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More Elans were built than any other Lotus car.
A total of 8610 cars were built (comprised of four
types: 26, 26R, 36 & 45, roughly equivalent to 4
series: S1 - S4). The basic car may be described
as being a; front engine, rear wheel drive sports
coupe. They came equipped with four wheel disk brakes,
fully independent suspension, power windows and
retractable headlights as standard equipment. They
are powered by the four cylinder Twin Cam (TC) engine.
The Lotus Elan, known as the M100 amongst
Lotus enthusiast to differentiate it from the early
Elans, was built to "Allow 100 per cent of its owners
to use 90 per cent of its performance 90 per cent
of the time." Introduced in 1989, the Elan was the
first all-new Lotus since 1975. The Elan M100 has
made its mark in history as arguably the finest
handling front wheel drive car ever. Making use
of a 1600cc four cylinder engine from Isuzu may
not have had much cachet but it was a sensible choice
in terms of reliability.
Turbocharging boosted power to a healthy 162bhp,
enough to do justice to the incredible chassis.
The Elan is a fantastic sports cars, even after
the passage of 30 years. In modified form they are
a terror to lesser cars in autocross competition.
Only now are they being surpassed for outright cornering
ability and speed. |
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