haven't sold it, or why I should be selling it, but I always skirt around the main issue which is it is bloody brilliant. Grunty, SO nimble, instant response to inputs, unservoed brakes, gargling induction (and 'tis only a 4 cylinder - god bless Typhoons sealed system chuffing away @ the passenger intake), really rigid chassis with no perceptible flex, and the steering, oh the steering. And roof off driving is an event in itself. And its 1.8 tax, an average of over 30mpg over 13,000miles including all the trackdays & B-road blasts, light on tyres, brakes, bushes etc..
After a weekend analysing and rejecting 996s due to their cylinder ovality issue, I'm looking at 3.2 Boxster S' at the moment, but I wonder will it bring anything worthwhile to the party. It isn't my daily driver so the extra comfort/toys/useability isn't essential, and the Elise is just an event 24/7, with every drive still being a voyage of pure, light principles translated into communicative discovery of each roads subtleties. It'd be change for changes sake, which isn't enough of a reason when my yoke is so sorted now and so good to drive. And if I yearn more power, which I do, then I spoil its originality (and potential value).
So I hate Elises. And I hate the hold it has on me. 4 bloody years!!!
(Since originally publishing this, I actually kept it for another year! It was then sold to a Netherlands Lotus dealer as I had already bought the Nein!Elf)
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