I want to confirm the friendliness of Indian people. I recently sold a car to an Indian couple and the wife looked at my apartment, which is somewhat messy and disorganized, and offered to clean it😂. They were the absolute nicest people I've ever met. And, yes, Doug's accent is pretty funny
I took my wife to the hospital to give birth in my 1998 Elise. Had to take the roof off to get her in/out. My wife loved the car though… riding in the car was the only time my daughter-to-be would stop kicking her insides. My daughter’s middle name is Elise.
I drove it from London to Frankfurt for work with a stop at the Nurburgring. Drove it all over Scotland. And once to Rotterdam via the Chunnel. I loved that car. I had it two years. Zero unplanned maintenance. Sold it for more than I paid for it when I moved back to USA. Spoiled me for cars.
I just did the same thing this summer. I flew from Madrid to London, bought a Lotus Elise with broken AC (the seller didn't mention it) and had to drive all the way back to Spain with the windows down. But I actually loved the road trip
I bought my 05 Elise at the age of 24 and within a few months I took it on a road trip from NC to Maine and back. The heat wasn’t as bad as the blister on my foot after doing an 800 mile day. That was 18 years ago and now my annual mileage is below that number many years, but I still have the car.
What's crazy is 5 years back I flew from Dallas TX to Tampa Fl to buy a 1987 Alfa Romeo Milano that I drove all 1,200 miles back. No cruise control, no ac, etc. but it was actually really nice. Granted, I'm sure the Alfa is more geared towards highway cruising than an Elise is, but for all of its faults it was pretty comfortable most of the time. I think the key is that I did that road trip in October. The weather was very nice and mild. It's funny to see a story about another tall guy in a small car taking trips you really shouldn't lol
Years ago I flew from Pittsburgh to Burlington Vermont to buy a Milano Verde sight unseen. It drove well enough, but never buy an Alfa that lived in Vermont. Every bolt was seized, the rocker panels and spare tire well had the structural integrity of puff pastry, and bad grounds throughout the car. It was so bad I eventually bought another one. 😂
@MarkDenovich Oh man! That's rough. The owner of mine tended to fix it after it broke and it sat a lot. No rust but it had plenty of issues when I had it. When buying an old Italian car, it pays to buy the nicest one you can find. Can't wait to own another one someday.
@@originsofarceus6645 2 Spiders, 3 Milanos, a 164S and a 164QV. All purchased on a tight budget so I paid for it down the road. I think I got it out of my system. 😀
Coincidentally, driving through the desert in summer with no AC your car was probably the same color as where you were on the dehydration level by urine color chart
Even with a working AC in an elise you have to pour water on yourself when it's getting really hot! Bought a 2018 S3 Elise in June and did a 1600km drive from northern germany down to southern france for vacation. Around Bordeaux it was over 41°C in the shade and I had to stop several times for cold water. Especially my feet werde cooking. The engine cooler is right above your feet and radiates a lot of heat towards the footwell. But in the end it was totally worth it. Driving the elise through the bendy roads of the basque country over the pyrenees to spain and back with an open roof was a lifetime experience. For a hilly and bendy terrain like the basque country / pyrenees there is no better car than an elise.
Elise owner from Bordeaux here, I can confirm in the summer it's too hot for this car :D (my S2 doesn't have A/C anyway...). I agree about the roads in the Pyrenees, I went to Pamplona and back through the mountains and it was amazing.
Lotus headlights are ineffective. And because the car is so low, the headlights of oncoming cars are at head level so you basically get blinded. Driving a Lotus at night is bad in different ways to driving it in the heat during the day.
I had an 07 Elise with working AC. But working AC in an Elise means that the air first goes through the hot heater core, then gets cooled. So it goes through cycles of cool then hot then cool. A common fix in the Lotus community is to run a valve in the heater host that goes to the core and switch it to bypass the core for the summer. This makes the AC nice and mediocre. The other fun thing is that the AC relay does not have a reverse diode on the coil section. What happens then is that the relay is commanded to shut off. It does and the collapsing magnetic field throws a negative voltage to the ECM, shutting it down for a quarter second. So you're driving along with working AC and the car shuts off for a quarter second then turns back on. A fix is to solder in a diode backwards on that coil of the relay or spend $18 for an upgraded relay with the diode across it. Lots of fun stuff like that if you keep your Elise for a few years like I did.
I flew from Maryland to South Florida for an R53 mini, race seats, no cruise control the whole way back, 10/10 road trip experience would absolutely do again.
I flew one way to California and bought an 86 Subaru BRAT. Drove it home to Ontario Canada in 3 days. Slept once. This was 12 years ago. I still got the BRAT! This was in march so it was a great temperature until we got to Michigan...the heater couldn't keep up! It was freezing haha! We found out later one of the grommets on the firewall was off. Good times..
you know the 2005 Lotus Elise was one of my regrets of not buying, but at the same time glad I didn't.. back in Spring of 2009, I was on the market for a 2 door convertible for no more than 20k, So choices were a used 2006 Porsche Boxster, 2005 Lotus Elise, 2007 Chrysler Crossfire, 2005 Ford Thunderbird.. but then I decided I wanted a car that no one else had, so the ruled out all the big brands, leaving just the Lotus Elise, that is until coincidently GM announced in April 2009 they were getting rid of Pontiac, and suddenly the brand new inventory of Pontiacs, were being liquidated with new vehicles being sold as used.. So suddenly a brand new 2009 Pontiac Solstice entered my price range and I couldn't resist jumping at the opportunity to have one, ended up with an orange 2009 Solstice "Street Edition".. So while I do regret not going with the Lotus for it's "exotic car vibe", at the same time I don't regret how fragile those cars are and undoubtedly necessary repairs and maintenance to keep it in good shape. Meanwhile I still daily drive that Solstice 15 years later today, and it's had zero major mechanical issues, no expensive repairs, the worse thing that happened to it is the shifter refused to shift to park and key stuck in ignition (but this was covered by warranty/recall), and other than this, I had to replace the ignition coils and a front right wheel bearing, both of which I did the repairs myself, other than that, it's been bulletproof, so due to this, I don't regret getting the Pontiac over the Lotus..
