This is a great opportunity to get into Lotus Elise ownership (or add to your collection…) at an effective price.
The car is for sale on eBay by auction:
2002 Ruby Red Lotus Elise S2 Sports Tourer
89, 388 miles
MOT until 11th March 2025
Extensive service history (see below)
Cat N, minor damage to rear wheel arch (the car remains in drivable condition and has valid MOT)
Details
The car is a Ruby Red 2002 Lotus Elise, AO02 PXT. I have owned it since 2022. It has had 3 previous owners, the first of whom were Lotus Cars themselves. It has done 89, 388 miles and has an MOT until 11th March 2025.
The car is standard, with the exception of: a lightweight flywheel, upgraded spitfire engineering toe links, and a stainless-steel sports exhaust.
The car was recently declared Category N, after I had a low-speed manoeuvring accident whilst parking it. There is damage only to the to the rear left wheel arch, which is taped up, but ideally requires fibreglass repair and painting. I had planned to repair the car, but a recent house move means I now need to move the car on instead of keep it as I planned.
Mechanically, the car has been regularly and extensively maintained by reputable Lotus specialists, with a full folder of documents detailing works back to 2002. Notably it benefits from recently fitted springs/ dampers. Besides the aforementioned wheel arch damage, the rest of the paintwork is in pretty average condition with bubbling/ osmosis apparent on the front clam and on the doors. It would benefit from a respray.
Recent Service History and Works:
March 2024 - 89351 miles - Service (A Service). Upgraded spitfire toe links fitted.
April 2023 - New inlet manifold gasket
October 2022 - New clutch and lightweight flywheel fitted. New handbrake cable fitted. Transmission oil replaced.
August 2022 - New clutch master and slave cylinders fitted. New (updated spec) windscreen/ roof seal fitted.
June 2022 - 87651 miles - Service (C service). New timing/ cam belt, new auxiliary belt, new water pump, new spark plugs, new transmission oil, engine oil, new brake fluid. front right wheel bearing replaced. Gear linkage and gear shifter assembly replaced/ renewed. New throttle linkage fitted. 4 new tyres fitted.
Other notable work (amongst much more) over the cars history includes:
- New Bilstein Dampers and Eibach Springs (OEM spec) at 81, 723 miles
- New brake discs, also at 81, 273 miles.
- New front radiator at 81, 251 miles.
- New stainless steel front towing eye fittedd at same point.
- Head gasket was replaced at 57, 000 miles (if you’ve read this far you’ll know it’s a common k-series failure)
Like any Elise, it’s great to drive, enticing to look at, and - if you love driving - once you are in it, it will just feel ‘right’. You could treat it as a mini project car, or as a car you can just pick up and get driving with. The spring is the perfect time to buy an Elise, and you will not find a comparable car at such an enticing price.
