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Lotus Carlton Top 10 Questions
Last Updated 19 April 2001 1. What the hell is it? It’s a Vauxhall Lotus Carlton. To cut a long story short, Lotus were employed to produce a Limited Edition version of the Vauxhall Carlton. They started with the already superb 3.0 litre 24v Carlton GSi, reengineered it, and ended up with a 3.6 litre 24v twin turbocharged and intercoooled 377 BHP, 170+ MPH monster. The gearbox, differential, brakes and chassis were all modified and/or replaced to handle the increased power. In all, only 950 cars were built, of which 284 were right hand drive Vauxhall Lotus Carltons, the rest were left hand drive Opel Lotus Omegas. This is car No. 112. It is, and has been for the last 10 years, the world’s fastest production saloon car. 2. How fast does it go? Difficult question. The ‘official’ top speed is 176 MPH. Several motoring magazines of the time attempted to verify this, but there aren’t any runways long enough in the UK to do it on. And no-one in there right minds would publish an article claiming to have done 170+ MPH on public roads. Rumor has it that top speed is governed by the rev. limiter in 5th gear, and this would give a top speed of about 187 MPH. The 0-60 time is around 5.2 seconds, according to the magazines, but they don’t have to pay for new tyres, clutches and gearboxes. It’s not particularly quick away from the lights because of its weight (nearly 2 tons), but since you can do nearly 60 MPH in first, you don’t get beaten that often. 3. So how fast have you gone in it? Last year I went on a day-return trip to Norvenich in Germany. On the de-restricted Autobahns, I chickened out at 150MPH. It simply isn’t safe to travel any faster – in my opinion. Most autobahns are only two lane, and are usually quite busy. When you are closing on lorries at 100 MPH , you have to be very careful that one doesn’t pull out in front of you. 4. How many miles per gallon do you get? Around town, the fuel gauge seems to drop every time you start off. On a long run, you can expect 20-25 MPG, which is comparable to the Carlton GSI. You should get 350 to 400 Miles on a tank. But at MAX speed, expect a full fuel tank to run dry in less than 60 miles – or 20 minutes! 5. Is it expensive to run? Compared to what? Yes if you are comparing it to a standard Carlton, no if you are comparing it to a Ferrari. A standard service costs about £350. However, it gets very costly if you break it, or need replacement parts. As an example, a set of new front brake pads cost over £350, and a new clutch is over £600. In general, if it’s not a part common to standard Carltons, it will cost ten times more than you were expecting, and you won’t find it at you local Halfords. 6. What does the insurance cost? Depends on who you know and where you live. I have 8 years NCD, was born in 1965, live in Somerset, and the car has various additional security devices fitted. I used to pay over £1000 a year, but have just changed to Priviledge Insurance of Leeds (0113 243 6855) who want less than £500 quid (July 1999). I live in Somerset, which is a low risk area. If you are 17, have no NCB and live in an inner city area, you should probably forget it!7. How much is it worth? Irrelevant – It’s NOT for sale. But as a guide, left hand drive Lotus Omegas imported from Germany go for between £10-15K, whilst right hand drive Lotus Carltons command a premium, so expect to pay £15-25K. Very low mileage ‘showroom condition’ examples can go for much more, sometimes well over £30K . Remember there were only 284 RHD examples produced. If you want to prize this one away from me, you’ll need to have a national lottery ticket with this Saturdays 6 winning numbers on it. 8. How long have you had it? Over 4 years now. I bought it in October 1995 from a guy who lived in Clevedon, near Bristol. 9. How many times have you been stopped for speeding? Never. The only time I have been stopped (so far touch wood) was when I overtook a police car on a B road near Yeovil. He was doing about 45 MPH at the time, and claimed he hadn’t stopped me for overtaking him, but that he thought I was traveling too close to the car in front! 10. Can I have a go? You can sit in it, look in the boot and under the bonnet. If you catch me in the right mood, and ask nicely, I may even take you out for a spin in it. But if you want to drive it, the answer is NO. |