Lotus Elite one of 50 Worst Cars of all time

[_JD_]

According to Time magazine. What a laugh.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/20...657783,00.html

[bburgh]

Originally Posted by _JD_

According to Time magazine. What a laugh.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/20...657783,00.html

The best quote from the list: "the Corvette — the very totem of hairy-chest, disco machismo"

Man...The 80's were ugly!

[UKphil]

As I posted in another thread - the Elite did have an awful reputation for unreliability.

It doesn't mean that it wasn't an innovative and creative engineering design, just that, for practical everyday motoring, it was a disaster.

Sorry....

For competition, where extra attention and regular component replacement/rebuild was the norm - it was fine. If you didn't want a road car that required frequent rebuilds (even by the standard of the time) then you didn't buy an Elite....

[UKphil]

And the next on the list (MGA Twin Cam [or Tin Can as it was known]) was also a fine car (in theory) with a bit of a dodgy reputation for reliability.
I knew a guy ( a garage owner) who had one from new and always carried a GALLON of oil in the boot (trunk) in case he needed to travel more than fifty miles.
Beautiful car, though....

[Bavarian Motorist]

"In Chapman's cars, failure was always an option."



What a joke...

[andykeck]

Originally Posted by Bavarian Motorist

"In Chapman's cars, failure was always an option."



What a joke...

That's not an inaccurate observation. I think it was Kjell Qvale that found when he took delivery of the first Elites that it took only three or four hard launches for the differential to tear out of the body. Chapman didn't believe him and grabbed an Elite to test. After about fifteen minutes of hard driving, the whole rear end separated from the car.

Edit: Might have been Jay Chamberlain.

[UKphil]

Originally Posted by Bavarian Motorist

"In Chapman's cars, failure was always an option."



What a joke...

Of course - Chapman was a brilliant engineer.
But don't let your love for the marque blind you to the facts.

Making successful race cars doesn't mean you can make a reliable road car.
If you target your road cars to enthusiasts you can "get away" with all kinds of "flaws/idiosynchrasies/quirks/whatever" and you will be forgiven.

If you set out to produce a road car for the less enthusiastic - then you have to adopt a different attitude.

Even today - with all the benefits of modern reliability (a Toyota drivetrain for God's sake) we still talk about the compromises we make to drive our Lotuses.

If we had to make a tenth of the compromises a contemporary Elite owner had to make - Lotus or not - we wouldn't be owners.

[Vangman]

Hey, it only had to make it to the finish line!

[kanda]

Seeing the thread title, I was expecting to see this...

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/163818

That makes more sense.

[lotusmark]

They won their class at LeMans, what, 3 or 4 times. Terrible cars!

[bburgh]

Originally Posted by UKphil

Of course - Chapman was a brilliant engineer.
But don't let your love for the marque blind you to the facts.

Making successful race cars doesn't mean you can make a reliable road car.
If you target your road cars to enthusiasts you can "get away" with all kinds of "flaws/idiosynchrasies/quirks/whatever" and you will be forgiven.

If you set out to produce a road car for the less enthusiastic - then you have to adopt a different attitude.

Even today - with all the benefits of modern reliability (a Toyota drivetrain for God's sake) we still talk abut the compromises we make to drive our Lotuses.

If we had to make a tenth of the compromises a contemporary Elite owner had to make - Lotus or not - we wouldn't be owners.

[andykeck]

Originally Posted by lotusmark

They won their class at LeMans, what, 3 or 4 times. Terrible cars!

Now I love the Elite, and plan to buy one if I am ever in the position to do so, but you got to admit the early cars had problems. And you can bet that the LeMans cars were built to a different standard than the cars in the showrooms.

[lotusmark]

Originally Posted by andykeck

Now I love the Elite, and plan to buy one if I am ever in the position to do so, but you got to admit the early cars had problems. And you can bet that the LeMans cars were built to a different standard than the cars in the showrooms.

Oh for sure but to get anything, especially an elite to hold together for 24 hrs would be no small feat. The base product had to be pretty good to start with. I just don't think it belongs in with the 50 worst.

Maybe 100

[Britman]

Surprised that TVR wasn't on the list. Surely Lotus's build quality was better than TVR?. I have a 1986 TVR 280i and the build quality on that can only be described as 'questionable'. I can slide my fingers into the door jams.

[UKphil]

Good point.

Could be the difference between "build quality" issues (trim bits falling off) and design flaws (inadvertant total oil loss system, rear suspension jettison mode etc.)

[Bavarian Motorist]

Didn't the Elite turn into the Excel with vastly improved reliability due to the Toyota drivetrain?

[andykeck]

Originally Posted by Bavarian Motorist

Didn't the Elite turn into the Excel with vastly improved reliability due to the Toyota drivetrain?

No. We're talking about the Type 14 Elite.

[tcnohead]

I was quite satisfied to see the H2 in the list. Honestly, nothing makes me happier than to hear the whimper from an H2 as it sits in the mall parking lot...

[TheViper]

Originally Posted by Britman

Surprised that TVR wasn't on the list. Surely Lotus's build quality was better than TVR?. I have a 1986 TVR 280i and the build quality on that can only be described as 'questionable'. I can slide my fingers into the door jams.

I guess they went down hill because I had a '76 Taimar that was very reliable & well built for it's time.

[Chris Mackey]

FTFA, about the Model T: A century later, the consequences of putting every living soul on gas-powered wheels are piling up, from the air over our cities to the sand under our soldiers' boots. And by the way, with its blacksmithed body panels and crude instruments, the Model T was a piece of junk, the Yugo of its day.

Trash journalism.

Blame the Model T for environmental problems 100 years later! Oh yeah, good journalism there! And to trash the quality of the build?! It was supposed to be cheap (affordable).