My Lotus Diary October 2002

1^st October 2002

EVO has an interesting article with the Boxster v Elise 111S. Some interesting reading which backs up most of what I've read about the Boxster. Each to their own it would seem. The Boxster offers an involving drive, quality and comfort. The Elise offers a more involving drive and a little less comfort. I know which I'd buy.

I shall be up at the Motorshow this year to see what new cars Lotus have to offer and to look round at a few more sensible cars. I might just have wangled some press day tickets. After two years od ownership, my Impreza Turbo is up for sale, to be replaced by something more sensible and cheaper to run. A cheap 3rd is under investigation to fill in the void that is left until I can afford another Elise.

As tough as things are at work, I'm lucky enough to be working on some pretty exciting Internet stuff and I'm currently leading a project to research and develop advanced community services. Using state of the art personalisation and knowledge management techniques, this is really cool stuff and I hope it will make it to market, so that the Elise community can benefit soon. Watch this space!

2^nd October 2002

22^nd October 2002

I can't believe how hard it is to sell my Subaru at the moment. The dealers are offering silly part exchange prices. How much would you pay for a 2 year old, 5 door Impreza Turbo with 22,000 miles and a full service history? Best offer I've had so far is £9500! There aslo seem to be plenty of Elises on the second hand market at present. It's the silly season again to roofless sports cars.

Got my Motorshow tickets this weekend. Hope to be up on the trade day to get a good look at the Lotus stand.

28^nd October 2002

Sold my Scooby, so I've entered another chapter of car ownership. Part exchanged it for a rather sensible Mazda 6 estate, which considerably slower but actually more involving to drive. It's a little bit bigger too which helps, 8 insurance groups lower, 50-60% better fuel economy and about 4 seconds slower to 60mph! As much as I loved the power of the Impreza, it does have its faults. The interior looked positively seventies after the 6 test drive. Build quality is iffy and reliability is not all that I expected. Over two and half years, I've averaged 22mpg and spent rather a lot on fuel. No regrets at all though, as it is one of the quickest cars to go cross country in and is so safe to drive in crap weather and road conditions. Traction and grip is quite astounding. Another downside is that the paint finish is only slightly tougher than that of an Elise. After 22,000 miles the front looks like the milky way, with white chips all over the dark blue bonnet. Compare this to my Rover 200vi, which has done 34,000 miles at similar speeds and has one single stone chip. If I'd paid UK list price for this car, I'm would have been gutted at the trade-in prices finally offered. As it is, I saved £6,5000 by importing and have lost only £4,500 in two and half years. I'm now in the market for something a little more fun to sit alongside the 6 and it doesn't have to have space for the children.

Previous Entry | Diary Index | Next Entry