Evante

Author
Discussion

Chris71

Original Poster:

21,536 posts

242 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
The product of my latest spot of window shopping...

Does anyone know anything about the Evante? I seem to remember it's a somewhat improved semi-replica of the original Elan, is that correct?

V8covin

7,310 posts

193 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
An ex-boss of mine used to work for the company or at least for a company who assembled them,i can't quite recall it was a long time ago.
Anyway he said they were a complete pile of ste.
That's all I have to offer,sorry ,lol

Sam_68

9,939 posts

245 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
Improved is debatable, but yes, that's the general idea.

The majority were powered by Vegantune's own engine, which is a belt-driven facsimile of the Lotus Twin Cam.

They're no quicker than an Elan with a QED 420-spec engine (pretty much standard 'Sprint Plus' tune these days), more diffiult to source parts for and more difficult to shift when you want to sell, so TBH I'd be inclined to stick to the original Elan.

Link to owner's club here, if you're interested, though.

Chris71

Original Poster:

21,536 posts

242 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
Ah, scratch that idea then. I thought the concept was a modern replica. It only really makes sense if it's going to be easier to live with than a real Elan.

Sam_68

9,939 posts

245 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
If it's as a second car, there's nothing much wrong with the original Elan. They're actually pretty reliable once fully sorted by someone who knows what they're doing - you've just got to realise that it needs more regular servicing and preventative maintenance than a modern car.

Biggest shortcoming for me is the 4-speed gearbox and very short gearing (by modern standards) that makes long distance runs on motorways and fast A-roads a bit of a pain.

Most of the Elan's shortcomings can be sorted by specialists, these days, but if you're doing high mileages the sensible solution would be a Spyder Zetec conversion with all the Spyder modified running gear


Chris71

Original Poster:

21,536 posts

242 months

Thursday 2nd April 2009
quotequote all
Thanks, I'll take a look at the Spyder conversion. Just curiosity really.

In fact here's the first thing I found, taken from Practical Classics:

http://www.spydercars.co.uk/practical_classics_cla...

rofl

I'm not an expert, but I'm fairly sure it was Colin Chapman who found Lotus. Wasn't Graham Chapman the bloke in Monty Python?