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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
I still haven't heard a satisfactory answer to my questions about the M100.
Sure the M100 is sporty, and given the Lotus edge perhaps it's the Platypus of sportscars...
But really, and no hatred for the cute little M100, but why oh why did Lotus make it FWD? And if it was such a great car, why are there no FWD Lotus cars today... or better yet, why were there not any FWD cars before the M100?
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Ok, just for you, since you seem to be the one most against FWD's being potential sportscars, i'm going to pull out my Mark Hughes M100 "bible" and quote some M100 scriptuure to you. The book, by the way, was written with the assistance of many Lotus engineers and is generally considered to be the gospel on the car (staying with the religious theme and all).
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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
In regards to performance I think FWD cars are wasteful, which is wholly contrarian to the typical Lotus philosophy as has been presented in its past and current cars. Why place all the weight at the front of the car? Why drag around two wheels that do absolutely nothing but coast along for the ride?
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Hmm......so, if Colin Chapman himself said FWD has some advantages over RWD in a "sportscar" design would you change your heretical views become born again and worship at the M100 altar???
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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
Seems very uncharacteristic of Lotus, and pretty lame to me. Personally I think the M100 was a momentary lapse of reason on Lotus' part, an interesting experiment taken to completion, nothing more... which is probably why there never were any FWD Lotus before or after.
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Oh contraire mon ami. As we'll soon see after I get working on finding some excerps for you. There were some solid reasons for chosing a FWD platform and not all of them were cost related. There's were some performance gains too. As to why another FWD Lotus hasn't been made I can think of 2 reasons.
1. Dumba$$ types who couldn't/wouldn't believe that you could get a fantastic SPORTSCAR in FWD (plenty of that in North America)
2. All Wheel Drive getting better and cheaper.
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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
How many Lotus models are there to date? Over 100? Well the M100 is ~1% (or less) of all Lotus models ever made.
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Well, a real Lotus buff would know that there aren't over 100 Lotus models. Even with variations of the same model (S2, S3, S4, etc.) I doubt you'd hit more than 25 or so.