When he said 2011...July...yeah, that was Hell. 2011 was the year Austin, TX reached 100 degrees or more 90 times. Last Summer was the hottest on record, but that was only because we hit 105+ more than in 2011. I can't imagine living without AC in your car.
I drove through the desert in Nevada in a rented vette, it said 114f on the display. It was July too, I couldn't imagine being less comfortable and not having AC. Probably had PTSD
Not shedding one tear of sympathy for anyone with an Elise. 'Oh it's hot' it's a track demon for the road! I do understand tho. I have a '93 MR2 with no AC and I live in the south.
Did very N. Ca. {13 mls from Oregon on the coast}to South Central Missouri in August. 65 Vette hardtop no A/C. Thought I was going to have a heat stroke. Drove it back, didn't look at it for 2 years.
I did a trip from LA to DC in the middle of the summer of 2004 at 21 in a highly modified 1978 911SC that did have AC or a radio! I decided to take I-15 up to I-70 instead of the more direct route across I-40 hoping it would be a little cooler. It probably was but it was pretty miserable!
Blegh... Elise is a nice car. If you buy one, you get the looks and tons of fun. Handles like a dream. No AC? I never use AC. I do not have Elise.. but Opel Speedster. (vx220)
back when i was a kid a dude who lived in my area drove one of those. I saw him maybe a dozen times and he always looked miserable in it. weirdly he looked just like doug
Bay Area gets hot as heck in the summer, man. You definitely can't be without AC. lol I know he's thinking the towns immediately around the bay like Oakland and San Francisco, but, I can't imagine.
Doug the kind of guy to figure out cruise control and use it on long trips. I should really get around to that at some point. Maybe next time I drive on a freeway. When will that be? I dunno. (shrug)
He does not mention it, but the radiator is in the front and the hoses go to the back where the engine is. It has an aluminum tub and aluminum radiates the heat of these hoses like nothing else. Every thing gets hot on the sill on the right hand side. Then there is the fuel tank that is directly rear to the seats and because of the fuel return also gets warm after about an hour of driving. The car already gets really hot on drives when it is only 25 degrees, but in the desert it gets hotter than an oven!
I picked an one up in the bay area in 2010 at the same age. Drove up from LA in a cheap rental and drove back the same day/night in pouring rain on bald tires but I made it back without issues. I haven't seen a single one of these cars with working AC. One of my driver side window regulators has broken off inside the door from normal use, now the rear corner sags. The hardware that holds the hardtop on failed on the freeway one day, so orange hardtop just flew away. now I have a carbon one that saved about 30lbs but it has no upholstery, and it's basically see-through. The only thing this car is good at is track use. You can drive the piss out of it and it will get you home afterwards, but it's a pretty low quality car for every day use.
I always find it hilarious when anyone complains about not having cruise control, or when purchasing a vehicle they talk about functioning cruise or even weirder, adaptive cruise (not even sure what that is) being a deal breaker if missing or non op! I really just don't get it's importance to some and short of having my right foot cut off, there's no way I ever will! I've been driving since '94 and I've only turned the cruise on in exactly one of the fifty some odd vehicles I've owned! The best part is, it was way back at car #2, which was/still is my '78 Cutlass the day I bought it, in like 1996... and surprisingly it actually worked!
I think it would have been worth it to have just had the roof panel shipped home ahead of the car lol When I was a kid in the 70s/80s it was common not to have A/C, but now that i'm 52 and am on medications that make me extra sensitive to the sun and heat, I can't imagine living without it. Convertibles *might* be an exception. When I was in high school and for a few years afterwards, I had several convertibles, and that top was down 90% of the time or more. Sometimes if in *Heavy* rain (in light rain, you just drive faster and it goes right over you ;P), and sometimes if it was crazy cold enough, or when it was going to be parked for a while. Otherwise, top down babay! :O *BUT!!!* in the true convertibles I had, you could put the top down whenever you wanted. And in the Targa I had, you could put the roof panel under the front hood. I *cannot imagine* a "convertible* where you couldn't store the top in the vehicle itself. That's ridiculous :O I'd be looking into ways to have it sawn into pieces that could be put away somewhere in the car and reassembled when needed, or something lol Maybe a vinyl collapsible top that could be stored away? Duct tape? 🤣 I dunno, I'd have to figure out something, cause I'd want the top off any time I didn't *have* to have it on. Oh, and yeah, tall guy ;P Part of the reason I love convertibles. *unlimited headroom!* ~~^_^ As for convertibles without A/C... Well, none of the ones I had back in the late 80s/early 90s, had A/C, most of the cars my family had didn't have A/C either. Sort of like Doug said, back in the 70s, people would "just do that". Head out on road trips with no A/C. And even if your car *did* have A/C, actually using it was somewhat discouraged (it was coming off the fuel crisis, and anything that decreased gas mileage was frowned upon) But in a convertible I don't ever remember having a problem with the heat. Of course, I always had the top off, and traffic jams anywhere within 60 miles of here only happen during major events, and you almost never have to wait more than a minute and a half at a stoplight. So I virtually always had airflow. But I was also much younger, and wasn't on meds that increased my heat sensitivity. Anyway, I don't know if I'd *still* be okay driving around in the summer heat with no a/c and just having the top off, or not... But I *do* intend to find out :) Cause I bought a $350 1980 Fiat X 1/9 that I intend to get back on the street, and *of course* it doesn't have A/C 😅 So once I get it all put back together, I'll be finding out if I can survive the summer heat just by taking the top off, or if I'll end up having to retrofit A/C onto a 40 year old car that was never really designed to have it in the first place ;P
Many consider what that Indian family did was kind. But that's just South & South Eastern Asian culture. Weither family, friends, business partners, or an associate. If you visit a family's house must stay to have a meal with them or atleast a tea. No matter how much you say no, they will insist until you either say yes or run away.
