Autoblog Night Watch: Lotus Carlton
When Lotus announced earlier this week that its intends to bring three new models to production over the next few years, we began day-dreaming of the myriad of possibilities that may come about.
As good as the Elise and Exige are, and as good as the Europa and new Esprit hope to be, some of Lotus' more intriguing offerings were vehicles that weren't developed from the ground up by the boys in Hethel.
Stateside, the Ford Lotus Cortina has been hailed as the original sport compact. Introduced in 1963 and sold in limited numbers, the Cortina benefited from the staple Lotus tweaks, namely suspension upgrades and lightweight materials. When compared to the Lotus Carlton, however, it seemed pedestrian, at best.
The video above is a vintage episode of Top Gear, with then host, Tiff Needell driving one of the most controversial vehicles ever to be offered in Europe. The Lotus Carlton was based on the Vauxhall sedan bearing the same name and was stuffed with a twin-turbo 3.6-liter inline six, developing 377 hp and 419 ft/lbs. of torque. All that power was channeled through a six-speed manual transmission pulled from the Corvette ZR1, sent to the rear wheels through an LSD, which then catapulted the stately sedan to 60 in 5.2 seconds. All of this before we even broke into the 90s.
Since part of Lotus' plan for the future includes helping to develop vehicles for other manufactures, we hope that the standard set by the Cortina and Carlton may inspire upcoming collaborative efforts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DPC car videos 2:01AM (9/23/2006)
I remember when that car came out, I thought it was way ahead of its time and it was. Reminds me of the 1992-1994 Audi S4 with more horsepower.
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emulous1974 8:37AM (9/23/2006)
I remember the 80's Izuzu Impulse as well as the I-mark that carried decals that stated "handling by Lotus" I even believe Lotus helped in designing the orginal Hyundai Scoupe handling as well, but wouldn't let Hyundai say so because of some disagreement.
Lotus has helped a lot of manufacturers and I'm so surprised that a major Auto company hasn't bought them just for their great engineering.
If Lotus is going to make the Tesla Roadster, is that going to be counted as one these "next" vehicles out of Lotus?
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cars 3:58AM (9/23/2006)
Nice video amd amazing car/driver
http://www.auto-power-girl.com/
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Mustafa 7:38AM (9/23/2006)
I remember the Lotus Carlton. I wanted one.
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physics 8:25AM (9/23/2006)
amazing car! Especially for 1990. Is there any non-exotic family sedan close to cranking out that kind of power that cheaply today? (I would consider an M5 an exotic). If anyone built anything that sick today, I'd consider buying it tomorrow.
BTW, it is ft-lbs NOT ft/lbs (NOT foot divided by lbs, but foot multipled by lbs)
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physics 10:02PM (9/23/2006)
#2 nice spam.
any wanker can power-slide a 377hp car around like that.
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Sam Abuelsamid 8:58AM (9/23/2006)
I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to drive a Lotus Omega (the Omega was the LHD Opel version of the Carlton)in the summer of 1991 at the GM proving ground where I worked at the time. I was working on ABS for the Lotus Elan (shortly before the car was canceled) with an engineer from Lotus. At that time GM had an annual executive ride every summer at Milford and would bring GM and competitive cars from around the world for all the top brass to dirve. My colleague from Lotus got a call that the Omega had arrived and was asked to go check it out and make sure everything was OK. He invited me along, I was less than 1 year out of college at the time. We walked over got the car and headed out to the track.
The car only had 100 km on the clock at the time. We pulled onto the main straight and came to a stop. Richard launched the car, and as we passed the 1.5 mile mark I glanced at the speedometer and saw that it was reading 260 kph (160 mph)!! Richard squeezed the brakes before we headed into the turn and as he returned back to where we started he offered me the chance to drive. Since I didn't want to risk my job, I only took it up to a little over 100 mph, the most we were supposed to do without permission from the facilities coordinator. The rush of acceleration and the torque from that beast was just phenomenal.
