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Grat analogy considering the lotus is not bespoke and has a toyota celica motor. You see the irony don't you?Originally Posted by turboman808
Yes. It is a grat [sic] analogy considering that Brioni, Kiton, and Oxxford are not bespoke manufacturers. So, I do see a certain (but completely different) irony in your remark.
Whatever, have your lotus love fest and I will be the guy who clearly doesn't know a thing about cars.Originally Posted by turboman808
No love fest here. If that were so, I would drive nothing else. The cars are built for a purpose and they generally do that quite well. It seems you've elected to ignore that with answers that go off the topic of driving a new Elise.
It is not that you know nothing about cars. Clearly you do know something. However, your remarks closely resemble those often made by the type of fellow the late Bob Challman (Western U.S. distributor for Lotus Cars in the early 1960s) wrote about in his multi-year advertising campaign, The Good Life, for Lotus: "If you like fried hamburgers and fly-speck water glasses, you will neither like nor understand the Lotus [Elise]. The [Elise] is a quiet and quick car for people who enjoy efficient performance not gained by . . ." I suppose that if you understand the new Elise, you might like it.
But would you care to comment on why Lotus themselves wanted the KA series motor instead of a celica motor? You don't think they settled do you? Why would they want a car with a more linear power curve instead of a peaky power curve?
You stated in your earlier remarks that you have not driven a new Elise. Until you have the opportunity to drive one of the six-speed 220 h.p supercharged cars, I fear your remarks lack any true horsepower of their own.
As for the selection of a Toyota engine over a Honda engine. Lotus have long standing relations with both companies. Toyota once owned a controlling interest in Lotus. Honda supplied fierce turbocharged V-6 engines for the late-1980s race-winning Lotus Formula One effort.
Lotus latest owners and several board of directors members are Indonesian. Knowing that Honda is Japanese, read into my words what you will. Early on, Honda put certain financial, marketing, and engineering requirements into the negotiations that the Lotus board of directors simply refused to consider. The Honda engine was merely a potential ideal that never got off the drawing board. Although Toyota is Japanese, they were more pragmatic in dealing with Lotus.
It is simple business. It is all about money. Much as you do, Lotus has a budget on each project. Much as you seem to be willing to do in your personal engineering projects, even Lotus is sometimes willing to compromise if the results are "close enough" to the desired target.
Finally, stick with what you know. Start a thread about modified cars. The J.C. Whitney Company made a fortune at one time selling to gents like you. That thread would be the ideal place to claim a well-modified sow's ear is superior to a silk purse. Starting your own threads will surely stifle most Cruiser-like comparisons. I actually think such a thread would be interesting, well-subscribed, and potentially long-lived. Go ahead!
Do a little thread about building your 914-6. The 914-6 is an interesting car. A friend of mine owns one of the ex-Richie Ginther SCCA C Production campaigned 914-6s. Only in America were the cars marketed as a Porsche. The rest of the world knew them and the four cylinder 914 as VW-Porsche.
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