This Overhaul was really... something...
Craftsmanship? Second to none, as always. Shortening the nose was a good stylistic move I think, and the choice of engine was pretty good. Considering the Elise is what the Europa turned into, good choice. The transmission was a great choice, German or not, what else would you use? I'm not big on the headlights at all, I think they look stupid. The front of the Europa never looked that bad, why mess with it?
They put a huge hole in the front of the bonnet. Why? There is no necessary aero or cooling there, so it just looks like a big hole.
Lets just put that rear bumper right on there on the bottom. Yep, looks good there, don't worry if the new Corvette tail lights stick out farther, it'll be great.
The rear suspension... Yeah that happened. Honestly it may work about as well as Chapmans old trailing arms though
The front suspension, nobody commented on this yet?! You can't just use the same A-arms and pull the points apart on the front bulkhead of the chassis! Where did the roll center go? Out the window? Who knows!
The "reinforcement" they added around the engine. Why? It's a flat plate... How about a roll-hoop and tying it in up high to get some Z dimension and really stop the chassis twist? Nah, we'll just add some dead weight.
The Porsche gauges were a terrible idea, and if you look closely during the second episode, they show the interior going together and you get a quick glimpse of the stock 2005 era Elise gauge cluster, indicating they couldn't get the German gauges to work with the Toyota/Lotus ECU. Does this surprise anyone?
Did anyone notice how thick the fender was when he was cutting it? It was like an inch thick fiberglass all built up! And the floorboards. Oh man, Ol' man Chapman was rolling in his grave as they were just pouring gallon after gallon of fiberglass resin in the floorboards. Wow... At least the weight is low?
The wheels... What the heck man? They went from 13" to 18"? That is five inches larger if you do the math.
The poor guy. He used to race this car and now he never can again. Pretty sad really.
But that's just my 2 cents.