Lotus Exige S240 / VIN : SCCLHHWCXAHC10521 / No. Plate : W** 4971

Continued from Part 1 : https://allaboutrides2017.blogspot.my/2017/11/lotus-exige-s240-w-4971.html

Someone informed me that the above Lotus Exige S240 is back on the market, and now marketed as an individual's weekend ride, instead of the insurance total write-off car that it was.

What a cheeky way to push off a bad car and not inform potential buyers on its bad history. Money talks. But thanks to the members of Lotus Club Malaysia, you could find out about the car before you get yourself a lemon of a car.

Contact ToyCarz Garage for good Lotus cars.

Lotus Elise / No. Plate : KCW500

An interested party e-mailed me if I could send the word out through this blog, that he was interested in the above car. He went to Lotus Sales Malaysia as per the advertisement, but the salespersons were trying to sell him another car that was displayed there. Apparently, the British Racing Green Elise was kept by its owner so it was harder to arrange for a viewing, while the re-painted Norfolk Mustard Yellow Elise (with a Jabatan Perdana Menteri windscreen sticker, no less!) was going for a fire sale.

If anyone knows who was the owner of this Elise no. plated KCW 500, please e-mail or comment on this thread, and let's put the interested buyer and owner together to get another Elise on the road again.

  

And this was the Elise no. plated Elise813 that the salespersons were actively promoting. Apparently, this needed to go before the election comes around.

Lotus Elise Cup 250 / VIN : SCCLJCAA0GHC11182 / No. Plate : Lotus828

Want more specific information about your Lotus pride and joy? Well, now you can! Just write to Lotus, pay some RM500 and you would get a Certificate of Vehicle Provenance as per below :

Thank you to the owner of this Lotus for sharing his pride and joy with us here. This is definitely a fine example of a well-maintained Lotus Elise for all to savour.

Lotus Exige S240 / VIN : SCCLHHWCXAHC10521 / No. Plate : W** 4971

Previously from the Lotus Owners Malaysia Club (LOMC), you could be sure that I am lawfully and awfully passionate about Lotus rides. These rides are not just for anyone and everyone- you must be really passionate about it, in order to stand climbing in and out of the high door sills, visiting the chiropractor after few hours riding in it, and lots more of such adventures.

Recently, I was asked by a friend if he should buy a pre-owned Lotus Exige S240 for the fun of it. His budget towards the acquisition was around RM130k.

Now, the Exige was basically similar to my Elise but factory-modified with a hard-top, fitted with a 2ZZ engine (as opposed to Elise's 1ZZ), and more track-driven. Va va voom... He forwarded me a few adverts that he had in mind, with priority towards this yellow example from Public Auto Sdn Bhd.

For starters, let's check on the market valuation on similar year made for such a model. A few quick calls to car insurance companies and online clicks, and we now know that the ride should be insured around RM119k.

So you now know that there's plenty of room for a price negotiation. The advert painted the Exige as the purr-rect example. Being a former member of LOMC, another few quick calls and online clicks revealed the following :

So this Exige that Public Auto Sdn Bhd advertised as the perfect ride maintained in tip-top condition by its owner, was technically un-true. This was a stolen car that was a total loss to the insurance company; and thereafter sold vide an auction to the highest bidder whom would then repair and resell the car. The used car dealer probably paid not more than RM60k for the car.

Since this was a Lotus ride and not a car that could be easily repaired by your mechanic under the tree, I would be wary about buying such a ride unless the full repair was done by Lotus Malaysia, with receipts to prove the works.

Look at this example of a crashed Exile. Do you think your regular mechanic could put it back in order in a jiffy?

The thing about these used car dealers was that they were willing to lie between their teeth, in order to get the cars out at a profit. If they were willing to lie about the history of the cars, then one would wonder what else was they lying about in order to make the sale?

If you want to get a Lotus, your best choice would be Toycarz Private Garage (012-3176606). Trust the guys from Lotus Malaysia- they know what they are talking about. Or call En Iqbal Sofian from Lotus Sales Malaysia. He also informed that it was a bad car.

Continue to Part 2 : https://allaboutrides2017.blogspot.my/2018/01/lotus-exige-s240-vin-scclhhwcxahc10521.html