No such thing as a bad road trip unless your injured or incarcerated. Even the most nonsense and BS filled road trip with a buddy is better than sitting at home.
lucky this wasn't the supercharged version. those bad boys overheat so bad in stop and go traffic (not enough air going over the radiator) that you need to turn off the A/C and crank up the heat to dissipate heat. the car would be much more valuable if it was easier to get in and out of.
Of course it was in San Jose 😂 hilarious imagining you drive windy ass Highway 17 over the mountains between San Jose and Santa Cruz for the first time AT NIGHT. That drive is not for the weak hearted even during the day 😂
I had a Boxster that I never knew had cruise control until I sold it. Why would a sports car need cruise control? The next car I got was a 911, and sure enough, it had cruise control too. I think I tried it once out of curiousity, and never again.
Exactly same reason I bought my lotus. I wanted the orange but settled for purple with 8k miles for about 30k. Also when I bought my Elise I lived in san jose. I used the ac all the time. He knew it didnt work. San Jose gets hotter than Sf not vegas hot.
A Lotus Elise shouldn't even have AC, because it is heavy and saps engine power. "Simplify, then add lightness", as Colin Chapman always said. So Doug has already started off on the wrong foot criticising his Elise for having a bad AC. He very clearly doesn't understand what a Lotus Elise exists for, and comparing it to any Porsche is totally misguided. You couldn't get two more different approaches to building a sports car - one prioritises comfort and the perception (not reality) of quality, while the other prioritises purity of driving experience and performance through light weight. And you know what, any reliability study will show you that a Lotus is more reliable than any contemporary Porsche. And the Elise is not fragile, it's actually really robust and can take a lot of punishment, but it's also got a (deliberately) light GRP body. Lightness != fragility. I know all this because I have owned an Elise since 2006 and have covered over 80k miles without it missing a beat. It's even still on its original clutch, because it doesn't have a heavy car to drag around. Show me a Porsche that can do 80k miles and not need a new clutch. I like Doug but he's got it backwards - he clearly wanted a Porsche Boxster, not a Lotus Elise, so don't criticise an Elise for not being a Boxster. Leave the Lotus to people who know what it is, what it's for, and how to use it. And it's definitely not for driving on endless freeways across the USA.
I'm so confused. Why was he concerned about the check engine light? Every vehicle I've owned the check engine light was permanently on and it was never an issue to be concerned about. I've never owned a vehicle that cruise control or air conditioning worked either. Never used air conditioning. Irony is the fan that I presently own the cruise control worked for about 3 weeks, manufacturers defect and I just don't feel like fixing it. The shifter for the cruise control is made out of fragileium I broke it off with my knee getting in or getting out after about 3 weeks and nearly every Caravan I've looked at it's broken and the exact same spot for the exact same reason LOL I've known to other people that have had the shifter for the cruise control break off in their hand when they go to activate the cruise control;) always breaks in the same spot so basically all you can do is kind of squeeze it back in the hole and don't touch it or else it's flopping around by the wires you can literally replace it and within a week or two of replacing it having a break off in your hand when you go to activate cruise control or bang it with your leg getting in or getting out it's made out of thinner plastic than a credit card to put it into perspective. I've also driven vehicles that had no heater in the coldest winters in Canada;). And that vehicle in particular was technically completely open. It was a 72 Jimmy with the removable roof so even with the roof on you're basically driving a van convertible hybrid. The entire body is open to the elements whether the windows are rolled up or not and it had no back window in the very back just a piece of wood and even if you would have had the back window you can literally see and feel the environment whistle through the vehicle even when their Factory lol. Closest thing I ever had to a heater was this little unit that plugs into the cigarette lighter that's supposed to be for defogging the windshield.
If you buy a car that's not a complete beater, the check engine light being on is cause for concern. Until you pull the codes you never know if it's serious or not.