Keep in mind that at that time the only 4 door car that came close to the Lotus Omega was the original AMG Hammer, back before Mercedes bought out AMG and there were AMG versions of everything. The Hammer cost twice as much as the Lotus. The Viper was still only a concept and the even the mighty ZR1 couldn't out run the Lotus saloon. A car that was comparable in size to a Ford Taurus but could run with Ferraris and Esprits was a mind-boggling idea at that time. These days with Chrysler SRT-8s it is no big deal anymore, but it was special. Only about 800 Lotus Omegas/Carltons were built, and they will be fondly remembered by the few who got to drive them.
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Zo 10:37AM (9/23/2006)
#4 You might want to consider the BMW 335i as being as close as you are going to get to that Carlton. About the same speed and also a twin-turbo -- Unfortunately no LSD
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Ted Y 9:50AM (9/23/2006)
physics: "BTW, it is ft-lbs NOT ft/lbs (NOT foot divided by lbs, but foot multipled by lbs)"
I wonder, do the British use a different notation? I bought a book published around 1961 in the UK about 2-cycle engine development. It drove me nuts because they used ft/lbs style notation throughout.
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Sam Abuelsamid 10:37AM (9/23/2006)
The Brits still use the beta version of the language and haven't applied all the service packs yet.
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PiCASSO 10:50AM (9/23/2006)
Interesting story, Sam Abuelsamid. Thank you for sharing it. My graduating 10-years later, never really experienced anything as special as you have in the automotive industry.
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Green Lotus Elise 11:49AM (9/23/2006)
If I lived in the UK I would probably own a Lotus Carlton/Omega, wanted one for years but I figure the upkeep in the US would be a real pain. It really is cool to see just how far Lotus has come in the cars they work with and develop. The Elise & Carlton are pretty far apart in idea but are undeniably "Lotus" in their results.
When I bought my Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT last week I was actually kinda thinking about the Carlton. The 2.5GT is a mildly aggressive looking sleeper, much like (although not as powerful as) the Carltons. Still, I figured it was about the closest I could get and still be in the "nice daily driver" category. It complements the Elise pretty well but its rush of power does make the Elise feel a tad different.
You can see photos of both @ http://fleur-design.net/lotus/
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hbreakkidd 1:20PM (9/23/2006)
Gentlemen, it is only ft-lbs when you are turning a wrench. Engine torque is lb-ft.
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Liquidfire3240 7:38PM (9/28/2006)
I couldnt imagine in 1990, say you just bought a new Toyota Supra, 3 liter turbo'd inline 6.
YOu take it out to the highway...and you get passed by a 4-door...
Thats just plain crazy.
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Grajeda 3:49PM (9/23/2006)
#8
pretty geeky comment...
hey!!!
I get it... oh, i´m in problems...
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bobby s 7:46PM (9/23/2006)
Engine torque is Nm actually... Stop living in the stone age.
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Jason 8:04PM (9/23/2006)
I've never heard of this car before, but after watching that...I want one. :(
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tariq 6:54AM (9/28/2006)
wots the name of the music just before the comedian comes on?
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thanz 4:28PM (9/24/2006)
the music in question is apotheosis: o fortuna (techno from the early 90s)
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mk 10:30AM (9/25/2006)
have to agree with Green Lotus Elise.
For non-lux/premium line sedans, the closest you are going to get is a Legacy GT or Spec B. Maybe a MazdaSpeed 6, but that doesn't have as much upward potential.
Legacy GT or Spec B with some turbo tune-up parts from a WRX STI... You might get close to a Lotus Carlton-grade power. Aftermarket suspension, and you might get within a large vicinity of it's handling, too.
The Legacy GT near stock has almost matched the 5.2 0-60 time, thanks to moderate weight, and AWD traction.
But aside from an E-36 BMW M3 sedan, The Legacy is about it. that is rare company for a manual transmission, not-FWD sporting sedan, without breaking into the $40k range, or getting into heavier lux sedans that also happen to have some power.
Considering that the Lotus Carlton was fairly limited in production, the M3-4 was only offered for two short model years, and the Legacy GT's very small sales numbers, they are all pretty rare.
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