Brief LA Auto Show Report
By a strange quirk of fate (no planning on my part – just luck) I happened to come to LA the week of the Auto Show and was able to visit the Lotus display.
I can't add much to what others have said except for a few random observations.
o The cars were far more than I hoped for. Beautiful and extremely exotic looking. Less raw than I thought on the inside. A bit hard to get into and out of but not impossible. Much lower to the ground and slightly smaller than my Miata (From a completely different planet tho). Sweet feel to the body work and paint, not luxurious but not shabby or cheap at all. Very unique compared to an ordinary sports car ... however, feels spare and very to the point. Clean dash, great drivers view and position. I fit no problem. Tiny boot (maybe an overnight bag, carry on size... anything inside will be cooked by the engine probably.)
o The door opening button and "handle" worked fine. Typical of the overall finely thought out design. As one of the Lotus people said, tremendous thought went into what to throw away. What is there works well and in a straight forward way. Liked the shifter, good height. Easy to double clutch with the pedal setup. Easy to brace oneself into the car. Lots of the usual stuff is gone (no cup holders!). Very OK with me.
o The Lotus people in the booth were fantastic and friendly. I met the head of US sales as well as Tony Shute, the project manager for the original Elise. Extremely gracious person and an unbelievable thrill for me to meet someone so associated with the creation of these incredible cars. I’m still kind of stunned that I met people at that level in the company.
o Very proud of achieving super car performance at price point they achieved.
o 100 MPH in 3rd gear ("things will be coming at you very fast once the hot cams kick in")
o They think the US is an advance over the English model (lucky us!)
o Many people in England use them for "daily drivers".
o Production starts in May
o From the head of US sales
- He strongly suggested that I get the touring package ("a lot of things I will want"). The electric door windows are lighter than the cranked.
- Track package is really for people who will mostly tracking their cars, strong suggestion to avoid it unless I expected to spend most of my time doing that.
- No allocation scheme yet. The scheme will be simple and easy to understand.
- My #26 at Huntingridge motors in Westchester, NY should mean that I will get my car in late summer, early fall.
- He likes the yellow -- it "reeks of Lotus" I liked it too, did not care for the green so much as I thought I would, wish it were darker. The lighting at the display was terrible so the pictures are misleading. The metal flake paints are nice, subtle and not over the top. The Artic silver is pretty much the standard metal flake silver you see on a lot of cars these days (such as my MX5). The yellow and red are rich deep colors but not transluscent.
By a strange quirk of fate (no planning on my part – just luck) I happened to come to LA the week of the Auto Show and was able to visit the Lotus display.
I can't add much to what others have said except for a few random observations.
o The cars were far more than I hoped for. Beautiful and extremely exotic looking. Less raw than I thought on the inside. A bit hard to get into and out of but not impossible. Much lower to the ground and slightly smaller than my Miata (From a completely different planet tho). Sweet feel to the body work and paint, not luxurious but not shabby or cheap at all. Very unique compared to an ordinary sports car ... however, feels spare and very to the point. Clean dash, great drivers view and position. I fit no problem. Tiny boot (maybe an overnight bag, carry on size... anything inside will be cooked by the engine probably.)
o The door opening button and "handle" worked fine. Typical of the overall finely thought out design. As one of the Lotus people said, tremendous thought went into what to throw away. What is there works well and in a straight forward way. Liked the shifter, good height. Easy to double clutch with the pedal setup. Easy to brace oneself into the car. Lots of the usual stuff is gone (no cup holders!). Very OK with me.
o The Lotus people in the booth were fantastic and friendly. I met the head of US sales as well as Tony Shute, the project manager for the original Elise. Extremely gracious person and an unbelievable thrill for me to meet someone so associated with the creation of these incredible cars. I’m still kind of stunned that I met people at that level in the company.
o Very proud of achieving super car performance at price point they achieved.
o 100 MPH in 3rd gear ("things will be coming at you very fast once the hot cams kick in")
o They think the US is an advance over the English model (lucky us!)
o Many people in England use them for "daily drivers".
o Production starts in May
o From the head of US sales
- He strongly suggested that I get the touring package ("a lot of things I will want"). The electric door windows are lighter than the cranked.
- Track package is really for people who will mostly tracking their cars, strong suggestion to avoid it unless I expected to spend most of my time doing that.
- No allocation scheme yet. The scheme will be simple and easy to understand.
- My #26 at Huntingridge motors in Westchester, NY should mean that I will get my car in late summer, early fall.
- He likes the yellow -- it "reeks of Lotus" I liked it too, did not care for the green so much as I thought I would, wish it were darker. The lighting at the display was terrible so the pictures are misleading. The metal flake paints are nice, subtle and not over the top. The Artic silver is pretty much the standard metal flake silver you see on a lot of cars these days (such as my MX5). The yellow and red are rich deep colors but not transluscent.
