Exploded

Somebody compared them already a month ago... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_HBDS6KwoI#t=1 I came across several 4c on the road already, as one of the biggest Alfa dealers in Belgium in on my road to work. I think the proportions of the car are not good. Especially the rear. What I was amazed of the first time I saw it on the road was the width. It really is wide especially on the rear.

I already had a lot of trouble with my switch, but never did I hit the floor with the pedal at any time.

Sorry to hear and read all this... Sadly I have similar experience. About 6 or 7 years ago I went to a restaurant with my girlfriend, taking the Elise along. When we came back somebody had walked over the front of my Elise... there were real shoe prints on my car, they had stepped on the front bonnet and so, the had pushed the bonnet hinge through the radiator, so there was water everywhere around the car. So cracked front bonnet, damaged front clam, broken radiator... that was quite expensive food. Ever since, we go out less for diner than we used to and when we do go out, we leave the Lotus more at home.

Belgian Lotus Dealer Verhiest is selling replacement switches as well athough not cheap, the link What helps in a lot of cases is taking the switch out, leave it for a night in cellulose thinner bath, take it out, let dry for day and and put it back in. In most cases it just dirt and dust that leads to the problems.

Congrats Red Baron!!! I loved the Cortinas as well. I was tanding next to him when he took that shot. I don't want to be a spoil sport, here but this is a Type 49C instead of B imho...

They are all winners imho I'm happy that I don't have to pick one

+1!

The red Evora is from a very good friend of mine. It's a Mansory, just like the gray one. Lotus dealer, Lotus Wallonie, had them rebuilt by Mansory. The difference is just that the gray one does not have the Mansory rear. A few months ago I was told, to that date the red one is still the only full "official" Mansory Evora. As Bibs said a new homologation + moulds + ... were needed, the difference to a standard Evora was quite big. So even when Lotus asked 150k per car, as was stated in the press, it would still make a huge loss per car...

Sadly no; there never came any money from the Chinese, still Lotus had already started to build the first batch of about 30 cars. I think quite a few forum members have seen these cars, behind the factory. Then again all parts on these cars were hand made... in the end first batch costed a whole lot more than the value they were supposed to be sold for... Would have loved to see the GTE on the roads here...

Will it be DeTomaso then? The only Lotus in F1 should be Team Lotus, not Lotus F1 team.

+1 Maybe one should not forget that the original is always better than the "Italian copy". Much better show it was idd.

Thnx Jonny, I (and I think many other on this forum) would love it if you take the challenge and try to do better than the Belgians So if you guys travel to London you have to take the boat these days? The weather is really terrible in the UK, the region near Somerset is under water, a few years ago I was there to pick up a TVR wit a friend of mine. Terrible for those people But on topic; we can't wait to see the pictures!!!!!! Oh and Jonny I got another picture for the PoTM coming up ;-) you ain't gonna win this month...

Just sayin' Bibs...

Agreed Bibs, but the car was given a year before the offence was made. Advantage, being responsible for the international database of information for the company I work for, I have a lot of international colleagues, and so I work (closely) together with 4 Japanese colleagues having met them a few times and speaking them at least once a week. I'm not pretending to know a lot about them, nor understand their culture but I do know the very basics. Keyword of those basics is RESPECT!

You know, when the people who work for me, go way over their budget and I as a manager have to report to the management team that my team spent double the amount of money they were allowed, do you think for 1 split second the management team is going to say; Hey this is really not your fault, Gert, but it is entirely your team's fault???? Come on Thomas, I know who will get the blame and you do too! They will say Gert is not capable to do his job as he is not following up his people closely enough. The reason for DRB cancelling the plan is that there was over 200mln of debts and again 200 mln needed to get the very first car of the 5 car plan into production. DRB simply does not have this kind of money. So they never had any choice. Don't forget they were not interested to get Lotus but wanted Proton. And that's where their focus is. IF Proton does not do well, the Malaysian government can take Proton back in a minute, with lots of money loss for DRB, so Proton is DRB's very first concern. Serge, there are always things in the pipe line, but not the five cars we were all hoping for or expecting, that's for sure. Again DRB has all the best intentions with Lotus, but they just don't have the kind of money that Lotus need right now, which covers debts and development.

And again the reason why DRB Hicom can not make the steps is because of the debts that Bahar and his crew have created. DRB Hicom is not a company like GM once was, when they came in at Lotus or Toyota and VW group are now. And it's not only the debts but also the business relations that Bahar's crew destroyed for example when Bahar made the genius quote about Toyota engines: "regardless of how much you tune a Toyota engine, it will still be a Toyota engine at the end of the day" That message was very badky received in Japan, their honour was hurt badly. And so a lot of business and gentlemen's agreements were cancelled between Lotus and Toyota. Prices for went up significantly too. I hope Lotus will survive in the end, but those people who are expecting to see (a range of) new models soon, I'm afraid they will be disapointed.

So this way your S4 interior looks like the V8 interior?

Which of his 3 houses do you mean Jonny? The Esprit, when abandoned was very very far away from being ready to go into production I'm afraid. You should not believe someone who wants to make you believe something else. The whole Bahar story was like a fairy tale and we all know they are not true... but who never wanted to believe in a fairy tale...

I have been told to correct myself, it was not 200 mln £ but $ which is a very big difference I know. That amount of money was still required to get the Esprit into production with the own "Lotus" V8 engine. So I apologise if any one was confused. I'm not saying that any one in here is lying, just want to point out that a lot people are guessing and believe what the media writes, whom a lot of got paid just to write what Bahar said. Reality compared to what he said was sometimes (if not always) a bit different, I'm afraid.

Well Advantage I'm afraid that is a very big lie. I know 101% sure that Bahar, when he was forced to leave Lotus and he had spent almost al his funds, he still needed AT LEAST 200 million £ (and at least 1.5 years of development time) to get the Esprit, the first model of the range into production. He did not have this kind of money and was told he would not get any more money from Proton/the bank/the Malaysian government and that is the only reason why all of a sudden Bahar came up with the facelift Evora and the designs for the Exige V6 were taken out of the fridge. Before he did not even want to hear about these cars. He had canned them all.

Getting back a new or updated line-up of attractive Lotus cars, after time stood still for over 2 years with Bahar and his legacy still choking DRB Hicom, that should get the focus. If you have great line-up cars, which are selling well, it's time to focus on the dealers.

I believe a lot of dealers gave in, because this brilliant Bahar managed to not deliver a single car for about a year... What dealer can survive with no cars coming in for almost a year? That shows exactly how brilliant Bahar was. And then the demands Bahar had planned to ask to still be a dealer, a lot of dealers gave in, because they did not see it possible to regain the investment, that Bahar and his management were demanding. There are lot of people in here whom hail Bahar in every thread, while in fact there is really nothing to hail for. People only tell good stories about the dead people. It's all in their mindset... Even today there are still very experienced people leaving Lotus, because Bahar has made such big depts that DRB Hicom still needs to fill the holes. It's very sad and makes me somewhat angry seeing smart people shouting for Bahar to come back in almost every thread. I can only assume they do not know people whom actually work on the Lotus workfloor

Maybe a long shot, but have you tried to contact someone from Ricardo?

Let me know if you need a red High Wing

Yup really really bad, but next week we will see the McLaren P1, star at Spa Francorchamps... Really looking forward to that!