The Lotus Elan M100---What I Think Was Britain's Combatant For Combating The Miata.

So, today, I cover this little thing, the Lotus Elan M100. What I think was Britain’s Combatant against the NA Miata. I have a bit of a soft spot for this car, if I had to pick between this and a MX-5, I’d go with this. Not only does it look unique, you also never see it on the roads, so, you’ll be delighted to know that you’ll be the only one driving that car.

Anyway, enough with that, and on with the car.

In 1986, Lotus was bought by General Motors, and the financial backing that Lotus received because of this meant that they could develop a new, small, ‘Affordable’(By Lotus Standards, at least) car in the same spirit as the Original Elan, where the final one rolled off the production line in ‘72. A development Prototype, first named the M90 but later changed to X100, had been built a few years earlier, using a Fibreglass body designed by Oliver Winterbottom(No, seriously), and a Toyota-sourced 1.6-litre engine and Transmission. Lotus was hoping to sell the car as a Lotus-Toyota, and have the car sold through Toyota dealers…But that idea never came to fruition and the project was shelved(That said, that collaboration between Hethel and Japan did have some influence on the design of the MR2.)

The idea of a small roadster powered by an outsourced engine remained, however, and in late 1986 Peter Stevens’s design for the Type M100 was approved and work began by Lotus engineers to turn the clay styling buck into a car that could be built. This process was completed in just under three years, a remarkably short time from design to production car.

The M100 Elan was conceived as a mass-market car and in particular one that would appeal to US buyers. Consequently, Lotus put an enormous effort (for such a small firm) into testing the car; over a two-year period 19 crash cars and 42 development vehicles were built, logging nearly a million test miles in locations from Arizona to the Arctic. The Elan was driven at racing speeds for 24 hours around the track at Snetterton. Finally each new car was test-driven for around 30 miles at Lotus’s Hethel factory to check for any manufacturing defects before being shipped to dealers. Impressive. Richard Hammond famously said that for 22 out of the 24 hours that the Elan was driven at racing speeds around Snetterton, it didn’t break down. Very impressive?

The choice of front-wheel drive is unusual for a sports car, but according to Lotus sales bumf, “for a given vehicle weight, power and tyre size, a FWD car was always faster over a given section of road. There were definite advantages in traction and controllability, and drawbacks such as torque steer, bump steer and steering kickback were not insurmountable.” This was the only front-wheel-drive vehicle made by Lotus. Every model made since the M100 Elan, such as the Lotus Elise, has been rear-wheel drive.
The M100 Elan’s cornering performance was undeniable (on release the Elan was described by Autocar magazine as “the quickest point to point car available”). Press reaction was not uniformly positive, as some reviewers found the handling too secure and predictable compared to a rear-wheel-drive car. However, the Elan’s rigid chassis minimised roll through the corners and has led to its description as ‘the finest front wheel drive [car] bar none’. Unlike the naturally aspirated version, the turbocharged SE received power steering as standard, as well as tyres with a higher ZR speed rating.

Using the 4XE1 Isuzu Engine, a SOHC(The DOHC Variant was used on the Elan), 12-Valve, 1588 cc engine as the base(This engine would later be found in the Isuzu Impulse and was earlier found on the Gemini), Lotus re-routed the Intake Plumbing, improved the engine suspension, a new exhaust, and major modifications to the ECU to improve power and boost response. Turbo models were outfitted with a Single IHI Turbocharger.

