Friday 15th October 2010

Pic Of The Week: Lotus Elan

We compare Lotus's brave new world with its illustrious past

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We probably should have brought you an example of Lotus's bold new future as POTW before now, being as it was unveiled a good couple of weeks ago.

But Hethel's unveiling of five new models was a bit too much for our delicate constitutions to take in and it's taken until now to digest all the info and pick the pic we want.

And here it is - the Lotus Elan. To be frank, we struggled to choose between the five new models (not least because they all look remarkably similar to one another), but in the end we plumped for the Elan for the rather girly reason that the yellow makes it a more striking wallpaper than the silver-grey of the other new Lotuses.

The big question is, how does the 444bhp, 194mph(!) new Elan measure up to Lotus's previous products of the same name? We hear the argument for it bettering the Front-wheel drive 1989 attempt, but is it going to be sweeter than the 1960s original? We seriously doubt that...

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[Blayney]

Loving the elan as my desktop.

It looks really good now that I've got a big, clean, uncluttered image of it.

[Whitean3]

Give me an original DHC Elan over it's more modern successors...

[Deranged Granny]

But will it sell?

[Mark-C]

+2S for me

[slipstream 1985]

Deranged Granny said:

But will it sell?

75k in 3 years time for its launch id buy one

[Frimley111R]

Yeeeeeyy!!! A week late but I'll let you off

[B10]

All these new Loti are too expensive, especially the Elise and Elan.

[Milks]

B10 said:

All these new Loti are too expensive, especially the Elise and Elan.

'cept that the elise is reported to be £34k so in line with current prices

[GPT]

I loved my M100, however I'd argue that British Racing Green was a much better colour than that purple effort...

Grip was out of this world.

New one looks great but at what price?

[CoopR]

That front end looks a little familiar!

[nogsk]

Nice, I had 3 of those 2 130/4's and a 130/5, one of the 4's and the 5 had the classic drum kit roof - can't recall seeing one with a webasto as shown. I Remember a specialist made a few convertibles - didn't look right though.

Beautiful cars though and a great to drive, I learn't about how to fix things when I had those, you had to be an 'enthusiast' or walk!

Mark-C said:

+2S for me

[Harry Monk]

CoopR said:

That front end looks a little familiar!

Looks too much like a Gallardo - a car that's just about to be replaced. Hardly box-fresh and will look more dated still when the Elan finally reaches production.

[alexpa]

That's no Elan

[British Beef]

I agree with most the posts, Elan by name but nothing else.

Much more Esprit successor in looks and performance, but then Lotus already have a new one of those in the pipeline.
The true spirit of Elan lives in the Elise, but even that is growing into a miniature Esprit.

So in 4 years time Lotus will have a range of 5 different Esprits, with slightly different seating configurations, similar performance and idential looks.

Sounds good to me, unless you really want an Elan / Elise.....

[anonymous-user]

I like it! though this is my favourite Elan!

[Fire99]

I have to admit, in terms of preference, The original is still tops (just) followed by the M100 and then the new pretender.

I don't doubt the new car is blisteringly quick (especially compared to the original) but it just seems too clinical and doesn't bring anything unique to the party.

It strikes me that you can have this or a Gallardo and then split hairs over which is better at what.

[EvoDelta]

There are not enough words for how much I want one of these.

[Roberty]

Love the look of the proposed new Elan.

Considering the spec £75k seems ok, sounds better value than the £55K 280bhp Evora.

Not a fan of the previous Elans, nothing special.

[appletonn]

Would rather have a nice wallpaper of the 60's original tbh!

[Witchfinder]

I think I'd choose this over a similarly priced 911 - that's academic though, as I do not have (and likely never will have) £75,000 to splurge on a car.

If it's going up against the 911 though, doesn't it need 2+2 seating? That bench in the back doesn't really look like a place for passengers.