@@bwofficial1776 The check engine light 90% of the time is literally a stunt by the dealers. I've had family members that had that paranoia about the check engine light and all it did was cost them money for nothing. My grandfather had a series of Jeep Cherokees two of which he bought brand new. He was basically back to the dealership every 6 to 8 weeks with the check engine light till he got his head straight and just learned to ignore it. He kept going to different dealerships and so on where they kept making excuses for the check engine light even when it was under warranty you still had to pay by the hour for labor at one point they even changed the computer which didn't make any difference and we went through this with two separate vehicles the third one which was a GP bought used their excuse was there was something wonky and their computer couldn't communicate with the computer and the Jeep and that he was Sol and learn to live with a light he had three separate dealerships that recommended changing the computer because they're analyzer wouldn't communicate with the Jeep computer. If you knew how many times the check engine light was an oxygen sensor code and the auction sensor had already been replaced repeatedly it's been a excuse since the 90s to charge you $100 an hour for a problem that doesn't exist and for them to have excuses for the light coming back on again a week later and charge you another $100 an hourAdd them spend as much as get this 15 and 18 hours not being able to diagnose a problem and in that particular instance I was the one that told the what was wrong something they should have discovered in 30 minutes exclamation point they had the vehicle over 18 hours and couldn't find the problem I'm not even a mechanic and I even got told off by one of the mechanics was overheard by another mechanic who realized Jesus this guy's right. Nobody had checked the neutral safety switch and that was what the problem was they were too busy screwing around with computers to check the most basic problem firstThat was one of the Jeeps that he bought brand new. He even had one situation where it spent 15 hours at one dealership they claimed they couldn't find the problem he had to spend over $500 to have it towed to another dealership the tow truck company literally dumped it on the side of the road because they refused to go any further and we had to get another tow truck company to go out and take it the rest of the way. It was why my grandfather ended up canceling our CAA membership the tow truck company that CAA had go pick up the vehicle only brought it half the way and then abandoned the vehicle and he had to get another tow truck company to bring it the rest of the way. If memory serves me that was the one where the problem was the neutral safety switch the first dealership basically very ignorantly said come and get your piece of trash we can't find anything with the computer. It had been out of warranty about 6 months if that much. Second dealership was where I got into an argument with one of the mechanics and got that don't tell me how to do my job speech and a second mechanical overheard me and literally piped up did he say did anybody check the neutral safety switch I believe was the comment the second mechanic made while the first mechanic was making the speech about don't tell us how to do our job where experts and blah blah blah between the two dealerships nobody had looked for the simplest problem first. I've had a neutral safety go on three different vehicles two of which you didn't have any way to plug and analyzer into them where they had no computer anywhere on the vehicle it was simply a module on part of the steering column that plugged in with a couple of wires ironically that's one of those things that's supposed to be a million to one shot and I've had it happen on two or three vehicles and at least one my grandfather owned. Just about every Dodge I've owned you can't get the check engine light shut off including some of them being about a year old that family members own and you were constantly going back to the dealership and they just basically Get Saucy after a while about you bugging them and tell you don't bring it back unless it's broken That's How concerned they are about the check engine light.
Doug is a prime example of the success that comes with being unapologetically yourself. Never change you quirky man!
What 😂
Hard work and personal growth.
There’s way to many famous UA-camrs that have no personality for that to be true boss 😂
@ did I say it was his only positive attribute? Nope. Dude obviously works hard. Enjoy getting worked up about UA-cam comments all day boy
He reminds me of the Why Files host in that way
@@christianporto264 naw what you said was fkin returded 🤣 “unapologetically yourself” 🤣
@ like I said, enjoy getting upset about UA-cam comments kid 😉
Doug's only 50% commitment to doing the Indian accent is hilarious
@@check4v I thought he was about to launch into a full impression- sad he didn’t lol
I want to confirm the friendliness of Indian people. I recently sold a car to an Indian couple and the wife looked at my apartment, which is somewhat messy and disorganized, and offered to clean it😂. They were the absolute nicest people I've ever met. And, yes, Doug's accent is pretty funny
You know he has the Apoo accent stashed away for private times!
.
I took my wife to the hospital to give birth in my 1998 Elise. Had to take the roof off to get her in/out. My wife loved the car though… riding in the car was the only time my daughter-to-be would stop kicking her insides. My daughter’s middle name is Elise.
I drove it from London to Frankfurt for work with a stop at the Nurburgring. Drove it all over Scotland. And once to Rotterdam via the Chunnel. I loved that car. I had it two years. Zero unplanned maintenance. Sold it for more than I paid for it when I moved back to USA. Spoiled me for cars.
You should write to Elisa Artioli and tell her that story.
Doug is the type of guy to go to vin wiki and then do his own car trek.
Doug on VINwiki is chef's kiss worthy.
Too much quirkiness 😅
That time in the Lotus market was wild. The best and worst Elises were the same money. $30k all day long.
I just did the same thing this summer. I flew from Madrid to London, bought a Lotus Elise with broken AC (the seller didn't mention it) and had to drive all the way back to Spain with the windows down. But I actually loved the road trip
Do you have to pay customs and tax for importing outside EU?
I bought my 05 Elise at the age of 24 and within a few months I took it on a road trip from NC to Maine and back. The heat wasn’t as bad as the blister on my foot after doing an 800 mile day. That was 18 years ago and now my annual mileage is below that number many years, but I still have the car.
As soon as Doug said that the owner was Indian and their mother was very traditional, my thought was "he's about to get fed."
That would have been my favorite part of the trip!
@Evan55 I was half expecting Doug to say that she also offered him a place to sleep as it was far too late and he shouldn't be driving at night.
What's crazy is 5 years back I flew from Dallas TX to Tampa Fl to buy a 1987 Alfa Romeo Milano that I drove all 1,200 miles back. No cruise control, no ac, etc. but it was actually really nice. Granted, I'm sure the Alfa is more geared towards highway cruising than an Elise is, but for all of its faults it was pretty comfortable most of the time. I think the key is that I did that road trip in October. The weather was very nice and mild. It's funny to see a story about another tall guy in a small car taking trips you really shouldn't lol
Years ago I flew from Pittsburgh to Burlington Vermont to buy a Milano Verde sight unseen. It drove well enough, but never buy an Alfa that lived in Vermont. Every bolt was seized, the rocker panels and spare tire well had the structural integrity of puff pastry, and bad grounds throughout the car. It was so bad I eventually bought another one. 😂
@MarkDenovich Oh man! That's rough. The owner of mine tended to fix it after it broke and it sat a lot. No rust but it had plenty of issues when I had it. When buying an old Italian car, it pays to buy the nicest one you can find. Can't wait to own another one someday.
