View Full Version : Lotus Carlton
Saw one of these on the M25 today.
Are they fast ?
I vaguely remember seeing them on Top Gear a while back.......
errr yes, the 80's M5, still puts some modern "sports" saloons to shame.
collectors items now, for a decent one you are looking at £15K-£20K
Pete_slim
23-10-2002, 17:14
Oh my...
Had the fortune of seeing one of these at a London motorshow (many moons ago).. The image stuck in my mind.
They are monstorous machines.. Twin turbo lunacy if I remember correctly.
They used to use one on top gear as a camera car, when they had the supercars on a track. (just to try and stay with em)...
eeee bye gum they're blinkin fast!!!!
IIRC the Lotus Cartlon spelt the end of advertising by speed alone. Vauxhall were heavily criticised for advertising a 4-door family saloon capable of doing 176mph!
377bhp & 419 ft/lbs. Very rare now, only 284 RHD UK cars were built.
A monster car IMO.
Gaff
:o
I actually don't know much about them, but just found this site,
http://www.lotus-carlton.fsnet.co.uk/
and another
http://www.lotus-carlton.co.uk/
Gaff
This months (or was it last month) evo mag compared a Lotus Carlton against the current protaganists:-
- S-TypeR
- Audi RS6
- M5
It's a good deal lighter than all of the above, and hence wasn't shown up in performance terms. Beast.
:devil:
if ur interested
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_search.asp?modelexact=1&make=LOTUS&min_pr=&postcode=m33+6qd&source=0&model=CARLTON&max_pr=&sort=3&variant=&mileage=&miles=1500&keywords=&agerange=&max_records=50&search.x=32&search.y=6
Well if they are a collectors item I can see why he was driving so slow in the middle lane then !
I nearly had a heard attack when I came round the slip road to get on the M25 at J9 (clockwise), there was 2 coppers standing in the inside lane which looked like a the slip road for a weigh centre for lorries - mind you I wasn't doing anything wrong, was stuck behind an Escort anyway ! :D
Was lucky enough to get a ride in one once (unfortunately the owner wouldn't let me drive it!)
Big armchair seats, comfy ride and went like absolute stink I've never been in something as comfortable that went as well. :D
ive seen 2
one was owned by a scrap dealer in aberdeen
no plate (H1 SPD) LMAO
the other owned by the boss of evesham micros - ended up stolen and stuffed into halfords LOL
282 left to find
One of the trade ads on autotrader says "number 930 out of 950"
We could be looking for a bit longer !
Doh that was LHD.
Not that many about then just over 1000 in total!
PipSqueak111
24-10-2002, 08:25
Brian27 and myself saw one on Sunday at South Mimms services off the M25. We were there to convoy to the Pistonheads meet, and from the number of Carltons, Senators and other large saloons that parked all around the Lotus Carlton, I'd say they were off to a 'large executive family saloons' meet :D
Did look blinding. We were standing there with an Ultima, Ferrari and TVRs, but everyone still turned to look at the Lotus Carlton as it arrived and parked up. Absolutely awesome reputation!
Phill
mark sheerin
24-10-2002, 12:33
Only two cars have ever overtaken me on a country road......
A scooby who nearly crashed straight afterwards and a ....
Lotus Carlton....who just dissapeared at Warp factor 9.
;)
Pete_slim
24-10-2002, 12:35
Strangest thing has jusrt happened... Not seen a Lotus Carleton for absolutely ages.. Just been out to the local chip shop (dieting of course), and I've just seen a Lotus Carleton come tooling it past me..
Still looks the muts nuts.
One hell of a serious car, but still has its flaws
It's a Lotus Carlton, but that's just the badge. You've even heard the likes of the Corsa having tweaks from Lotus, and this Carlton is one excellent example of what they can do. When launched, it was the fastest road production saloon in the world! And I'm fortunate enough to have been in two, but I only drove one round a car park. It was my friend Harvey that owned both of the cars (he had 4 in total, actually owning 2 at the same time at one point!).
Make no mistake, this is an animal. Get the car up to 130, slap it in top gear, and the revs sit at about 2'800 ish, and it still pulls! This is just crazy performance. It loves a drink too, but that's a big lump to feed with forced induction from two turbos, what do you expect? Well, about 10-11 MPG on a run! You can more than double that if you're toeing off and cruising in 5th at seventy mind.
It's quiet, comfortable, refined (yes, even for a Carlton). In fact, on the inside it's really quite understated, deviliously deceptive as 110 feels more like 70. Effortless to drive, obvious with those levels of torque. And considering its age, there's loads of gadgets.
If you don't have a garage or armed guards around the car, listen to the insurance salesman fall off his chair laughing at you. It's really practical to a degree, but I get the impression that Vauxhall just wanted to prove something, and I hope something similar happens to the Omega (or has it already?).
It's a supercar that you can use everyday, but one word of warning if you're going to use it in town. It will drink like a fish and get very hot, and then you're into gasket catastrophe. Early signs of its enormous temperature producing potential is the fan to the fuel system (same idea as Renault 5 GT Turbo), which can, and will, drain your battery completely flat. Like I said, practical to a point.
