scottish lotus specialists ?

sendmyusername · Post by **sendmyusername** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:38 pm

can anyone tell me if ali of SLS is still in business, needing a service but cannot get a hold of him on any of the numbers i had for him, and website the same ?
i've tried to email him, but he never was the quickest at getting back in touch.
would appreciate some info as need service before end of year.
phone number would be greatly appreciated.

iain3915 · Post by **iain3915** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:50 pm

Have you tried 07710 783028?

I got him on that a couple of months ago. To confuse things the voicemail has a message recorded for someone else but it is Ali's phone!

sendmyusername · Post by **sendmyusername** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:57 pm

thanks muchly i'll give it a try

jimbo · Post by **jimbo** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:06 pm

Yeah that's the number he uses, though as usual is a nightmare to get hold of. Doing the work out of house garage, near blackness

Sent from my TITAN X310e using Board Express

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:21 pm

Have heard various rumors as to whether he is still in business or not.

If you can't get hold of him, I can highly recommend Murrays in Edinburgh; they do a top job and with the SE discount, prices are very reasonable.

Scotty C · Post by **Scotty C** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:05 pm

You will be 100x happier with the service and murrays might even be cheaper

jimbo · Post by **jimbo** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:17 pm

Jokes aside, how cheap is Murrays? I sometimes think I'm just playing at Lotus ownership; I don't have the income to keep ploughing money into my S1, I'm always worried that something else is going to go wrong, and I worry that if I put it to Murrays I'll end up with a bill I just can't afford. Ali always gives me cash in hand deals that I sometimes can't believe! His "service" is guff, and I sometimes wonder if he'd diagnose future problems etc like Murrays would...

Sent from my TITAN X310e using Board Express

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:20 pm

You sound like you don't have AA P&L.

j2 lot · Post by **j2 lot** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:04 pm

MMC is as cheap as many of the independents out there and you have the reassurance & backup of a big company and several staff that you can't get from many independents. You can supply your own parts for fitting and nothing will be done without speaking to you first. If there is any drawback it is (for me anyway) that it is a 100 mile round trip but then so are some of the independents that people use and the communication you get from Craig and his team makes up for it.

Post by **campbell** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:32 am

jimbo wrote:I sometimes think I'm just playing at Lotus ownership; I don't have the income to keep ploughing money into my S1, I'm always worried that something else is going to go wrong

This will definitely happen.

and I worry that if I put it to Murrays I'll end up with a bill I just can't afford.

This will never happen.

Make a phone call to Craig. Get on his couch. Explain your worst fears. He will talk through your options in honest terms.

If you want to run an Elise, you need a grand a year in maintenance funding IMHO. You won't always need that. But as things start to go beyond their service life, it pays to have a fund. Or to be able to lay up the car until you do. These are 11-16 year old cars, after all.

At a push a newer example, ie an S2, may prove slightly less prone to age / mileage related failure but ALL will be prone to neglect-related failure and this is the area where the Murray team add a lot of value.

les · Post by **les** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:27 am

Ali's still in business but I think he is still trying to get back on his feet after moving out of his premises. My S1 is with him at the moment to get a KR1 head installed and some new rear toe links.

Post by **pete** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:48 am

Email Craig at Murrays.
Tell him your woes.
He will look at your car and discuss options with you.

Your car will be better.

My experience of nearly 14 years of Elise ownership is they can be run, through a main dealer, for similar money to the amount I spend on keeping bangers on the road through a back street guy. Using independents for the Elise has been very inconsistent - since Craig took over mmc they are transformed.

Lazydonkey · Post by **Lazydonkey** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:32 am

pete wrote:Email Craig at Murrays.
Tell him your woes.
He will look at your car and discuss options with you.

that's the key for me.

I've spent a chunk of money on the car with craig but i've not HAD to spend that money, craig has always come up with options for cheaper parts, putting stuff off for a while - he's good at letting you know what you NEED to do and what you SHOULD think about doing at some point. I've never known a main dealer who will use second-hand or customer supplied parts as readily....and that alone can represent a massive saving. Likewise you won't get skinned for investigation of a problem.

The other less tangible bit is how the car feel - i used ali for a few years and he did a great job of keeping the car on the road.....however since i've been using craig the car feels amazing, less rattles, less bangs and just feels a bit more "polished". With cars such as our that last 5% makes a huge difference to how you feel driving the car.

Lazydonkey · Post by **Lazydonkey** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:32 am

oops.

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:55 am

iain3915 wrote:Have you tried 07710 783028?

This is the correct number for Ali. He's still in business & still gets all my work.

Scottish Elises