@@originsofarceus6645 2 Spiders, 3 Milanos, a 164S and a 164QV. All purchased on a tight budget so I paid for it down the road. I think I got it out of my system. 😀
Coincidentally, driving through the desert in summer with no AC your car was probably the same color as where you were on the dehydration level by urine color chart
Tell me you're current/former military without telling me! 😂
Even with a working AC in an elise you have to pour water on yourself when it's getting really hot! Bought a 2018 S3 Elise in June and did a 1600km drive from northern germany down to southern france for vacation. Around Bordeaux it was over 41°C in the shade and I had to stop several times for cold water. Especially my feet werde cooking. The engine cooler is right above your feet and radiates a lot of heat towards the footwell.
But in the end it was totally worth it. Driving the elise through the bendy roads of the basque country over the pyrenees to spain and back with an open roof was a lifetime experience. For a hilly and bendy terrain like the basque country / pyrenees there is no better car than an elise.
The radiator is a long way away from the footwell.
Elise owner from Bordeaux here, I can confirm in the summer it's too hot for this car :D (my S2 doesn't have A/C anyway...). I agree about the roads in the Pyrenees, I went to Pamplona and back through the mountains and it was amazing.
did it not occur to you to just sleep during the day and drive after dark the whole way?
Lotus headlights are ineffective. And because the car is so low, the headlights of oncoming cars are at head level so you basically get blinded.
Driving a Lotus at night is bad in different ways to driving it in the heat during the day.
@@arranreewhat utter nonsense.
@@drew699 Indeed. @arranree has 100% accurate internet knowledge.
@@drew699 what a well thought out rebuttal.
You really proved me wrong with your substantiated reasoning.
I had an 07 Elise with working AC. But working AC in an Elise means that the air first goes through the hot heater core, then gets cooled. So it goes through cycles of cool then hot then cool. A common fix in the Lotus community is to run a valve in the heater host that goes to the core and switch it to bypass the core for the summer. This makes the AC nice and mediocre. The other fun thing is that the AC relay does not have a reverse diode on the coil section. What happens then is that the relay is commanded to shut off. It does and the collapsing magnetic field throws a negative voltage to the ECM, shutting it down for a quarter second. So you're driving along with working AC and the car shuts off for a quarter second then turns back on. A fix is to solder in a diode backwards on that coil of the relay or spend $18 for an upgraded relay with the diode across it. Lots of fun stuff like that if you keep your Elise for a few years like I did.
I flew from Maryland to South Florida for an R53 mini, race seats, no cruise control the whole way back, 10/10 road trip experience would absolutely do again.
Doug's the type of "car guy" who doesn't like Lotus Elise's ....let that sink in.
That car in Abilene Texas might as well be a McLaren F1
Didn't think Doug Demuro was the type of guy to say "funzies"
Wait Doug…so what you’re saying is that the Lotus wasn’t a fantastic GT car? Lol, who would have thought!🤣
This team-up is pure gold!
Should of done it sooner they both live in Georgia I bet hoovie had something to do with this 🙏
I flew one way to California and bought an 86 Subaru BRAT. Drove it home to Ontario Canada in 3 days. Slept once. This was 12 years ago. I still got the BRAT! This was in march so it was a great temperature until we got to Michigan...the heater couldn't keep up! It was freezing haha! We found out later one of the grommets on the firewall was off. Good times..
Did he just describe the U.K. as “exotic”😂😂 I can assure you all it is not 😂😂🇬🇧
i hate to hear this about a car ive idolized from the 2000s. That orange GT3 Lotus Exige "concept car" was and is my ultimate dream car.
you know the 2005 Lotus Elise was one of my regrets of not buying, but at the same time glad I didn't.. back in Spring of 2009, I was on the market for a 2 door convertible for no more than 20k, So choices were a used 2006 Porsche Boxster, 2005 Lotus Elise, 2007 Chrysler Crossfire, 2005 Ford Thunderbird.. but then I decided I wanted a car that no one else had, so the ruled out all the big brands, leaving just the Lotus Elise, that is until coincidently GM announced in April 2009 they were getting rid of Pontiac, and suddenly the brand new inventory of Pontiacs, were being liquidated with new vehicles being sold as used..
So suddenly a brand new 2009 Pontiac Solstice entered my price range and I couldn't resist jumping at the opportunity to have one, ended up with an orange 2009 Solstice "Street Edition".. So while I do regret not going with the Lotus for it's "exotic car vibe", at the same time I don't regret how fragile those cars are and undoubtedly necessary repairs and maintenance to keep it in good shape.
Meanwhile I still daily drive that Solstice 15 years later today, and it's had zero major mechanical issues, no expensive repairs, the worse thing that happened to it is the shifter refused to shift to park and key stuck in ignition (but this was covered by warranty/recall), and other than this, I had to replace the ignition coils and a front right wheel bearing, both of which I did the repairs myself, other than that, it's been bulletproof, so due to this, I don't regret getting the Pontiac over the Lotus..
"Before I begin my story, I'm going to show you some of VINwiki's quirks and features..."
When he said 2011...July...yeah, that was Hell.