Two variants were available at launch, the 130 bhp Elan 1.6 (retailing at £17,850) and the 162 bhp Turbo SE (£19,850). Initial sales were disappointing, perhaps because its launch coincided with a major economic recession in the UK and USA, and perhaps also because it coincided with the cheaper(And now more well-known) Mazda MX-5 which was arguably similar in concept, though the MX-5 was quite intentionally nostalgic and old fashioned (apeing the original Elan), while the M100 was deliberately futuristic, modern and forward looking. The Elan was regarded as a good product in a bad market, but was also very expensive to make (the cost to design and produce the dashboard alone was more than the total cost of the Excel production line), and sales figures were too low to recoup its huge development costs.
Altogether 3,855 Elans were built between November 1989 and July 1992, including 129 normally aspirated (non-turbo) cars. 559 of them were sold in the US, featuring a ‘Stage 2 body’ which had a different rear boot spoiler arrangement together with a lengthened nose to accommodate a USA-compliant crash structure and airbag, and 16-inch wheels (optional in most markets, standard in the U.S.) instead of 15-inch as on the UK model.

A limited edition of 800 Series 2 (S2) M100 Elans was released during the Romano Artioli era (produced June 1994–September 1995) when it was discovered that enough surplus engines were available to make this possible. According to Autocar, the S2 addressed some of the concerns over handling, but power was reduced to 155 bhp and the 0–60 acceleration time increased to 7.5 seconds, due to the legislative requirement to fit a catalytic converter in all markets. The S2s have very similar performance to the USA vehicles, having an identical engine management system calibration and a slightly lower overall vehicle weight.

After the final production run of the Elan in 1995, Kia Motors bought all the rights to the Elan from Lotus in order for Kia to manufacture its own version. Outwardly, the Kia version looks almost identical to the original. The most obvious difference is the different taillights, designed by Kia, in place of the Renault Alpine rear lights of the original Lotus car.
From 1996 to 1999, Kia Motech (Kia Motor-technology) produced the car (in Ansan, South Korea) as the Kia Elan for the Korean market, using a 151 hp 1.8 L T8D engine instead of the Isuzu 1.6 Turbo unit. In the Japanese market, the car was sold as the Vigato.

(I would have placed a picture here, but I couldn’t find one.)

And then, in 2010, Lotus(Then under Dany Bahar’s direction) unveiled 5 New Concepts at the Paris Auto Show. Alongside the Elite, Esprit, Eterne, and Elise concepts, stood the Elan concept. Lotus said they’d hoped it be in production by 2013. It was to be powered by a 4.0 V6. It was to weigh around 1295 kilos. And in the end, it was canceled. Hell, most of them were cancelled. I’d assume only the Esprit is on the cards now. Feel free to stare at the pictures for as long as you want. Pictured below are, in order, the Eterne, Elise, Elite and Esprit Concepts.

So, to conclude then. The Elan M100 was what I think was Britain’s Answer to the Miata, and, beyond that, Lotus wanting to make something affordable(By their standards), quick and eminently practical. The result? Was a car that was exactly that. The Usual Lotus Formula of outsourced engine and Transmission, in a car as small as an Atom, really made something that was really, really nice. Hell, it had even better handling than the Miata it competed with then. Sadly, due to the recession, and the Miata(It just HAD to ruin the fun for Hethel), the car never sold in big numbers, and was yet another flop in Marketing Terms. A sad way for a good car to die. A Good Product, in a bad market, it sure was. Prices for these are now at around 5-6 Thousand Quid, so get yours now if you want one. There’s no telling how much the Value might increase. If the price soars through the roof, past the Chimney Pot, and right to the top of the Television Aerial, a la Every.Single.Old.911, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you..

And on That Bombshell, you’ve finished reading my article about the Lotus Elan M100, the little FWD Convertible from England that would probably pose as quite the thorn in the Mazda MX-5’s side, with more power, and better handling. Sadly the Market was bad, no one wanted to buy a Lotus till they knew that it was safe to do so, and the Miata had stolen all the headlines. As a result, this was another flop consigned to Lotus’ Back Catalog of Sad Failures. Jean-Marc Gales, if you’re reading this, if there’s ever a better time for the names of ‘Elan’, and ‘Esprit’ to return, now, is that time. Feel free to leave overlooked details, suggestions, and advice down below, and I hoped you enjoyed it.

See you at the next one.