Nice car :D
We saw one in York on Saturday.
who went to trax last year? there was about ten of the buggers,i was moved along by officals for drooling,one awesome car,would love a cabbie in one :cheers:
PipSqueak111
14-11-2002, 09:18
Got absolutely mauled by one of these last night on the A414 just after the M10. Joined A414 from the M10 roundabout, no cars to my right, started up the hill, mirror, no cars, change lane to pass some slow vans, check mirror again, BL**DY HELL! This Lotus Carlton has just appeared a metre off my rear bumper!!! :eek:
Hmmm, slow down and slot between vans or floor it - no contest! :) Dropped to 3rd, pedal down - and he's still there! Time to let him go methinks. Pulled over and he roared past. I dropped in behind and set off keeping pace with him.
Then Escort-man spoilt our fun :( bl**dy numpties! Can't have been looking in his mirrors, as I think anyone in their right mind would move over with a Lotus Carlton and a VX220 bottled up behind them. Tempting to drop a gear again and blast underneath him, but if he wasn't using his mirrors already, probably not a good idea 'cos my little car is easy not to spot.
Went different ways at the next roundabout :( Even our short little blast was fun though :)
Phill
I am confused Phil, are you saying you were driving the escort? :devil:
PipSqueak111
14-11-2002, 09:50
Originally posted by DaveP
I am confused Phil, are you saying you were driving the escort? :devil:
Urrrgh! I ought to come down there and b*tch-slap you for even associating me with one of 'those'!! :camper:
The only good Escorts were the Mk1s and Mk2s. This was a horrid E reg shed.
Phill
Pete_slim
14-11-2002, 10:01
Dave, LOL..
I would take that as a BITE by Phill!!! :D :D Shame on you :D front row seats for a 'b*tch slapping extravaganza...:cheers:
reeling in nice and slowly....
mark sheerin
14-11-2002, 11:49
I had an XR3i from new for three years once....
was actually glad when it got nicked...could stop visiting the osteopath:(
I'd rather have confessed to cunnilingus with my hampster..sorry Syphon's hampster.:D
I saw one this morning, with a tiny, tiny front number plate - so small it was hard to read. A UK reg though, but probably not legal. There is a minimum size isn't there?
mark sheerin
14-11-2002, 16:16
Originally posted by Toonman
I saw one this morning, with a tiny, tiny front number plate - so small it was hard to read. A UK reg though, but probably not legal. There is a minimum size isn't there?
Aren't all Lotus Carlton's the same size?
Whats this minimum size info...or have I got something wrong:confused:
It was a tiny plate on the front of a VX220 Mark.
mark sheerin
14-11-2002, 16:27
GOTCHA!
There is a minimum size and space between numbers and letters on Reg plates. Info is on the DVLA website.
I did wonder as this one was soooo small, like this...
mark sheerin
14-11-2002, 16:50
No thats well illegal...
Other night despite burglary on a rampant increase in Harrogate..saw FOUR police dealing with a guy in an elise who had no front number plate on..he took it out of the boot...presumably saying it had just dropped off...
blank stares all round followed by furious ticket writing activity.
When are we going to get a proper police force?:(
Not sure Mark, but holding of breath is not recommended...
Lotus used to nget fully built GSi 3000 24V's from Vauxhall to make the Lotus Carlton out of.
I saw one at the Scottish Motor Show in probably '89 or '90, a couple of years befor they came out anyhow, and it made a big impression on me.
I used to have a GSi 3000 and it was pretty damned good. I missed out on a RHD Lotus being sold by a German dealer a few years ago for low money :(
PipSqueak111
15-11-2002, 08:01
Originally posted by Toonman
I did wonder as this one was soooo small, like this...
I have a good idea who it might be if that was his registration (did you paintshop his reg on that pic Toonman?).
The VX220 front reg plate has about a 3 month life-expectancy. It's the lowest point on the car, and has a habit of coming a cropper on high kerbs in car parks, illegally high/steep speed bumps and ramps into places that are just the wrong angle as you turn in :rolleyes:
This is why many people, like that Elise owner, use velcro to attach them and carry a spare! If you velcro it you can always go back, pick it up and re-attach it if it's still in one piece or fit the spare when the police tug you.
I can't believe the police gave that Elise owner a ticket :eek: :rolleyes: You can't see the front of your car when driving, so how are you supposed to know if it's dropped off. The guys on the VX220 forums say the police are very understanding if you demonstrate how low the reg plate sits and have a spare with you. Perhaps the Elise driver had done something else or had got up their noses in some way so they were looking for any little thing to pick him up on.
Phill
It's from an advert I pulled off the Net Pipsqueak; all I did was to quickly (and not too accurately), Photoshop it, to reduce the size of the plate. The guy I saw was on the Cleveland/N Yorks border, but the car was silver. It may have been "Y" Reg, but it was sooo small I couldn't see it.
Thanks for the explanation though.
When I was at College a Lecturer bought in a Lotus Carlton for us to have a look at, and boy what a beast it was :) , It has rams in the exhaust that close allowing the car to warm up quicker, so you didn't have to wait so long before you could give it some Sh!t. I remember being told that the front pads cost around £500 not sure if that is true. Any one who went to TRAX 2002 should have seem a few of them along with me kneeling before them worshiping at the alter :) (we are not worthy) :)
I also remember Autocar doing a test drive and writting that they had achieved to an indicatesd 185 mph before the driver had to back off :devil: .
gimme gimme gimme :D ,
As long as I don't have to put up with the running cost's :)