2011 was the year Austin, TX reached 100 degrees or more 90 times. Last Summer was the hottest on record, but that was only because we hit 105+ more than in 2011. I can't imagine living without AC in your car.
I bought my 2020 Evora GT at 1100 miles, it was my daily for 3.8 years. It ended when the engine blew at 104k miles. Best time of my life.
I drove through the desert in Nevada in a rented vette, it said 114f on the display. It was July too, I couldn't imagine being less comfortable and not having AC. Probably had PTSD
Dry heat ain’t nothing compared to humid heat
The next person I'd like to see here is "Scott" from *Scotty's Garage* ... let em tell us crazy car fix stories...
Not shedding one tear of sympathy for anyone with an Elise. 'Oh it's hot' it's a track demon for the road!
I do understand tho. I have a '93 MR2 with no AC and I live in the south.
I used spray bottles filled with water for my air conditioning when I was in those situations.
Doug: "I'm tall, between 6ft4 and 9ft7" 😳😵💫
Always great to see Doug Demuro stories to start the day!
Did very N. Ca. {13 mls from Oregon on the coast}to South Central Missouri in August. 65 Vette hardtop no A/C. Thought I was going to have a heat stroke. Drove it back, didn't look at it for 2 years.
1:53 I did it in my brand new 2009 370z. Los Angeles to Manhattan. 🇺🇸❤️
I did a trip from LA to DC in the middle of the summer of 2004 at 21 in a highly modified 1978 911SC that did have AC or a radio! I decided to take I-15 up to I-70 instead of the more direct route across I-40 hoping it would be a little cooler. It probably was but it was pretty miserable!
Blegh... Elise is a nice car. If you buy one, you get the looks and tons of fun. Handles like a dream. No AC? I never use AC. I do not have Elise.. but Opel Speedster. (vx220)
Man, that is a good story! Wish we could get more long form content stories.
Great story!! When I think back to things I did in my 20s, yes, I must have been crazy too lol
back when i was a kid a dude who lived in my area drove one of those. I saw him maybe a dozen times and he always looked miserable in it. weirdly he looked just like doug
Bay Area gets hot as heck in the summer, man. You definitely can't be without AC. lol I know he's thinking the towns immediately around the bay like Oakland and San Francisco, but, I can't imagine.
I took a 2 hour road trip with a lotus and carbon backed seats. It was pretty bad.
Imo. This story is very Hoover's thing for Doug Demuro.
Will Doug be the next member of the Veyron club? He's the only one of y'all who can actually afford to own one now. LOL
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Doug is just one of the best personalities in the automotive world love these
Doug,... You ever been to India?
The last owner just ran the Heater.
Best to ya 🏁
0:35 Oh. My. God. Doug’s hair.
Definitely memories one will never forget... cheers.
Doug the kind of guy to figure out cruise control and use it on long trips.
I should really get around to that at some point. Maybe next time I drive on a freeway. When will that be? I dunno. (shrug)
He does not mention it, but the radiator is in the front and the hoses go to the back where the engine is. It has an aluminum tub and aluminum radiates the heat of these hoses like nothing else. Every thing gets hot on the sill on the right hand side. Then there is the fuel tank that is directly rear to the seats and because of the fuel return also gets warm after about an hour of driving. The car already gets really hot on drives when it is only 25 degrees, but in the desert it gets hotter than an oven!
Ditto, any mid engined car.
I picked an one up in the bay area in 2010 at the same age. Drove up from LA in a cheap rental and drove back the same day/night in pouring rain on bald tires but I made it back without issues. I haven't seen a single one of these cars with working AC. One of my driver side window regulators has broken off inside the door from normal use, now the rear corner sags. The hardware that holds the hardtop on failed on the freeway one day, so orange hardtop just flew away. now I have a carbon one that saved about 30lbs but it has no upholstery, and it's basically see-through. The only thing this car is good at is track use. You can drive the piss out of it and it will get you home afterwards, but it's a pretty low quality car for every day use.
Lemme guess DOUG IS SCARED AND DOESNT FLY.
I always find it hilarious when anyone complains about not having cruise control, or when purchasing a vehicle they talk about functioning cruise or even weirder, adaptive cruise (not even sure what that is) being a deal breaker if missing or non op! I really just don't get it's importance to some and short of having my right foot cut off, there's no way I ever will! I've been driving since '94 and I've only turned the cruise on in exactly one of the fifty some odd vehicles I've owned! The best part is, it was way back at car #2, which was/still is my '78 Cutlass the day I bought it, in like 1996... and surprisingly it actually worked!
Who is the guy in 1 shirt?
None of them have operable A/C. Thats the joke with Lotus. It even says so in the user manual in roundabout terms.
Doug i live in Abilene,me and my family run a auto shop here, ill have to keep my eye out for it!
Pretty long video just to say: The car was hot and smol
Damn… and I thought a 12 hour drive from Central California to Idaho in my BRZ was bad! Haha
As a Kansas resident, they will pull you over for the smallest thing
People have gotten so weak. Put the windows down and drive. AC is not necessary. Cruise is even less necessary.
There's nothing wrong with being comfortable. AC and cruise are awesome.
@@bwofficial1776 Yes but it is no necessary.
Even my Pontiac Turbo Firefly has air and cruise control.
Me thinking about buy a lotus for the exact same reasons this past weekend....
only 1 t-shirt?
Its about time you two get together, i mean you both live in Georgia.
Doug left Georgia eons ago.
Doug lives in San Diego.
Last I know he was in Georgia
@@check4vI thought he was still in Georgia
That is, the country of Georgia
Who's surprised that Doug is too soft for an Elise...?
