1991 Lotus Omega (LHD Lotus Carlton)

[LotusOmega375D]

I bought this car two and a half years ago. I am only its second private owner. The car was delivered new to a German Opel dealership in August 1991. It was retained by the dealer and only driven occasionally on trade plates until October 1997, when it was finally registered for the first time (hence the "R" plate) and acquired for re-sale by a specialist car dealer in Hamburg.

In December 1997 the car was bought by a Berkshire enthusiast and driven back to the UK, including some very high-speed running on the Autobahn. The owner then garaged the car and used it only on the odd occasion, until also acquiring a RHD Lotus Carlton in 2003. Consequently he used the Lotus Omega even less and it was usually SORN'd.

Eventually he sold the Lotus Omega to the Trade and I purchased it in March 2010. By this time the car had covered only 5765 miles (9299 km) since new. Under my ownership this has increased to a grand total of 7539 miles (12159 km), in 21 years. It still lives a very pampered existence!

The car is essentially as-new and has never needed any repairs or paintwork. It was featured in Classic Cars magazine a year ago, for which these photos were taken.

[LotusOmega375D]

I paid 25k for it, which included a major service (new chains etc), just to be on the safe side.

The Classic Cars magazine compared the Lotus with the E34 M5 3.8, E500 and Turbo R. We didn't get to swap cars, but the 2234kg 330bhp Turbo R is clearly not in the same performance league as the others. The 1781kg 326bhp E500 made a lovely jackhammer noise under hard acceleration, but has an automatic gearbox only. The 1727kg 340bhp M5 3.8 was the closest, but with 377bhp and 1655kg the Lotus is the quicker car, at least in a straight-line. I don't know about the Alpina.