You can buy the cheapest used Lotus car for less than 10,000 euros

When you think Lotus, you think fast sports cars (and nowadays also heavy EVs). Not exactly cheap, is it? Well, yes, if you choose this event. This Lotus Elan is the cheapest used car you can now buy in the Netherlands.

Lotus’s image as a light sports car maker is slowly disappearing, now that stalwarts like the Eletre are rolling off the production line. This electric SUV turned out to be not very sporty. An electric sedan too, but a lower one (see the first test drive in the Netherlands here) should silence those criticisms.

Light Lotus Elan is not light enough

But this sports sedan, weighing 2,500 kg, is also not a favorite on the scale. That used to be different. After all, founder Colin Chapman’s credo is: ‘Simplify, then add agility’. Yet that saying doesn’t apply to every Lotus from the pre-Geely era.

The Elan M100, which is the cheapest used Lotus car in the Netherlands, came to the market in 1990 and weighs less than 1,000 kg. Feather light compared to today’s cars, but these used cars weigh 300 kg more than their predecessors from the sixties.

Motor in the event

Fortunately, there is a powerful 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 158 hp up front. It is enough to run from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.8 seconds. Child’s play for modern EVs, but for a hard road that’s over 30 years old, it’s not too bad. Only at 220 km/h is the acceleration ceremony complete.

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This event had to attract a young and new audience. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Production costs of race car it turned out to be higher than the asking price, which in turn was already higher than the price tag of its strongest competitor, the Mazda MX-5.

Used car price

After this flop, then owner General Motors sold Lotus, after which Lotus Elan was known as Kia Elan in Korea for a short time. However, this used car has a Lotus logo on the nose. And that for 9.890 euros. Not bad for a real Lotus.