Great story great storytelling!
People and needing all the fancy shit to do a long drive xD
Some vehicles are only meant for us short kings
I think it would have been worth it to have just had the roof panel shipped home ahead of the car lol
When I was a kid in the 70s/80s it was common not to have A/C, but now that i'm 52 and am on medications that make me extra sensitive to the sun and heat, I can't imagine living without it.
Convertibles *might* be an exception. When I was in high school and for a few years afterwards, I had several convertibles, and that top was down 90% of the time or more.
Sometimes if in *Heavy* rain (in light rain, you just drive faster and it goes right over you ;P), and sometimes if it was crazy cold enough, or when it was going to be parked for a while. Otherwise, top down babay! :O
*BUT!!!* in the true convertibles I had, you could put the top down whenever you wanted.
And in the Targa I had, you could put the roof panel under the front hood.
I *cannot imagine* a "convertible* where you couldn't store the top in the vehicle itself. That's ridiculous :O
I'd be looking into ways to have it sawn into pieces that could be put away somewhere in the car and reassembled when needed, or something lol
Maybe a vinyl collapsible top that could be stored away?
Duct tape? 🤣
I dunno, I'd have to figure out something, cause I'd want the top off any time I didn't *have* to have it on.
Oh, and yeah, tall guy ;P Part of the reason I love convertibles. *unlimited headroom!* ~~^_^
As for convertibles without A/C...
Well, none of the ones I had back in the late 80s/early 90s, had A/C, most of the cars my family had didn't have A/C either.
Sort of like Doug said, back in the 70s, people would "just do that". Head out on road trips with no A/C.
And even if your car *did* have A/C, actually using it was somewhat discouraged (it was coming off the fuel crisis, and anything that decreased gas mileage was frowned upon)
But in a convertible I don't ever remember having a problem with the heat.
Of course, I always had the top off, and traffic jams anywhere within 60 miles of here only happen during major events, and you almost never have to wait more than a minute and a half at a stoplight.
So I virtually always had airflow.
But I was also much younger, and wasn't on meds that increased my heat sensitivity.
Anyway, I don't know if I'd *still* be okay driving around in the summer heat with no a/c and just having the top off, or not...
But I *do* intend to find out :)
Cause I bought a $350 1980 Fiat X 1/9 that I intend to get back on the street, and *of course* it doesn't have A/C 😅
So once I get it all put back together, I'll be finding out if I can survive the summer heat just by taking the top off, or if I'll end up having to retrofit A/C onto a 40 year old car that was never really designed to have it in the first place ;P
And I thought you were a car guy!
I just bought a brand new 4Runner at bighorn Toyota glenwood springs!
I wish we all lived in doug's head and could figure out what the hell is always so funny
Pour one out for the poor souls in the comments that get uncomfortable in their Elise. The horror!
coulda mailed the roof to yourself..
just sayin
Mothers will put up with a lot to spend quality uninterrupted time with their adult children.
Many consider what that Indian family did was kind. But that's just South & South Eastern Asian culture. Weither family, friends, business partners, or an associate. If you visit a family's house must stay to have a meal with them or atleast a tea. No matter how much you say no, they will insist until you either say yes or run away.
Had my Elise S2 111S since 2005. Never once missed the AC. Must be because of my English sang froid.
guys get a new light, he's at least two stops underexposed
The side of his face is green from the green screen.
No such thing as a bad road trip unless your injured or incarcerated. Even the most nonsense and BS filled road trip with a buddy is better than sitting at home.
Too dang tall to be driving in such a small interior car.
Pure driving no hell
So Doug is 36, looks 46, acts 66
Okay his creepy doug dance can be RED ! 3:04
lucky this wasn't the supercharged version. those bad boys overheat so bad in stop and go traffic (not enough air going over the radiator) that you need to turn off the A/C and crank up the heat to dissipate heat. the car would be much more valuable if it was easier to get in and out of.
Lotus cult
Of course it was in San Jose 😂 hilarious imagining you drive windy ass Highway 17 over the mountains between San Jose and Santa Cruz for the first time AT NIGHT. That drive is not for the weak hearted even during the day 😂
I had a Boxster that I never knew had cruise control until I sold it. Why would a sports car need cruise control? The next car I got was a 911, and sure enough, it had cruise control too. I think I tried it once out of curiousity, and never again.
Exactly same reason I bought my lotus. I wanted the orange but settled for purple with 8k miles for about 30k.
Also when I bought my Elise I lived in san jose. I used the ac all the time. He knew it didnt work. San Jose gets hotter than Sf not vegas hot.
RIP Rabbit
That picture at 3:21 , like next to a toy car. :]
Not to be that guy but ‘I KnOw tHAt CaR! DowN ThERe iN aBelInE
Who is this guy? Never heard of him.
You are so beautiful 😍 😊
A successful car journalist turned UA-cam car reviewer turned entrepreneur.
