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End of an era.....


ChrisBuer
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It seems ages since I posted here but I still think there are a few familiar faces around!

Anyway, after much deliberating, the R32 is finally being sold. I bought her back in June 06 and although I did have a few initial problems, the car has been a joy to own. I cannot fault it’s all weather performance and it’s never put a foot wrong.

I have to admit that with rising fuel prices, I’m not going to miss the sound of my wallet shrivelling away in my pocket each time I go to fill up, nor will I miss having to pay Mr Tax Man a large wad of cash each year!! However I will miss the great soundtrack, the ease at which it seemed to do anything asked of it and probably above all, that look on peoples faces when they say “so what’s it got in it, a 2 litre?” and I say “nope, they’ve shoe-horned a 3.2 in there” laugh.gif

Anyway I came to the decision to sell as I commute to work on the train now and I don’t need a four seater car with a big boot. Instead I’ve decided on getting another Elise (had one a few years back) and the new ones do have a few more luxuries in them now.

Although it’s a lot quicker than the Golf, I am going to have to be careful in the wet and will need to remind myself that I’m no longer in a 4WD!!

So, thanks to everyone that I’ve spoken to or met on here, all the advice that I’ve received and above all the great community that I’ve been apart of.

To sign off, here are some final pictures.....

th_R32Sun6.jpgth_R32Sun5.jpg

th_R32Sun2.jpgth_R32Sun1.jpg

No pics of the new car yet as it doesn’t come for another couple of weeks frown.gif

Cheers all!

Chris.

ECLIPSe.gif

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It's funny that. I've actually started getting the Bus to work now. Not because it's cheaper (£2.70 vs £10.00 a day does help though!) but because the R32 is my afternoon/weekend treat after a hard day at work 169144-ok.gif

After having the R32 a week I can't even picture what else I could change it for now. It just does everything so well; four seats, a boot, grip, quiet when you want it to be, great gearbox, great interior, great brakes, etc etc etc...

Every performance car I've considered has limitations; but this just doesn't have any!* grin.gif

* Well you could say fuel, but then it wouldn't be a performance car wink.gif

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Don't worry I'll be keeping the avatar Charles! 169144-ok.gif

Yeah Nelson I totally agree with you, the car does everything so well! I cannot fault it apart from the fact that I do seem to spend a lot of time at the pumps. With the stop/start traffic around my way I seem to get anywhere between 15-20mpg!

Anyway, the Elise should be fun. They've basically taken a 111R (189bhp Toyota engine) and strapped a supercharger to it, so where I lose in practicality, I should gain in performance....well in the dry anyway yelrotflmao.gif

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I finally picked my car up and thought I'd put a post up.....well some might be interested haha.

Picked up the car from a dealer in Norfolk and after going through the relevant paper work, the keys were handed to me and it was like Christmas as a kid! Fantastic!! First impressions? Well the engine and gear box are VERY smooth. My old Elise wasn't rough in anyway, but having driven a Caterham about for the past couple of weeks (which is hard work in comparison), the Elise really showed its refinement.

The performance exceptionally good and I'm not even using the higher cam or even really the supercharger yet. It just picks up so easily and a couple of times I have felt the higher cam just starting to come in (theres a very slight kick at about 4000rpm) but then 500rpm later I'm changing gear as I can't take it over 4500rpm at the moment, so I'm not going to realise the full benefit until she's fully run in.

Around town in traffic its very easy to drive and pulls away smoothly at low revs, something that the Caterham I have been driving doesn't do very well!! The handling also is sublime. Even taking it easy, keeping to the speed limit, around the roundabouts it just grips really hard! There is no body roll, no rub from the tyres, it just glides on air then sticks like glue. I know that I've not driven an Elise in a long time, but it feels as if it has a lot more grip than my old one....maybe it has something to do with the specially developed Yokohama tyres or just the fact that they have had another 7 years of development? I don't know but either way I find it hugely impressive.

It's hard to compare the SC to my R32 because they are very different car. The Golf was a solid well built German car and it did handle well but they are built for different purposes. I'd certainly not baulk at driving long distances in the R32 but wouldn't want to be travelling huge distances in the Elise. Where the Elise has impressed me though is it's handling. I think this is partly down to how light it is, but it's got more grip that I have guts. Performance wise, I'm still running it in so limited to 4500rpm, but it does pull very strongly. Considering that the wild cam comes in at 4000rpm and also the supercharger starts to really punch, I've not really experienced the full power of the car yet. Probably a good thing though!! wink.gif

The only problem I'm having today is that I'm clock watching. I've got a busy day at work but all I can think about is getting back in the car, taking the roof off and blasting down some country lanes!! laugh.gif

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