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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
Again without anymore disrespect for the M100 Elan, I think FWD Lotus cars are extinct for a reason, and it ain't just because they were too expen$ive to make.
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Sadly, the Elan died not due to being FWD in any respect at all. It really was cost. Thnk about it. In 1991 the Elan retailed for about $38 - $40k USD I think. What's an Elise go for now in 2006? $38 - $40K for a car in 1991 that was FWD (no one at the time felt a FWD drive car was a true exotic) was a bit much to swallow. The federlizations costs for the US market were very high. Every Elan sold LOST money as they never had enough volume to realize the production savings they had hoped for.
The Elan had a bright future ahead of it. Designs for a coupe, 2+2, AWD and "super" variant were on the drawing board. A full size, mostly drivable M200 was created as a successor.
Sad really. What would have happened to the sportscar world had the Elan been viable and sold at a competitive price? I wonder if the poll would have been "Are RWD sportscars dinosaurs?"
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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
From what I read (and thanks Elanlover for posting it), it sounds like in the 80s Lotus jumped on the FWD bandwagon, but of course did it with Lotus engineering and Lotus passion, which resulted in a remarkable car. But that having been said, this whole situation really does sound bandwagonish.
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I don't think that's entirely accurate. Lotus genuinely believed that a small engine 2 seater would be best suited for FWD. Its not a bandwagon. Lotus would have created the bandwagon, not jumped on it.
You can argue that FWD was becoming vogue. But, not the FWD that Lotus created.
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Originally Posted by PhlypSide
I think the people that actually care about performance and more than point A to point B driving, are going to start realizing that FWD is for appliance cars and minivans and start looking for RWD and AWD vehicles.
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I don't think that you are understanding what
LOTUS meant by "A to B". That's made clear in other areas of the book. They mean curves and winding roads at speed. They don't mean straight lines. They don't mean city driving, they mean track conditions. They mean "sporting" the car. They wouldn't have needed ex-Grand Prix drivers to test the car and consult on design if they were building a town car.