A Lotus Elise shouldn't even have AC, because it is heavy and saps engine power. "Simplify, then add lightness", as Colin Chapman always said. So Doug has already started off on the wrong foot criticising his Elise for having a bad AC. He very clearly doesn't understand what a Lotus Elise exists for, and comparing it to any Porsche is totally misguided. You couldn't get two more different approaches to building a sports car - one prioritises comfort and the perception (not reality) of quality, while the other prioritises purity of driving experience and performance through light weight. And you know what, any reliability study will show you that a Lotus is more reliable than any contemporary Porsche. And the Elise is not fragile, it's actually really robust and can take a lot of punishment, but it's also got a (deliberately) light GRP body. Lightness != fragility. I know all this because I have owned an Elise since 2006 and have covered over 80k miles without it missing a beat. It's even still on its original clutch, because it doesn't have a heavy car to drag around. Show me a Porsche that can do 80k miles and not need a new clutch. I like Doug but he's got it backwards - he clearly wanted a Porsche Boxster, not a Lotus Elise, so don't criticise an Elise for not being a Boxster. Leave the Lotus to people who know what it is, what it's for, and how to use it. And it's definitely not for driving on endless freeways across the USA.
good morning
You are so beautiful 😍 😊
I'm so confused. Why was he concerned about the check engine light? Every vehicle I've owned the check engine light was permanently on and it was never an issue to be concerned about. I've never owned a vehicle that cruise control or air conditioning worked either. Never used air conditioning. Irony is the fan that I presently own the cruise control worked for about 3 weeks, manufacturers defect and I just don't feel like fixing it. The shifter for the cruise control is made out of fragileium I broke it off with my knee getting in or getting out after about 3 weeks and nearly every Caravan I've looked at it's broken and the exact same spot for the exact same reason LOL I've known to other people that have had the shifter for the cruise control break off in their hand when they go to activate the cruise control;) always breaks in the same spot so basically all you can do is kind of squeeze it back in the hole and don't touch it or else it's flopping around by the wires you can literally replace it and within a week or two of replacing it having a break off in your hand when you go to activate cruise control or bang it with your leg getting in or getting out it's made out of thinner plastic than a credit card to put it into perspective. I've also driven vehicles that had no heater in the coldest winters in Canada;). And that vehicle in particular was technically completely open. It was a 72 Jimmy with the removable roof so even with the roof on you're basically driving a van convertible hybrid. The entire body is open to the elements whether the windows are rolled up or not and it had no back window in the very back just a piece of wood and even if you would have had the back window you can literally see and feel the environment whistle through the vehicle even when their Factory lol. Closest thing I ever had to a heater was this little unit that plugs into the cigarette lighter that's supposed to be for defogging the windshield.
I would have thought he would ask the dealer to charge the air, not check the engine light. I guess he didn't think of that.
If you buy a car that's not a complete beater, the check engine light being on is cause for concern. Until you pull the codes you never know if it's serious or not.
@@bwofficial1776 The check engine light 90% of the time is literally a stunt by the dealers. I've had family members that had that paranoia about the check engine light and all it did was cost them money for nothing. My grandfather had a series of Jeep Cherokees two of which he bought brand new. He was basically back to the dealership every 6 to 8 weeks with the check engine light till he got his head straight and just learned to ignore it. He kept going to different dealerships and so on where they kept making excuses for the check engine light even when it was under warranty you still had to pay by the hour for labor at one point they even changed the computer which didn't make any difference and we went through this with two separate vehicles the third one which was a GP bought used their excuse was there was something wonky and their computer couldn't communicate with the computer and the Jeep and that he was Sol and learn to live with a light he had three separate dealerships that recommended changing the computer because they're analyzer wouldn't communicate with the Jeep computer. If you knew how many times the check engine light was an oxygen sensor code and the auction sensor had already been replaced repeatedly it's been a excuse since the 90s to charge you $100 an hour for a problem that doesn't exist and for them to have excuses for the light coming back on again a week later and charge you another $100 an hourAdd them spend as much as get this 15 and 18 hours not being able to diagnose a problem and in that particular instance I was the one that told the what was wrong something they should have discovered in 30 minutes exclamation point they had the vehicle over 18 hours and couldn't find the problem I'm not even a mechanic and I even got told off by one of the mechanics was overheard by another mechanic who realized Jesus this guy's right. Nobody had checked the neutral safety switch and that was what the problem was they were too busy screwing around with computers to check the most basic problem firstThat was one of the Jeeps that he bought brand new. He even had one situation where it spent 15 hours at one dealership they claimed they couldn't find the problem he had to spend over $500 to have it towed to another dealership the tow truck company literally dumped it on the side of the road because they refused to go any further and we had to get another tow truck company to go out and take it the rest of the way. It was why my grandfather ended up canceling our CAA membership the tow truck company that CAA had go pick up the vehicle only brought it half the way and then abandoned the vehicle and he had to get another tow truck company to bring it the rest of the way. If memory serves me that was the one where the problem was the neutral safety switch the first dealership basically very ignorantly said come and get your piece of trash we can't find anything with the computer. It had been out of warranty about 6 months if that much. Second dealership was where I got into an argument with one of the mechanics and got that don't tell me how to do my job speech and a second mechanical overheard me and literally piped up did he say did anybody check the neutral safety switch I believe was the comment the second mechanic made while the first mechanic was making the speech about don't tell us how to do our job where experts and blah blah blah between the two dealerships nobody had looked for the simplest problem first. I've had a neutral safety go on three different vehicles two of which you didn't have any way to plug and analyzer into them where they had no computer anywhere on the vehicle it was simply a module on part of the steering column that plugged in with a couple of wires ironically that's one of those things that's supposed to be a million to one shot and I've had it happen on two or three vehicles and at least one my grandfather owned. Just about every Dodge I've owned you can't get the check engine light shut off including some of them being about a year old that family members own and you were constantly going back to the dealership and they just basically Get Saucy after a while about you bugging them and tell you don't bring it back unless it's broken That's How concerned they are about the check engine light.
Doing is one of those happy wonder nincompoops. Annoying cadence and unnecessary glee/playfulness and of course bloviation
Daddy Dug !!
What a boring road trip story.
Doug the goat