well look at it this way......at least you owned one of the great super cars of the world. Lots of people can only dream of owning one. but the way you treated it....well that's another story
I looked after it,its not as if its been crashed. In the time i had it i did about 5,000s most of them were on about 4 drives. BB is not great sports car,its a hot one .
Daytona clutch not that heavy, Boxer heatsoak is not as bad as reputed. Ferraris in general are very well developed cars, don't believe the BS stories. Stratos driving position fine for a 6' driver, just lacks headroom for a helmet. Wheel and pedals slightly offset, but you don't notice it after 5 minutes. Again an exaggeration. It's a kind of monocoque, with welded rails. You'd easily stiffen it as part of a restoration. Such a beautiful body design though, Giugiaro's best ever IMO.
The Mangusta Is the only DeTomaso worth talking about. Despite it's short comings it is a truly beautiful design. The pantera just does not get there. The ford donk is the best thing about it. At least its reliable.
Again an exaggeration. It's a kind of monocoque, with welded rails. You'd easily stiffen it as part of a restoration. Such a beautiful body design though, Giugiaro's best ever IMO.[/QUOTE] Oh, don't get me wrong, the Mangusta is a brilliant design-it was very avant garde for its time and mostly forgotten now. Just as a contrast, the Miura and Mangusta were both released in 1966 and look at which design actually moved the game on.And no, it wasn't the Miura. The Miura was all classical, kind of a bridging point between the old front engine classical style of car and the new mid engined designs. The lamborghini had lots of detailing and flowing proportions. the Mangusta on the other hand was much more modern looking and really pointed towards the future of supercar design. Very minimalistic design and starting to head towards the wedge as a styling theme. Also had a proper north-south drive train, which all modern supercars now have. Just as you said, all very poorly developed though. Btw, one could argue that the Miura really was a Giugiaro design with detailing done by Gandini. Controversial? Do some research and then get back to me if you beg to differ.
a friend has one in Melbourne,in the flesh they are a pretty,I've got a Corgi model which the body is removable and the engine and chassis is detailed,from memory includes IDA webers.
I think part of it you touched on, lack of link to real racing. There's not real Lotus brand identity anymore. That combined with a price point that is too high. I mean, I want a cheap stripped out racer, that would be awesome, but I just can't see it needing to be 20K more than my car, costing that much, who are you aiming the car at?
You're not taking the low production numbers into account. Is a 458 worth 10 x you GTi? No....but that's got nothing to do with it.
Podium has already happened. He'll be winner races soon. Couldn't agree more about Ferrari. Would have been great to see him back in red.
In part this is due to the low spec of the engine in the Elise... which is what the new MD is trying to change. As for price - yes they were annoyingly expensive although they have come down quite a bit recently... and there is always the second hand market PS: I've had my Elise for nearly six years and I really love it
I'm not sure too many people would cross shop an Elise and a Golf GTi. Every man and his dog has a GTi. They're good for what they are... a warmed-up FWD hatchback. An Elise is a pure mid engined RWD sports car. I sometimes think about what I'd replace it with that would give me the same driving experience... steering feel, agile responsiveness - can't beat lightness) rawness (with some degree of civility... it's still not an Ariel Atom or Caterham), and I can't think of a replacement. I love the fact it's Toyota-powered.... that engine will run forever, I don't get bent over by mechanics, and it's got a nice revvy/raspy note to it above 4000 rpm and it's a punchy performer (though admittedly not a straight line rocket) At the end of the day, my car weighs 860kg with a full tank of fuel, has power-assisted nothing, and I'd only swap it for a McLaren F1.
I don't think Lotus' were ever good value for money. Its too difficult for me this morning to get exact figures but the original Elan in 1963 was almost the same money as an E-type but still sold in reasonable quantities. The Esprits sold for similar money as a 308 and it wasn't until the 348 and 355 were released that a substantial price gap opened up between the 2 rivals, as Ferrari went further upmarket(ditto with Porsche). I think there are 2 problems with Lotus- 1) they lost their connection to F1 during GM's tenure and once that connection was severed, it was hard for Lotus to justify the extra premium for their intangible brand value. And at the moment, with a charismatic driver like Kimi and a very good F1 car-the E-20, they have a chance to restore their brand value but somehow, you get that feeling its all going to slip away. We all know its a sham (because its just sponsorship at the moment and not team ownership and even then, wasn't the sponsorship agreement terminated a few weeks ago and only the loan agreement remains in place) but we want it to turn into something substantial. Don't we all want Lotus back in F1, competitive and front running? 2) As suggested by IanB, they needed a Elise that was not just powered by a 4 cylinder. Imagine the impact a halo Elise could've had on the whole range-by halo Elise, I don't mean Exige, but a Elise with a Cosworth/Illmor developed V-8, around 3.5-4.5 litre capacity(to give racing pedigree to the engine) , with paddle shift, longer wheelbase, cutting edge driving aids and suspension. Competitive in performance with 430/458 but 2/3s the price. It may not have sold well but it could've have given the Elise a stronger overall image. I've met a lot of girls that love the looks of the Elise but I suspect trying to get into one puts them off. What a waste if the car can pull in women but puts them off because the ingress is so awkward.....and please don't tell me you don't care what women think of your car. It may not be decisive in buying one but it helps, esp if your married.
