Doug DeMuro vs Lotus!

@DougDeMuro thought he wanted a Lotus Elise...

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#VINwiki #dougdemuro #roadtrip

[MarkDenovich]

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.

[checkv]

Doug's only 50% commitment to doing the Indian accent is hilarious

[christianporto]

Doug is a prime example of the success that comes with being unapologetically yourself. Never change you quirky man!

[arranree]

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."

[eatattheafter]

Doug on VINwiki is chef's kiss worthy.

[blue_lancer_es]

Doug is the type of guy to go to vin wiki and then do his own car trek.

[juanalbertogonzalez-peraba]

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

[EdBolian]

That time in the Lotus market was wild. The best and worst Elises were the same money. $30k all day long.

[jfanoe]

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

[GrantRussell-kp]

About 20 years ago, I drove a 1990 Nissan Skyline GTR about half-way across Canada in the winter time. It was very snowy, and the road conditions were not great. The car handled it like a champ, but it was torture to listen to the 105 kmh alarm bell for the entire trip. I got home, and immediately disassembled the gauge cluster to remove the bell.

[unlovedcars]

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.

[jack_U]

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.

[dr.burtgummerfan]

"Before I begin my story, I'm going to show you some of VINwiki's quirks and features..."

[originsofarceus]

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

[Utoobdewd]

The greatest car reviewer/automotive vlogger on YouTube. A living legend in car community

[f.a.d.]

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.

[farmerdave]

That car in Abilene Texas might as well be a McLaren F1

[aaronbehindbars]

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.

[johnnystoka]

Guy has no idea . Debug is clearly not a driver .

[aardvarkapoc]

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.