Kia Elan

[Escape]

I came across a cheap Elan M100 today. Some research tells me it's in fact a Kia and not a Lotus, as it was build in 1998. Obviously I would have preferred a Lotus, but it could still be interesting. Main problem is the gearbox is missing. I understand Kia used their own 1.8 instead of the Isuzu 1.6. I take it the gearbox will be different as well, and probably hard or impossible to find.

Does anyone have any experience with the Kia Elan? Are there a lot differences or are most parts interchangeable?
And are they worth something or frowned upon as not an actual Lotus? The car looks OK, so would be a shame to strip. But without a gearbox, keeping other Elans on the road might be the best outcome.

Filip 

[chipp]

Filip, as always the best place probably to find out would be on lotuselancentral.com

 

chipp

[Escape]

Good call Chipp, I'll have a look there. My first port of call is always TLF, I really enjoy browsing here. 🙂

Filip

[jonwat]

revisiting the Kia Elan in 2021 

[USAndretti42]

Thanks for posting that, John.  First driving impressions of the Kia that I've read.  Seems like a good car.

[Escape]

I realise I never posted a follow-up, sorry.

After some research I feared the gearbox would be difficult to find, as well as other parts (and advice!) being harder to get as for a Lotus. So I didn't pursue this one, but got a Jag and TVR soon after. The Jag has clocked >3k miles over the summer, the TVR still needs a lot of work but is at the back of the cue (behind my 3 Lotus).

[jonwat]

Top Gear Review 

[exeterjeep]

This one has been on ebay for some time...£12k

Lotus Elan RARE KIA ELAN 1.8 CONVERTIBLE VIGATO ROADSTER * LEFT HAND DRIVE *LOW

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353465507288?hash=item524c2f9dd8:g:3~wAAOSwudBhvWHK

[Don.Hasi]

I had one. See also at my garage. Yes, there is many special about the Kia Elan. The gearbox is a bit on the weak side and especially made for the Elan. We had an exchange part so we could rotate it to one owner to the other to make the most out of it. At the end I was at nearly 200.000 km. So not bad at all. The engine is a bit restricted. With a different cylinder head it could better breath and came finally to life. Wish I had done this conversion before. I loved this car. It was my daily for about 12 years, summer AND winter. It was all in all a great joy and did cope any job on a daily commuter. 

If there are any questions, please don't hesitate. I have lots of experience with it and a route to get parts directly from Korea. The community of the British Elan and of the Korean as well is very great. All around the world very kind colleagues. This is really a part I enjoyed as much as the driving as well.

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Don.Hasi